Can't find a single item to sell profitably on eBay

All the dropshippers can't compete with ebay prices.

Hi Inzanestore,

I know this can be a frustrating process, but believe me, there are TONS of items you can obtain from dropshippers and sell profitably on eBay. It's just a matter of how to find them and where to look.

Saying that "all the dropshippers can't compete with eBay prices" is like saying that "all of the restaurants and stores in the world are too expensive". Blanket statements like this rarely hold up under scrutiny.

What do you mean when you say "all the dropshippers"? How many dropshippers did you review? 5? 10? 100? If it's less than 100, you haven't looked at enough of them.

And how did you conclude that their prices can't compete with eBay prices? Did you use a market research tool or just "eyeball" it? Did you look at current listings (unreliable) or completed listings (more reliable, but not as good as a market research tool)?

Sometimes it may take reviewing 100 dropshippers and products to find ones that are viable, but believe me, THEY'RE OUT THERE.

First of all, stay away from high-profile, saturated categories like electronics, computers, cell phone, cameras and video game systems, as well as low-priced media items (CDs, DVDs, video games, and books).

Then go to pulse.ebay.com and, after you ignore the top 10 most popular searches listed on the main page (WAAAYYYY too competitive), start narrowing down the list within each of eBay's main categories (other than the ones I mentioned above), and the 2 levels of sub-categories within each category, and you will find dozens and dozens of popular keywords/products.

Next, subscribe to and utilize a good eBay market research tool like Terapeak, and research each of the keywords/phrases you found on the Most Popular Searches lists on the Pulse site. Any of them with at least a 50% or higher sell-through rate is potentially profitable. Terapeak will also tell you the average selling price of each item, which you can start comparing to the prices you see on dropship websites. Naturally, not every product will end up being viable for you, but there many, many products out there which can be.

Very sound advice, Erika!

One thing I will add is that finding profitable items to sell on eBay does take time.

I've been doing some niche hunting recently, and had almost forgotten how long it can take to find a viable one - as Erika mentioned, you often need to look at 100 suppliers to find the right one for you.

So just remember to hang in there - if it were easy to find profitable niches, they wouldn't be as valuable as they truly are.

REALLY enjoyed this post Erika-- thank you!

LOVE the practical solutions you suggested.

I'm thinking I need to give Terapeak a try!!
Sounds like a "no-brainer!" :))

I'll have to search the forums for any additional
tips on using them----

Otherwise if you have any let me know! :))

Thanks again!

Im just starting out on eBay. Ive never really stuck to anything in life. I have two kids now though and Im trying to hard to make this eBay thing work! Im not a 9to5 kind of person and just cant see myself in a uniform working every day having to call in to take off of work so I work online.

Heres the thing.. My first major sale was an unlocked HTC HD2 smart phone I got from china. Low and behold the thing was a fake but looked beautiful. Even as an htc owner, could not tell the difference. I felt horrible because I made $150 profit which I KNEW was too good to be true for a fake phone. Anyway.. I can find a profitable niche or item anywhere on eBay and for my two children, I am trying so hard to stick to this but It's discouraging when you feel left behind all these power sellers you know?

Hi Chatterbox, and yes I am sure everyone here who sells on on eBay will know what you mean, starting out can be incredibly frustrating. The one I should tell you is that you have chosen one of the most difficult jobs on the planet!

So many people make the mistake of thinking it's easy to sell online because all I need to do is sit back at the PC and the money will come flooding in. To be honest, that is almost how it was in the extremely early days, however they are long gone now.

What we have now are thousands of people flooding the online market every single day of the week, all wanting to sell products online. It's not impossible, far from it in fact, however it does require a very strong determination and a lot of research time to even give yourself a chance in this industry!

Quick tip, you can't buy anything from China that is branded and genuine, no matter what they will tell you, no matter how good it looks, anything branded will be a knock-off, so cross that one off your list.

Let's start with the products that interest you, no guarantees that the support team will be able to find supply leads for those products, but we need a starting point for you and then we can fine tune it from there.

Well, the things that interest me are electronics.. Anything technical, gadget, new fangled thing I seem to have to either buy(after reading many many reviews) or go test out somewhere. I get this from my father who is an electrical technician and brought me to my love of the new age of things being run by computers. The other two things that really interest me are holiday decorations and toys. We deck out my house for christmas every year and I love bringing that joy to other people. Toys mainly because I have two young boys.
'
I knew this wasn't going to be easy, Ive been through every scam out there(affiliate marketing, pay surveys, data entry, ebooks on making $1000) you name it and for the sake of my family ive tried it. eBay has always been on the back-burner for me, but up until recently I didn't really see the possibility of me competing with big company and huge power sellers. I'm still very confused about how I'm going to make this work, what I'm going to sell and what the best route to accomplish this would be(drop ship, wholesale, liquidation).

What sold me on eBay finally in recent past was the fact that I go to bed thinking about things I could be selling and wake up excited to sit down and hope a customer needed help, or maybe I'll have the opportunity to work out a deal for a customer and ship for free. I really cant wait to get up in the morning and start my day of online sales.

Here inlies the dead end. Where do I start, I've read ebooks on eBay and they don't really help. What should I do? I really appreciate this site for all it does. It's a dog race out there. I want whoever is helping me out there, especially you fudjj, that I am in this 110%. I am going to persevere through everything if somebody will bear with me and help me out.

Im not here to steal customers or niches from everyone though. I am a father of a 15 month old and a one month old, I need this for them. When I look at them I want to be the parent who can more than just provide for them, I want to be able to take them up and vacation with them and take my eBay with me. 9 to 5 just doesn't cut it for me, I refuse to miss my children growing up without a father there for them. Anyway, my point in all this is God gave me two beautiful boys, internet gave me eBay and hopefully you can

help me with my endeavors on eBay. Any input and advice as to how I should go about this is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, from probably one of the most grateful people you'll find on here.

Very inspiring chatterbox3121 :)

At least now you have narrowed it down to 3 products - electronic gadgets, decorations and toys.

* Electronic gadgets is one of the most saturated markets to be in especially on eBay you'll be selling side by side with a few wholesalers so competition would be truly tough. Should you venture into electronics start with the small stuff like accessories and avoid selling branded electronics unless you have a really good feedback and DSR score - buyers are very particular about the seller's feedback so try to build it up before going full blast into branded electronics :)

* Christmas decors - would be great to selling this time of year especially now that Christmas is just around the corner. Using our research lab, I found that Christmas decorations have a sell through rate of at least 29.2% with the a relatively high demand and low competition on both eBay.uk and eBay.au

* Toys currently have a sell through rate of 37.4% and a much stiffer market as well! They're are in demand on eBay and eBay.ca but the competition is just as high :( Like Christmas decorations toys would be great this time of year especially if you are able to stock the latest and trendiest ones - we know kids will almost always want whats new and what in. For a list of hot toys, you may visit this link:

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps :) DO try using the research lab especially since you are geared towards selling on eBay - it may prove useful in selecting the products you want to sell.

All the best!

PS - Might want to add a picture to your profile the next time you're in - thanks!

That background and interest you have in the electronics field, does that also include the ability to electronic repair items?

If it does, then I think you would be well served looking at surplus loads of electronic stock. Now these loads are usually very heavily stacked with customer returns, and the thing is that the biggest reason a customer will return an electronic product is because it's not working as expected!

So many people get caught out with these loads when firstly getting into liquidations because of the high failure rate of items, and having no idea how to repair them.

If you have the ability to repair, then surplus electronic loads may well over you some fantastic value, and would be well worth looking at. I would suggest if that's a possibility, talk with Tim from Titan Liquidations about what he could provide you with by way of stock tailored to your requirements.

Titan Liquidations are an Approved Supplier here on the forum.