Ebay start-up :)

[stockyal]

I am 21 and an Engineer from the UK and after 3 years of shift working on apprentice wage i decided to explore how i can start making a bit of money on the side through ebay. I started looking for ideas through going through endless threads on this forum reading self help books on business start ups etc. I needed something that i could do when i got home from work, something that would be quick and an easy way of making money. The whole reason would be that i wanted to start saving my time from doing extra hours and spend more time doing things i wanted to do!
so ive decided just to share where im at after just a short amount of time. i started by searching ebay endlessly at items that i personally have brought seeing how many had been sold and when they had been sold. some items had loads of sales but only sold 1 or 2 a week this was no good to me and didnt really interest me. eventually after a lot of searching i found one particular product that i thought would be a great idea... it wasnt i have 20 sat in my spare room with only 5 sales over 2 months. but i learnt that my competition was too much i was appearing some 3-5 pages down the list.. no good. i decided that it was a lesson and looked again another 2-3 weeks of solid searching i found something that was so obvious and only had 6 competitors! so brought a sample of 10 from aliexpress. i decided to choose aliexpress as im a beginner and it was the easiest option for me for a simple transaction etc. after 2 weeks of wating for my product to come it finally arrived . costings all done prior to order(paypal fees ebay fees postage fees etc) of course. i listed the 10 items . It took 2 days before i had sold all 10. i was suprised... so i had just made £25 in 2 days... sounds like not a lot but when i calculated how long it took me roughly 10 minutes to package and post ( i live 100metres from a post box and im selling an item that fits into a post box.) i then did the maths and worked out that if i could keep up with 5 sales a day and i was trading for 365 days a year i could make £4562 profit a year ... from one item that takes me 10 minutes a day... so i got straight on the interenet and ordered another 50 (very low ammount and regretted ordering this little) i have now sold 46 in a week and a half average of 4.6 a day. so ive ordered more and decided to look into more items and have expanded my product line my target is to make £30 a day by april.
sorry if this has been a boring thread and in the grand scheme of things i am not making millions like some entrepreneurs on here. however, i have only just started and it is a great feeling when you start making a bit of money on the side, it has motivated me to look at what potential profit i can make with very little time needed rather than working long unsociable hours. hope this helps someone push towards their start-up

 

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[ljb7]

That's awesome man, congratulations!! I'm really happy for you. It just proves that persevering is important. I too have a few products that are just sat in my room..

So from the sounds of it, you are getting some good sales with this product. But you mentioned there are 6 competitors, how are their sales?

Maybe it's time to take all the sales for this product by adding something to it? Some twist? Your own brand?

If you are getting 5 sales a day now, if you take the market and push the other sellers out you could be getting 30 or 40 a day!! Maybe it's time you start thinking about that.

Good luck and keep us filled in with everything!

 

[GuestUser116]

To sell on ebay did you open an ebay store?

 

[stockyal]

Thanks ljb7 for the comments the competitors were selling really well too but I came in a bit cheaper and it's worked . There's a wider range I can sell of the similar product so that's my next step . Glacier I havnt got a shop yet because i was just playing around really as I thought I could never compete with any of the ebay giants and I've only been doing it over a month . I'm going to look into how to properly ebay with my next order as it's getting a bit more serious . Any advice will be great

 

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[Ecom man]

Awesome job! Absolutely awesome! Taking the first steps and finding the first profitable product can be extremely hard but you did it! Now, what if you find another one that sells about the same? You now double your daily profit. What if you can find 5 different products? 10? By only finding 9 more products that sell similar to this one you will bring in £45620 a year! It can be done and the first one is usually the hardest. Go get you some!

 

[RazorCut]

If you are getting 5 sales a day now, if you take the market and push the other sellers out you could be getting 30 or 40 a day!! Maybe it's time you start thinking about that.

This is what causes the market to collapse. A new start-up seller comes along and sells a few items. Next they undercut all the competition to mop up all the sales thinking what a great idea, I'll have the market all to myself. What actually happens is you piss off the sellers who have been selling the product for ages and either one of them drops their prices until you can't compete or everyone selling this product gets into a no holds barred price war and you are left on the side lines as they have far greater buying power and their shipping costs are a fraction of yours so your sales dry up completely.

It is not smart to elbow your way into the market and expect everyone else to roll over for you. All it will do is mean you will end up with a shit load of product you cannot offload without losing money.

Many of the bigger sellers will happily sell at a loss until they drive an opportunistic new seller out. Then the price can go back to where it was. Been there, done that and printed the T-Shirt.

 

[ljb7]

This is what causes the market to collapse. A new start-up seller comes along and sells a few items. Next they undercut all the competition to mop up all the sales thinking what a great idea, I'll have the market all to myself. What actually happens is you piss off the sellers who have been selling the product for ages and either one of them drops their prices until you can't compete or everyone selling this product gets into a no holds barred price war and you are left on the side lines as they have far greater buying power and their shipping costs are a fraction of yours so your sales dry up completely.

It is not smart to elbow your way into the market and expect everyone else to roll over for you. All it will do is mean you will end up with a shit load of product you cannot offload without losing money.

Many of the bigger sellers will happily sell at a loss until they drive an opportunistic new seller out. Then the price can go back to where it was. Been there, done that and printed the T-Shirt.

I didn't mean getting the majority of sales by undercutting everyone's prices, I meant by adding his own twist to it, maybe a new colour, some added benefit, etc etc.

But yes that makes sense. Maybe it isn't the smartest thing to do.

It's true that one of the cons of selling on ebay (after important factors i.e. where the seller is based, feedback %), is that the majority of people look for the best/cheapest prices of products as opposed to other sites like Amazon and Etsy where people don't necessarily buy something because it's the cheapest, rather they buy things based on the perceived value that it brings.

Ebay is still a great place to sell though.

 

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[stockyal]

Thanks @Ecom man Definitely going to start looking into more products. I have already lined up my next product which is on order now as a trial run. hopefully it does as well . Cheers

@RazorCut i haven't explained well enough, I have not come into the market and cut every seller off . There is another seller selling an additional extra with the product I am currently selling which is why I can undercut them and not every buyer needs this additional extra and this is my closest competitor. As for them cutting me out from dropping the prices. my main reason for not ordering 500 units or more after selling 10 was that I do not fully understand the "ebay way" yet and want to take things slow until I understand how top sellers kill of people like me I have not been there and got the t shirt like yourself. But I understand where your coming from but like I say I'm new to this and will obviously encounter this at some stage so cheers for the heads up and I appreciate your comments. but at the moment I'm getting the buzz I need to realise that this could work for me so im going to carry on and learn on the way.

@ljb7 i havnt thought of using Amazon for selling yet but like you say I think Amazon buyers generally don't fight over price as much from personal experience using the two sites so might be worth looking at if I make it On eBay.

 

[RazorCut]

I didn't mean getting the majority of sales by undercutting everyone's prices, I meant by adding his own twist to it, maybe a new colour, some added benefit, etc etc.

This works well but only for so long. When I was selling on eBay one really high selling product that was supplied from a UK wholesaler was available in 5 colours. After a lot of research we found the manufacturer, had them create 12 colours just for us and then started selling them at the same price as everyone else. Took a little while but soon we had the majority of the sales and our margins were much better as we were not buying through a middle man. This tactic only works for a while though. You will find your competition eventually catch on and either badger the wholesaler to get more colours or they do the research and find the manufacturer or get a copy made elsewhere.

To maintain sales you need lots of different products. We had around 2500-3000 in total across 3 different selling accounts.

i havnt thought of using Amazon for selling yet but like you say I think Amazon buyers generally don't fight over price

The customer doesn't need to as Amazon force you to have the lowest price in order to make a sale.
There was a time when customer service, fast shipping, great feedback etc. meant something to Amazon's matrix. Now it seems that unless you are the cheapest you have no chance of making a sale, as, if you have to share the listing, price is king.

Also if you build your own listing and make it a successful seller others will attach themselves and undercut you until there is little to no profit left. Death by a thousand penny cuts.

We have even had competition attach themselves selling a cheap imitation that looks NOTHING like our product (I bought one to see, took photo's and a video opening the package and reported it to Amazon but all to no avail, Amazon did not kick them off as they couldn't care less. The trouble with Amazon is you cannot speak to anyone with any real authority. Trust and Safety are ring-fenced. No phone number, no email address, no recourse at all at least in the UK.

Be VERY careful building a business on Amazon, you can put a lot of work and effort in and everything seems rosy then within a few short weeks your sales can disappear as one after another of your best sellers gets taken out by the competition.

A friend of mine lost his multi-million pound business after growing very large on Amazon and then the competition biting back. Last time I spoke to him he was working at a data centre. A very smart guy who had his eggs in several baskets but the biggest by far was Amazon much to his cost.

 

[RazorCut]

my main reason for not ordering 500 units or more after selling 10 was that I do not fully understand the "ebay way" yet and want to take things slow until I understand how top sellers kill of people like me

The best way to approach selling is accept that all your products will have a life cycle. You find something with little competition that you can add value to. Source and sell then once it becomes popular either a major player or someone like yourself thinks 'I'll have some of that', competition increases and sales and profits dwindle. You have to hope that they don't pounce on it too soon as that product will be pretty much useless profit wise afterwards.

BUT if you are smart you would have found other products to replace it with in the meantime. High selling, high margin, low competition products are getting much harder to find on eBay these days but they do exist.

Personally I wouldn't look for new popular trends as even if you are first to market eBay will be flooded within no time, especially by Chinese overseas sellers.

Look how many listings there are for rubber band bracelets these days:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=rubber+band+bracelets

Hope that helps.

 

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[stockyal]

Thanks for all your advice @RazorCut FairPlay for selling around 2500-3000 different products sounds like you had a good go. in terms of making money did you find that introducing loads of different products was better or just focusing on a few and concentrate on monitoring the competitors movement in prices? I have just been on amazon and have found only one person selling the same product with again the additional extra for almost 2x the price as the ebay retailer? there is also room for me to introduce the different colours i have to offer on amazon as no one else is selling them. I'm thinking i could start selling on amazon and just cutting the price below the current seller to compensate for the extra this seller is offering. what do you think?

 

[ljb7]

Thanks for all your advice @RazorCutI'm thinking i could start selling on amazon and just cutting the price below the current seller to compensate for the extra this seller is offering. what do you think?

Amazon's a complete different ballgame, it's not like ebay where the cheapest seller always wins.

Customer's on Amazon are willing to pay a premium for something that has a higher perceived value. So unlike ebay, they may be happy buying the more expensive version to get that added extra.

No harm in trying though.

 

[RazorCut]

Give Amazon a go. It costs you very little and can be bigger than eBay as a selling platform depending on competition. As long as you make more money than the monthly fee they charge it's a no-brainer. However don't expect overnight success. Amazon sales rely heavily on reviews. Get a few reviews under your belt (contact your buyers and ask them for a one, I have even had refund and partial refund offers from some sellers for leaving a positive review). Once you have 3-4 your sales will rise considerably.

eBay, just like Amazon is a numbers game. The bigger your store the larger your footprint. This makes you more visible and you will sell more items. This is especially true if you keep inside one product line (say for example parts and accessories for radio controlled cars and planes) then you can get a customer to purchase several things at a time. Better still if your products are consumable so as to encourage repeat custom such as craft supplies.

Once you get a customer you want to keep them. Selling on eBay and Amazon means you play by their rules which constantly change. That is bad for you. Use these sales channels to funnel customers to your Web Site with great offers and customer support. Get them to sign up for your newsletter. Build your list.

Just like any everything the 80/20 rule applies. Have 10 lines? 2-3 will make up 70-80% of your sales. 1000 lines? It's 200-300 or less that will gross most of your sales. The exact percentages will vary but the imbalance is always there. The trick is to get your most profitable lines into that top 20 percent and watch your margins and overheads like a hawk.

 

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[camcam]

Congrats man! I'm close to launching my own product onto ebay shortly. My market is saturated don't get me wrong, but big money can be made.

Good luck!

 

[stockyal]

quick update ,
Taking in some of your advice i am now concentrating on introducing around 20 products to my shop that are going to be my main focal products to bringing in the most money. so far i have managed to find 4 products that i can see really working well which brings me up to 5 products and all of which are in the same category as my original product. from these 4 products i have forecasted that i can make £20.46 a day i have realised that i can ask for changes to these products and make them unique e.g colour etc which may attract a wider audience. Although £20.46 a day doesnt seem a lot for focal products if i can introduce another 15 i can raise this to £80 a day. I am trying not to stray away from the ease of my current product so looking away from large parcels and concentrating on letterbox size items is my target as the whole idea of me starting this was to get more time to myself away from working overtime. Overall target over the next few months is to generate £100 profit each day and be making around £700 a week. then i will be focusing on sourcing suppliers who can offer me better prices on these products. the reason for this is through @RazorCut advice as i want to be the most versatile seller of the product on the market so i can go to extremely low prices without being wiped out by big sellers and to raise my margins of course my next step will be introducing products that may not sell regularly but when they do they hold a higher profit margin to boost my income.

 

[stockyal]

Sales are still up From the 6th December to 20th December i have sold 80 products from the one product with 4 different variations of colour. I have proven 1 of my four products to be a winner and sold the first 10 samples within 10 days. so next step ORDER MORE! i am still waiting on new product orders though which is the negatives when ordering from china! however i have found a supplier willing to deliver through fedex So in two weeks i have made £216. more importantly i have gained a lot of positive feedback which is enabled me to up my prices and still acheive the sales i need . I am still looking for more products to sell. currently i am off work for 2 weeks so will be able to concentrate on product searching a lot more.

I love the buzz from selling and making money however, in terms of what value im adding i dont feel as though im inputting much other than fast speedy delivery for good prices. ideally im aiming to introduce a brand new innovation to the market. I now aim to raise the money through my ebay to introduce my "product" into the market. however, i spend hours thinking about different ideas yet nothing i think of i believe will impact on peoples lives or is this just my mind set? anyone overcome this and started up a new product line? can you search for a new product or does it just come to you ?

 

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[stockyal]

It's begun ... A price war... Some geezer who has obviously found the niche just like myself has decided to sell the same as me but try and cut me by 10% and its a constant battle now . I presume this will continue until one of us gives up ? Unfortunately I let today go by just to see the difference between his sales and mine and it looks like everything is based on price on eBay he is sellin more than me due to the price difference . Any tactics I can throw in ? I've started listing auction items of the different colours as they are not as hot selling trying to knock him off the top page . See if that works for now

 

[RazorCut]

Congratulations, that is great news Alex. I have ordered some samples from China recently and they took 2-3 weeks to arrive which considering the time of year isn't too bad by standard post. However once you get sorted with a decent manufacturer turnaround can be very swift indeed.

Before I got out of the game earlier this year I was getting products off a couple of China manufactures very swiftly. One had agreed to manufacture and hold product specifically for us so I could send a quick email first thing in the morning and get a total including shipping back within the hour (shipping quotes either through standard courier (which was fed through to Parcel Force over here) or for a little more via Fedex.

I would confirm the order, contact my currency broker for the best exchange rate. Wire the money to him and he would wire the dollars to them. All within 2-3 hours in the morning. I've placed orders on a Friday morning and had Fedex delivery on the following Monday but would normally allow a week turnaround to be on the safe side.

One word of warning. Parcel Force are crap. Do whatever you can to avoid them. You pay for a standard courier service and as soon as it hits the UK Parcel Force take over and it grinds to a halt while they send you a snail mail postcard to tell you that they have your parcel and won't deliver until you pay them the import fee's etc. I have know their letters take a week to arrive or not to arrive at all. All the while I'm pulling my hair out wondering where the bloody merchandise is.

i spend hours thinking about different ideas yet nothing i think of i believe will impact on peoples lives or is this just my mind set? anyone overcome this and started up a new product line? can you search for a new product or does it just come to you ?

Get out and about more. Visit supermarkets, garden centres, DIY sheds. Go through your kitchen, ask friends for they idea's on what needs improving in their life. Try to get into a mind frame of always looking for ways of improving everything.

Once you get that mindset you see opportunity everywhere. I came up with a viable idea while passing a house taking the dog for a walk this morning. Another while watching a friend put up the Christmas decorations in the office a couple of weeks back.

I have an old one that is haunting me at the moment (posted it up here https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...d-my-flaws-and-shoot-me-down-in-flames.57168/).

 

[RazorCut]

It's begun ... A price war... Some geezer who has obviously found the niche just like myself has decided to sell the same as me but try and cut me by 10% and its a constant battle now . I presume this will continue until one of us gives up ? Unfortunately I let today go by just to see the difference between his sales and mine and it looks like everything is based on price on eBay he is sellin more than me .

Ah, just seen your latest post. Sometimes you can go for a year without a competitor, sometimes it might be only a few weeks and half a dozen appear. The trouble with eBay and Amazon is generally price is the governing factor on a like for like basis. You could try bundling or improving your images etc. but when you are just buying a standard imported product the barrier to entry is too low to provide any protection against other sellers.

You could try matching the competitors price and see if that stabilises the situation and just be happy to share the market OR you could try going in at your rock bottom price and see if that scares him/her off but it's a risky strategy and the only real winner will be the customer. Sometimes if you cut your price right down until there is little to no profit left they won't bother replenishing their stock so once it is gone then so are they from that market and you can raise your price again to where it was originally. This is why you need a lot of different products so the risks are more diluted.

Is it a one product pony or a large seller? If the latter you are probably sunk on that product.

 

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[stockyal]

well ive done everything that youve mentioned above. ive took new pictures of better quality and have been hitting his prices when hes been lowering them . I got so annoyed at how he kept lowering and he was obviously unwilling to share the market that i am now resorting to beating him by 1p each time he goes down haha i find it all quite funny. I guess this is going to continue for a while in the mean time i am just going to keep an eye on it and focus on my other products. after all i have made profit from my initial order already so i am willing to drop.

I do feel slightly guilty for my previous customers as i was able to raise my prices because i presume a seller ran out of stock before this nob came along i now feel as though i have ripped some of them off because of this. however i guess this is life just like when a huge company has a christmas sale after youve just spent 50 % more on the same product before christmas.

thanks for the response

 

[RazorCut]

I do feel slightly guilty for my previous customers as i was able to raise my prices because i presume a seller ran out of stock before this nob came along i now feel as though i have ripped some of them off because of this. however i guess this is life just like when a huge company has a christmas sale after youve just spent 50 % more on the same product before christmas.

Don't feel guilty, it's just the law of supply and demand. Most customers that made their purchase are not likely to troll you to keep an eye on your sale price anyway.

 

[stockyal]

just got my ebay top rated seller status after just over one month of selling feels good. Things have slowed down a bit due to another seller joining the market and like predicted were all taking a share of the market now. lesson learned though... products dont last forever. but i am still averaging about 3-4 sales a day and with only around 40 units of stock left ive decided to reasearch new products and have found a new niche that i think can really give me a good turn in profit so i have contacted the supplier and we are in talks to order 100 units.

In the meantime now that ive got this new status i have been looking into flipping products. contacted a fair few people and within the next week i want to achieve around £100 in profit .

Alsooo. i have came up with my fastlane idea which i believe can be great in value to alot of people worldwide . however, i have absolutely no idea where to go with it. its a website based company and I am no website expert. can anyone link me to a good thread? i.e how to start a website based company step by step guide etc etc. also any reccomended books?

 

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