The Ebay Hustle - Buying From Ebay to Sell on Ebay


by R Heavner - Date: 2007-01-04 - Word Count: 470 Share This!

The most common business model on Ebay revolves around buying from either wholesalers or second hand dealers and then reselling at profit. This is the simple, straightforward, and almost universal approach.

A method many use to enhance this approach and add to inventory and bottom line is a sort of Ebay arbitrage. Simple put, it involves buying directly from other Ebay sellers and then reselling at a profit. Some sellers actually use this technique as their primary business model, and do quite well with it.

There are millions of people selling on Ebay. While many are full time professional sellers, a great many others are occasional, or hobby sellers that are cleaning out attics or just trying to make a few bucks. As frequent sellers know, it can be difficult at times to correctly position an auction in terms of categories and keywords. Mistakes are easily made. Your mission is to seek out other sellers mistakes and take advantage of them.

The two things required to make this work are a second Ebay identity (for buying purposes) and some free time. Ebay allows as many ID's as you want. You simply need to sign up again under a different email address. Free time, of course, is whenever you can find it.

Start by targeting a few markets which you know well. This aspect is very important, since if the seller didn't realize they were selling an antique vase, you are not likely to realize it either. Do some searches with commonly misspelled words. Think in terms of categories other than the obvious that a seller list a particular item and surf those categories. Look for auctions with poorly worded titles (there will be many, many choices). Basically you are looking for auctions with poor wording, wrong categorization, or grossly under priced merchandise. Poorly placed auctions will receive little traffic and can often be had for minimum bids. The only real requirement is the time spent surfing.

Also look at small lots of items which may contain a few pieces that far exceed the cost of the entire lot. A seller offering a lot of old papers and cards or $10 is not likely to mention that there are a few rare $85 postcards included in the lot. That is simply because they did not know. Look at the pictures and do your homework!

These techniques work, and you will find some great bargains. It takes a bit of practice to know where to look, but after awhile you will begin to develop a feel for it. And for those who feel it is somehow "wrong" to take advantage of others mistakes, keep in mind that Ebay is a business and you are here to make money. Every opportunity you do not take advantage of will be very quickly snatched up by you competition. Happy treasure hunting!


Related Tags: arbitrage, sell ebay, buy ebay

The author is webmaster of http://www.auction-lynx.com Internet Auction Resource Directory, a directory of hundreds of alternative auction sites and buyer/seller resources. For Ebay selling tips and tricks visit our blog at http://www.sell-it-on-ebay-auctions.blogspot.com/

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