Slow eBay Sales Season, but I am Ready for March.

Did you think I was dead?  No, I was just busy!  But I have some time now because this is a slow time for me on eBay.  After an amazing Christmas season where I think the slow economy actually helped my sales, things have dropped off considerably.  But I am not concerned.  I am using my dropshipping sucks skills to buy what I can and be ready for March!

Last March is when things really took off after the holidays.  I did pretty well after the holidays last year too.  But this year with the economy what helped my Christmas sales is hurting my post Christmas sales.  During Christmas time everyone was on eBay because everyone wanted a DEAL.  Everyone wanted to save some money and spend a little less.  Now I think everyone is shopped out.  Everyone is in savings mode.

It is a little painful, but again I will be able to ride it out and really cash-in come March.

I have been able to find a few great items to resell:

4GB SD Cards for $1.66 which will be great to sell to people who got Digital Cameras for Christmas and want to use them for the summer.

7″ Digital Photo Frame for $16.40 which I can sell along with the SD cards

A huge lot of 96 various Nintendo Wii games. Some of them are not as popular, but I got all 96 games for $504.  This is a big investment for me, but I see me easily doubling my investment.

As you can see, I am ready and I am not just using the dropshipping-style techniques Christopher taught either.  I am still using the techniques for buying products to sell on ebay, but I am not just buying one item at a time after it sells anymore. 

I just wanted to give my fans a quick update and to let them know that I still have a heartbeat.  WISH ME LUCK!

I Love Selling on eBay Before Christmas!

What a great time of year this is.  Not only are people buzzing with the spirit of the holidays but people are shopping like mad!

My eBay sales have indeed rocketed even with the increased competition.  There are definitely more eBay sellers right now.

I have been able to sell tons of toys I bought throughout the year (using DropShipping Sucks).  Ok, maybe not tons.  But in my eBay stats the “Sold” shows 89 and the profits have been around 10% higher than usual.

On the other hand, I have had a lot of trouble selling the “Lost” merchandise I have.  I was able to buy some stuff related to the TV show “Lost” for a very low cost.  I assumed it would sell much better than it has though.  I will probably need to hold on to it until the show is back on in Jan 2009 though.  It is just not selling.

One thing that is selling really well are the wireless cameras with wireless montiors I bought.  They are selling consistantly for over $65 which is far more than the $18 I bought them for a few weeks ago!  Also, all the toys I have are flying off the virtual eBay shelf.

But toys, as expected, are doing the best.  The Little Pet Shop toys I got are going hot although I do not make as much on those.  Also going hot are the Nintendo Wii knockoffs.  No, they are not just like the Wii but they are close and for the selling price of $60 they are a deal (so buy some!).

I have to run.  I have to get to the post office before work.  Wish me luck and the same to you!

My Worst Week on eBay in a Little While.

What can I say.  I had a bad week.  First off, it looks like I purchased a LEMON of a product to sell.  I thought that they would go well and, until now, I have gotten very good at determining what would sell.  That stinks.  I have been on a real roll.

The good news is since I used the DropShipping Sucks method I will not be out any money.  But the bad news is that this entire week I will net a whopping $233 in profit.  Yes, that is right, $233 for the WEEK. 

Yuck!

Wish me luck for next week.  I have been having much better weeks in general this was just a stinker.  Let’s hope it is an exception and not the new rule!

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!

eBay Sales Going Strong, but I am Getting Lazy!

It has been a while since I wrote.  Last time I was celebrating a big day.  My BIGGEST day!  Today, I am just writing because I am having eBay euphoria.  I realize something.  I am one of the few.  One of the people who set out to sell on eBay and went through all the pitfalls and am still on and still making money.

Kudos to me.

BUT, this week I did something I told myself I wouldn’t do.  I cheated.  I said I would not find what other’s are selling and just copy it.  But I did, and it is going well!

As part of Chris’ Better Sources software we can see a blog where he (very infrequently ) posts information on trends, etc.  Well this past week he posted about some wireless keyboards he found and told us where to get them.  He then also showed some current eBay auctions and it looked good to me.

So, I picked up 7 of the keyboards and got them for $6.00 each and have been happily selling them for $26 – $38 each.  Not a bad markup.  But I do have some remorse.  I feel instantly lazy.  While I have been using the techniques in the Dropshipping Sucks guide (please, use my affiliate link!) and using the Better Sources software to find products, it was so easy just to have Chris tell me what product to sell and where to find it.  Now, I find myself checking the member’s blog every day and to my dissapointment there has been nothing more.

To me it is kind of interesting from a psychology standpoint.  Here I am doing well and have become a self-proclaimed expert at finding products myself, but the second someone hands me one I just want more and more.  So, Chris, POST MORE!

Well, I suppose I should get back to finding products for myself.  Wish me luck!

Record eBay Sales on Monday!

I am writing this with a bit of unabashed glee!  On Monday, my sales generated me an all-time high in profits.  It’s not close.  Monday blew every previous day of eBay sales out of the water with a one day profit of over $630!!!

I do have to brag a little.

My closest day before Monday was in early June when I had a day which netted me $212.14 exactly.  That was a great day.  But this Monday was even better.

The main difference though was that my previous high eBay sales profit record was set amond many items, over 10, while this Monday only 4 sales were made. 

I was lucky enough, or should I say skilled enough, to find a product that sold for $540 more than what I purchased it for less than a week earlier.

What did I sell you ask?  A “Professional Audio Mixer”.  I am not even sure what it is still.  I know it is used by DJs and recording studios.  I bought it at a government sale which I found through the Better Sources software I have been raving about.

I got it at $120 above the minimum bid of $100, so I paid $220 for it.  But as Chris suggests, I had researched it before I bought it.  Really I researched it while I was buying it.

This was a big purchase for me so I was nervous although confident.  I really did not want to muck things up and lose $200+ on a single item.  Believe it or not, I still do have some stinkers from time to time!

That didn’t happen so today is a celebration!  I am going to take my Wife out for a nice dinner and perhaps catch Step Brothers at the movie theatre.  It looked kinda funny to us and we haven’t seen a comedy lately.  We did catch The Dark Knight and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I am ready to see something a bit more funny and a bit less dark.

Then I will come home and start looking for more products to sell.  More days like Monday and I will quite my real job!

Wish me luck.

Wahooo! That eBay Wholesale Product Tool is Out!

Ok, it is like 5:00 in the morning.  I just woke up to some news that is going to make you very happy.  That product finding tool that I wrote about in the blog recently and that I have had the privilage of beta testing has been released.

Unfortunately for me, there is no affiliate program yet so I will not be able to make a commission if you go there and order.  But since I got the software for free I guess I will not pout too bad.  But if you want to wait to order it until you can use my affiliate link I will not complain either. 

The site is www.bettersources.com which is kind of weird because that is the name of his guide that he sells at his drop shipping sucks site (that one IS an affiliate link).

If you want a really cool way to find products to sell then I do recommend you give it a try.  Maybe do me a favor and when you order send an email to Chris and tell him that you found out about the site from my blog.  Who knows, when he makes his affiliate program maybe I will get the credit.

Well, I have to get to work.  Yeah, I know, I still haven’t quit my day job.  I am doing well on eBay but it is not stable enough yet for me to do it full time.  I agree with all the comments I got that I need to have at least 5 – 6 months worth of bills in savings.

Enjoy Chris’ new software.  Wish me luck!

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!

EBAY IS NOT ALONE: Where besides eBay?

I am doing well.  So well in fact that I want to do better. 

Ebay sales are making me enough money to pay a few bills but I am still so far away from quitting my real job that I am getting anxious to accelerate the process.  My thought is this; start selling somewhere other than eBay.

No, I am not going to stop selling on eBay.  It is going well.  But, as Chris says in his guide, this stuff works on Amazon.com and other websites as well.  So the only question is where.

I do not know much about amazon and I know nothing about starting my own website.  Chris’s guide also mentions I can create a free blog at www.tangents.org like I have here but there I will get to keep the adsense profits and can also include affiliate links.  I can include affiliate links here too of course but I do not keep any adsense revenue.  I am going to ask Chris if there is an easy way to add products to that Tangents site as well as then that can serve as my website since it is free.

If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.  I am looking at Amazon.Com, CraigsList.com, Tangents.Org, and a few others.  I have heard Craig’s List is good but I am not sure how it works.  Less than I know about Amazon even.

Wish me luck!!

Did I Die on eBay?

It has been so long since my last post that I bet some of you might be wondering if I suffered the typical death of an eBay seller.

NOPE.

In fact, things are going strong and I have been reaching many of my goals, still using the Drop Shipping Sucks guide to find products to sell.

I now have gone from my starting loss to a profit of over $3300 so far.  It hasn’t always been easy although a couple of times it has.  Most recently while using the drop shipping sucks methods I stumbled across a sale on DVD +DL disks.  These are like DVD+R discs, recordable, but they have double layers which mean they hold 2x as much data.  As it turns out, these are a pretty hot commodity on eBay and fetch over $1.50 per disc on average.

I was able to find a great clearance sale on them for $5.99 for 25 discs.  I promptly bought 23 packs of them, which is all they had left.  I was able to sell them on eBay with a BuyItNow of $22.00 and free shipping.  In the end I netted around $12.50 per pack and sold all 23 packs within 5 days.  It was a nice little week for me indeed!

Now, I am looking into something called Sky High Auctions which looks promising.  I have ask Chris (author of the Better Sources Guide) about it and am waiting for his response.  If I do join the program I will be sure to write a review here.  It “promises” to teach me everything about eBay selling.  Since I already have a great way to find products it would be nice to have some serious selling training as well.

Wish me luck!  I will write again soon.  Much sooner than the time between this post and my last one.