THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

I am thinking about starting a little ebay business where I would not only sell items that are mine, but I would sell items that other people want sold, but don't have the time, patients or energy to deal with ebay.

I know there are ebay stores already out there, but I figured that I would try this out anyway....

do you think i could make some money doing this? would you be interested in doing this?

I would charge the customer the fee to list the item and then a certain percentage of the sale of the item.

Scott

Re: THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

I do not think this would work.

How much of a percentage do you really think you can earn off of other people's junk. Ebay items are already marked down so cheap... and after paypal... shipping... and ebay fees... the seller is already losing close to 20%. Is there really a margin for profit?

Plus... its also very easy to sell on ebay and it really doesn't take a lot of time.

But hey... it doesn't hurt to try. I am only saying this because I have seen this topic discussed on a bunch of other websites in the past and it usually ends up to be the same answer "no it doesn't really work".

Re: THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

Anyone of the ones I have seen have a minimum bid of $35 or so. So I'm guessing it doesn't work out well for lower ticket items. And a few months back DH and I watched a TV show about these companies and they said the ones that operate out of homes have a really hard time getting business since the storefronts with the ebay logo in the window are so visible to consumers. They said overall most of these companies have a hard time turning a profit, there's a franchise of them that does pretty well but otherwise they haven't seen much success.

I wouldn't do it. I don't mind listing my own and it's not all that time consuming. JMO.

Re: THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

You mention charging a listing fee but what about paypal fees and shipping fees...
I def think you would need to set a limit as to what you would sell for other ppl..
Then again.. there are ebay stores that do this.
Alot of ppl might feel more comfortable taking it to one of these establishments then to someone they dont know.

However, I made quite a few dollars selling my own stuff this last year...
Good luck

Re: THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

Re: THINKING ABOUT STARTING AN EBAY BUSINESS

I wouldnt use payapl then - only accept certified check and money orders.

I guess it wouldnt work then oh well