Looking for a niche on eBay or my own small store

[golotomer]

I'm looking for product to sell on eBay or possibly even my own small spot at a flea market or consignment type store.  If you know of any good wholesale products please let me know your ideas.  Perhaps your thoughts will get my creative juices flowing. 

Thanks! 

[RMWorld]

 
Hello. Good Luck with that! I have been a POWER SELLER on eBay for many years. I have owned a Sports Memorabilia shop for over ten years and have always had an overflow of incoming items to post on eBay. No special Niche,... simply sports cards, signed memorabilia, collectibles...., etc.... I have also taken up on flea markets, city wide craft and toy shows,... and other venues. Have had great luck with sales in some areas and not so great in others.

As far as eBay.... most buyers and bidders are going to eBay and searching for specific items... of course you get your browsers..., but typically most buyers know what they are looking for when they log on to eBay. So it's tough to just pick a flashy item and think it will sell..... you have to do a lot of research on eBay to see what's actually selling and to see if you can post something similur at a competitive price.  *** Flea markets and other shows however can be a little different.... Many people walking through a flea market will buy on impulse.... something that catches their attention at the moment, ... something cool, flashy, eye catching, and with a reasonable price..... and you have to be current and not stick with the same items forever. One year I did awesome in all areas selling Sports Logo Clocks, and the next year they didn't sell it all.... WHAT BUYERS WANT CHANGES NEARLY FASTER THAN YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS... BY THE TIME YOU FIGURE IT OUT, BUYERS HAVE MOVED ON TO THE NEXT BIG THING..... But, if you're fast, you can bring in the dollars!
 

[JessieKateRose]

Just always be on the lookout for something good to sell. My boyfriend decided he liked these tiny action figures, and when we bought him a rare one we noticed that on eBay the lowest price for one was $20 for a set of 12.. and the next price was $25 for one. So we bought two sets of 12, he kept 2, and we sold the other 22 for $6-20 each, depending on what other people had them listed for at the time. We made about $200 profit. It's not that much if you're trying to live on it, but just keep a look out. Sometimes you can find things that you can resell for a lot (video games and stuff) at thrift stores.

[mollydog75]

I owned my own brick and mortar place business had that shop 5 Years-
paid my dues to the owner of the building every month.
I also had a *bay store and did the auctions 7 yrs .
The fees for *bay drove me out of there,
 my rent went out of this world.
I dumped the business and *bay.
The profits were beimg eaten up by both.
 The economy in my area went belly up
I found this site by mistake.
I am no way indorseing this site this is what worked for me.
I now am with Ecrater.com a free market place "No Fees" its been 5 years now.
No fees, you can have as much stuff as you want on there.
And as many pictures you want.
 you are not nickled and dimed to death.
NO SET UP CHARGES
I have had a very profitable time at ecrater.
And hope to have a better time in 2011....
GOOD LUCK
I wanted to ADD THIS SITE IS NOT AN  AUCTION SITE......

[dreamyxo]

I used to sell at flea markets and yard sales.  Might get back into it if my schedule allows it this summer.  I just found a site the other day that has inspired me to get back into flea markets.  www.liquidation.com

[RMWorld]

 
In addition to my earlier post and follow up to recent replies.... I must say I agree that the fees for selling on eBay have become ridiculous. In all honesty the actual mark up on most new items is usually about 20% ..... eBay collects 15% of the sale price on most of your sold items and that doesn't include what they have raped you simply to list the item wether it sells or not.... you do the math.... you can see that the profit margin left after eBay takes their cut is merely nothing.... so it is indeed very difficult to find that HOT item you can actually make a profit with.

When searching for products to sell.... YOU MUST DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST! You will find that many of the products being offered by so-called wholesalers and liquidators to the public for re-sale on eBay or other markets really don't have the greatest prices.. I have spent endless hours researching products from online wholesalers to find that a majority of their prices offered on most items is actually a higher price than they actually sell for on eBay.... so how is it you can really profit? Just beware of that when looking for sellable products.

There are many profitable products to sell out there, but you have to sift through tons of no-profit, non-selling goods to find them. After owning a walk-in store and selling on eBay and more... my own experience has shown that you will end up trying several different items in different markets before you actually find something that sells and is ultimately profitable. TRIAL AND ERROR.... sometimes it's the best way.

[golotomer]

Hello. Good Luck with that! I have been a POWER SELLER on eBay for many years. I have owned a Sports Memorabilia shop for over ten years and have always had an overflow of incoming items to post on eBay. No special Niche,... simply sports cards, signed memorabilia, collectibles...., etc.... I have also taken up on flea markets, city wide craft and toy shows,... and other venues. Have had great luck with sales in some areas and not so great in others.

Thanks for such as good answer.  Most people with experience and knowledge don't seem to want to take the time to respond.  For years I have wanted to open my own little shop and sell yarns and fibre art supplies, candy making supplies, scented oils, tarot card sets, incense, home made crafts of my own and local artists and other whimsical things that meet my fancy. 

I was laid off after 20 years with the same company, a good job, and I'm looking for my next venue in life and as we all know...we must have money to survive but I'd rather do something I love for a change. 

[golotomer]

I found this site by mistake.
I am no way indorseing this site this is what worked for me.
I now am with Ecrater.com a free market place "No Fees" its been 5 years now.

I will definitely check it out.  I'm still trying to figure out what I can purchase wholesale that would be an item people want to purchase.  Thanks so much for the information though. 

[golotomer]

Molly Dog. 

I went out to the site you recommended and did a lookup on on some yarns.  I had purchased some the other day at Big Lots for a dollar a ball and I'm seeing it on that site 3 for 9.00!  I can't believe people would sell or buy it at those prices but wonder if it's possible. 

[mollydog75]

I lnow what you mean about the yarn.
But there are some people out there that just do not care what they sell and how-
That includes Ecrater and everywhere else.
In the other hand there are people that will purchase that yarn maybe they are in a hardto travel area -
and no Joblot,and to them this is well worth it.
Or they have money to burn not like the rest of us.
Ecrater does not look over the shoulder of the honest people that want to sell -however they will shut down a store for bad business practices.
I did check the yarn that you spoke of  it was for Ice Blue for $9.00 ?
that included the "free shipping" in that price.

As far as getting your product most of the vendors I have delt with in the past you had to have set up an account and a Federal tax Id Number
mollydog75

[RMWorld]

 
But, please put aside my comments and advice as a potential roadblock for I have unleashed the truth that retail venues can be very difficult. By all means, if it's something you enjoy - DO IT! I really, enjoyed having my store open. Meeting new people, creating friendships and making money with a product line that I extremely took interest in was exciting and fun for me. I dealt with Sports Cards, Memorabilia, Collectibles of all kinds, ... toys, vintage items, games, figures, coins.... etc... ... but the important part about business is profitability.... without it, the whole idea really doesn't work. It takes a lot of time and devotion to make retail sales work for you..., no matter if it's a brick and mortar walk-in store, online auctions or flea markets and craft shows.

I started strugling about 2 years ago with profit margins on products..., struggled with the thoughts that I was making an ok income that beat punching the clock for anyone else.... but, I was working every minute of the day from the time I woke up til I went to sleep. I had to make a really difficut decision to close my store a year ago. Very difficult. It was my passion, my income, the way I built my great reputation not only as a store owner but as a person in general. I had to come to the not so appealing realization that - what was once fun, became very stressful and outweighed the joys I once had when I first opened. Gosh.... I could branch out on this a million ways.... if you have any specific questions with your business ventures I'm more than happy to help and share my experiences with any of you........ feel free to ask.   

[mollydog75]

I thought of something that might help you in finding out what HOT and not to sell.
Google What is hot and selling on ebay, and so on.
I also thought of a vendor that might sell to you..
ltdcommodities.com  I did business with them while I had my brick and mortar and online.
There is nothing worse than having a vision within reaching distance and not knowing how to get there.
Been there andddddd done that.
Feel free to post I am always in here.
mollydog75

[golotomer]

I lnow what you mean about the yarn.
But there are some people out there that just do not care what they sell and how-
That includes Ecrater and everywhere else.
In the other hand there are people that will purchase that yarn maybe they are in a hardto travel area -
and no Joblot,and to them this is well worth it.
Or they have money to burn not like the rest of us.
Ecrater does not look over the shoulder of the honest people that want to sell -however they will shut down a store for bad business practices.
I did check the yarn that you spoke of  it was for Ice Blue for $9.00 ?
that included the "free shipping" in that price.

As far as getting your product most of the vendors I have delt with in the past you had to have set up an account and a Federal tax Id Number
mollydog75

Well then that leads me to more questions.  If you undercut someone's prices do you become a really unpopular member?  I can understand selling at a profit...I'm doing the legwork, etc but I don't want to be the bad guy on the block either.  Secondly how to you go about getting  that Federal tax id and vendor number?  Thanks for all your help. 

[parklandmarket]

you can get info for your fed # at : www.irs.gov

[golotomer]

[quote author=RMWorld link=topic=23297.msg294985#msg294985

It was my passion, my income, the way I built my great reputation not only as a store owner but as a person in general. I had to come to the not so appealing realization that - what was once fun, became very stressful and outweighed the joys I once had when I first opened. Gosh.... I could branch out on this a million ways.... if you have any specific questions with your business ventures I'm more than happy to help and share my experiences with any of you........ feel free to ask.  [/b] 
[/quote]

I'm sorry you couldn't realize your dream.  So many of us are caught within the same dilemma making us slaves in order to survive.  Sad.