What to Sell on eBay When You Run Out of STUFF!
If you enjoy selling second hand merchandise on eBay, or any online selling site for that matter, there is a challenge that you will encounter at some point. The more successful you are at selling, the more you have to work at finding things to sell. Now if you have managed to find yourself a little niche that has a constant supply of merchandise flowing in to you, you might be pretty well set. If however, like me, you enjoy selling hard to find collectibles, things can be a little bit more challenging.
I didn’t truly realize that this could be a problem until I had been selling vintage and antique items for a while. The stream of old merchandise was pretty consistent as I visited garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and the like week after week. When the weather turned cold though, my supply started to dwindle a bit. You see, I live in an area where these informal selling venues pretty much shut down over the winter. Even estate sale sellers in my area tend to schedule less events because people don’t like to travel in cruddy weather.
Finding Good eBay Inventory
Because I bought a ton of stuff when I first started out, I always had something to put up for sale, but the quality wasn’t always there. In other words, I was selling, but I was dealing with a lot more low profit sales. I was basically in seller survival mode and I didn’t like it. Here are some ideas I came up with and put into action that might help you out too.
The first thing I did was to place an ad in my local Pennysaver classifieds. I think the cost was about $20 and the ad basically said that I was looking to buy vintage items. I think I may have specifically mentioned vintage clothes in that first ad. If you have something that you enjoy selling, you might want to mention it specifically in your ad. I would also recommend looking for a way to mention that you are interested in buying bulk. Maybe something along the lines of “Buried under the clothes you wore in college? I’m looking to buy vintage clothes in bulk!”. It doesn’t have to be anything to fancy. You just want to mention “bulk” or something like it because otherwise you could have people calling you, trying to sell you individual sweaters and such for more than they would sell for online. That is just a waste of your time. I had a bit of success
with this approach. People like being able to get rid of what they see as clutter without having to bother with having a yard sale. Some people might even be willing to give you outrageously low prices. You’ll have to figure out what you are able to spend and still be profitable before you start using this approach. If someone wants more than you can afford, just thank them for calling and explain that you can’t spend that much. There is a good chance that they’ll call back after they stare at their old stuff again for a while. Something motivated them to call in the first place and it will likely keep tickling at the back of their mind. For that reason, you should be very polite and leave the door open for them to call again if they decide they can take less for what they have.
Using this method also opened my eyes to another approach to getting stuff to sell on eBay. I actually received a call from a woman who has an estate sale business. She basically wanted to know if I would serve as a middle man for her. She provided old, deadstock clothing (unsold, old stock) that she had warehoused, and I sold it without having to actually having to lay out any cash. She just wanted to be sure that she received a certain amount per piece. This helped her to clear her old inventory and it gave me a huge supply of things to list. As long as you set prices that can make you both money, this can be a very sweet arrangement, especially if you can get access to all of the leftovers from estate sales that come in during the busy seasons of spring and summer. It could even make it worth your while to set up a store on eBay or a similar site. One caveat to keep in mind though is that you should check out what your “supplier” will have for you to sell. If it is something that people buy regularly, GREAT! If however, it is something that just doesn’t seem to move, you should be honest an tell the owner of the estate sale business that you are only interested in selling things with an interested audience.
Make the First Move
You don’t have to wait for these people to call you either. You can get in touch with the owners of estate sale businesses by phone, or try to talk to them at the end of one of their weekly sales. I wouldn’t recommend approaching them during the middle of a sale. It is unlikely that you would get their full attention at that point. This won’t work with all of the sellers. Some of them buy up the leftovers from the sale and sell them themselves. Some of them might have more than they can keep up with though. These are the ones who can sometimes help you out.
As you put these two methods of finding merchandise into action, you may find that you don’t even have to go out to sales anymore looking for things to sell. I happen to enjoy that part of the process, so I just look at this as a way to get through the winter and supplement things a bit. Remember that you are dealing with people who are basically just like you. They want to make some money with as little hassle as possible. Get them to see how the deal could benefit THEM as well as you and you might be surprised at the ideas they come up with that could help you both out. Don't ever try to cheat them. Honestly, you probably need them more than they need you. If you are willing to give a bit as you start out your relationship, they could potentially provide you with a virtually unlimited supply of things to sell since it is there business to find new sources of estate sale items constantly. You will have to decide whether you want to keep up with the middle man status or not. If you have a tough time finding things to sell on your own though, it might be something to consider.
Category: Expert Interviews and Advice
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I have yet to run out, but I will definitely keep this in mind. I never thought about what a hassle it must become when an estate sale company has to deal with all of the leftovers. This seems like a good idea. I’m glad I stopped by today!
im only just starting to sell on ebay but want to make it an extra income i have found the advice and tips very helpful thankyou