Having problem making a living as an e-auctioner!

K it is kind of long so bear with me i kind of rambled a little btw this is my first post :D


i have a very small 10 to 20 items a month ebay business going on.

i have read several books, trolling forms and talking to several differnt ppl about haveing what i would call a mobile business.

now my business is entering the next phase where i could work smart instead of hard and not have a job imited by what other people want to pay me.

the problem i'm having is the margins on physical stuff I.E. ( selling pots, books, figures and other stuff) is way to low it would seem like it would strave the business instead of feed it?

i here $5 to $10 profit would mean that i would have to have at least 100 min to 1000 items a month sold on ebay or other autions sites to make it.

that is a lot of items that is (a 100 items would break down too 25 a week at $5 , a 1000 items would break down too 250 a week at $5)

now besides certain items (cars, jewels, and informational plus virtuial items)

sorry if i rambled a little

first Question is: is how do you live off of that

second Question which kinds of answer that first:
where can you find a good suppler who could supplie the above at a good price and not a retail price that i see so much.

i know i have more question just can not think of them now

exsample of the above would be:

ipod

retail lets say: $150

wholesale: 1-20 $150, 20-40 $145, 40-60 $140

i have seen numbers simler to this why?

Well in the world of buying wholesale. Most dont understand that when you purchase items wholesale your going to get little profits.

Retail chains like wal-mart make very little on each item they sell, But since they sell so much they make those little profits turn into big profits based on mass sales.

If you notice the big powersellers on ebay are doing very much the same thing. The number 1 Powerseller on ebay is jayandmarie


This guy and his wife sell over 20,000 items a month and thier average profit per item is $4-$9 per sale. So basically they generate over $140,000 in total revenues. Or profits.

There is no true profit item that will guarantee you massive profits per item. There are items that can make you more money but they are hard to find and aquire. Oversaturated markets such as ipods and digital cameras are in that low profit field.

There are so many new members of salehoo trying to find these so called high profit items they dont realize that items like ipods can generate such a small profit margin that its not really worth going into. They could make the same or more selling smaller value items like clothes.

One of the most over exagerated ads online is how high dollar electronics are the most profitable to sell. The truth is that its no better then selling items as simple as a dvd movie. If you sell A high dollar item you must also remember that ebay charges a listing fee and a final value fee. Thus the final value fee can very well flush your profit margin down the toilet.

If you are looking for a great supply of general goods, Link hidden: Login to view has a great supply of over 1000 products sold up to 80% off retail. There are many items that I have seen people make more than $20 an item on ebay. We offer safe payment through paypal or most major credit cards and offer great volume discounts. Please contact us at Link hidden: Login to view with any questions. We look forward to serving customer such as yourself who will have a steady flow of purchases. Good luck with your ebay endeavors.

I made high profits from reselling videos games.

A lot of games sell up to $100 roughly in Australia.

Examples...

Link hidden: Login to view (I paid AU $26.02) RRP $99.99 AU
Link hidden: Login to view (I paid AU $16.56) RRP $49.99 AU
Link hidden: Login to view (I paid AU $12.36) RRP $79.99 AU
Link hidden: Login to view (I paid AU $12.85) RRP $?

I made about $40 profit from selling Canis Canem Edit after ebay selling fees and such. Also made around $20 - $30 profit on the other games, if you can buy them brand new and cheap enough like I did... you could have a little more profit but it's an unreliable source of income... there's always dry spells.

thx for the replays so far

I agree about the ipods and other items (like electronics)...we sold a good amount on the auctions this Christmas...and once those listing and final value fees came around...man we were bummed.
Ate a big hole in our profits and the market was super saturated as it was!!! We were lucky with the supply and demand the way it was that we turned a profit at all, but the auction site did eat that up.
I was already aware that would happen, and I was willing to take that chance, give it a try. But it all adds up and it's discouraging. There's another discussion on here about using the most popular online auction site (don't know if i can name it here) vs. others and vs. your own store. And it offers some suggestions as well.
But I'm still looking for a 'thing' to sell and be successful with.
Good luck