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Row1 -> RE: Ebay :D (7/28/2008 11:01:15 AM)
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if you are not familiar with it, list and sell a few things. you need to get a feel for how things go. like how much description you need to provide, how much a 'listing' costs, the different ways you could ship something, how to make sure to get good versus bad feedback, how to detect scammers versus people who truly want to simply pay according to how it is supposed to work, how much time it takes to post an item, how much time it takes to package and mail an item, how to receive payments like are you gonna use paypal, etc.
if you are already familiar with it, then develop your entire plan to 'make a living' from ebay. calculate out the income that would be acceptable to you as a minimum - like, if you could CLEAR $50,000 per year, you would devote 40 hours per week to this.
If you sell some item, and CLEAR $1 profit each time, then you would have to sell 50,000 per year to CLEAR $50,000. If you worked 50 of the 52 weeks in a year, you would have to sell 1,000 of these items per week to CLEAR $50,000 in one year.
There are lost of things you could sell to clear a dollar at a time, but my point is that I would not quit my day job, because it takes a lot of dollar bills to add up to $50,000.
Time yourself listing, then packaging up and mailing ONE item. It can eaasily take one hour. If you get some routine down, such as a rubber stamp for return address, or printing postage versus licking 1,000 stamps per week, then you can start to see how any time savings would lead to more money. Going to the post office and asking them at the counter to put the lowest-cost postage on each of a thousand packages is gonna make each of us in line behind you very upset.
if you have some item that would CLEAR you $50, then you would only need to sell 1000 per year, or 20 per week. I am not sure what you could reliably sell 20 of per week that would be reasonable to mail to people that would clear $50 each item. But this is America, and anything is possible.
I have sold some garage sale items I happened to come across. I bought an old bike for $8, because a few parts were collector's items for cycling enthusiasts - and I sold them for $90. But that was the ONLY time I have ever lucked in to that. I bought a cycle trainer for $5 at a garage sale, and sold it for $50. But that was the ONLY time I lucked into that. If I could find 10 of these bikes a day, I could clear $50,000. But it would take me ALL DAY to scour every garage sale and pawn shop, and I know I might only find 3 or 4 things per week. So, I keep my day job.
My friend buys in bulk some specialized things for motorcycle enthusiasts - like special leather gloves - and sells them by the pair on Ebay and CLEARS several dollars per pair. to reliably make money, you have to have some way to reliably keep getting whatever it is you are selling. Thrift stores and garage sales don't reliably have this for you.
From my example, you can see that it is possible, and people do this, but it takes a lot of work.
so - to think this through some more, maybe tell us what you might sell.
*****
Make sure you do the 'math,' like I have just done for you!!!
The way some people CLEAR $50,000 per year on Ebay is by selling YOU a $5 guide to 'making money on Ebay.' This most likely will NOT make YOU $50,000, but you will help THEM make $50,000.
Their guide to making a living from Ebay may have some good tips and tricks, but at the heart of the matter is this reality: to CLEAR $50,000, you need to sell enough items to CLEAR $50,000.
"What are you going to sell" is the heart of the matter.
The hints and tricks are often simply ways to be efficient, or make a bit more than you usually make - like listing a book in some way to CLEAR $1.20 versus $1.00.
I don't mean to discourage you. I know a couple people who have gone after this idea, and so I have reviewed the 'math' with them to figure out how to make it work. And I know that for most people's ideas, it is not easy, although some one will gladly sell you their 'guide' telling you it is easy.
What would your ideas be? Do you have some product to sell?
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