Finding things to sell on e-bay

[Rajah]

Okay, I get all of *how* ebay works, what I don't get is how you decide what to sell on ebay?

We've looked around at all our junk, and most of it is just that -- junk. Old happy-meal toys, old clothes, trading card game cards that aren't going for much on ebay...

How do you decide what is worth selling and what isn't?

 

[C.Ann]

Ah ha! Sparked your interest, huh?

When I first started, I didn't have a clue what would or wouldn't sell - and quite frankly, I still don't.. People buy the STRANGEST things - "junk" I thought no one would EVER buy..

My very first sale was an ink cartridge to a printer I no longer had.. It sold for $21 - plus shipping & handling..

Then I started selling off books (mostly true crime in lots of 4) and the prices they would bid up to were unbelieveable!

Next, I went through all of my video movies and sold the ones I was no longer interested in.. I had single videos go as high as $20 or more..

I sold off "lots" of travel brochures - people collect them..

Anything Disney..

Cookbooks; pet supplies; household appliances (small ones); comic books; "lots" of magazines (like Soap Opera Digests and such); kid's toys; dishes; glassware; anything with "advertising" on it (had a plastic bus bank with a bus company name on it - paid 10 cents for it in a garage sale and it sold for $12 plus shipping & handling); craft magazines in "lots"; and on and on..

I swear - ANYTHING will sell on ebay - it's just a matter of having it up there at the right time..

Give it a try and see what happens..

 

[kilee]

I sell pretty much 90% clothing on ebay. I try to complete about 150 auctions a month. Obviously I don't have that much of my own stuff to sell. I mainly look at yard sales. I look for any and all namebrand clothing that I know I can resell. Mostly look for $0.25 items. This way I know I'm going to make profits. I buy them and put them in bins and sell throughout the year. I just sent 3 bins of stuff to the basement for the fall. Bought all of it last week and spent $26.00!!! I can pretty much say I'll get at least $300 off the stuff in those bins-- thats saying I don't have much luck. If I see kids movies going for $0.25 I pick those up too, as well as shoes in excellent shape. I did recently buy some Abercrombie shorts for $1.00-- because I've sold many in the last month all have gone for $15-26!!! So, I figured still a good profit.

I feel awkward about the yard sellers knowing that I'm planning to resell their items. So when shopping if DS or my mom want to know who I bought for--- they'll ask did you find stuff for Adam or Ana--- I don't know where the names came from they just stuck.

We also have a chain of thrift stores similar to goodwills, that have a twice a year 50% sale. I can usually pick up clothing items for $0.35-0.50 there.

The other big thing-- Halloween costumes--- at yard sales I can get them from anywhere $0.50-2.00 then resell for $15-25 in Sept-Oct.!!!

 

[Rajah]

Thanks. I just found 3 garage sales tomorrow all within 2 miles of me, so I think I'll do some sale hopping, since we don't seem to own much stuff that people would be interested in. The clothes I have aren't name-brand, so I'm pretty sure wouldn't sell.

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by C.Ann
Ah ha! Sparked your interest, huh?

LOL! My interest was sparked a *long* time ago. But now I have more stuff I really want to do and not the money to do them. So I figured take $10 or $20, hop the garage sales nearby and see what I can find. If I find stuff and make a profit, great. If not, I'm not out much.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Rajah
LOL! My interest was sparked a *long* time ago. But now I have more stuff I really want to do and not the money to do them. So I figured take $10 or $20, hop the garage sales nearby and see what I can find. If I find stuff and make a profit, great. If not, I'm not out much.

------------------

Good for you! And here's another hint.. If you see something at a garage sale that you think will sell - let's say a bunch of true crime books - a bunch of Disney videos - a bunch of tole painting books (BIG seller for me!) - see if you can buy the whole lot of them for a flat price.. Never hurts to ask, most people are agreeable and you can often make 10 or 20 times what that flat price was when you turn around and sell them individually or in small lots on eBay..

Don't forget to come back and tell us what kind of goodies you found! $10 or $20 can go a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way in garage sale purchases!

 

[Rajah]

Will do, if I even make it by there tomorrow. If the weather's bad or I'm too tired tomorrow, who knows if I'll make it by. But it's worth a shot and I have the info at least.

 

[Cindy B]

I know you are into crafts, and crafting Rajah...

Craft stuff goes fairly well.

I had some new crosstich stuff (you know those all in one kits) that i got for nothing.. (people actually threw them out!). they were complete kits, and I got $7 for one, and $5 for the others. I also sold some Lassetta afghan making kits (again, someone threw those out as well), and made $10 on each of them!

I have also seen someone do a craft bonanza blow out... and sold scraps of stuff for a low price.

Your patterns could go on Ebay as well... if you say something hand designed.

Old computer stuff goes as well. My DH has sold old (like 8-10 year old Macs) for over $50 a piece. Older system parts go well also, if you have a dead machine, take the parts aparts and sell it peicemeal. He had old software (tax cut and game CDs, and an old version of Printshop (5 years old!).. and sold those as well. We have sold old copies of PC software that we no longer use as well.

We have also sold power cords, laptop batteries, desktop computers, old laptops, and such.. and done well.

I also sell college textbooks, and other books as well in lots. I sold religious books in two lots and made some money. I also have sold books that I have no longer read. My DH has sold most of his Microsoft book collection (MCSE stuff).

 

[Rajah]

Thanks Cindy!

I've been trying to figure out if there's anything in my craft collection that I no longer want or that I could sell.

I don't want to sell my patterns on e-bay because I'm trying to go "pro" with that, and selling on ebay is a big "no-no" with the pros. Right or wrong, I don't want to jeopardize the future with cross stitch.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by Rajah
Thanks Cindy!

I've been trying to figure out if there's anything in my craft collection that I no longer want or that I could sell.

I don't want to sell my patterns on e-bay because I'm trying to go "pro" with that, and selling on ebay is a big "no-no" with the pros. Right or wrong, I don't want to jeopardize the future with cross stitch.

Glad to be of help. I'm not certain what exact craft stuff you have, but it sounds like you have some.

And i forgot old computer books go well also.

 

[Rajah]

Well, went by 6 garage sales (or was it 7?) today. Didn't find anything until the last one. It's not worth my money or time to try buying books for 75 cents each to sell in groups.

Finally, the last stop I hit just as they were packing up, and the lady was ready to get rid of stuff. So I got 10-15 books for 5 cents each (yay!!). Of course, I found two board games that looked like fun and got those, too (for a whopping 1.25) figuring if I can't get anyone to play them, I can try to ebay them too.

But really, if I hadn't been going out anyway and these sales were mostly on my route anyway, I don't think it was really worth the time and gas for what I found. Hopefully the books I got will sell. If not, I guess I'll be reading them. LOL!

There were a lot of kids things, but I really don't know enough about kids' clothes to feel comfortable judging what would or wouldn't sell.

So what do you advise for the timid ebayer? LOL!

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by Rajah
Well, went by 6 garage sales (or was it 7?) today. Didn't find anything until the last one. It's not worth my money or time to try buying books for 75 cents each to sell in groups.

Finally, the last stop I hit just as they were packing up, and the lady was ready to get rid of stuff. So I got 10-15 books for 5 cents each (yay!!). Of course, I found two board games that looked like fun and got those, too (for a whopping 1.25) figuring if I can't get anyone to play them, I can try to ebay them too.

But really, if I hadn't been going out anyway and these sales were mostly on my route anyway, I don't think it was really worth the time and gas for what I found. Hopefully the books I got will sell. If not, I guess I'll be reading them. LOL!

There were a lot of kids things, but I really don't know enough about kids' clothes to feel comfortable judging what would or wouldn't sell.

So what do you advise for the timid ebayer? LOL!

-------------------------

How do you feel about "free" at garage sales? Sometimes when I don't have time to head out first thing in the morning, I pop in on the sales at the very end of the day and they either offer the stuff for free or they have it sitting at the curg with a "Free" sign on it.. Doesn't cost me a dime, so I'm willing to take the chance..

Last year I stopped at one sale 5 minutes before they closed and the man FILLED my entire van with stuff for FREE rather than set it all out by the curb.. I made a very, VERY nice profit on a whole bunch of stuff I probably wouldn't have even bought for 25 cents a piece..

You're still new at this whole game, but it will get easier as time goes on and soon you will be able to judge what you should or shouldn't purchase and how much you should pay for it..

 

[Rajah]

Now "free" I would take a chance on. I thought about getting more books to take the chance on at 5 cents each, but didn't see any others that I thought looked good and I had my hands full anyway.

 

[Cindy B]

i HAVE curbside shopped as well for ebay items. Some things I have curbside shopped, and found out that they wouldn't go well after the fact. So then, I figure that hey, I could grab it now, check it out later, and then decide what I want to do.

Old books have fetched me $5 per lot. My mother lode was at the library... they had a whole bunch of old discarded Sports magazines. i've ) and sold those as well.

So far I have gotten about $25 for three of them, and I have about four auctions up as well.

I figure I may get $50 for something that someone was throwing out!

 

[Rajah]

By "curbside shopping" you mean at garage sales, or at peoples' 'trash' piles on garbage day? The latter, right?

 

[kilee]

After garage sales a lot of people put the left over items to the curb for free-- this is what I think is mainly meant.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by Rajah
By "curbside shopping" you mean at garage sales, or at peoples' 'trash' piles on garbage day? The latter, right?

A combination of both actually. Usually everyone puts the stuff they dont wont out over the weekend even though trash day is Tuesday.

Some things are just laid out there. Maybe they were cleaning out the garage, or just cleaning. I also check after the garage sale is done, and they have stuff just sitting there. I wouldn't have bought it, but to obtain it for free is a different story.

You can also score big on the Goodwill/Salvation Army stores as well. But watch your prices. Some Goodwill stores are charging high.

I was at the goodwill once and ran into other Ebayers. I knew they were Ebayers, because they were looking at name brand everything not even in thier sizes.. (big burly men in the ladies department area of the goodwill talking about dresses!). We wound up chatting, (I was sizing up the competition).

Now, I don't do well on clothes overall, but these guys were talking about how they bought some Versace shoes I think .. and he paid $20 for them (high price for thrift store) and threw them up on Ebay, and they went for $400!

I look at all shoes and decent quality clothes on Ebay. I usually don't buy any, but I do look anyway. I also look for Lands End and LL Bean, since there returns policys/customer service is first rate.

I also look at the housewares. SOmetimes there are some vintage things really cheap. I look for cookie cutters, old Pyrex (only certain styles), and collectibles.

I check in the toys area for Barbies, (Only certain ones) and electronic games. I bought an old 80's game for 25 cents and resold it on ebay for $15 once. I bought an old Lite Brite for a $1 and sold JUST THE PEGS for $7. I also look for old Transformers, Star Wars, and Battle of the Universe/He Man stuff. I look for board games as well. 80's things are going decently now on Ebay, so I basically look for things that I played with as a kid.

I also look for certain childrens books as well. Some older books go for decent money. Its a hit and miss with that though.

I look briefly in the CD/Lp's area. Sometimes there is something that catches my eye, but usually its a bust.

 

[kilee]

General clothing can be hit or miss. But certain things do consistently well all the time.

Infant/toddler clothing: Most anything Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, or Tommy Hilfiger will sell well (I think because they aren't available just everywhere). Things like Gap and Gymboree will sell but the profits will vary. One week I can sell Gap jeans for $15 the next the same ones will only go for $3, so they sell but aren't reliable big money makers. Now buy 3 gap items same size for $0.25 each at a yard sale and good chance they'll go for at least $7-15 for the group. Especially pants and sweaters (the higher cost items).

Women's Plus Size: Venezia seems to sell very well 95% of the time. I seem to do really well in this category w/ most everything I sell, especially if it's stylish

Mens: I don't do much here as it's really hit or miss.

Women's: Jones Of NY, Alfred Dunner go great.

Materinity: Old Navy and Gap maternity go for more than the new price sometimes!!!

Boy's: I have a harder time here. For whatever reason Nike clothing goes pretty well. Abercrombie does well in all sizes. Other than that-- I've found it to be really hit or miss all together

Girls: Gap, Limited Too are good sellers but not always huge profit makers.

I'm really suprised by shoes. I can sell used Nikes in average used condition for $20-30!!!

It's a good market because clothing is at most every yard sale-- so it's easy to find. Gotta do your research and those $0.25 clothing pieces can add up quick! It took me awhile to get into selling clothing. I had a hard time finding things and threw a few lots of clothing up just to see and did really well. So, that's how I got started.

 

[gopherit]

Well I for one surely don't "get it". Great kids clothing is going unbid on. Tons of videos -- dirt cheap. Books -- for pennies. Costs more to ship it than you paid for it. It seems to me that the days to make a good buck on ebay have diminished... the market is saturated. Or at least it is in anything I would have to offer. One thing I've always wanted to do was become a "dead zone shopper". My SIL lives in an area where all the "cool toys" are scarfed up QUICKLY. In our town, no one seems to know or care what's "hot"... my SIL claims I could make a killing selling toys from my "dead zone" town on ebay! Maybe someday...

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by gopherit
Well I for one surely don't "get it". Great kids clothing is going unbid on. Tons of videos -- dirt cheap. Books -- for pennies. Costs more to ship it than you paid for it. It seems to me that the days to make a good buck on ebay have diminished... the market is saturated. Or at least it is in anything I would have to offer. One thing I've always wanted to do was become a "dead zone shopper". My SIL lives in an area where all the "cool toys" are scarfed up QUICKLY. In our town, no one seems to know or care what's "hot"... my SIL claims I could make a killing selling toys from my "dead zone" town on ebay! Maybe someday...

-----------------------------

Do you have all of these items up for auction now? Or are you going by past auctions and completed auctions?

Too many variables to say none of these items will sell - or sell for pennies.. You can sell just about anything on eBay - and sell it for a decent profit as well - if you can figure out a system that works well for both you and the buyer..

I have listed items once and got no bids at all.. Listed again and the bids soared.. Timing; who's on their computers that week; how you word your auctions; what your starting bid is; what you do to attract customers; etc.. It's an ever changing learning experience but can really pay off for those who stick with it..