Earning on Ebay, Amazon, and Etsy

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Comment by Michael Jones on May 15, 2013 at 7:35am

Hey everyone! I have not really done much with eBay even though I've been a seller since 2004 and have a 100% positive feedback rating, with hundreds of transactions over those almost 10 years.

I'd like to start doing a lot more on eBay, with an initial goal to earn $250 a month, then $500, then $1,000.  I have gone through some eBay courses over the years, but I don't know what to sell and where to start, outside of the stuff already in my house.

What resources are available to learn about profitable things to sell on eBay, and is it possible to scale up part time to eventually make $1,000+ profit per month?

Comment by Landa LaMotta Knaack on May 1, 2013 at 3:41am

Raun--One of the things that piqued my interest was the hyper-local aspect. While Craigslist is more metro-area with sub-local search, Krrb listed several small towns near me as "cities." 

Comment by Raun Lauterbach on April 30, 2013 at 4:59pm

Landa -- No, I haven't heard of it.  I wonder how they are doing.  It's always hard to get enough people into a community to get it to function smoothly.  Looks interesting enough.

Comment by Landa LaMotta Knaack on April 30, 2013 at 2:17pm

Has anyone heard of Krrb.com?  Sounds like a competitor to Craigslist or eBay's old classifieds...  http://krrb.com/

Comment by Josh Chapman on April 6, 2013 at 8:29pm

So I had a golf club posted 3 times for week long auctions. The auction started at $0.99 but had a shipping cost of between $5 - $15. I never got a bid on it in 3 weeks. I listed it again starting at $19.99 with free shipping and I already have a bid on it. I guess the free shipping might be the way to go, just don't forget to build it into the starting price.

Comment by Landa LaMotta Knaack on March 27, 2013 at 4:50pm

Wish we had a "like" button, Raun, so I could tag your remark!  I also noticed that you should list your shipping options from lowest to highest rate--I guess a lot of buyers are too lazy to look into the details link, or even the shipping tab on the item...

My item had plainly listed USPS first class mail (economy shipping) rate in both places.  I guess my buyer never looked.  Seems like basic stuff I might have overlooked, but maybe helpful for others, too!

Comment by Raun Lauterbach on March 27, 2013 at 4:06pm

I have done some testing like this.  I sold the same item under 2 listings.  One was for an amount plus roughly the actual cost to ship.  The other listing was for "free shipping."  The free shipping listing was actually a dollar higher than the other listing.  This item was in the $10-12 range, for reference.  I sold many more of the free shipping listings than the other one.  It seemed strange to me, but I went with it.  :)

Comment by Landa LaMotta Knaack on March 27, 2013 at 3:35pm

That's my thought, Rob.  I'm always looking for the free shipping deal as a buyer, too... it was just such a "duh!" moment... 

Comment by Rob Orr on March 27, 2013 at 6:42am

I've worked in the shipping industry and for a big ebay seller, and I can say that if you can afford to apportion your shipping costs so that that you product appears to ship for free, in my experience, you'll do better. Buyers WILL look at price + shipping for a total cost, but there are also a lot of others who are enticed by the "free shipping" offer that will pull the trigger on it.

Generally speaking, people don't like to pay for shipping. I'd have to say it's a strong reason why Amazon Prime is so successful.

Comment by Landa LaMotta Knaack on March 27, 2013 at 4:49am

Something interesting happened today.  I had a listing expire on ebay.  Not exciting, I know.  Opening bid of $7, BIN for $12--nothing to break the bank--and I offer several different shipping options. But then a watcher contacted me to ask if I would accept $9.00 including shipping.  That was only a few cents off from the opening bid plus economy shipping. Naturally, it's now got me thinking...

I'm planning to test the "free economy shipping" idea based on this model (basically, taking my initial opening bid price, adding economy shipping cost for new initial opening price with free shipping)  Has anyone implemented something like this?  Does it drive sales?

BTW, my inventory right now is household excess, but I'm curious to see if it's a better way to spur sales...

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