If you have tried selling products on eBay, you probably already know how difficult it is to find products cheaply enough to sell for a fair profit these days.
You may not have considered several good sources right under your nose in your own hometown. But, there is a big question: Which sources deliver the least amount of hassle for the most profit?
Let’s consider the 9 most imaginative local sources but, first, understand that eBay no longer allows sales of downloadable ebooks and software. Everything sold on eBay today must be a physical product that must be shipped to the buyer.
This means that hundreds of sellers of downloadable products were put out of business. The upside is, that made for more business for folks selling physical products. This also means that there are still old programs being sold to teach you how to sell “digital products” on eBay. The best advice is do not buy any such programs that do not offer a Money Back Guarantee! You will be ripped off.
While the following list of 9 suggestions focuses on your community, do not forget to search online for suppliers of products you can buy at wholesale and sell at retail. There are hundreds of such websites offering deals but you need to be very cautious and do your research.
At the end of this article is a link to a wholesale product membership site that is rated #1 for member statisfaction, guarantee, and quality of products. Check them out after you exhaust the local sources. They even have a member forum where members help each other succeed.
One more factor to consider is Shipping, Handling, and Sales Tax. Many wholesale product sources will dropship products to your customers so you never actually handle the products. Sales Taxes are another matter. You should check your state for rules on this.
Now, here are the top 9 methods to find low cost products locally that you can sell on eBay:
1. Garage sales.
Chances are you’ve gone most of your life seeing ads for these and ignoring them. I still do ignore them because I hate getting up early to beat the crowd for the bargains. That said, you should start going to as many of these sales as you can.
You will not always find good bargains at every one, but, when you find one seller with lot’s of saleable stuff, make them an offer for the lot! They will be glad to give you a real bargain price.
Just toss the junk and sell the good items on eBay for a nice profit.
2. Flea Markets.
If your area has flea markets, then go to them regularly and look around for anything with profit potential and buy it. Again, see if you can make a package deal.
Sellers love to make a fast profit so they can pack up early.
3. Second hand stores.
Pawn shops are getting harder to find but they can be a lucrative source. Pawn shops operators don’t usually know about how much the stuff is worth if they sell it on eBay so some real bargains are to be had.
The exception is gold and precious stones. They know the value of those but, generally, they put the rest of their items out on the shelves haphazardly, knowing that eventually someone with a little money will come in and buy something.
Again, the buy-in-bulk rule applies. Get them to offer you a discount for a bunch of stuff you think might sell well on eBay. And, never tell them you are selling on eBay!
The same holds true for second hand or next-to-new stores. Grab some bargains!
4. Auction houses.
It’s a good bet that you can resell things for more than you pay for them at an auction. After all, they only have a few people in that room so competition is not as tough as you might think.
Remember, you have a few million prospects to sell to on eBay so bid a little higher on items you know are in demand on eBay.
5. Newspaper ads.
This is great way to beat out other potential competitors.
Place [spin]a classified ad in the local paper that reads: “I pay cash for your (item type)” with your phone number included. If you can afford it, make it a big display ad, so it will be noticed.
Families will call you first rather than go through the aggravation of running their own ad and having to deal with phone calls and curious people.
6. Comunity boards.
Put one of your ads on the grocery store or laundromat community board, saying “I Pay cash for your (item type).” Here again, folks will call you to avoid the hassle of advertising and people calling them at all hours or not showing up.
7. Neighbors.
Ask your friends and neighbors if they have anything they’d like to sell to you and ask them to spread the word to their friends and neighbors. Or, ask them to let you sell their stuff for them and split the profits. We have one store in our town that advertises for stuff to sell on eBay and splits the profits with the owners of the items sold.
8. Become known as a buyer.
Give out business cards and, every chance you get, mention to people what you do. Chances are you will come across someone who will say: “Oh, really? I’ve got a load of (item) I would love to get rid of.”
9. WalMart and other retail outlets.
This might be a little surprising, but some retailers, like WalMart, sell things more cheaply than the same items sell for on eBay.
Take a look around your local deep discounter, like WalMart, and also pay special attention to any store that takes trade-ins or returns from customers. Chances are they take a loss on trade-ins as a promotional gimmick and would love to get rid of that stock. This also true of returned merchandise.
WalMart is especially good because they have hundreds of items in their clearance aisles that you can buy cheaply and sell in areas of the country that do not have a big discount store like WalMart.
WalMart’s return policy makes this a steal because many of the products were not really used at all, while others are simply discontinued models or end of season sale items.
For example, my daughter bought a set of eight glasses for $3 and sold them for $6 a pair on eBay. Nice profit, indeed!
The suggestions in this post are all labor intensive so here is an excellent source that tells how to tap into the WalMart-eBay connection: work from home on line. And, for the #1 Internet membership site for thousands of products you can sell on eBay, see: drop ship services. Author, Jim DeSantis, is a retired TV News Editor and Investigative Reporter.
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