Flea Marketing 201

EBay has earned it's place in cyberspace as the world's largest rummage sale. It is a great place to resell vintage and preowned items. The profit margin can be huge when you know what to buy.

Some great ideas for finding second hand inventory were given in earlier in Flea Marketing 101.

Here are some more things to look for when shopping for eBay inventory:

Scrapbooking Supplies (Creative Memories)
Stamping Supplies (Stampin' Up)
Games for Wii, XBox, DS
Digital Cameras (even broken can be sold for $20-30)
Vintage Phones (color and style matter here)
Electric Rollers (Richard Caruso Brand or Remington certain colors)
Hooked on Phonics Sets/Learn to Read, Write or Do Math Sets
Unopened, unused makeup (Brand names)
Perfume (Brand Name, can be opened or used)
Dance and gymnastic costumes and shoes
Sport Shoes, Cleats (Brand Names)
Longaberger Baskets
Pier One Pottery and Dishes
Fishing Gear
Board Games (intact and complete with instructions)

Always get items as cheap as possible. If you are at a personal sale, strike up a bargain. If you are shopping the thrift markets, go on discount days or shop for items that are on sale.

Make sure to use Terapeak Price Report or do your own research on eBay to see what items are selling for.

A resource that will pay for itself over and over again is Garage Sale Goldmines.

Retail Resale--Risk Free Ebay Inventory

If you live in an urban area of any significant size you have a great opportunity to acquire inventory (risk free) to sell on eBay. Many eBay sellers earn decent money reselling items purchased at their local stores.

Many online shoppers live in rural areas or in foreign countries and don't have access to the stores we take for granted. They especially lack access to sales and to clearance items. This is where an eBay seller can help out! You do the digging and find the bargains and sell it to them on eBay.

Here are some tips to get started:

1.) Stick to name brands. They sell much better on Ebay and are what people search for.
2.) Look for clearance and deeply discounted items. EBay items usually sell for 10-20% below retail, so you will need to buy things discounted at least 40%.
3.) Make sure you list it as "new" and mention in your description that it is "new with tags."
4.) Research before you buy. You may need to make two trips, to see what is on sale and compare it to the completed listings on eBay. A smart phone helps out here.
5.) Save your receipts and pay attention to return policies; this makes it simple to return unsold items.
6.) Store Suggestions: TJ Maxx, Marshalls, American Eagle, Hollister, Abercrombie, DSW Shoes, Outlet Malls

Last Spring, I walked into Walmart and noticed the Twilight Board Game for sale. I knew the Twilight books and new movie were very popular. I bought a couple of the games to see if I could sell them on eBay. They were $15 at Walmart and I put them on Ebay for $30. By the next morning, both of the games had sold. I returned to Walmart and bought all the games they had in stock. It was a nice week for me on Ebay thanks to that one item.

If you have any "retail resale" success stories, I would love to hear about them!

Creative Ebay Auctions

My six year-old daughter loves Zhu Zhu pets and she loves shopping on Ebay. Tonight she was shopping on Ebay for a new mechanical hamster to add to her collection. She came across some cute, tie dye Zhu Zhus. At first, I thought the manufacturers of this latest toy obsession were capitalizing on their luck and the Zhu Zhu craze by offering a wider range of hamsters. Upon closer inspection, however, I learned that these are CUSTOM MADE Zhu Zhus that are being sold by a creative ebay seller.

I LOVE IT! Some of these little guys (around $8 at Walmart) are going for $40-$50 with their custom paint jobs.

Zhu Zhu pets were THE toy to buy and sell on ebay this past holiday season. Sellers who were able to get the pets were easily able to triple their investment reselling them on Ebay. As the holiday season came to a close and the supply of hamsters caught up with the demand, the ebay value of these guys eroded quickly. It was fun while it lasted.

However, this creative seller is taking the Zhu Zhu obsession to the next level. By adding a little paint and a little time, she is to making the Zhu Zhu unique and capitalizing on the latest toy trend.

Seeing sellers like this one is inspiring. There are hundreds of popular products that could be improved or customized and sold on ebay. Using the advanced search option in ebay and the words "custom" or "refurbished" can get your gears rolling.

Using Your Ebay Store

Yeah! I love my ebay store.

No matter where this ebay journey takes me, there will always be time to scour garage sales and put treasures into my ebay store to wait for the right buyer. It seems like just as I tire of looking at them on my shelf, and wonder if they are ever going to find a home, someone comes along and snags them.

This weekend a buyer plucked a group of five coffee cups out of my ebay store. He paid $20 for them. They cost me a total of 50 cents. I LOVE that profit margin!

The math:

Sale Price $20.00
Handling Charge: $1.00
Inventory Cost: .50
Store Carrying Cost: .18 (six months in the store at .03/month)
FVF & PayPal 3.00
PROFIT: $17.32

Lynne Dralle, AKA the Queen of Auctions, clued me into the coffee cup idea. She is an expert at figuring out what to buy at local garage sales to sell on ebay. I have learned a lot from her and highly recommend her as a teacher if you want to sell collectables.

She has written many great books and has an entire "boot camp" dedicated to helping sellers learn how to find antiques and collectibles and sell them on ebay.

Take a look at Lynne's book right here

Brainstorm Session: What To Sell on Ebay

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What Can I sell on Ebay?

After selling on ebay for over a year this is still the biggest question in my mind and still the number one discussion point on the forums I follow. The answer to this question is unique to each seller and changes constantly. Even the largest Ebay sellers are constantly adjusting their inventory mix and product line to stay up with trends and ahead of competition.

The most successful ebay sellers constantly think about product sourcing. They don't sit in front of their computers 24/7 to come up with great ideas, they generate these ideas in their everyday lives.

Lisa Suttora did a wonderful job getting me into the product sourcing mindset. She has a powerful course called the Power of Ten Product Sourcing. Lisa has been a huge mentor of mine and has helped hundreds of ebay sellers find their way. You can look at her powerful course right here.

Power of 10 Product Sourcing

You have to start looking at everything as a potential ebay product.

Look closely at product displays in your local Target or at the local mall. What are the stores highlighting? Is there a market on Ebay for these products?

Look at Sunday advertisements in the newspaper. How are they bundling the products? Stores have to stay on top of trends and they are going to show off their best sellers. You can even source ebay inventory right at your local store. Keep in mind that everyday USA products are hard to come by in other parts of the world. UK and Canadian shoppers will pay a premiumm for US products that they cannot buy at home.

Start seeing every situation as a chance to gather product ideas for ebay. Your trendy friends probably know the latest purse or perfume fad. Take note of what they are wearing and where they are buying it. You might be able to pick up the same item at Marshall's or TJ Max or even second hand and resell it on ebay for a profit.

Watch the teenagers. Look at what are they wearing, carrying and watching on TV. They have enormous buying power and noticing what is popular among teenagers can lead to great ebay ideas.

Pay attention to new release movies. Hot movies can generate a lot of affiliate products that do well on ebay. When the Twilight series was popular, I bought Twilight Board Games at Walmart and sold them for a nice profit on Ebay. I also bought Twilight perfume at retail and turned a nice profit on ebay. Keep in mind that some movies are released in the US prior to release worldwide. These can sell quite well on ebay. International fans love to get their hands on these movies before they arrive in their towns.

Look for items unique to your local area to sell on ebay. Do you live in a college town? Your local stores probably carry products with the team logo that will sell on ebay. If your team is having a good year in sports, these can be especially hot items. Is there a food or product made locally in your area? Items that are hard to get nationally or internationally are going to have a lot less competition on ebay.

Consider selling information products. These are great money makers that you can sell over and over on ebay at almost 100% profit. You have skills that not everyone has. Can you sew, build, repair small appliances? Do you know how to clean efficiently, organize a shed or schedule a household of eight? People are willing buy information on ebay to learn how to do things they cannot do themselves.

Flea Marketing 101

Get there early and be ready to bargain. Scour through the entire sale, picking up your "maybes" as you go along. Use your phone's ebay application for items you aren't sure about. Keep the following list in your mind (or in your pocket) when looking for inventory to sell on ebay:

Anything with tags: If you can list an item on ebay as "new with tags," the value increases. Name brands and trendy items will do best here.

Books: Focus on non fiction and "coffee table" books. Avoid fiction books unless you can get them super cheap (10-25 cents each.) Books are easy to sell on ebay, half.com or on amazon. Learn more about selling books with a great and reasonably priced ebook loaded with tried and true ideas for book sellers. I bought this ebook a few months ago and it has paid for iteself several times over.

Winter Coats: Children and Adult. Name brand and pristine condition coats sell well on ebay. Brands to watch for: Gap, Hollister, Abercrombie, Anne Klein, Roth's Child, Gymboree.

Shoes: Name brand and in top notch condition. Depending on the brand, plan on getting $10-20 pair on ebay.

Dishes: Bought in a set (aim to spend $25-$35) and split into lots of 2 or 4, these can have an excellent profit margin.

Toys--current or vintage: Condition matters here, but there is a huge market for toys on ebay. Vintage toys can do quite well. I bought two "See and Say" plastic toys at a garage sale recently for $1 each and they each brought around $15. I also sold a lot of old Lincoln Logs for around $70.

Coffee Cups: Look for Starbucks or Trader Joe cups. Think trendy and nationally known. Coffee Cups do very well on ebay.

Lynne Dralle (the queen of auctions) has buying and selling second hand items down to a science. I've listened to several seminars with her and she is helpful, fun and willing to share her ebay secrets. She has been selling on ebay for over 10 years and makes a good full time living selling unique and antique items on ebay. She explains the particulars and gives great advice on exactly what to watch for when shopping to resell items on ebay. Check out her book:



Another resource that is highly recommended comes from an accomplished ebay seller. If you are looking to become an expert at flea bay markeing check out Garage Sale Goldmines to learn all of the tricks.

Trash to Cash--what is my stuff worth?

Gather your junk and start a business. Who would have thought? Ebay makes this idea possible. The great thing about starting in ecommerce is the necessary investment is almost zero.

Once you have a pile of items from around your abode to sell, grab a computer and a pencil and start your research.

To do research on Ebay, utilize Ebay's advance search option (next to the main rectangle on top of Ebay's page) and then check the box with "completed listings."

You will now see all of the listings for whatever you typed into the search rectangle for the past 30 days. If the price is in green it is showing a sold item, if it is in red, the item ended without selling. Pay attention to what the item ended at if it did sell--this gives you a ballpark figure on what you can expect.

If there is wide fluctuations in price on sold items, review the listings for the highest and lowest items and see if you can learn anything. Were the items listed in a fixed price or auction format? Did one have a higher starting price (this is hard to determine, but you can "guesstimate" from the number of bids an item received.) Did one seller have substandard feedback (below 99%?)

Also review your current competition. How many other sellers are selling the same thing you are selling? What prices are they asking?

If you do not find anything that matches the item you are researching, do not dismiss it. Check other sites for value ideas, Amazon is a great source for research. You will only be able to check the asking prices but this will give you an idea.

Keep in mind that you may be able to add value to your listing by grouping it with similar items. The reverse might also work. An entire set of dishes brings less than the pieces do sold in small groups.

Once you have a good idea of what you can expect when you list the item, make a quick sticky note with this information. Include anything interesting you have learned in the research. You might note if the items sells mostly at auction or fixed price. You can jot down whether it is a common item or a rare item. Place it right on the item. This will save you valuable time when you start listing.

Now is when you decide if the item is worth your time to sell. When I started, and even now, I am willing to accept a profit of two or three dollars from something I already own. Especially if the item is easy to package and ship and especially if I have a lot of similar items to sell. Those small sales can add up quickly.

If you need to build your feedback score every single sale is going to help you do that. Buyers will review your feedback and the more recent successful sales you have, the better off your chances of selling.

Don't forget to make a list of heavy or bulky items to consider for Craig's List.

Make two piles--one of items worthy to sell and another of items that can be donated. Do yourself a favor and do not return any these items to your closet:) If you are willing to part with them today, you will not miss them tomorrow.

Get excited, you are about to start earning money on the internet!

Ecommerce Beginings--Tap into your $5000 in Free Inventory

Did you know that most sellers on ebay start out without any investment? They don't rent a building, they don't hire any employees, they don't hire an attorney and they don't buy any inventory.

Every serious seller I have met and read about started out by selling things they already own--the castoff items that are gathering dust right in their own homes.

This is one of the most awesome things about Ebay--it costs almost nothing to begin.

The average household has $3,000-$5,000 of salable inventory around the house. Start looking around. Clean out the cupboards, the garage, the bedrooms and the closets. The stuff you spy that you know is on its way out--to the garbage or the goodwill--is your first inventory.

Until you get more experience, look at every item as a possibility. Dismiss nothing until you do research. Belive me, you will be surprised at what the Ebay market can bring. Don't think that anything is too ugly, too old or too useless for ebay. You will be amazed (I still am) at what people will buy. Even broken electronics have a market on Ebay--people with the skills to repair them often buy them to repair or for parts. I recently sold a broken digital camera for $20. Remember, don't discriminate! Old, used toys also have a great market on ebay--I sold a lot of mismatched old Lincoln Logs on Ebay for $70 this past December. Keep your large bulky items in mind for Craig's list. I have sold every single thing I've ever listed on Craig's List.

Researching the market is a big part of the learning process. At this stage of the game it is best to research as many different things around your house as you can. When you start to find "winners" or items with a market it may lead you to other items in your house you hadn't thought about. You need to go through this exersize to start learning the value of a variety of things. You will eventually get an eye for what will sell and what won't.

Even after a year of selling full time on these two sites, I still list items that I am skeptical about. There are still surprises with these items. Just today a children's book sold on Ebay for $5 that I had originally sent to our Goodwill box. That covers my starbucks expense for tomorrow!

This is your "free" inventory--there is no cost, except your time, to this inventory. It is the easiest kind of inventory. You will learn a lot from these items.

Enjoy the search. Some of my best finds around my house in 2009:

1.) Used double oven (older but working) sold on Craig's List for $250.
2.) Rusty wagon sold on Craig's List for $35
3.) Used and broken digital camera sold on Ebay for $20
4.) Lot of gently used maternity clothes sold on Ebay for $165
5.) Used American Eagle Jeans sold on Ebay for $20
6.) New but unused software sold for $20
7.) Books and CD's--we have sold approximately $900 worth of books and CD's we were no longer using this year on Ebay.
8.) Lot of gently used American Eagle Sweatshirts sold on Ebay for $20
9.) Miche Bag with three covers, gently used, sold on Ebay for $85
10.) Wooden children's puzzle sold on Ebay for $8.00

No one of these items was particular amazing, but overall these items really added up. By selling items from around your house you start to learn how unique and large the Ebay market is. You also start to learn the intricacies of listing, selling, shipping and dealing with your only Ebay boss--your customers. You start making some money that you can use to grow your business later on.

After salvaging as much as possible--group the items and start to do research. It makes the most sense to do your research all at once, or at least to research several items at a time. Use the "advanced search" option on Ebay and check the completed listings. This will tell you if your item has sold in the previous 90 days. You can also check current listings. Some of your items may not match exactly to what has sold on Ebay, but you can use these previous sales to get a feeling for how an item might do.

Keep in mind that grouping like items often adds value. If you have several pieces of clothing in a similar size, it often makes sense to sell the clothing in a lot. Grouping is a great idea for items in many different catagories; a person may not be interested in just a fishbowl, but add some acquarium plants and a bottle of fish food and you have an attractive listing. Keep this idea in mind for all like items--one Danielle Steele book is ususally worth $1, but a lot of 20 books might sell for $15.

You will have to be creative with guessing value, but you can usually get an idea using the Ebay "completed listings" tool. Use sticky notes to note prices and then regroup your items into two piles, a donation pile and a listing pile.

I recommend considering anything that is awkward or heavy to ship for Craig's List. You will not have the benifit of research but it costs nothing to list or sell here. I have sold every single item I've ever listed on Craig's list.

Overall--enjoy yourself. As you go through this research you will tap into a vatiety of catagories and markets within Ebay. You will begin seeing different things and sensing the value of them. You will begin thinking like an ecommerce entrepreneur. Tap into your $5000 in absolutely free inventory and have fun!