Is selling on Ebay Profitable?

Selling on ebay can definitely be profitable, I know because I have done it for the past couple years or so and have made some descent extra income. I'm not sure about pc repair cds, but I wrote a book that teaches people how and where to get profitable items to sell on ebay and I use to sell it for 9.99 per copy on ebay. These days I just give it away as a viral ebook. Try going to storage locker auctions and try using craigslist to get proitable items to sell. You can find some really good items this way. Hope this helps!

I agree here. A good strategy is to make money on the backend, be it an opt in, an upsell product etc.

Also, if you are sellign things at a cheap break even price you will likely get a lot of sales meaning you are building your account history up. This is very important when selling in the future..people really look at quantity of sales from the seller when they are determining who to buy from

It can still be profitable but it's a lot more difficult than it was around 2003 or so. The trick is picking underserved niches and staying away from the big boys with deep pockets who dominate the top level niches.

eBay is free? What a mug I must have been to keep paying them all those listing and final value fees

To the OP, unless you have access to a cheap and reliable source of in-demand items, I'd go for creating or commissioning your own exclusive products - or concentrate on a very specialist area within a larger niche.



Frank

For a three month period in the beginning of 2006 I was selling 10-15K a month in coins on consignment on eBay and keeping a 25-30% commission with happy and repeat customers. I had a newspaper ad running in my local paper and was getting fairly steady calls and I was having a blast.

They would call, I would talk to them on the phone a develop a rapport, schedule an appointment to view the coins and give them a proposal on spot. Any time I scheduled a meeting I would write a contract and go home with 3 to 5K in coins to sell. I was amazed that people trusted me that much after a phone call & a face to face.

3 months in the phone stopped ringing & I did not know how to get more leads. I tried to struggle on for a month or so afterward but could not afford to keep the ad going. I was crushed & had to go back to a J.O.B.

I have tried to advertise through a blog but the trust issue is a hard one to overcome long distance.

Is the selling on consignment business model still a viable one? I really love coins and enjoyed being in business on my own while it lasted, I got to meet really nice people and build trust with them and would love to continue on in that model if it still works.


If I had it to do over again I would have kept a second job and not lived off the money, but we live and we learn.

Andy

It all depends on the product and on the way you are offering to your ebay costumers....