(by 32 people)
What To Sell On eBay
What to sell on eBay is a question every eBay beginner, and many experienced ebay sellers, ask themselve on a regular basis in their quest to make money on eBay.
I've been making my living selling full-time on eBay for eight years and have always believed that the most successful eBay sellers answer the question of "what to sell on eBay" by thinking outside the box and not blindly following he crowd. It's a lot easier to make money on eBay when you are in competition with five, ten, fifty, or a hundred other sellers than it is when you have thousands of other sellers offering the same products you are.
Have you been looking for a profitable niche on eBay and grown weary of the reading the same tired advice most people who write about selling on eBay offer? Do you have a two-foot high pile of drop-shipping and wholesale directories but still can't find a product that you can sell for a decent profit on eBay.
Then I invite you to think outside the box with me here and at The Auction Rebel. Let's see if we can't come up with some great ideas of what to sell on eBay and make some money while we do it.
If you want to keep up on changes, additions, and updates you can add What To Sell On eBay to your lensroll and also add What To Sell On eBay to your favorite lenses.
Finding A Profitable Niche On eBay - Part I
Lets be honest. If you can't buy a product in sufficient quantity to keep a steady stream of auctions running it doesn't do you much good. Additionally, if you can't buy that product at a price that affords you a reasonable profit margin, what's the point?
You will increase your chances of success a thousand-fold if you start at the opposite end of the search process. First find a niche or product that fits certain criteria, then see if there's a market for it on eBay. Here's how you should go about deciding what to sell on eBay. Since I primarily sell antiques and collectibles, this example will be in that area but it will work with other type of products also.
I start my search by looking for items in antique stores/malls, flea markets and antique shows that fit the following criteria:
1. The item must be readily available in fair sized numbers. You will probably find numerous examples for sale in nearly every mall or flea market you go to.
2. You should be able to find numerous examples priced in the $1 to $10 range with most priced in the lower half of that range. This low pricing is important because it indicates that while most general-line dealers know people collect these items, they don't perceive them as having much value.
3. The item should be a small sub-niche of a larger niche that already has a large collector base. For example, advertising is a sub-niche of the larger antique/collectibles niche. Tins are a sub-niche of the advertising niche. Coffee tins are a sub-niche of the tins niche. One pound key-wind coffee tins are a sub-niche of the coffee tins niche. It's these small sub-niches buried several layers deep within a larger niche that you should look for.
4. It should be an item with a large number of variations. There were thousands of different brands of coffee sold in one pound key-wind tins years ago.
5. Ideally, there shouldn't be a book or price guide written about the item. Once someone writes a book about a sub-niche, dealers buy the book and prices at the malls and flea markets rise significantly. (Under certain circumstances there is a way to can use the publication o
Finding A Profitable eBay Niche - Part II
1. There shouldn't be a huge number of items listed each week but there should be a steady stream of auctions week after week. A regular 20 to 100 weekly is attractive.
2. You should see a consistent sell-through rate of at least 50 to 60 percent within the sub-niche week after week for all but the most common variations.
3. Most of the items should have multiple bids. Obviously the more the better, but you should look for a minimum of five to ten bids on most items that sell.
4. You want to see a small group of at least five to twenty bidders who regularly bid each and every week. If you look at closed auctions you will see this same group of bidders competing against each other on a regular basis.
5. Final selling prices for at least 50% of the successful auctions should be $25 or higher - preferably $50. You should also see several items each week selling in the three figure range or even higher.
When you find a small sub-niche that meets these ten criteria we have talked about so far, you're well on your way to having found an eBay niche that you can easily profit from.
Next, we will begin looking at a specific sub-niche I've been looking at and how it fits each of the criteria shown above.
Finding A Profitable eBay Niche - Part III
The niche I've chosen to research is vintage safety razors. Let's see how they stack up against the first five criteria we've established for a potentially profitable eBay niche.
1. The item must be readily available in fair sized numbers - Safety razors fit this criteria. They can be found in nearly every antique shop/mall or flea market you go to. Most dealers won't have an extensive selection, but you will probably fine several dealers who have a small selection of 5 to 10 for sale.
2. You should be able to find numerous examples priced in the $1 to $10 range with most priced in the lower half of that range - While there are always exceptions, most of the old safety razors you will see are price with the $1 to $10 range. In the shops I go to $3 - $5 seems to be a popular price and the majority of them are priced under $10.
3. The item should be a small sub-niche of a larger niche that already has a large collector base - Vintage safety razors fit this criteria also. The primary niche with a large collector base is vintage shaving items.
4. It should be an item with a large number of variations - With many different manufacturers who frequently came out with new, and improved, models safety razors are an excellent fit for this requirement.
5. Ideally, there shouldn't be a book or price guide written about the item - There are two books devoted to vintage safety razors that have been published within the last couple years, but because they are from small publishers, I don't think many general-line dealers will be aware of them. And, if they are, most won't bother to purchase them because they don't carry enough safety razors to make it worthwhile.
Finding A Profitable eBay Niche - Part IV
We will begin our research at eBay's Completed Listing page by typing "razor" into the search box at the top of the page, making sure you check the "search completed items" box, and then dig down to the Collectibles > Vanity, Perfume & Shaving > Shaving > Safety Razors category.
1. There shouldn't be a huge number of items listed each week but there should be a steady stream of auctions week after week. A regular 20 to 100 weekly is attractive - Doing this today, the results show there have been 1842 auctions that have ended in approximately the last two weeks. It's obvious we've found an active eBay niche, that's way more than the recommended 20 to 100.
Because of the large number of completed auctions there may be a tendency to abandon our research at this point, but for the sake of thoroughness lets check how safety razors match up with our remaining four criteria.
2. You should see a consistent sell-through rate of at least 50 to 60 percent - The sell-through rate for safety razors during the last two weeks has been exactly 60%, which falls within our recommended range.
3. Most of the items should have multiple bids. Obviously the more the better, but you should look for a minimum of five to ten bids on most items that sell - The average bid per sold item during the last two weeks was 4.47, just a little below our minimum.
4. You want to see a small group of at least five to twenty bidders who regularly bid each and every week - It would take a lot of time, but if you were to sort through the successful stereoview auctions, you would find that they do meet this criteria. There are considerably more than only five to twenty regular weekly bidders. So far this is the only bright spot of our eBay research.
5. Final selling prices for at least 50% of the successful auctions should be $25 or higher - preferably $50. You should also see several items each week selling in the three figure range or even higher - Sorting our results by "lowest price first" we end up with 35 pages of results. To find successful auctions with high bids of at least $25 we need to go to page
Finding A Profitable eBay Niche - Part V
Most people will never take the time to research a potential eBay niche to this extent. Those that do would nearly all abandon their research at this point and begin looking for a different niche.
But, research like this is about small sub-niches within sub-niches of of larger niches. When we were looking at vintage safety razors in shops and malls they appeared to have potential and I don't think they are worth giving up on yet.
Let's go back and sort our list by "highest price first" and see what we get. Now, scrolling through the first five pages, a few things begin to stand out.
1. Vintage safety razors in their original cases seem to sell well.
2. While there are a lot of brands we've probably never heard of, there are a number of Gillette and Schick safety razors on these pages.
3. If we look at these two brands closer, certain models begin to stand out - Fat Boy, Toggle, 195 Adjustable, Aristocrat, President, Gear Shift, etc.
By taking these two brands, along with the model names we've chosen, and comparing them with the criteria we originally set forth, we discover that we have found a sub-niche on eBay that fits all our criteria.
What we've found is a profitable sub-niche on eBay. The inventory is fairly easily available in antique shops/malls, antique shows, and flea markets. They can usually be purchase when found for $5 to $10 each and regularly sell for $25 to $50 and usually more on eBay.
In truth, Gillette, Schick, and a few other brands of safety razors, primarily from the 1950s and 1960s are an ebay niche that is just beginning to gather steam and one which you can profit from very nicely.
Finding A Profitable eBay Niche - The Auction Seller's Cherry-Picking Guide
Above I demonstrated the method I use to discover profitable eBay niches, and we discovered that Gillette and Schick double edge razors from the 1950s - 1970s are an emerging niche that can generate a lot of profit.
I've been using this method for the last six years and, in that time, I've uncovered numerous extremely profitable items to sell on eBay. Some of these niches, while still profitable, are no longer productive because antique/collectible dealers and flea market dealers have discovered their value, and their prices have gone up dramatically.
Others are still just as little-known and profitable as they were when I first discovered them. If you would be interested in learning about twelve more of these still profitable niches, I've created a 67 page special report that not only identifies a full dozen still profitable niches, but delves into each with additional information about what to buy, what not to buy, and how much to pay for each niche.
I'm currently offering this special report to What To sell On eBay lens readers for only $9.99. If you'd like a head start on acquiring the knowledge that will allow you to cherry-pick any antique shop/mall or flea market, then this is the resource that will let you.
Get Your Copy Now
The Auction Rebel Guestbook
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Junyuan
I must say that eBay is one of the fastest proven source for anyone to start generating a good income online. You have a very good lens that contains really good tips on how one can use eBay to generate good money online. I've given you 5-stars for your lens. I have a lens on how to sell digital products on eBay using eBay classified ads. Perhaps you may want to drop by and let me have your comments. :) You may also want to add your lens to my Internet Marketing Directory to get more traffic to your lens... :) Posted September 24, 2008 |
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Tom_Antion
Great lens! Five stars for you*****! Posted September 09, 2008 |
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Silver_Lotus
Excellent lens! Posted March 03, 2008 |
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awesomesteals2002
great lens! Posted February 22, 2008 |
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AndrewMilburn
A great lens full of great info. Many thanks Posted January 09, 2008 |
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Michey
This is an AWESOME lens, it will help me a lot! Posted December 29, 2007 |
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harpua
Great lens and love your blog. I've been selling on Ebay for a few years on and off and still trying to find my niche. Your blog looks like it will provide a ton of useful information. Thanks!! Posted December 01, 2007 |
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TerriLorah
Thanks for all the advice! I recently decided to start selling again on Ebay and you've given me some good ideas I hadn't thought of. Posted September 29, 2007 |
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ebayriches
Hey! Nice site you have on what to sell on eBay. Great information. I have just set up a lens on how one can a living on eBay at http://www.squidoo.com/ebayriches. You might want to check it out when you're free. :) Posted September 12, 2007 |
Good info and nice step by step format!
Posted September 07, 2007
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CreativeArtist
Great info! Thanks. Posted July 23, 2007 |
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TwirlPlanet
Oodles of good information...great lens! Posted July 03, 2007 |
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Susan52
Details and step-by-step instructions. Posted July 02, 2007 |
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MagiesPlace.info
Wow, you are really good at this. Love our blog.. Thanks, so much for the insight. Posted June 26, 2007 |
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ShawnsBidness
Loved this info! Taking a look at your blog now too. Please take a peek and vote on my eBay lens. Posted June 11, 2007 |
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Jump-Start-Your-Finances
Great lens Gary! I love your blog too. I just created a lens on Tax Tips for eBay Sellers which you (and your readers) might find useful. Posted May 25, 2007 |
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Aika
e-bay is awesome! great stuffs you can find here. I find your lens interesting..Please allow me to share my lens: business credit cards.I would be glad if you could visit.=) Posted May 11, 2007 |
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andygeldman
Great lens! Here are some ways to research eBay beyond the basic completed items search: http://www.auctionsoftwarereview.com/categories/selling-market-analysis.asp Posted April 28, 2007 |
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financegirls
eBay has become such a big venue for buyers and online marketers that I'm sure many people would find your lens very helpful!Great Job!I'd like to invite you and your readers to my lens about The Benefits of Secured Credit Cards Posted April 11, 2007 |
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sis5511
Great Ebay selling lens. It will help me a lot with my listings. Posted April 05, 2007 |
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luckycharms
Welcome to the Entrepreneur Station Group. You have a great lens and it will provide some great content for the entrepreneurial types. Posted April 03, 2007 |
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Lady_Gotrocks
Great Lens! 5 stars! Lots of good information. Posted March 18, 2007 |
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flaminglacer
Welcome to the Make Money Online Group from your Group Master. Do visit the Group HQ Lens where there is lots of info for you. Congratulations on your lens! Posted March 14, 2007 |
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rksmythe
Great Content. I've added you to my favorites. Posted March 13, 2007 |
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stephensmith
You obviously know your stuff. I like how you provide lots of meaty information (not just affiliate links, as too many sites do). Vintage razors? Who woulda' guessed? Makes me want to try eBay selling again.-Stephen S., Make Money Selling Books Online Posted March 11, 2007 |
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KCStargazer
Excellent info lens, Gary! Very well orgnaized too. Welcome to the Kaleidoscope Group! Posted March 08, 2007 |
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KCStargazer
Excellent info lens! Very informative Posted March 08, 2007 |
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GFGirl
Thanks for the great eBay lens. This is information anyone serious about selling on eBay would benefit from. Great Stuff. Posted March 07, 2007 |
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danwilson
Good luck, Gary. Posted March 04, 2007 |
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BuildMuscle101
Great info and really good articles. Thanks! Posted March 01, 2007 |
The Auction Rebel eBay Tip Of The Day
Each day I'll be providing a new eBay tip to help you both decide what to sell on eBay and to build your eBay business. Come back often because the eBay tips will change each day.
If you are selling a lot of similar items to a niche made up of repeat customers, start a newsletter they can opt-in to so you can stay in touch with them.
If you have an eBay store, there is a newsletter feature built into the store you can use. If not, seriously consider opening an account with one of the reputable autoresponder services and handling your subscription list with it.
You won't see you income go up immediately, but over time, the benefits of a newsletter can be huge.
eBay Tip # 8 - Not Intersted In Selling Used Items?
Some people aren't able to devote the time required to acquiring and selling used items on eBay. If you are one of those people, I recommend you consider creating your own product to sell on eBay.
There are several advantages to selling your own product.
- If you choose the product carefully, you will have little, or no, competition
- You maintain complete control over what you are selling
- Packaged correctly, your product can have a high perceived value to buyers
- Once the product is created, production costs are minimal
- Since you have little, or no, competition, you can price the product to create a healthy profit
The Auction Rebel Blog
What's The Auction Rebel talking about today?
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe Auction Rebel's Recommended Resources
Here are some that I own and recommend to anyone interested in building a business on eBay.
- The Auction Rebel Blog
- Hey, what else could you expect? If I didn't thing The Auction Rebel was a great source of information for eBay sellers, I wouldn't be writing it, right?
- I Want Collectibles
- Terry Gibbs has been selling on eBay for many years and his newsletter - I Want Collectibles - is an great source of information to help make your auctions POP. You may want to check out his other offerings also.
- Most Valuable Children's Picture Books
- Collectible children's books are one of the easiest and safest ways for a beginner to get started selling on ebay. Elaine Krieg Smith offers an excellent book on the subject for the eBay seller. She covers what to look for, where to find them, and how to list them to their best advantage. I own this book and would recommend it to anyone starting out on eBay. It's also valuable for the experienced seller.
- Sell Books And Videos On Ebay
- Don't have the time to visit antiques shops, flea markets, auctions, thrift shops, or book sales? Then I recommend that you look into creating your own product to sell on eBay. In "Sell Books And Videos On eBay" Terrence walks you step by step through creating your own product and all the way to getting it listed on eBay. Highly recommended.
The Auction Rebel's Current Auctions
I use several seller IDs on eBay, but here are links to my current auctions and my eBay store under the seller name PaperPleasures46.
You can view my current eBay PaperPleasures46 auctions here.
You can view my eBay store Paper Pleasures here.
