Selling Physical Products From Your Home

15 replies
Im living with my Dad after my Mom passed away. They have over 40 years of accumulated stuff in the house. I would like to start selling a lot of what is here, but I dont want to go to ebay to do it... to many high fees.

I would like to sell from my own website. Would anyone know the best way for me to go about doing it this way? .... Or is this a bad idea?
#home #physical #products #selling
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Originally Posted by virtualwhispers View Post

    Im living with my Dad after my Mom passed away. They have over 40 years of accumulated stuff in the house. I would like to start selling a lot of what is here, but I dont want to go to ebay to do it... to many high fees.

    I would like to sell from my own website. Would anyone know the best way for me to go about doing it this way? .... Or is this a bad idea?
    What makes you say there are too many high fees on eBay? eBay earns their money by providing dozens of state of the art selling tools and a ready made marketplace for just about anything imaginable. I was once a powerseller on eBay and made some very good money. I'm in the middle of a little experiment right now selling some things there and so far, it's working out well.

    As for selling from a Website of your own, you could try it but it will be literally impossible for you to get anywhere near the exposure you'd get from eBay. You could try CraigsList but that marketplace isn't even close to the exposure and safety you'd find on eBay.
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    • Profile picture of the author Indecision
      What is your site going to offer me as the customer that ebay doesn't? Remeber, when you are selling something it is the buyer that needs to be made happy, not the seller.

      As the buyer can you protect me if the seller (in this case you) doesn't provide me with the correct/as advertised product? what if there is a payment dispute or I want to return the product? etc. etc. etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Don't worry about the fees. What you want is the eyeballs and the done-for-you financial transactions that eBay provides. How will you get traffic to your site? Who are you going to target?

        Let eBay handle all that stuff. Don't trip over dollars trying to save pennies.

        Good luck,

        Steve
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        Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
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  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    You could sell the items on Amazon as a vendor. My girlfriend does this with good success.

    Cheers,
    Coby
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  • Profile picture of the author virtualwhispers
    Thank you very much for all your suggestions. You all give really good reasons that ebay would be the way to go, so maybe I need to try it out and see how it goes.

    There is sooo much stuff here to put on ebay. Would it be better for me to open a store to sell, or just make listings?
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by virtualwhispers View Post

      Thank you very much for all your suggestions. You all give really good reasons that ebay would be the way to go, so maybe I need to try it out and see how it goes.

      There is sooo much stuff here to put on ebay. Would it be better for me to open a store to sell, or just make listings?
      I wouldn't open a store right away. Start out slowly. Take 10 items you think will sell and search them on eBay. Then click on "advanced" search in the upper right of your page. Then click on completed listings.

      This will show you how many of this item has sold recently and what they sold for. That will give you an idea of what you can get for your stuff. If you have items that aren't showing many sold you might want to try and sell it on craigslist or in a yard or garage sale.

      Do a search for free ebay courses. There are tons of them out there. Do a little reading before you get started. It's not hard though there is a slight learning curve.
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  • Profile picture of the author KyleG1461
    Just make listings. As these will be one-time sales it wont be worth the time or money for a store.
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  • Profile picture of the author JustinG30
    I own an auction house and buy items outright also. Im always looking for antiques, collectibles and memorabilia if you have anything along those lines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Blades
    I would like to start selling a lot of what is here, but I dont want to go to ebay to do it... to many high fees.
    That is a greedy way to think about it, Ebay is actually doing all the selling for you. It's like you are giving them a small commission for each sale they make for you. You can always list stuff for sale on your own website, but you won't sell a thing if you have no traffic coming to it. Ebay already has millions of buyers looking to buy every single day.

    If you want to go the free listing route, than use Craigslist.
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    " I knew that if I failed, I wouldn't regret that.
    But I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. "

    ~ Jeff Bezos

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  • Profile picture of the author paulie123
    You should hold an estate sale. You can run it privately or you can have a third-party company come in and run it for you, particularly if there is a lot of good-conditioned items. Just google "estate sale auctioneers + city" and you should find them. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Sorry about your mom. You can always start up an e-commerce store with Yahoo Shopping. This is a great way to get the ball rolling. You should also consider Craigslist. Alot of physical products sell here fast. And also consider Ebay. Even though you say too many "high" fees, your items can still sell quickly - and profitably.
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  • Profile picture of the author TeamBringIt
    Do this: Open an ebay account, start selling some stuff....also, setup your website using yahoo stores as mentioned. You can let the ebay customers, know about your own website and build the traffic to that site as well...
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    I sell stuff for a friend on ebay. He photos the items and brings them here for me to add for him. It is the easiest way to do it and will give you the best results over time.
    The key is to write a full description and always tell the truth.
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    Cheers, Laurence.
    Writer/Editor/Proofreader.

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  • Profile picture of the author virtualwhispers
    Randall, thank you for your condolences

    Wow, you all have given me great ideas. TeamBringIt, I like this idea along with what Randall Magwood said about a yahoo store.

    Thanks paulie123, but estate sale would be out. My Dad is from back in the day and the neighborhood his house is in... well, you dont want people coming inside (was a beautiful neighborhood when they first bought the house.)

    Alex Blades, Im not a greedy person at all Ive heard sooo much talk about the extremely high fees on ebay and how many companies and people have left ebay because of it, tends to shy a person away.

    JustinG30, I will certainly keep you in mind as I go through things. They have plenty of antiques here.

    KyleG1461...travlinguy and laurencewins, thank you for steering me away from the store, and the run down... that was the first thing I was going to do Thanks again guys, I have a lot of work ahead of me.
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