Selling Bread and Butter Items - What gives you hope that this online business will work for you?

This is a question for those who already pass this road long time ago.

I am new in Salehoo and trying to grow in Ebay. I've been selling personal items in Ebay like books, used and new cloth, and anything that I believed that will sell on Ebay. Now I feel that I m ready for more. And for any business that is starting. There is a need for those product that keep them on business. Those items that do not give you a lot of profit but they sell rain or shine and keep you afloat until you sell one big profit item.

Do you remember what you used to sell on your beginnig stage?. What gives you hope that this online business will work for you?

Let's start a conversation and I will like to hear your advise and tips of those who already been there and back.

input greatly appreciated

Hmmm... seem that there is no small business success stories here...

Well, I believed that DVD are a good bread and butter item and I try to find out what this "region" mean.

I found one ebay seller from Thai and the movie I want said
Region all/pal and 2 PAL
What that mean? can the movies be played here is the US or are they Asia versions?

Maybe anybody from the forum knows.

Different areas in the world have different regions, this link will tell you what you need to know in regards to regions.

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In regards to eBay, I started in Second Hand myself and grew from there. Now I have narrowed down that genre in general terms and now specialise, as well as diversified into new products within my online market.

Second Hand is such a great area to get into, endless resources available such as weekend markets, auction house and garage (yard) sales. Not only can you find great deals through these places, if you can talk a good deal, then you can walk away with some sensational buys!

It's not a very popular resource these days because most people don't want to make the effort of leaving their computer for more than a toilet break, hence you have thousands and thousands of people all tripping over themselves to find the same products online.

Most of my business is now done off eBay, but I do have a small eBay business going on the side, just because I would miss it too much if I had no presence there at all lol.

Hi Fudjj

Excellent post. very useful and informative.

By the way thanks for clarify for me the DVD region thing. It will come very handy, if I sell hard to get and collectable DVD's

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I am a firm believer of multiple streams of income. Sometimes there is something you just don't sell no matter how hard you try and later on everybody want the same item. Also sometimes a good selling avenue dry up but you still have a different avenue of income to keep you going.

Also I am doing my Ebay-bootcamp with 2nd. Just today I have a complaining customer that wanted to leave me a negative feedback, want his money back and more. I fix the problem and at the same time I am learning to spot the problematic customers or turn problematic customer into loyal repeat customers.
I will hate to sell to this customer a high cost item. but with seconds I really don't mind to lose the item but I earn a valuable experience.

[quote]but with seconds I really don't mind to lose the item but I earn a valuable experience. [/quote]

Nice! That is the advantage you get from selling second hands - the risk isn't too high yet whatever you gain is just the same as selling something new and expensive :)

With what you recently went through with your customer, I think you might find these an interesting read -

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Also, I would say another really great bread and butter category are consumables - from the word itself, we already know that once the first one is used up/consumed the customer will likely look for another one. Like ink cartridges - I know many are selling these and making a decent income.

Cheers :)

Hi Richelle

Good that you jump in with more useful information.

the links you gave me are great.

And consumables Yeah!! Repeat customers are your bread and butter.
You mention ink cartridges I was actually thinking about HP ink cartridges and other brands that are selling good on Ebay. If you find a way to profesionally re-fill them are a good item to get into. To sell them NEW I don't know if you can get brand name cartridges for re-sale.

You're welcome Tinman,

I'm glad that you found them helpful :) If you have extra time, there are more guides in our education section that you might want to read too!

I'm not sure if he was selling refillable ink cartridges, I'll try to find his post (later) so I can check. But I can't quite recall his name :(

Cheers