First success was automatic MZ50 Pentax cameras and lenses.
I was buying cameras for the school I was at. Once I had bought enough for my school I realised I could make some money by continuing to buy cameras with lenses, then sell the lenses separately. I would typically buy cameras with two lenses and a camera bag for around $70 total. I would then sell each lens separately for around $70 and $150. This funded further purchases.
I made enough money to start buying darkroom equipment. I would target ‘pick-up only’ listings where sellers were selling all their stuff in one listing in an auction starting at 99c. This meant a lot of people couldn’t bid because they could not pick-up, leading to low prices. I would target listings that were in Sydney and Melbourne as I would visit these often, and could easily pick-up.
I would clean the equipment and sell one or two of the items in individual listings with postage. One listing I bought had plenty of gear. I cleaned up the enlarger timer and sold it for more than all the gear cost me. Then I donated some of the remaining gear to my school photography department, and sold some of the rest.
I did this for quite a few years. It didn’t cost me anything, and I was teaching in what was probably the best resourced darkroom in NSW schools.
Second success was Pentax K1000 film cameras bought from USA.
I realised that there were only a few K1000 film cameras listed in Australia. Auction prices were quite high. But, in the USA, there were usually 200 to 300 listings for K1000 cameras, so auction prices were lower. The killer was the shipping. I reduced my shipping costs by having cameras sent to an eBay seller in the USA. A lot of US sellers were shipping domestically for free, so that helped a lot.
My contact would wait until he had 5 or 6 cameras then ship them to me in a large box. This greatly reduced my shipping costs, and I would pay him more than it cost to ship to make it worthwhile for him to act as my USA shipping agent.
In about 2012, our A$ was at about US$1.10 for a while. I could buy cameras for dirt cheap.
Over about 4 years I bought well over a hundred K1000 cameras with lenses. These are 30-40yr old cameras, so I would clean them up before selling. Initially, a camera that cost me $70 would sell for $200. I had to stop selling because I was so successful while still teaching. When I retired I started selling many of the cameras I had here, and they would sell for over $400 as demand had increased (especially during the pandemic).
Third success was Refurbished K1000 cameras.
One of the K1000 cameras I had bought had had the black leatherette replaced with red leatherette. This type of refurbishment was rare on eBay.
I found a seller on eBay that was selling the leatherette in A4 sheets. I bought red, blue and green sheets and started re-covering some of the cameras I have here. It worked out at about $5 per camera for the materials, but I could sell these re-covered cameras for $100 more than the original cameras.
I found a seller in the UK that sold thin leather sheets in a vibrant red, and yellow. Camera re-covered in this material sold at a premium.
Fourth success was Zimbabwe $100 trillion dollar banknotes.
When I first started on eBay I was buying 5 Zim$ for $8. These were novelty buys. When I sold a camera lens for a higher than expected price I would include a Zim$ with the lens.
These were the days when you got a seller’s phone number when buying. I contacted the seller and bought Zim$ in bulk. They were so cheap that I would give them away to family and friends.
I started selling the Zim$ for double what I was paying. I did this to increase my seller feedback. They would sell for $3 to $4. A nice little enterprise, though not very profitable.
My last bulk buy of Zim$ from my supplier was for 75 notes for $255.
I lost interest in selling them once I had a good amount of seller feedback. Then, one day, I saw that they were selling for $10 each ... so I sold some more. Then, a few years later, they were selling for $50 to $60 each ... so I some more. NOW, they regularly sell for over $250 per note.
Fifth success was Film camera light seal kits.
I had bought a couple of camera light seal kits from sellers on eBay as I had some cameras that needed new seals.
I quickly realised that I could buy sheets of the seal material and cut the thin strips myself. I then started putting together my own kits for sale. I would usually sell for four times my outlay. Profitable, but hard work putting the kits together.
