posted on October 5, 2001 11:43:15 AM
No, I am not asking for your private sources, unless you really want to share.
I am asking if any of the better known wholesale sources that are available such as, liquidation.com (and others I can't think of right now) are really good places to purchase inventory to resell on eBay.
Since their items are available to most people or resellers I imagine that unless you get in right when the new stuff comes out and you list and sell it quickly that everyone and their mothers would buy and sell the same items and create a glut on the ebay market.
I guess what I am inquiring about is, do those of you who purchase inventory from wholesale sources and make a good living selling, do you use these "well-known" wholesale dot com places or do you purchase your items from places that are not so well known places or from places that are not on the web?
I am a lurker (sounds perverted) but I am new here as a poster so if I am asking a question that has already been covered or is none of my business, I am sorry.
posted on October 5, 2001 12:33:56 PM
Wish I could help, but wholesale prices are not the key, you have to do better than that in order to make a profit on ebay. How to do it on ebaY is a lot more difficult than people think, and once any of us finally get it right, it is unlikely we are going to help set up more competition.
And that is why you are being greeted with such silence. My advice is to use your creative abilities, experiment, try a few things even if not profitable at first and in time you might find a magic item. Though this is probably the worst time you could begin on ebay - business is way off and the future is unclear. Ooops. My ball has gone cloudy. Good luck!
How to do it on ebaY is a lot more difficult than people think, and once any of us finally get it right, it is unlikely we are going to help set up more competition.
I know it is much more difficult than just aquiring a wholesale source. I have been successfully selling (books and second-hand items primarily) part-time on eBay now for three 1/2 years. I am not a newbie who is wondering how the whole thing works and I am certainly not asking for anyone's well-guarded secrets. I am simply inquiring as to whether I am wasting time looking at some of the more commercial wholesale sites or am I better off looking elsewhere?
I am justgeorge here only.
posted on October 5, 2001 03:52:16 PM
if you have been selling for 3 1/2 years then you know what bidders want.
mass produced items available via the web at wholesale is usually available on ebay already,some are from the same folks who are supplying them to the retailers.
i used to sell some handblown marbles and all of a sudden the music stopped for me,since it is not a big deal,i just stopped selling marbles.
one day i received an email from a fellow ebay seller,it turns out that he is a wholesaler and he has captured all the ebay sellers who sell marbles,the message is that he has been selling very well on ebay and since it is xmas and he is a wholesaler,he is too busy to sell retail on ebay,so as he wont be selling on ebay,i should buy from him while he tends to his regular business.
nice guy,so i know why my marbles did not sell.
yu mentioned liquidation,thats interesting,the nature of this business is that while there is oversupply it is cheap and many,but after a certain period,there wont be many around,so if you know the category and can afford to hoard ,selctively buy some and stash it away.
of course it takes money to hoard.
you have to know what you are buying and it sounds like you do know it already.
good luck,personally i stayed away from cyber wholesalers.
Thanks for your info. I think you are probably telling me what I already know.
if you have been selling for 3 1/2 years then you know what bidders want
Yeah, my friend, I wish!! It has just been slow and apparently it is that way for many sellers. I wanted to expand my little business by adding a new line/type of products and with garage sale season beginning to wind down as it gets colder I am not finding as much as I have in the past.
In fact at one garage sale I went to last week I overheard a guy who was running it say that he had already checked out the price on ebay of everything that was out for sale. So I left assuming that there probably were no treasures to be found there.
posted on October 5, 2001 04:57:41 PM
what you need to ask yourself is why does the wholesaler need you ?
I have found a lot of the wholesalers from my flea market days are now selling on ebay. Why do they need me to buy form them ? they can list the item with the opening bid at my wholesale cost.
now with ebay stores I am finding evan more of them One item I was regularly buying @19.00 and selling between 19 to as high as $100.00 Is now avalible in ebay stores for 19.00
Another Wholesaler In my non ebay business is now also on ebay and I am buying items online cheaper than he will sell them to me when I walk thru the door.
spock here......
Live long and Prosper
posted on October 5, 2001 05:54:08 PM
traffic goes both way,some retailers sniped on ebay and haul these goods back to their store,some retailers like the spookhere said,are land folks who sell on ebay as well.
more and more people are saying it is cheaper to buy on ebay and haul it somewhere else to sell,another cyber website or land shop.
if you find local garage offers slim picking ,then think of ebay as a large garage and is well heated ,so shop for your needs on ebay and sell them back on ebay.
some of the power sellers made by bulk loading are gone,their ebay bill runs into thousands which they cant pay from the sold items,list 5000 items at 8.95,sell 400 at 9.05 average price,how can you pay your bills??
posted on October 6, 2001 03:06:27 PM
We identify with justgeorge. I'd comb 30-40 sales on a Saturday morning and anytime 'eBay' would be mentioned at a sale, I'd leave. You could also tell from the prices--internet appraisals up & down the driveway.
One thing I acquired a trained eye for was to see if any USPS priority boxes were used to bring items out of the garage, etc, or just laying around the sale. Then you knew they were on the net and the merchandise was most likely online-rejected garbage.
There once was a time to play the game of knowledge, such as in 98, 99, where the success was in the fact you knew what the item was, the garage sale seller did NOT. Now its different. You really don't find any merchandise at a sale that's given away for 25 cents nowadays like a few years ago (that is, unless its really worth 25 cents) We've almost put an end to garage sales entirely because eBay has become such a household standard in price determination.
On a sad note, for every competitive newbie who comes along and finds the harsh reality of not becoming a millionaire overnight so quits, two more have to take that seller's place. In supply and demand, if you think selling prices are bad now, you haven't seen anything yet.
posted on October 6, 2001 06:06:35 PM
There are places on the Web that you can find items below wholesale. Some you don't even need to be a business to purchase from. Not kidding! There's a certain class of items that almost always get offered at prices well below wholesale. Manufacturers just want to get rid of these types of items. Some of these items are of fantastic quality and from some of the world's most famous names. You can turn around and easily sell some of them on eBay and other venues. Some, not all. For example, famous name licensed collectibles are easy to sell. I find that a lot of the stuff I find on these Websites I've never seen before and are rarely listed on eBay in large quantities, if at all.
If you do find an item on one of these Websites, it pays to do a quick search on eBay to see if it's listed or what similar items are commanding. Just because you find it listed on a Website doesn't mean you'll find massive competition for it on eBay.
