posted on April 23, 2001 04:04:46 PM
Hello. I am a 33 year old male in Ohio that has been torn between doing " the right thing " which is hang on to my $14.00 factory job with great benefits or plunging into ebay full time. I have been selling off and on for about a year now with fairly good success. The only problem I've had is that I haven't had the opportunity to deal in higher value merchandise so much of my stuff has been postcards, record albums, ect. I feel in I have about a months worth of inventory if I run 300 auctions a week. Any students of the school of hard knocks willing to give me some guidance? I truly am torn between following my dream or sticking to my "secure" job.
posted on April 23, 2001 04:10:13 PM
Keep that job, do ebay on the side, unless you have wonderful and interesting items that nobody else does A lot of long time ebay sellers are falling by the wayside at the moment............
posted on April 23, 2001 04:19:41 PM
Keep the full time real world job and do ebay when you can. I was selling full time at Yahoo and then they changed their service, implemented fees, TOSsed me for no valid reason, and that whiped me out. I used to do great at Yahoo but now am lucky to sell enough for lunch money. Auction selling is fun when things go well but really s*ck when they don't or when auction sites change with really short notice. A change in their terms of service or fees can mean the difference between really good or really bad and you do not know when they are coming.
These auction sites are too unstable and fees are increasing. Play it safe and keep the steady income from your real world job.
posted on April 23, 2001 05:01:20 PM
Clean1,
SOME GREAT opportunities out there!! eBay is good, need to know what to sell and when. I do a couple of hundred auctions a week, still maintain that "full-time" job (for now). I been considering for the past six months on part-tine for someone else and full-time with auctions. More info, e-mail me through eBay.
posted on April 23, 2001 05:25:25 PM
Keep the day job..............I do ebay fulltime ~ but my husband's job provides the insurance.....etc. I love to ebay.......but when sales are down......I still have food on my table, you should think about how you will pay your bills in bad months.......may I suggest that you save your ebay money and when you have say 4 to 6 months worth of bill paying money........take the plunge....if you are already at that point...then take a long hard look at the cost of insurance etc..........and don't think you will not need insurance.......my healthy husband and I have both used it this year.......I had to have emergency gallbladder surgery...........My husband was bit by a spider (the drama of the day in my life ~ I spent the night in the emergency room and have 3 hours sleep in the last 36 hours ~ why am I typing and not sleeping ~ two small children that would play with knives or fire or something else dangerous if I closed my eyes for a second.)
posted on April 23, 2001 06:18:30 PM
It is not worth basing your entire income on one source. You need to diversify a little. For some this means raising children, although they seem to be the opposite of income, but they give something better than income, joy. Most people selling on ebay are doing it to supplement their physical store's sales. Plus if you do it full time there are a lot of tax issues. Sales tax, income tax, accountants fees to deal with the income tax returns...
I've been using Ebay since 1998!
I can certainly understand where you are coming from. A little more than a year ago, I was torn between ebay and my fulltime job. I wanted in the worst way to stay home with my infant and be here for my 5 year old when he got home from school. I was literally sick over it. I thought ebay would be the answers to my prayers.
Anyway, I went part time with my RL job and decided to do ebay part time. Figured I could see which direction I wanted to head in. Obviously, after all this time, ebay still worries me, because I am still doing this part time thing. However, I now can bring my son to school, and be here for him when he gets home. I also get to spend lots of time with my little one. It also works out great for me since I do my ebay shopping on my lunch hour.
The big deciding factor for not doing ebay full time was that it is always uncertain. Yeah, I may have a months supply of items, but what happens if I cant find enough good items for the following month? There is also benefits, 401K, vacation/sick time, and a bunch of other perks that we seem to take for granted. Then there is downtime, deadbeats, etc. You just never know.
I am honestly glad that I didnt take the plunge to do ebay full time. I look forward to getting up in the morning and leaving this computer behind for a few hours. Ebay isnt going anywhere soon, please dont rush into something you might regret. Give it some more time. Maybe try listing everyday on your RL vacation and see how you like it. Sounds strange, but imagine sitting at the puter endlessly listing and answering emails all the time. You might want your vacation to be over so you can get back to your RL job. LOL!! ......Best of luck to you.
posted on April 23, 2001 07:28:30 PM
If you need to ask...then you should wait for another time. You need to head into doing ebay with lots of momentum and that momentum has to carry you through all those deadbeats, hotheads and otherwise slow periods. Any doubts will hold you back.
posted on April 23, 2001 07:39:32 PM
If I were in your shoes I'd certainly keep the full-time job (assuming you've got benefits...health,401K, etc..) and add the max you can to your 401K or whatever you've got going. In the meantime perhaps think about a business that doesn't soley rely on ebay.
posted on April 23, 2001 07:52:07 PM
In your experience what is the average item selling for? What is the amount of profit? How many of these per day do you need to sell every day to earn a living? Plus now you will have to come up with 7.14% self employment tax in addition to what you currently pay. Consider your inventory supply. Is it reliable? does it take a lot of effort. I don't think you can rely on finding items consistantly at yard sales etc... Frankly I think that a person can easily earn $20-$30/hour on ebay, but you have to work at it and after a few months to a year the appeal will wear off.
posted on April 23, 2001 07:58:39 PM
I am probably one of the few sellers here who actually does ebaY full time.
It is our only source of income as my wife home schools our son.
I have been at it full time for 2 years and its hard work.In the end you find yourself continuing to check emails,wondering where payments are etc etc just as you would in any business.
Ebay has changed much in the last 2 years and you have to change with it and its hard keeping up with it.
Currently I just took on another part time job in sales to give me a break and make up for the slow times.
At times it can be best thing in the world other times its a major pain in the rear.
It has enabled both of us to be with our son every day for the past 2 years so thats worth the hassle.
As to the high end items I would stay away from them as I have found that they do not bring the prices that they once did and in some cases sell for a lot less than on ebaY than anywhere else.
I find this at times most annoying as I can buy items and sell them for much less than antique dealers can yet.However I find that these do not even bring close what I pay for them.
Ebay is a garage sale mentality you have to sell cheap,way cheaper than anyone else because if you do not someone else will.
Plus the person that does may nor do this as a hobby and does not need the money like you do.
You might look into working at a video rental store or a grocery store as at both places you can be in situations where you can get lots of free items to sell. Video stores get lots of promotional materials that the owners let the employees take home after the movie goes off new release. Grocery stores are a gold mine for items like cardboard boxes and other materials that can be used to ship packages. If you are looking for another job with more stable income you might as well get one with "perks" that help you with your other job. Even if you only work somewhere once a week, you will still be better off. You can always put all income from your non-ebay work in a savings account, earmarking some of the money for the children's education, or to replace your car, or in case the furnance dies, etc... By having at least 3 months income saved will help you in the event you are having trouble getting items to sell because it will help you avoid having to change your standard of living.
"We're flooding people with
information. We need to feed it
through a processor. A human must turn information into
intelligence or knowledge. We've tended
to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question." - Grace Hopper
Thanks for the suggestion but most of those places would not pay me what I am truly worth
and they would not agree to my work hours either.
I have a good arrangement based on commission sales only.They supply me the leads and I sell the customer the goods.It generates a few thousand dollars in extra income a month and ebaY makes up for the difference.
So that way I am home a lot more and still make what we need.
posted on April 23, 2001 08:48:40 PM
I'm a full time seller too, since 1998. My situation is a little different from yours in that my husband works a regular job and has benefits (insurance, 401K, etc.), so even though my portion of the bills depends on my auction sales, I wouldn't be completely without any income at all if eBay exploded or something. Also, I have previous experience being self-employed, dealing with customers, etc.
I've found that online sales are a constantly-changing market. You've got to constantly stay on top of things ... what's selling, what's not, what's worth listing, what's trash, the eternal search for more items to sell ... not to mention keeping an eye on your competitors to try to offer better deals and a better selection. You are constantly re-evaluating your auctions and trying to find ways to improve. Every day is different. I personally *love* the challenge, even after almost 3 years, but I've seen soooo many people that got tired of it after only a few months and ended up quitting.
I don't know what you expect as far as how much work is involved, but I work more hours a day on my auction stuff than I did at the regular jobs I've had in the past. It's harder work, a lot of times, because you'll occasionally run across a customer who's a pain in the rear, and you'll have to deal with them, PLUS handle other e-mails, PLUS get your packages ready to go out, PLUS do all the photography and description-writing, PLUS do all the bookkeeping, PLUS play bill-collector when you run across a non-payer, PLUS ... well, you get the picture.
That said, it's also, by far, the most rewarding "job" I've had. 99% of my customers are absolutely fantastic, and are pleasures to work with. I'm not getting rich by any means (I wish!), but I do make a few dollars here and there to help put food on the table.
You have to plan ahead. You have to put money back when your sales are good, so you'll have extra when sales are slow. (Notice I say "when", not "if"! LOL!)
I guess my point is that it depends on what kind of person you are. If you're self-motivated, love a challenge, are flexible, and tend to be customer-service oriented, you'll probably do great! If you're not sure, or if the thought of riding a money roller-coaster makes you uncomfortable, you'd probably be better off to try selling part time at first and see how it works out.
posted on April 23, 2001 08:52:08 PM
In my opinion, don't give up the factory job.
It is becoming more, perhaps much more difficult for some people to find items to resale. Furthermore, I don't think there is too much money in "higher end items." That's what all the glory sellers want; but, they over pay for that stuff and settle for smaller profit margins. They don't want lots of packing and volume, and there is no free lunch...
Stick to the lower end stuff with larger profit margins for better long-term security.
Good luck.
PS Adrian, I thought you quit selling full-time last year??
I was trying to do that but the company I went to work for went bankrupt,and owing me a few thousand dollars too.
No one was aware of any problems eithe.In the mean time I just kept selling on ebaY with the intention of selling less and letting the new job take over.
But its just as well I never gave up as it keeps coming back to ebaY.
Fortunately I have a niche market in an area of a growing hobby and I get new bidders all the time.
Sometimes I have a hard time staying up with it all.The BIN feature has been great sometimes I list an item and within an hour its sold.
I have that happen on about a dozen items a week.I just list a replacement item and it either ends on a BIN too or finishes sold under a normal auction formatt.
The great thing is every item I sell is unique not 2 are the same so I get lots of repeat buyers.All of whom want to add to their collections.
I constantly have to keep an eye out for new material and try to add a few new items a month.
Hard work but it works most of the time.
Biggest problem I have is with my back,if I did not have the backache problems I could stick at it full time no problem.
As I think I could find the products I need to keep on going.
As was mentioned here the profit is on the less expensive items not the high end but it means you list more.
My sales 2 years ago where a 1/4 mill on ebaY,last year 175,000 but made the same money as on the 1/4 mill.
This year 140,000 probably with the same profit as on the 175,000.
So big sales do not mean anything its the profit that counts.
posted on April 23, 2001 10:28:16 PM
I was working full time when I decided to take the Ebay plunge. I managed a restaurant and as everyone in that business knows, it's a 60+ hour per week job. I wanted to stay home with my son. I'm fortunate that my husband has all the benefits covered at his job. I've often asked myself if something happened to my husband could I continue on ebay? I know that I could but I would probably get a part time job with certain benefits and go back to doing ebay part time. It's a security thing. There are months when I am shocked at how well I have done. There are times when things are rather slow. I still make more than my old job but I also put a lot of time into it.
posted on April 23, 2001 11:14:22 PM
I would go with the majority and say not to quit the day job unless you're really decided, have a proven and sustainable niche, and have flexibility in your income requirements.
I started out much like you did by cleaning out some 20 years of items I had anyway and was very pleasantly surprised by how some did. That can get you addicted.
So I looked for renewable sources of things to sell and gradually found them and got a better sense of what did well and what didn't. But it ate large chunks of time to do that, as well as the other parts of selling.
eBay was always part-time for me (the other "part" was eating 401(k) seed corn while traveling most of the time -- a one-year sabbatical from work that's been stretched to 5 years).
eBay has been great because it can be done intensively and then completely dropped, and picked up again in 2-3 months. That works well with traveling, in ways that conventional part-time jobs don't.
It gives me the middle-class income level of the old job and with as much work if not more, but you can turn it "off" and "on" a little better. You have more control over your own time.
That addresses a deficiency with part-time jobs in America: In order to get less hours or more flexibility, you have to give up most benefits and work for very low wages. Companies don't want to offer 20-hour jobs at good pay if they can pump their full-time people for extra hours on top of the 40. Especially if they're salaried and don't get paid for working extra hours.
That said, it gets harder and harder to produce the results with eBay. Even with better savvy about what to offer, it's been a battle to make as much as before. The economy, competition, new fees, etc., all have made it more difficult.
posted on April 24, 2001 06:18:48 AM
clean1
Same thing here but for different reasons.
I bought a small house (in Ohio) a few years ago (before ebay) with the intent on quitting my job and moving to Ohio. My father is ill and he wants to go to there. I figure we can move there and I will do eBay part-time and work a REAL job part time. What part of Ohio are you in?
My older son worked for a local department store (grave yard shift stocking) and got great deals on clearance items or overstock that was forgotten in dark corners of the back stockroom. He also got all the popcorn, bubble wrap, and boxes he wanted FREE. I figured I could do the same in Ohio.
I have planned this "adventure" for over 5 years. I will have a backup of one years salary saved and a house (with a miniscule mortgage). My biggest concern is the medical/dental insurance benefits that I will be lacking for my younger son.
Now if I could only get my ex to start paying his court ordered back child support I will be set...
posted on April 24, 2001 06:23:42 AM
Hi Malady. I am in the Akron area. What area are you settling in ? By the way folks, I am indeed soaking in every thing you are saying. Keep it coming !
posted on April 24, 2001 06:39:55 AM
I have visited Ohio once a year for the past 5 years. I always come back with great bargains. I hit 3 or 4 estate auctions a week and every garage sale possible. Can't believe the prices. I mean, they know about ebay and all but when you can get a box of odds-and-ends for $1.00 and sell one of the items for over $100 on ebay and the default price at garage sales (for small items) seems to be 10 cents. It makes me wonder if ebay is taken seriously yet, in that part of Ohio.
posted on April 24, 2001 06:45:49 AM
Well, this is part of my question. I know timing is everything. I've been to a few auctions and I observe people quite well. Not that people are "backwards" here, but it seems to me that I would have to agree. It's like they haven't got the word yet.
posted on April 24, 2001 06:51:10 AM
Keep the day job.
Doing auctions full-time does a job on your psyche. You have a significant drop in social interaction. The buddies at work you used to small talk with disappear and you actually think the entire post office staff are your only friends at times lol.
And what would happen if your computer crashed, major virus, ISP failure etc etc??
I did auctions full time and my computer was wacking out.........I physically could not be away from it long enough to take it in to get fixed. I had to just go get a new computer. As a full time auctioneer you do not get a vacation or even more than 2 days off. Even if you don't list for a week you still have slow payers from 2 or even 3 weeks ago you have to deal with and ship goods for etc etc
Its too much stress for anyone to make the full time switch to auctions right now. And frankly if you don't already have a following of regular customers then just keep it all as a hobby/part time.
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on April 24, 2001 06:56:45 AM
Lovepotions - I see you have a web site. Is that what you do full time (ebay and website?) If so, something must keep you going forward. Don't get me wrong. I'm just this huge hard drive copying information for later access.
posted on April 24, 2001 07:13:59 AM
I used to live near DC and I had a great computer and cable modem. Auctions full-time was easy.
Then I had to move and now have a cheap replacement computer and the crappiest dial-up access (rural central Florida)
Yes I auction the stuff on my site as well as doing in-home parties *wink* selling my goodies. I am moving towards doing more parties than auctions since it gets me out of the house and I sell direct and am not at the post office daily like before.
{edit} also the fact that Yahoo auctions effectively killed 50% of my online sales hit me hard.......(adult category)
http://www.lovepotions.net
[ edited by lovepotions on Apr 24, 2001 07:15 AM ]
posted on April 24, 2001 07:19:07 AM
Well I suppose I got an edge. I got cable modem service and 3 computers. You guys probably think I'm disputing everything you say, which is not the case. I just want the all the info on the table from both sides.
A lot of long time ebay sellers are falling by the wayside at the moment............
Also, I have previous experience being self-employed, dealing with customers, etc.