The enormous growth of eBay has created both opportunities and disasters, depending on where you’re sitting. Because of its immensity, there are thousands upon thousands of people who want to be casual sellers–or who want to be professional sellers, but don’t know how. The problem though, is that because of the rapid growth, being a “casual” seller on eBay no longer works. When it was smaller, there were more success stories, simply because there was less competition than there is today on eBay. But now, it’s just not that easy any more to just throw a listing up on eBay as a lark, and expect to make money.
Besides the casual seller, the second type of unsuccessful eBay entrepreneur is the individual who hasn’t thought out a strategy, and doesn’t realize quite how eBay works. After paying out a few hundred dollars in listing fees and making only two or three sales, they will quickly give up. That said, there are still entrepreneurs who make big money on eBay, but it requires constant vigilance, a coherent strategy, and a good amount of hard work.
When people try and fail on eBay, they still have products that are unsold. This can be your opportunity, and a valuable source of quality goods at very low prices. In what is sometimes referred to as “eBay arbitrage,” you can take advantage of those who tried and failed.
Here’s how it works. You search through eBay, not stopping to look at the Power Sellers and the high-profile successes. Focus on the sellers with fewer sales, that perhaps have not been selling for very long. You’ll be surprised at the bargains you can find. These sellers may well have excellent products, but they lack the marketing savvy to sell them. It’s very common to find good products that have been mis-categorized, for example–products that would otherwise attract bids, but because they are placed in the wrong category, nobody can find them. You may be the only bidder on something that, placed correctly, could attract dozens of bids and a final price well in excess of what you will pay.
You may for example, find an eBay seller who hasn’t made much money and wants to liquidate at any cost. Once again, there may be very few bids, or no bids at all, especially if the seller isn’t proficient in creating good marketing copy.
Are you taking advantage of others? Well, no, not really. In most cases, these individuals have just become frustrated with the eBay process, and need to move on to something else. They’re liquidating their goods at cost or even below cost, and just want to be out from under it. You, since you have a better marketing plan and are more of a dedicated entrepreneur, can do better with the products they could not sell, and so you take them off their hands. They liquidate, and you get new products that you can sell for a profit. Both parties win.
It does sound strange, doesn’t it? Yet it happens with surprising frequency, even within the eBay community. It happens often that an eBay seller buys a product from another seller, then turns right around and re-lists it, and sells it for a handsome profit.
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