Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business?

freudianslip27 · 10-23-2009, 08:23 PM

I have found ebay to be quite saturated in the markets I wanted to explore. I understand the potential is still there, but stuff I use to do I can't anymore.

It does seem inviting though, to be able to sell dropshipped items. Talk about a low-risk business to start out with. Great idea for people willing to put the effort in.

Matt

Calvin Tan · 10-24-2009, 10:49 PM

not sure about e-bay. may be i will try it one day. free upgrade from buyer to seller. =D

buckapple · 10-25-2009, 09:40 AM

Hi,

Interesting thread. I've been on eBay since 99 and became a powerseller a couple of years ago. I would agree with most of the posts here. If you got " me too" products it can be a tough.

I think your product has to be unique or you have products to dump at wholesale prices to make a go of it. I was able to get an exclusive before I ran a campaign because I knew the source would be approached after my auctions took off.

If you're good at research you might find a niche and a dropshipper and make out.

Classified ads are good for email collection.

eBay itself is good for people starting out learning IM. For instance you're going to learn the ins and outs of using paypal, writing ads, headlines, finding keywords, all the things you're going to have to learn, you can practice there. The good side is the traffic, it's already there.

Sure their fees suck but with the new arrangement, it's all on the backend, by that I mean after the sell is made, to just list an item now is something like .35, so you can experiment.

There's a lot of shoppers that still go to eBay because they "think" they are going to get a deal.

Cheers!

papeter · 10-27-2009, 05:35 PM

I started in 2001 and sold all sorts of rubbish and got good prices. I then bought tons of Xmas lights from Costco and re-sold them for 50% profit. I later found out there was an auction held every Saturday of costco's returns and faulty goods. For the next 3 years I sold
tons and tons of HP inkjet printers, laptops, PC's. All with faults but still in warranty and got HP to replace the printers with factory refurbished ones. They soon cottoned...It was great though whilst it lasted.

Haven't done much with Ebay since then, but may do sometime in the future. It's still a superb and viable business model for newcomers to start their online business. Now is the perfect time during UK's recession, for people facing or made redundant to put their thinking cap on and promote something totally unique to generate some moolah!

Sell overstock items on behalf of local shops/businesses and take a 20% - 30% cut!! That's what I would do.

Sosu · 10-27-2009, 05:42 PM

Ebay is not like it was. During the dot com bust, I would buy unix server parts cheap off Ebay, build unix servers and load O/S, and put them back on Ebay for huge profits. I sold everything else from swords to domains. Now it just seems hard to keep my auctions from getting pulled. I would put an auction up, go to bed and find it removed in the morning for some trivial issue they had.

Martyn Walker · 10-27-2009, 06:05 PM

I stopped selling on ebay a couple of years ago because it was becoming tiresome with the ever changing rules.

But I still buy. Although I rarely go into shops these days, when I do, and see something I like I'll note the model number and price and research forums, ebay and Amazon etc before I buy. That is of course if I can resist the "must have it now - greedy pig - gimme the damn thing now" feeling.

TrafficMystic · 10-28-2009, 08:41 AM

The cost and reliance on ebay is just too great for someone wanted to create a monthly income stream from home.. one minute you may be doing very well then a policy is suddenly put in place or something changed and you income stream is gone..

I was a powerseller on ebay for over 2 years, I was importing goods direct from china and selling them through a proper company I had set up specifically for ebay. But being a bit blinkered in my early days, I didnt expand my income stream to any thing else.. Then over the space of 6 month when ebay increased fees / changed the visibility of items as well of many policies, enforced the use of paypal for certain items (more expenses) is was just not worth the effort for the return anymore.

It was very time consuming packing things up, you always had around 10% of buyers trying to scam you and because of poor paypal protection (I was selling electronic items) is was always 50/50 if you would win even through you had followed all the big list of criteria..

At the end of the day ebay have killed the selling of items on there own site and the income of fees off those sellers. I would suggest maybe using ebay as a small part of your income stream but have others streams in parrallel in case one drops off..

as they say 'dont put all your eggs in one basket'

Mark Johnson · 10-30-2009, 12:25 PM

The most recent changes to eBay rules has swung things slightly back towards the favour of the seller. Things like "top rated Seller" and improvements to the dispute resolution process.

I used to rely on eBay for my main income until a raft of changes made it very difficult for me to continue that way. It prompted me to start up my own e-commerce website, I haven't looked back since. I have the best of both worlds, I sell for good profit by sending traffic from google to my E-commerce site using SEO techniques, I then sell slow selling and clearance items on ebay, utilizing their huge automatic traffic.

My advice to anyone trying to make money by selling physical products online or dropshipping, is to use eBay's great traffic but don't totally rely on it, find other sales channels too.

proshop · 11-18-2009, 01:44 PM

I was a powerseller and did a lot on ebay for a couple of years. I think the rules began to outweigh the fun and rewards. I think World Wide Brands and others are still great for finding products to sell, but ebay is almost too high maintenance anymore.

proshop · 11-18-2009, 01:47 PM

Absolutely agree. We also had some very valuable family pieces that sold for nothing, so it ended up being just another job that was no longer fun.

ddistco · 11-18-2009, 11:39 PM

I actually started selling online on eBay. and i thought it was great for about 2.5 years. I didn't know much about interent marketing and found that when I listed things on eBay I was actually getting sales and that was enough to suck my in for that 2.5 years. I then got away from eBay to get into real estate and just recently started the IM strategy again. I found that eBay was very thin in profitability after all fees.

Finding products that you can purchase and resell seemed to be teh issue that I finally ran into until I started selling information products and then my profitability went back up and it made sense to start marketing outside of eBay.

I made a vowel that if I wanted to really learn how to market on the internet that I would have to be off of eBay so that I could control my cost and not be concerned with what ever the latest eBay rules are this month.

I remember I had been selling a product on eBay for about a year and one day I noticed that my eBay auctions were cancelled becasue eBay decided that my auctions didn't meet their requirements. That was the event that taught me that I needed to be outside of a website that held all the rules and regulations.

Haven't been back to eBay ever since...3 years and counting.

I wish those that continue to run with the eBay business much success. I know it works as long as you're willing to work with the eBay authorities.

Thanks for reading...

JAIDEEP2959 · 11-18-2009, 11:53 PM

New Ebay rules favors top rated sellers.

It will take time for newbies to become top rated sellers.

Some listing types were also removed so as to benefit Top rated seller.

If you are a Top rated seller, then there is a scope to make big amount of money from Ebay.

Alexchan338 · 11-20-2009, 03:01 AM

I dont knwo about that yasser, thats the opposite, there are thousands of fake or false products on ebay, especially cosmetics, branded clothings...I used to shop on ebay, but now...even cellphones are fake. Seller can post nokia phone and sell you a china copied phone. Then you have to go through the whole stupid paypal process....annoying...now i buy through amazon more often.

10-23-2009, 08:23 PM	#51
freudianslip27 Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 695 Thanks: 5 Thanked 33 Times in 33 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I have found ebay to be quite saturated in the markets I wanted to explore. I understand the potential is still there, but stuff I use to do I can't anymore. It does seem inviting though, to be able to sell dropshipped items. Talk about a low-risk business to start out with. Great idea for people willing to put the effort in. Matt
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10-24-2009, 10:49 PM	#52
Calvin Tan Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? not sure about e-bay. may be i will try it one day. free upgrade from buyer to seller. =D
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10-25-2009, 09:40 AM	#53
buckapple HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: US Posts: 153 Thanks: 20 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? Hi, Interesting thread. I've been on eBay since 99 and became a powerseller a couple of years ago. I would agree with most of the posts here. If you got " me too" products it can be a tough. I think your product has to be unique or you have products to dump at wholesale prices to make a go of it. I was able to get an exclusive before I ran a campaign because I knew the source would be approached after my auctions took off. If you're good at research you might find a niche and a dropshipper and make out. Classified ads are good for email collection. eBay itself is good for people starting out learning IM. For instance you're going to learn the ins and outs of using paypal, writing ads, headlines, finding keywords, all the things you're going to have to learn, you can practice there. The good side is the traffic, it's already there. Sure their fees suck but with the new arrangement, it's all on the backend, by that I mean after the sell is made, to just list an item now is something like .35, so you can experiment. There's a lot of shoppers that still go to eBay because they "think" they are going to get a deal. Cheers!
	Discover Internet Marketing the Easy Way. http://nfonut.com/video-training/

10-27-2009, 05:35 PM	#54
papeter HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: , , United Kingdom. Posts: 110 Thanks: 20 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I started in 2001 and sold all sorts of rubbish and got good prices. I then bought tons of Xmas lights from Costco and re-sold them for 50% profit. I later found out there was an auction held every Saturday of costco's returns and faulty goods. For the next 3 years I sold tons and tons of HP inkjet printers, laptops, PC's. All with faults but still in warranty and got HP to replace the printers with factory refurbished ones. They soon cottoned...It was great though whilst it lasted. Haven't done much with Ebay since then, but may do sometime in the future. It's still a superb and viable business model for newcomers to start their online business. Now is the perfect time during UK's recession, for people facing or made redundant to put their thinking cap on and promote something totally unique to generate some moolah! Sell overstock items on behalf of local shops/businesses and take a 20% - 30% cut!! That's what I would do.

10-27-2009, 05:42 PM	#55
Sosu Entrepreneur Sauce Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Palos Verdes Posts: 34 Thanks: 17 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? Ebay is not like it was. During the dot com bust, I would buy unix server parts cheap off Ebay, build unix servers and load O/S, and put them back on Ebay for huge profits. I sold everything else from swords to domains. Now it just seems hard to keep my auctions from getting pulled. I would put an auction up, go to bed and find it removed in the morning for some trivial issue they had.
	Check me out on FaceBook

10-27-2009, 06:05 PM	#56
Martyn Walker Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I stopped selling on ebay a couple of years ago because it was becoming tiresome with the ever changing rules. But I still buy. Although I rarely go into shops these days, when I do, and see something I like I'll note the model number and price and research forums, ebay and Amazon etc before I buy. That is of course if I can resist the "must have it now - greedy pig - gimme the damn thing now" feeling.
	Make it a GREAT day! Martyn www.this-is-what-i-think.com

10-28-2009, 08:41 AM	#57
TrafficMystic Steve Hawkins War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Whitleybay, uk Posts: 438 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 5 Thanked 46 Times in 44 Posts Social Networking	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? The cost and reliance on ebay is just too great for someone wanted to create a monthly income stream from home.. one minute you may be doing very well then a policy is suddenly put in place or something changed and you income stream is gone.. I was a powerseller on ebay for over 2 years, I was importing goods direct from china and selling them through a proper company I had set up specifically for ebay. But being a bit blinkered in my early days, I didnt expand my income stream to any thing else.. Then over the space of 6 month when ebay increased fees / changed the visibility of items as well of many policies, enforced the use of paypal for certain items (more expenses) is was just not worth the effort for the return anymore. It was very time consuming packing things up, you always had around 10% of buyers trying to scam you and because of poor paypal protection (I was selling electronic items) is was always 50/50 if you would win even through you had followed all the big list of criteria.. At the end of the day ebay have killed the selling of items on there own site and the income of fees off those sellers. I would suggest maybe using ebay as a small part of your income stream but have others streams in parrallel in case one drops off.. as they say 'dont put all your eggs in one basket'
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10-30-2009, 12:25 PM	#58
Mark Johnson Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: London Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? The most recent changes to eBay rules has swung things slightly back towards the favour of the seller. Things like "top rated Seller" and improvements to the dispute resolution process. I used to rely on eBay for my main income until a raft of changes made it very difficult for me to continue that way. It prompted me to start up my own e-commerce website, I haven't looked back since. I have the best of both worlds, I sell for good profit by sending traffic from google to my E-commerce site using SEO techniques, I then sell slow selling and clearance items on ebay, utilizing their huge automatic traffic. My advice to anyone trying to make money by selling physical products online or dropshipping, is to use eBay's great traffic but don't totally rely on it, find other sales channels too.

11-18-2009, 01:44 PM	#59
proshop Warrior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Indiana, USA. Posts: 7 Thanks: 7 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I was a powerseller and did a lot on ebay for a couple of years. I think the rules began to outweigh the fun and rewards. I think World Wide Brands and others are still great for finding products to sell, but ebay is almost too high maintenance anymore.
	We love working at home! www.levelfourliving.com

11-18-2009, 01:47 PM	#60
proshop Warrior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Indiana, USA. Posts: 7 Thanks: 7 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? Absolutely agree. We also had some very valuable family pieces that sold for nothing, so it ended up being just another job that was no longer fun.
	We love working at home! www.levelfourliving.com

11-18-2009, 11:39 PM	#61
ddistco Mark Coble - Virtual Opps War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver Posts: 56 Thanks: 2 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I actually started selling online on eBay. and i thought it was great for about 2.5 years. I didn't know much about interent marketing and found that when I listed things on eBay I was actually getting sales and that was enough to suck my in for that 2.5 years. I then got away from eBay to get into real estate and just recently started the IM strategy again. I found that eBay was very thin in profitability after all fees. Finding products that you can purchase and resell seemed to be teh issue that I finally ran into until I started selling information products and then my profitability went back up and it made sense to start marketing outside of eBay. I made a vowel that if I wanted to really learn how to market on the internet that I would have to be off of eBay so that I could control my cost and not be concerned with what ever the latest eBay rules are this month. I remember I had been selling a product on eBay for about a year and one day I noticed that my eBay auctions were cancelled becasue eBay decided that my auctions didn't meet their requirements. That was the event that taught me that I needed to be outside of a website that held all the rules and regulations. Haven't been back to eBay ever since...3 years and counting. I wish those that continue to run with the eBay business much success. I know it works as long as you're willing to work with the eBay authorities. Thanks for reading...
	Mark Coble Product & Service Review Site \| Absolutely The Best Web Hosting Solution Review

11-18-2009, 11:53 PM	#62
JAIDEEP2959 Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 729 Thanks: 36 Thanked 61 Times in 45 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? New Ebay rules favors top rated sellers. It will take time for newbies to become top rated sellers. Some listing types were also removed so as to benefit Top rated seller. If you are a Top rated seller, then there is a scope to make big amount of money from Ebay.
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11-20-2009, 03:01 AM	#63
Alexchan338 IM Noob Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 52 Thanks: 4 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking	Re: Is Ebay Still a Good Home Based Business? I dont knwo about that yasser, thats the opposite, there are thousands of fake or false products on ebay, especially cosmetics, branded clothings...I used to shop on ebay, but now...even cellphones are fake. Seller can post nokia phone and sell you a china copied phone. Then you have to go through the whole stupid paypal process....annoying...now i buy through amazon more often.