I joined this site yesterday only to get really frustrated really quickly (not at the site, but at my expectations). There was not a single product that I found that I could beat eBay pricing for. Even if I was willing to buy in (what I'd consider) large monetary quantities, I just can't compete with the deep pockets of the average eBay member.
In the meantime, I don't do bad on estate sale finds, etc. My main goal with eBay is to make a return on my initial investment (I've probably spent $700 so far on inventory, storage, SaleHoo membership, shipping, etc.). Reaching that goal shouldn't be hard; I've picked my single-product-sales pretty carefully. My goal is just to have a bit of spending money. If I made $1000 a month I'd be absolutely elated. If I made $100 a month it would cover a night of beer, and that would be awesome, too.
So anyway, I would imagine that from time to time I'll get lucky and find a small niche on eBay and make a little money. But besides eBay, where else do people sell?
I am thinking of opening a Yahoo store for a niche that wouldn't work well in eBay but isn't really covered online. I could probably dropship for the entire site, actually.
But I also have a little room for merhandise storage. I was thinking CraigsList. My local classifieds would only work if it was something that I could make $100 or $200 profit per product. I just don't feel like dealing with the hassle of people calling me and asking questions.
How do you feel about Amazon? I would imagine that the advantage of Amazon is that people actually think they are buying from Amazon (sort of), so it makes it easier to get clients.
Other auction sites? I'm not familiar with most.
I also don't really want to spend the day at a local flea market, though I guess I would be open to doing so if it was profitable. Again, I don't want much in the way of money. Just to recoup my investments and to make a little extra cash on the side.