So youre having trouble finding stock cheaply enough to sell it for a good profit? Well, youve come to the right place.
Garage sales. The chances are youve gone most of your life seeing ads for these and ignoring them. Start going to as many as you can. You wont find good things at every one, but when you find one person with good stuff, make them an offer for the lot theyll be so happy about it that you can get a real bargain.
Markets. If your area has a market, then go there and look around for anything good. You could buy it there if its cheap enough, or try to make friends with the market traders and find out who their suppliers are.
Pawn shops. Pawn shops dont usually know what to do with the junk they accumulate (unless its jewellery, of course). Generally, they put their stock out on the shelves haphazardly, hoping that someday someone with a little money will just happen to come in, search around and buy wildly obscure things. Get them to offer you a discount for bulk.
Real auctions. Go to a real auction, as the chances are that you can resell things for more than they will sell them. After all, they only have a few hundred people in that room you have a few million to sell to!
Local newspapers. Place an ad in the local paper that reads I pay cash for [your item type], with your phone number. If you can afford it, make it a big display ad, so itll be noticed.
Ad boards. Get one of those little ads in the grocery store.
Friends. Ask your friends if they have anything theyd like to sell you, and ask them to spread the word to their friends.
Become known. Give out business cards, mention to people what you do. The chances are that youll come across someone wholl say Oh, really? Ive got a load of [item] I dont want.
Shops. This might be a little surprising, but some real shops even sell things more cheaply than they sell on eBay. Take a look around your local deep discounter, and pay special attention to any shop that takes trade-ins from customers. The chances are they take a loss on trade-ins as a promotion, and are dying to get rid of that stock.
And finally: eBay! When youre looking at the completed items view, youll notice the massive range of prices that items can sell for on eBay. Try taking the highest-priced item and searching for it on its own, then sort by lowest price first: I can almost guarantee that youll see an auction for the same item where it sold for almost nothing. The trick is to find these flawed auctions before they close, win them using a bid sniping service, and then turn around and resell the item.
After all that trouble, though, when do sell the item you might find that a buyer leaves you a feedback rating you just dont think is fair. The next email will show you what to do about it.
About the author:
Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.