Where do you find cheap wholesale prices?

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.

Well I primarily sell on ebay. We have from time to time purchased large lots of absolute garbage and opened up booths at the state fair and made some nice profits off of bracelets, nipple and toe rings, glow in the dark items and sunglasses. And other misc junk young kids and teens like to buy.

Our secondary sales come from newspapers. Some of the stuff we buy in large lots on ebay we resell through the newspapers. And we actually make more money through the classifieds then we do on ebay. If I find a camera on ebay that averages 200 bucks less then retail and I have the money I buy 5 or 6 them and sell them for 60-100 bucks more through the local paper. Avoiding listing fees and other transaction costs. This summer I have actually been spending more time using the paper then on ebay itself.

Were still selling around 150-200 items per month on ebay but, my wife and I have sold over 60 items through the papers in the last 3-4 weeks that are making at least $20-50 in profits per item.

I would assume that yahoo stores or amazon would be a nice thing to try but right now I dont have the time or the desire at the moment.

Wow, that's interesting. So when you see something on eBay do you look it up on Wal-Mart.com or something?

I guess that's sort of the reverse of wanting to sell on eBay. I find electronics and can't even dream of competing with the eBay prices. At the same time, if I bought the item on eBay I could undercut even the big local stores (with much less volume) and still make a pofit.

Care to share more about your eBay to classifieds method? How do you pick items? How do you handle payments? Do you ever buy wholesale from somewhere besides eBay then sell on classifieds? Etc.?

Thanks in advance!

Well put it this way. I normally check prices with best buy or circuit city for electronics. If you buy a new camcorder that retails for $799 on for $599 on ebay. And you buy one that comes with the special bundle. The bundle itself can be worth $75-$150 or more. Run an ad in the paper for.

' Brand New: (model) Camcorder , + $300 in accessories, Total Value $1,099. Need $$$ ,Must Sell $675 Firm. Call 217-555-5555 Ask For Jim. '

This is similar to ads I run. Normally I get up to 10 calls for a single day ad. And When someone decides they want to buy I accept cash only for payment.

There are still millions of people that dont know about ebay or are just to scared to buy on ebay. When they see a deal where they can save 100 or more on a product they bite like starving fish on deals that you can offer.

I would advise against selling on amazon, unless you are sure you are going to make a large profit, because if you sell on amazon marketplace, they charge a 33% final value fee.

33 % Whoa **RipOff** :shock:

You may want to try froogle if you have a website because you can list your products for free there and Froogle results are always the top spot if searching for a specific product in Google.

Hello.Another site that you may want to try is EBid.com.There are no listing fees whatsoever and you can even open multiple stores for free as well.Alot cheaper than EBay.