How do I make money on Ebay if the item doesn't sell...?

Question

...and I have to keep paying insertion fees each time I relist it?

They will add up over the course of all the auctions and the amount may exceed the cost of the item.

Answer 1

Do you run it as a small business that's registered?

If so I believe you can deduct that fee every time as an expense, which will make an impact on your taxes.

Basically if you sell a lot of one item, say a pen, and not a lot of another, say a stapler, you can basically use the debt from not selling staplers to cover the profits of the pen in a way. It sort of works out.

But I realize in the grand scheme this doesn't help you much, it's just a write off.

My suggestion though is to watch the market on ebay. Know your customer. Sounds hard because they're online, but think it through.

If you're selling pens and staplers, chances are you'll get more business at the end of summer for back to school season. If you're selling wedding rings chances are summer is your peak sales time.

By knowing your market, and studying past trends, you can see when you should ease off on posting certain items.

So figure out at what times certain items are popular, and when that demand decreases. Then list less of it when demand decreases, and more when it increases, this will minimize the amount of insertion fees you have to pay.

Answer 2

Hello,

Yes the fees could get you if you are not careful. That is why you can only sell something that has enough of a margin so that you can still make money. There are also other ways to make money online. You could do any of the following:

1)sell stuff online. either on eBay or a website
2)make a website & sell ppc advertising on it (google adsense)
3)buy & sell domain names. Some people make a fortune doing this (see the link below)
4) Join an affiliate program & promote products for people
5) Perform a service (writing, teaching, babysitting, etc.) you could offer many services online

Answer 3

Don't use ebay ... if you are going to start a business auctioning things off such as items you find at yard sales and such ... use http://www.onlineauctionexchange.com with no No Listing Fees, No Commission or End-of-Auction Fees you have nothing to loose. With ebay you'll be paying all kinds of fees and if nothing sells from the start they can add up quick. http://www.onlineauctionexchange give you the opportunity to start earning cash right from the start. And whats really cool is they give you $1000 worth of credit to start off. Use the credit for premium auction listings are to open you own online store ... great website, a must see for any hard core online auctioneer.

Answer 4

I have tried ebay before but it seems like it does not generate any income for me. You must categorize your product very carefully and it will also depend what products you are sellling.

eBay or auction is just one form of internet business. There are a lot more other internet business model that you could consider of. (e.g. buying and selling domain names, selling phyiscal or digital products, creating paid newsletter or websites, affilitate marketing and many more).

Find out more from the below link to setup a successful online business regardless of your experience or background. It will tell you what are these key steps, the reason for each step, how you could go about doing it and where you could get the necessary resource free or at a lower cost.

Hope that it will be helpful to you.

Answer 5

You have to sell items that have resale value and at a price that people are willing to pay. Odd items may not sell. You can also list something without a reserve price and have to sell it for less than it is worth. Most of the items I have bid on and won, I get at a much lower price than I could get them anywhere else. I do buy old jewelry and most of it sellers profess to buy at estate sales, I assume at very low prices, and then sell them on ebay for more. You state the very reason I am a buyer and not a seller.

Answer 6

Why not search your kind of products and see what other price other people are selling products on the net.

You can also try Amazon or yahoo shopping may be that helps.

If You want to go long term than why not start your own online shopping website. If you do not want to invest any money or incur monthly charges to start your ecommerce website, you can go to http://www.theexpomart.com from where you can get your online shopping website for free with no hidden or any other charges or commission.

Answer 7

You don't, you have to sell something that sells.

Answer 8

you left out the biggest issue? what are you selling?????