Long Time Gone: But Still eBay Strong

I has been a long time since my last post.  Let’s see.  Since my last post:

• The NFL season has started.
• Sarah Palin was announced as VP for the GOP
• Joe Biden was announced as the VP for the Democrats
• Another hurricane hit New Orleans
• I HAD A $3000 SALE ON EBAY!

I guess, to me, the last one is the most noteworthy.  And it is the reason I am writing today.  I, as always, using the tips from the Dropshipping Sucks guide found an Entertainment Android.

What is an Entertainment Android you might ask?  It is a very large robot used for events.  A cute robot I called Space Head.

I bought him for a small fortune at $366 and was able to sell him for a large fortune on eBay.  $3011.01 to be exact!!  After all costs I easily netted over $2500 in profit.

The biggest pain was shipping him.  Since he was no ordinary item I had to arrange for van freight to bring him to his new home.  It was a HEADACHE.  And, until I got word that he arrived safely, I could hardly sleep thinking somehow I was going to lose-out on this sale.  WHAT IF THEY BROKE HIM!?  WHAT IF THEY STOLE HIM!?

But, it all worked out in the end.  I never thought I would be selling robots online.  That is a new one.

So, that is my long overdue update.  I will TRY to be more frequent.  You try to use my affiliate link!    It makes me want to post more!

Make Your Spouse Love eBay Too!

As those of you who read my blog know, I am doing fairly well on eBay but have decided I am not ready to quit my day job yet.  In fact, a slow week last week on eBay verified my need to build up a savings first.  No, it wasn’t a terrible week, but I was expecting a great week and ended up with an ok one.

The good news is that I did find a way to increase my eBay hours without taking any time off work.  THE WIFE!

My wife loves to shop.  So, who better to be the buyer for our eBay business?  I do like to shop to when buying products to sell on eBay, but she really seems to love it.  I had her read the guide and she was already aware of most of the ways I was finding products.

I think in the end she will be better than me at buying products, but right now she has been a little too hesitant.  She enjoys it greatly but is constantly asking me questions.  Not that I mind the questions but I think she has the “Drop Shipping Sucks” concepts down pretty well.

Her first purchase was some Nintendo Wii Remote shaped candy.  Actually, the candy looked like little CDs but the dispenser looked just like a Wii Remote.  Normally I do not like to share what I am selling since I have heard that many people will have no ethical problem just copying your auctions but in this case it was a one-time sale.

The candy dispensing Wii Remotes were bought for $0.55 each and she bought 24 of them.  So, our investment was about $13 or so.

I was excited to see how her first try would go and it went ok.  Very similar to my first try.  She made a few bucks and we had some leftover Wii Remotes.

In fact, we sold 13 of them total for a net profit of $27 and some change.  The eleven Wii Remote thingys we had left we gave to our local Goodwill Store.  So, not a bad first try.  $27 profit.

But I didn’t want to keep listing them as other eBayers seemed to catch on to this quickly and suddenly we were not the only ones selling these candy dispensers.  I think there are still a few selling on eBay.

Now the wife is on to buying more and better products.  I will let you know how it goes.

Wish US luck!

The Joys and Pains of eBay Selling!

Well, I had planned on writing something much sooner but I just haven’t had much time lately.  Aside from still working full time I am still selling on eBay of course.  And, as things pickup there my time is being fully consumed.

I will say this.  eBay is making it more and more difficult to turn a profit.  Although I still use the methods from DropShipping Sucks to find products really cheap I am getting sick of eBay deciding to keep more and more of my profits.

Sure, I am making a profit which was all I wanted from the start when I was trying using regular drop shippers.  But I have gotten greedy and have gotten used to making decent money.  I still am, but as I plan to expand and grow, my growth seems to be stunted by eBay and their endless need to make millions of more dollars by increasing fees!

The one good thing is that there seems to be less competition on eBay these days.  I think many people have already abandonded them for greener pasture.  Wherever that may be.

I might too take Chris’ advice of starting my own website and not relying on outside companies such as eBay and Amazon.com to staple my business.

What are your thoughts?  Are you guys going to dump eBay?  Have you dumped eBay?  Is there somewhere else besides eBay (and Amazon.com) that you like?

Let me know!  I am really interested.  I am especially interested in hearing from other Drop Shipping Sucks customers like myself and what you are doing outside of eBay.

WISH ME LUCK!

Big Loss on eBay Because I am an eBay Dummy!

Have you ever listed an auction late at night with a buy it now instead of a starting bid?  I did and it really hurts!

I was selling a telescope I found using the better sources guide I always talk about and was really excited.  I bought it for just over $20 and was ready to sell it for around $60 after shipping, seeing that the other completed items for this exact model were going for that or more.  It would leave me with a profit of around $30 after my shipping costs and ebay/paypal fees.  I was excited about it.  I was going to start the bid at $1.00 and watch with joy as it ended up with many bids.

That would not happen.  Instead I listed it for $1.00 BUY IT NOW.  Well, needless to say it sold fast.  It sold so fast that it was too late for me to fix my error.  Now, that $30 profit is a $10 loss.  I still make money on the shipping & handling so I will lose about $10.  But that makes me so mad!

Also, I was lucky enough to get SIX of these telescopes.  Now, I am worried that nobody will want to pay more and bid up when they see one in my feedback that went for $1.  I am going to ask the buyer not to leave feedback for the purchase so hopefully she will understand and not leave me any.

Wish me luck and that I get a brain!

All Sales are Final on eBay!

Don’t let the title fool you.  This is not about someone buying something from one of my eBay auctions and wanting to return for a refund.  This is to say that my first official round of post-Christmas sales on eBay are complete!

Now, I am finally into the real profit.  I have erased my $150+ debit when starting out using DOBA drop shipping and I have entered the land of $0.11 in profit.  Sure, that sounds like nothing.  But I have erased the debit so from now on that profit will keep increasing; assuming my eBay sales continue to be steady.

I did have one other scare that tought me a valuable lesson.  Always put in your auctions that you want to be paid within 24 – 72 hours of the auction close.  I had someone who put the payment off for a while and I was SURE that I was not going to be paid.  Well, I was wrong.  I was paid but I have decided I cannot handle the worry of waiting that long again.  So, now all my auctions will read “Payment required within xx hours of auction close” or “within xx days of auction close”.  I do not want to go through that again.

I know I also have not posted a drop shipping sucks picture in a long time but for right now there are only 2 left so I am leaving them for a time when I have not too much to write about.  Maybe one week when my auctions are not going so hot.

I have to go post more auctions right now.  Nothing listed so I better get on it.

Wish me luck!