Auction Information

eBay - The Basics


I began selling on eBay in 1999 and have found it to be an enjoyable and profitable experience. I had owned a retail computer store for a few years and decided to close it. I still had a lot of computer inventory and soon discovered eBay was a good resource for selling the parts.

This turned into an ideal situation as selling this way became a home-based business and the overhead was very low. This was a plus to my income opportunity. A spare bedroom in the basement soon became my eBay selling room.

As time passed, more people began selling computer parts and the margins were getting thin. I needed to come up with a new idea that would keep my profit margins at an acceptable level. Instead of selling the computer parts, I would compile a list of my resources and then sell the list as a wholesale resource. The computer wholesale list became an overnight success on eBay. The list has cost me nothing except time, and I was able to sell the list several hundred times. I compiled the list in Excel and also in a text file. Another option was to have it burned to a CD and then mailed to the customer. I charged an extra fee for the CD, and sold quite a few that way too.

After selling the wholesale list for a few months, eBay changed the rules and would no longer allow cross-posting the same item, and also limited the number of times the same item could be listed at the same time. This change caused sales to drop, and I eventually stopped selling the list.

I still had the eBay bug, and was looking for other (http://www.auctionmanger.biz) eBay resources to sell. I started going to garage sales and looking for unique and inexpensive items. This was also another successful resource and lasted for about a year until more people started realizing this technique, and it was getting more difficult to find the bargains.

The next resource I started using was going to auctions and putting the items I purchased on eBay. So far, this has been another good resource and one that I still use. My best buys are when I can buy a quantity of an item for a very low price.

One example was several boxes of HO scale train cars, engines and accessories. There were over 300 items and I ended up paying $150. That came out to 50 cents for each item. There was a lot of work photographing and writing a description for each item. The worked paid off as each item sold anywhere from $3.00 to $12.00 each, making a very nice profit margin.

Selling on eBay is still a resource for additional income, and I am always on the lookout for the next big sale.

James Hendrix has been putting people in business on the Internet since 1996. He has experience with web hosting, development, marketing and search engine optimization.


MORE RESOURCES:

ABC News

EBay to emphasize fixed prices over auctions, report says
CBC.ca, Canada - Aug 20, 2008
Auction site eBay ticked off sellers earlier this year with changes to its fee structure. (Paul Sakuma/Associated Press) Auction site eBay is set to change ...
Auctions and Antiques Examiner Examiner.com
eBay Changes Fees for Fixed-Price Auctions I4U
eBay downplays auctions in favor of fixed-priced listings Ars Technica
HULIQ (press release) - BetaNews
all 487 news articles


Turners Auctions profit up 55%
National Business Review, New Zealand - 1 hour ago
Turners Auctions posted a 55 percent rise in first half net profit to $812000, with pricing reviews and increased sales of add-on finance and insurance ...
Turners Auctions toughs it out Stuff.co.nz
all 17 news articles


Argentina to hold auctions in debt buyback
Reuters - 4 minutes ago
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Argentina announced on Thursday it will hold auctions as part of a debt buyback plan aimed at bolstering sagging bond ...


The Daily Deal (subscription)

Merrill leads Goldman in busted auctions
The Daily Deal (subscription), NY - 4 hours ago
Besides the usual disclaimers (see below), it should also be noted that the exits in question are only for previously announced or reported auctions, ...
American Capital books $120M in profits on Contec sale The Daily Deal (subscription)
all 2 news articles


Examiner.com

Auctions and Antiques Examiner
Examiner.com - 1 hour ago
These websites were picked by the Auctions and Antiques Examiner as useful resources. I guess because September is on the way, it's the time of year people ...


Governors in NY, NJ oppose airport slot auctions
The Associated Press - Aug 19, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — The governors of New York and New Jersey asked federal officials Tuesday to abandon a planned auction of prime takeoff and landing slots at ...
Governors in NY, NJ oppose airport slot auctions Newsday
NY, NJ governors say auctioning airport slots a mistake Poughkeepsie Journal
all 76 news articles


Bargains possible at home auctions
KTAR.com, AZ - 9 hours ago
by Bob McClay/KTAR Many banks are turning to auctions to sell homes they have ended up with through foreclosures. Many times, a home can be bought at ...


Earthtimes (press release)

Massachusetts settles with Merrill on ARS matter
Reuters - 5 hours ago
ARS notes featured interest rates that reset periodically through auctions, which made them similar to short-term investments. But auctions have been ...
3rd UPDATE: Three Banks Agree To Buy Back Billions Of ARS CNNMoney.com
Three big banks settle with NY state over ARS guardian.co.uk
Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs settle bond dispute Times Online
MarketWatch - guardian.co.uk
all 624 news articles


New policy for PLB land auctions
Daily Times, Pakistan - Aug 20, 2008
LAHORE: The Punjab government has framed a new policy to auction land owned by the Punjab Liquidation Board. Under the new policy, the land would be sold ...


Yahoo! Auctions to close soon
AsiaOne, Singapore - 1 hour ago
Singapore auctions site.' The closure, however, does not affect the remaining Yahoo! Auctions sites in Hong Kong and Taiwan. ...

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