13 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
13 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

How do People Selling New Items on eBay Make Money

by Blinking
11 replies
Hey Warriors,
I was recently browsing through eBay, and I noticed something that has always come across as strange to me. I've finally decided to ask you guys how it works, if anyone knows.

So basically I was looking for a new Mac Pro the other day, and then about 25 minutes ago a new Alienware M18x. I know, i know, homebuilt is better. I have one, and I'm looking for a laptop .

Anyways what comes across as strange to me, is that they offer the new products from the manufacturer, with the 3 year warranty, as if they purchase the product after you pay them. I'm almost positive that's what happens, as there are no pictures of the actual product, just the generic pictures from the website..

Now the weirdest part, is that they charge the EXACT same price as Dell or Apple. For example:
Dell Alienware M18x i7-3920XM Extreme 32GB | 1024GB SSD | Dual 2GB Nvidia 675M | eBay

If I'm not allowed to link please let me know

Anyways if anyone could please tell me how this works, It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
#ebay #items #make #money #people #selling
  • Profile picture of the author JJacobs Investments
    Originally Posted by Blinking View Post

    Hey Warriors,
    I was recently browsing through eBay, and I noticed something that has always come across as strange to me. I've finally decided to ask you guys how it works, if anyone knows.

    So basically I was looking for a new Mac Pro the other day, and then about 25 minutes ago a new Alienware M18x. I know, i know, homebuilt is better. I have one, and I'm looking for a laptop .

    Anyways what comes across as strange to me, is that they offer the new products from the manufacturer, with the 3 year warranty, as if they purchase the product after you pay them. I'm almost positive that's what happens, as there are no pictures of the actual product, just the generic pictures from the website..

    Now the weirdest part, is that they charge the EXACT same price as Dell or Apple. For example:
    Dell Alienware M18x i7-3920XM Extreme 32GB | 1024GB SSD | Dual 2GB Nvidia 675M | eBay

    If I'm not allowed to link please let me know

    Anyways if anyone could please tell me how this works, It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
    Probably pushing volumes of the product. Larger volume, allows you to get better discounts from manufactures and distributors. This allows your profit margin to be more than say purchasing 1 unit at a time.

    Secondly, since you're purchasing in volume, you can keep your profit margin low and just keep selling/buying the product.

    PS: I love my Macbook Pro. You can buy a new one for $999 depending on your location, or a refurbed (model previous to current) for $929 from Apple directly.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6943963].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Blinking
      Originally Posted by JJacobs Investments View Post

      Probably pushing volumes of the product. Larger volume, allows you to get better discounts from manufactures and distributors. This allows your profit margin to be more than say purchasing 1 unit at a time.

      Secondly, since you're purchasing in volume, you can keep your profit margin low and just keep selling/buying the product.

      PS: I love my Macbook Pro. You can buy a new one for $999 depending on your location, or a refurbed (model previous to current) for $929 from Apple directly.
      Yeah I love my Macbook Pro too, I paid just over 4 grand for it maxed out last december. I was looking for a mac pro server though

      Anyway thanks for the info, makes some sense haha.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944026].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author JJacobs Investments
        Originally Posted by Blinking View Post

        Yeah I love my Macbook Pro too, I paid just over 4 grand for it maxed out last december. I was looking for a mac pro server though

        Anyway thanks for the info, makes some sense haha.

        $4K for a laptop. I thought me spending $999 was a lot. What do you have that made it cost that much? 2 TB worth of memory and 32 ram, lol?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944037].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Blinking
          Originally Posted by JJacobs Investments View Post

          $4K for a laptop. I thought me spending $999 was a lot. What do you have that made it cost that much? 2 TB worth of memory and 32 ram, lol?
          8GB 1333Mhz Ram,
          2.5Ghz Quad Core i7
          512GB SSD,
          1GB AMD 6770M GPU,
          512MB Intel 3000HD Shared GPU,
          Hi-Res Antiglare Screen,
          and Mac OS X
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944644].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Prosper2day
    It's quickly becoming the worst place online to shop.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944054].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author distar
    maybe they are authorized dealers of dell. and maybe they buy in quantity. so they would get a travel merchant account discount. so they can resell them on ebay with the actual manufacturer selling price. but i suggest you to go for the dealer in your market rather than buying it online since you have doubts about this.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944570].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kommrad Khol
    Wholesaling/liquidation hunters.

    You can buy entire pallets of liquidated new merchandise for 10% of retail value if you know where to find it.

    Basically, it works like this:
    Let's say Apple wants Walmart to sell their new iPod for the Christmas season. Apple phones Walmart and says "If you buy 20 million of my widgets, I'll buy any you don't sell back from you". Walmart is like "K".

    Then over the holidays, Walmart sells 16 million iPods, and Apple buys back the other 4 million.

    Walmart feels good because of the sales, Apple feels good because it sold 16 million more iPods than it would have, but still has 4 million left. But their next gen is already Gold and hitting the market soon, so they liquidate their stock and sell for as low as they need to in order to make room for the new product, usually selling it just above manufacturing cost.

    Apple was kind of a bad choice, because iPods will always sell, but it's basically how it works. It allows savvy independent folks the ability to become very successful re-resellers.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944796].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Blinking
      Originally Posted by Kommrad Khol View Post

      Wholesaling/liquidation hunters.

      You can buy entire pallets of liquidated new merchandise for 10% of retail value if you know where to find it.

      Basically, it works like this:
      Let's say Apple wants Walmart to sell their new iPod for the Christmas season. Apple phones Walmart and says "If you buy 20 million of my widgets, I'll buy any you don't sell back from you". Walmart is like "K".

      Then over the holidays, Walmart sells 16 million iPods, and Apple buys back the other 4 million.

      Walmart feels good because of the sales, Apple feels good because it sold 16 million more iPods than it would have, but still has 4 million left. But their next gen is already Gold and hitting the market soon, so they liquidate their stock and sell for as low as they need to in order to make room for the new product, usually selling it just above manufacturing cost.

      Apple was kind of a bad choice, because iPods will always sell, but it's basically how it works. It allows savvy independent folks the ability to become very successful re-resellers.
      Yeah, I know all about liquidation from Liquidation Exporting. Not only would Apple buy them back from walmart, Apple gets to write off all of the money they spent buying them back as a loss, so all those iPods are sitting there, and they can sell them for a penny each and make money. Thanks for the reply anyways.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6950017].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dcristo
    You musn't know about dropshipping. It saves money not having to buy the inventory. A lot of eBay sellers would be doing this. The downside is you work on smaller margins.
    Signature

    Are you wanting to learn all the poker lingo?

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944866].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JabMonkey
    Some people just charge a shipping fee and keep it, so their profit is not from the product itself but from the shipping fee. Then they get free shipping set up with a dropship company, see? I don't know if this is the case here with what you are buying, but I do know some people who make all of their profit from nothing but the shipping fees.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944924].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dcristo
    That's probably true to an extent, but at the end of the day, buyers will compare the total cost, and it's against eBay's TOS to charge excessive postage costs.
    Signature

    Are you wanting to learn all the poker lingo?

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6944948].message }}

Trending Topics