The following are tricks and strategies I use to buy items cheap on eBay to later sell on eBay for double, triple, or sometimes even quadruple what I paid for it.
Although I mainly buy and sell sports memorabilia on eBay, I have used these strategies on eBay to buy and sell other things such as gold and silver, tools, and even health products.
So these tips can be used to buy and sell virtually anything on eBay at a profit but these tips work extremely well with collectibles. And by using these strategies I have never failed to at least make a 25% return on investment on any item I've bought on eBay with the purpose of reselling.
But first things first, it would be a very good idea to make a decision about in general what you would like to sell so you can become very familiar with that item or those items on eBay. Why?
For a few reasons: obviously to know what said item(s) sell for on eBay which can be found by looking at completed listings; when you know what the item(s) you are targeting sell for then you know what you can buy them for to make a profit; and last, after looking at listings for said item(s) you will know what to look for in order to pick up deals so you can buy low and sell high.
Tip #1: I'm certain you're familiar with using misspellings in listings' titles to pick up steals; well along the same lines are to use unpopular synonyms or unpopular search terms for the item you are trying to buy at a deal.
For example, when I'm looking for autographed sports memorabilia for a particular player, instead of typing in that player's name and "auto" or "autograph," I'll type in that player's name and "signed" or "autographed." I do this because I've learned that "signed" and "autographed" are not searched for nearly as much as "auto" and 'autographed," as a result less people see these auctions and sometimes I can pick up autographs that sell for $100 for $40 or $50 including shipping.
And this proves the point that it's important to know about the item(s) you want to buy and sell on eBay and how the item(s) sell on eBay.
Tip #2: Look for auctions that end at bad times of the day. For the most part, auctions that end between the hours of 3AM-6AM EST on a weekday are good for picking up steals for 2 reasons: most of the bidding for auctions usually happen in the last hour and between the hours of 3AM-6AM EST people are in bed.
However, if you yourself are in bed during that time the only way to take advantage of these types of auctions is to either place your highest bid as late as possible before you go to bed and hope that you don't get outbid, or to get sniper software that does it for you.
Sometimes auctions that end in the afternoon on a weekday can afford you the opportunity to pick up some great deals on eBay as well.
Tip #3: Newly listed items with a low buy-it-now. With this strategy you really have to know how much you can spend on the item and still make a good profit because this strategy requires you to snap up a good deal the minute you see it.
For example, a few days ago I saw a newly listed item with a buy-it-now of $24.99 plus $2.99 shipping on a baseball card I knew I could at least get $60 for but someone snapped it up before I could hit the buy-it-now.
This strategy works very well but is very time consuming as it requires quite a bit of vigilance on eBay, and it requires split second decisions, so again you have to know what the item sells for which will determine if you should hit the buy-it-now on a newly listed item.
Tip #4: Unsold items in completed listings. This one works occasionally but not often. However, I have picked up some really amazing deals when it has.
For example, there was a woman on eBay who was selling a collection of silver bars with the faces of presidents on them and the edges of the bars were 24kt gold, and those bars came in a very nice case.
To make a long story short her item was listed as an auction with a starting bid of $999 and it never got the minimum bid; after batting around a few messages I was able to get her to set up an auction for me with a buy-it-now of $849.99 with $30 shipping including insurance.
After waiting for the auction to clear out of completed listings, I was able to sell that collection of silver bars for almost $1500. I attribute being able to do this for 3 reasons: I know quite a bit about silver, quick online research of that particular set online just to be sure prior to contacting the seller, and doing a way better job of listing the item on eBay than the original owner.
Hope you found these tips helpful in getting steals on eBay.
Ana has been writing articles for nearly 1 year. Come visit her latest website about a pimple remover and other information on how to remove pimples.
No comments:
Post a Comment