Very helpfull advices. Thank you very much!
The best way to start is to sell items that you have around your house. I'm sure that you have stuff that you have stuffed into your closet, attic,garage, etc.
Dvd movies that you no longer watch, kids and baby clothing, anything like that. Just like you would do if you were having a yard sale.
I know you are probably thinking, I don't want to sell junk and I won't make any money from things like that. That's mostly true. HOWEVER, you will accomplish several important things by starting this way.
a: you can quickly build up your ebay feedback by selling these cheap items.
b: you will learn what works best for you from your successful and un-successful listings.
c: you will learn how ebay actually works, get a feel for the site, and how to use it to your advantage.
I could just tell you where to buy a dozen playstation 3's, and say go list those. But most probably you would LOSE a bunch of money, become frustrated and that would be the end of your ebay business. Building a successful ebay business is like building anything. You have to start with a good foundation and then work your way up to the roof..
Start slow and try just selling small items from around your house or from neighorhood yard sales. This way if you make any mistakes they will be lessons learned and not very costly. It also helps to choose to sell something that you have an interest in. The reason behind this is that by doing this, you are somewhat knowledgeable about your product. This is a huge plus when customers start asking questions about your products. Also if you are selling something that you like and have an interest in, it will be much more enjoyable and not more like a job. You will look forward to doing it, which in turn will increase your chances of being successsful.
I started out selling my old video games, some dvd movies, and a few other small items that were just taking up space in my house. I learned how to list them and which shippings methods to use. And I also asked everyone who would listen, a ton of questions. I built up my feedback quickly doing this, which gave me more credibility to ebay buyers. I also learned how to save money on different shipping and handling methods, and things like that. I took the small profits that I made on the original items and went to my local thrift stores and bought some more cheap items, listed them and slowly built up my business, learning along the way, what I liked to sell best and what worked and what didn't.
I know alot of people who jumped right in, listening to all the ' Get Rich overnight on Ebay' and lost all of their budget overnight.
Many new sellers don't really understand how ebay and other auction sites work. They don't take time to understand how the listing fees, fvf (final value vees), paypal fees, shipping and packaging cost, work. They see an xbox selling on ebay for $400 and think, 'Hey that guy is making a ton of money selling those!' So they try to find a wholesaler, (but don't know what true wholesale is) buy a dozen xboxes for $350 thinking they are going to make about 45 to 50 dollars reselling them on ebay.
And then they list them, they sell for the expected $400. But after they pay all the fees, they end up losing twenty bucks on each unit.
Wouldn't it have been much better to have lost twenty cents on a dvd?
Really, just start slow with a few small items. But doing this you will learn what you are doing and how to make improvements doing it. You will establish a good feedback rating, and get an idea of what you want to sell.
Think of a few things that you have an interest in, then go on ebay and see who else is selling those items. Look at their listings and see how they are listing them, such as titles, item descriptions, font and colors, which methods of shipping, different types of listing options they are using, photos, etc. Then try to use these same methods on your items..Let me know if I can be of any help...
