Selling second hand items - why not?


fudjj
Site Admin
  • Posts: 6496
  • Joined: 27 Jul 07
  • Karma:
17 Jan 15 05:15:21 am
The way many of us get started on a site like eBay is by selling some of the unwanted things we have around the house on there, second hand stuff. Of course that's no great surprise, but what does surprise me is how many have success with that stating point and then decide to stop and move in a different direction.

It's almost like selling Second Hand was fine to start with, but now it's too amateur or something and they've out grown Second Hand and now need better supply sources. Well those of you that spend any time reading what I write will know that I started on eBay in Second Hand many, many moons ago, and if I was still selling today, it would still be Second Hand I would be selling on there.

I can never work out what the big attraction of dropshipping is to so many, everyone trying to sell the same things in the same place and wondering why on earth they can't make a success of it. OK, maybe a bit overstated, but when did Second Hand become such a dirty word?

If you're struggling with dropshipping, then why not put a few dollars aside and try a little Second Hand sourcing one weekend. Get out and hit the yard sales early on Saturday morning. Good tip, try the higher socioeconomic areas closest to you ..... yes, even the richer among us have yard sales and it then follows that some of the gear you will find may well be of a high standard ....... increasing your chances of good margins!

Don't be afraid of talking a deal, just because the prices are marked down doesn't mean you can't get them even cheaper. Try not to buy just one or two items, see if you can bundle together 6 or more items that have good profit potential. If you bundle you can then make an offer on the complete bundle, not on each individual item and that will usually result in you getting a far better deal for yourself ........ again, increasing your chances of making good margins

Set the alarm clock, it's the early bird that gets the best deals here. Dealers will typically cue up waiting for the gates to open if they have a sniff of something good in there and you need to be on their heels or you'll be picking through scraps most of the time ........ but not always!

Now you can't beat all of them of course, so it's still well worth hitting them late morning, early afternoon. What can happen is some people don't nego heavily early on because the day is just starting, they're full of coffee and the anticipation is high. As the day starts to drag on and they would rather be at the beach, the anticipation has gone and their interest in negotiating grows ever stronger because they just want to be anywhere else, but there at this point, and if you're luck enough to come across one that held out early and is stuck sitting on some choice items, you can get a serious win!

This is the best time for the larger bigger dollar items that they had high hopes of selling, especially furniture items!

That's just yard sales, don't over look markets, charity shops, anything of that nature, even local classifieds. There are squillions of bargains out there, all with plenty of profit if you want to go after them!

Yes, you do need to know what you're buying, but that comes with time and plenty of research. Once you have that down and you develop a keen eye for a bargain, all you need to do is be able to talk a good deal and you may well find that you're not only out and about having fun, but making some good money while doing it.

The one thing people over look with Second Hand is repeat business. A lot of buyers will always keep an eye on your listings once they see some steady variety of items flowing through just to make sure they don't miss out. What about developing a spotters list, take requests on items from people looking for particular items and you've got ready made sales just waiting to cash in on.

My suggestion, don't over look Second Hand, there are a stack of opportunities in that business model!


Mark (fudjj)

Community Manager
SaleHoo.com

Link hidden: Login to view

beachdisney
Full Member
  • Posts: 194
  • Joined: 24 Sep 07
  • Karma:
19 Jan 15 08:37:55 pm
Hey Marc.

Good read!! You have inspired me to clean out the closets. Trying to sell new has gotten me away from selling used. Plenty of stock on hand.
Used functioning electronics is the ONLY catagory where I have 100% sales. I wish I had more. Maybe a visit to Salehoo supplier Link hidden: Login to view is in order.

Time to get busy.

Dale


fudjj
Site Admin
  • Posts: 6496
  • Joined: 27 Jul 07
  • Karma:
19 Jan 15 11:02:13 pm
Hi Dale,

It's funny, but that's what happens to most people. Almost everyone starts selling second hand from around the house, has some success and then forgets all about second hand lol. You're onto something with the electronics, if you can source at the right price, and let me say that I personally think VIA is a great place to start, you always have a solid chance at margin in that field.

Little tip, when dealing in surplus loads you're always going to get a % of stuffed items, that's the market, but don't just assume because they don't work that there isn't any value in them. If the brand is good enough, always people looking for things they can fix and on sell, but there is also a spare parts market as well.

I know someone that took a kitchen load from VIA years ago, complained about a lot of broken stuff. One item they we'rent happy with was a knife set, came with the bock and 3 knives, missing 2 knives. They were going to throw it and I had to stop them and say, you've got 3 knives and a block there, list them all individually and see how you go.

They did, made 70 odd dollars selling everything individually where they were going to throw that 70 bucks in the bin!!

Goes to show, you can turn all sorts of things into cash!


Mark (fudjj)

Community Manager
SaleHoo.com

Link hidden: Login to view

beachdisney
Full Member
  • Posts: 194
  • Joined: 24 Sep 07
  • Karma:
20 Jan 15 12:06:00 am
Hi Marc.

I used to work for one of the largest sellers on eBay. He was getting in and shipping out a trailor load of salvage and liquidation electronics a day, every day. Fed X showed up @ 3:30 pm. You could set your clock by it. It left full.

ebay shut him down. He was charging 99 cents for an auction and 20 dollars for shipping small things like computer memory.

I am kind of hesitant to sell on eBay again do to all the horror stories of being shut down for no reason.

Would Salehoo Stores be a good platform to sell used items?

I tried Link hidden: Login to view and I moved almost nothing. They contacted me in response to a question I had and they told me bonanza was not a good platform to get rid of stuff.

If I were to put a mixed bag of products online ie. hand tools in one catagory and women's leather winter gloves in another, would it look like I was confused and unable to make up my mind or would a variety of products draw some interest? My own version of an online dept. store.

Thanks.

Dale


fudjj
Site Admin
  • Posts: 6496
  • Joined: 27 Jul 07
  • Karma:
20 Jan 15 01:26:05 am
I would say his biggest issue would have been the DSR, hard to get away with over charging on shipping these days and while you might be able to for a while, the big problem is that the eBay DSR will catch up to you sooner or later with customers slamming your rating on shipping charge. Once your DSR gets to a certain point then eBay get involved and then you have trouble. If you don't get it back up, and quickly, you are at serious risk of them cancelling it.

Just reading between the lines, that would my guess at what happened to him.There are all sorts of eBay stories of accounts getting closed for no reason, but in my experience, there is always a reason, it's just that people tend to leave that important bit out from the story so they look like the victim!

In regards to a SaleHoo platform, it's as good as any other independent getting around in my opinion, but it always comes back to marketing. eBay works because it has traffic flow and traffic flow equals opportunities. So an independent website, such as a SaleHoo store is going to give you the platform, you then have to drive traffic to that platform to be successful.

I would argue that a combination of both a SaleHoo store and eBay funnel would be the best overall option.

Regarding layout, it's 6 of one 12 of the other I think. Really comes down to personal preference. I look at online business the same as offline business, certainly for the most part at least. If it works in a bricks and mortar store, then no reason it can't work online. Variety stores work offline, but are usually well designed so everyone knows where to go to find what they want. Same principle online, lay it out well and I can't see a problem having it all under one virtual roof.

That would be my preference, certainly. It gives you a stack of cross marketing opportunities that you can take advantage of. For example, if a customer comes in looking to buy a bucket and sees that you have pair of gloves (that they just happen to also want) then you can turn one sale into tow and so on. It's much harder to cross market that effectively if you split the stores up.

Cheers


Mark (fudjj)

Community Manager
SaleHoo.com

Link hidden: Login to view

monicamia.amparo
Full Member
  • Posts: 30
  • Joined: 12 Mar 15
  • Karma:
15 Mar 15 10:59:12 pm
I sell a lot of Second Hand stuff online-- rule of thumb for me when I want a closet clean up; when a particular item has not been worn or touched or used one year, I don't need it and can go. There is an especially large market for baby apparels and accessories (toys and gadgets) New and second time parents are always on the look out for month-specific items and in my experience, the easiest to sell.


trillbee
Full Member
  • Posts: 9
  • Joined: 10 Apr 15
  • Karma:
12 Apr 15 10:30:14 pm
I started my online business with second hand clothes from thrift shop. What I do is I find rare clothes which I know people would love to buy. Because I myself like my clothes different from others. I don't usually buy my clothes and accessories in the mall because I hate whenever I see other people wearing the exact same clothes as mine. I enjoyed selling unique finds on my online store. The best part in selling second hand clothes is you'll really get a big profit on each item. :) The more unique your product is, the more chances consumer will buy it on a higher price. And yes, same as you guys, I also sell my own clothes and other stuff that I barely used in my online shop. Take advantage of all the technologies that we have right now and start selling second hand stuff online. Trust me, it will be fun. :)


iamjohnramos
Full Member
  • Posts: 12
  • Joined: 13 Mar 16
  • Karma:
13 Mar 16 11:07:33 pm
Selling 2nd hand merchandise has a massive potential that could stir up some good fortune, IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. No matter what the economy is like, they will always be attractive because they allow consumers to buy gently used, quality goods at a fraction of retail price. I personally don't mind buying and owning 2nd hand items for as long as you stick with the known and reliable brands. One of the best avenue to explore is in this line of business is with gadgets, considering the fast phase of technology, I'm sure you'll be right from track.


aahchng
Full Member
  • Posts: 30
  • Joined: 18 Aug 05
  • Karma:
5 Apr 16 12:27:45 pm
beachdisney wrote:Hi Marc.

I used to work for one of the largest sellers on eBay. He was getting in and shipping out a trailor load of salvage and liquidation electronics a day, every day. Fed X showed up @ 3:30 pm. You could set your clock by it. It left full.

ebay shut him down. He was charging 99 cents for an auction and 20 dollars for shipping small things like computer memory.

I am kind of hesitant to sell on eBay again do to all the horror stories of being shut down for no reason.

Would Salehoo Stores be a good platform to sell used items?

I tried Link hidden: Login to view and I moved almost nothing. They contacted me in response to a question I had and they told me bonanza was not a good platform to get rid of stuff.

If I were to put a mixed bag of products online ie. hand tools in one catagory and women's leather winter gloves in another, would it look like I was confused and unable to make up my mind or would a variety of products draw some interest? My own version of an online dept. store.

Thanks.

Dale



Hi I'm new on here so probably replying in the wrong way. I love second hand stuff but my question is how do I ship it to people overseas, I'm a bit lost and to be honest really hesitant on selling anything on ebay, I've always stuck with trademe but I know there fees and that. So I'm confused with the tax id and what EU countries etc. I find selling is easy but the shipping part is where I stumble in. Help is much appreciated and thankyou for all the topics on here, and all the work SALEHOO HAS DONE. I've had a membership for awhile I think when Salehoo was just starting out and I'm amazed at how much it has grown ..so THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR all your hard work everyone!


aahchng
Full Member
  • Posts: 30
  • Joined: 18 Aug 05
  • Karma:
5 Apr 16 12:29:55 pm
Hi I'm new on here so probably replying in the wrong way. I love second hand stuff but my question is how do I ship it to people overseas, I'm a bit lost and to be honest really hesitant on selling anything on ebay, I've always stuck with trademe but I know there fees and that. So I'm confused with the tax id and what EU countries etc. I find selling is easy but the shipping part is where I stumble in. Help is much appreciated and thankyou for all the topics on here, and all the work SALEHOO HAS DONE. I've had a membership for awhile I think when Salehoo was just starting out and I'm amazed at how much it has grown ..so THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR all your hard work everyone!

See I did put it in the wrong place sorry.


fudjj
Site Admin
  • Posts: 6496
  • Joined: 27 Jul 07
  • Karma:
5 Apr 16 08:09:28 pm
Hi Amos, welcome back and glad that you like how we have evolved since you were last here :)

Shipping internationally is no big deal, in fact it's pretty much the exact same as shipping locally, only thing different is the postcode. Just make sure you price your shipping accurately before listing a product or alternatively, price international shipping based on inquiries prior to bidding. Weight and size are always going to be the enemy, so always bare that in mind with your products.

Regarding taxes, any taxes incurred by a purchase of any kind is the responsibility of the buyer, not the seller. So if you did end up selling anything that did incur a tax, then that would be passed on to the buyer at their end.

In regards to tax id, that is only relevant to you if you are purchasing from a supplier that requires you to have one to open an account with them. It's not something that is of any concern when dealing second hand whatsoever.

BTW, nothing wrong with the post's location at all and if there ever is, we simply move it to help you out, so no drama at all :)

Cheers


Mark (fudjj)

Community Manager
SaleHoo.com

Link hidden: Login to view

aahchng
Full Member
  • Posts: 30
  • Joined: 18 Aug 05
  • Karma:
7 Apr 16 11:28:04 am
Thank you Mark and everyone very helpful, as I would like to sell on ebay or amazon so I will read more on the site and everyone's expertise advice, much appreciated.

Have a great weekend.


fudjj
Site Admin
  • Posts: 6496
  • Joined: 27 Jul 07
  • Karma:
7 Apr 16 06:06:19 pm
Cheers Amos, nice to have you here on the forum with us :)


Mark (fudjj)

Community Manager
SaleHoo.com

Link hidden: Login to view

 

SaleHoo helps over 137,216 online business owners
find reliable low cost suppliers

Find out how
cron