topic Re: Starting small? in Selling

Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 03:27:57 GMT

I'd like to ask if there's still room for small sellers and how small is too small? How about if I have 10 (yes 10) new items (say for e.g. tech toys about $100 ea) bought directly from a distributor and want to just test the water. Is there any point, and would I need to open a store at that point?

Ultimately I'd like to expand to a supplement full time job more and more over 1-2 years.

I'm currently reading lots of similar posts, and will continue to research while awaiting your advice 🙂

Re: Starting small?

lyndal1838 — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 04:57:01 GMT

As new seller you will have a limit of 10 items to sell.

Most sellers come here asking how to get an increase in their listing allowance as they want to run before they can walk.

To be honest, things are so quiet at the moment you are most unlikely to sell all your items every month.

If you have never sold anything on ebay I suggest you list a few things from around the house rather than invest money in buying stock.

You may hate ebay selling...it is not easy.

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:14:36 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
As new seller you will have a limit of 10 items to sell.
Most sellers come here asking how to get an increase in their listing allowance as they want to run before they can walk.

To be honest, things are so quiet at the moment you are most unlikely to sell all your items every month.

If you have never sold anything on ebay I suggest you list a few things from around the house rather than invest money in buying stock.
You may hate ebay selling...it is not easy.

Hi thanks for the feedback. I have bought and sold a number of items since 2002. I definitely want to walk before I run, as per my query. I'm really surprised to hear things are quiet around Christmas time. I know I've bought a number of things from eBay recently and try to find Aussie sellers where possible. I literally thought, "I'll try and sell these 10 new, popular items" and just see how it goes. No grand plans of retiring early or anything 🙂 Appreciate your honest comments.

Re: Starting small?

digupatin — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:23:09 GMT

If you intend reselling items sourced from a distributer, especially then re-selling them for about $100 each I doubt if you would be able to compete on price with Chinese sellers and drop shippers who deal in hundreds if not thousands of the same items and can sell them with a profit margin of as little as a few cents each and also include free postage.

Treat it as a hobby and if you are lucky enough to find something new that no-one else sells but everyone wants to buy then consider opening a store.

Re: Starting small?

digital*ghost — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:40:23 GMT

I personally think eBay is always worth a shot, as long as anyone who gives it a go knows, understands, and can accomodate some of the risks and requirements that are involved. This is especially true when starting out small, because while an established business seller might be able to absorb a $100 loss on a product (be it lost in transit, damaged, faulty or effectively stolen by a fradulent buyer), it can be a bit more devastating for a smaller seller. And I'm not saying this to scare you away, I'm saying it so that you can formulate a business plan, and other strategies, to cope with something like that if it ever happens - it may never happen, but knowing that it could is something that can help ensure you can more easily recover if it does.

Re: opening a store, it's probably not worth it until the $19.95 monthly fee (for a basic store) will cost less than what you'd pay without a store, but that's reliant on quite a number of factors, some of which don't have any actual monetary value (eg Store categories, helpful when you have a variety of stock listed which can cross-promote one another), while others do (eg difference in FVF is usually minor, but you do get access to more features, including longer listing durations).

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:39:18 GMT

@digupatin wrote:

Treat it as a hobby and if you are lucky enough to find something new that no-one else sells but everyone wants to buy then consider opening a store.

Thanks. The only 2 Oz sellers of this item have about $60 markup and offer free postage. The Asian sellers are about $20 above that again so I dunno. Maybe I should start with 5 but I guess my buy price would go up. I guess nothing ventured nothing gained, but maybe trialling this at Christmas time might be a bit of a baptism by fire. Kind of depressing though with some of these massive volume sellers from China etc. but I know as a buyer if I can find an Aussie seller for a bit more I'll take them.

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:48:30 GMT

@digital*ghost wrote:
I personally think eBay is always worth a shot, as long as anyone who gives it a go knows, understands, and can accomodate some of the risks and requirements that are involved.

Yep understood and also about the store. I could definitely absorb the odd loss, I'm not relying on any income from this but thought I'd put my toe in the water, thinking perhaps I'd missed the boat after thinking about it for way too many years.

Re: Starting small?

amber-eyed-girl — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:50:06 GMT

At this time of year, if you post fast, that could be a selling point over the same/similar product from a China-based seller. Highlight that point if you go ahead...something like, buy from an Australian seller and get delivery for Christmas (if you are sure you can do it).

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 07:58:35 GMT

hmm I haven't purchased any of the items yet so I'm not even sure when I'd get them myself. I might see if I can get 5 ($1000 for 10 would not go down well if I couldn't sell them). Don't want to rush it, having to set everything up, etc. but I'll see.

Would I just sell the items under my personal account or do people set up another?

Re: Starting small?

digital*ghost — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 08:01:59 GMT

@vjrossi wrote:
@digital*ghost wrote:
I personally think eBay is always worth a shot, as long as anyone who gives it a go knows, understands, and can accomodate some of the risks and requirements that are involved.
Yep understood and also about the store. I could definitely absorb the odd loss, I'm not relying on any income from this but thought I'd put my toe in the water, thinking perhaps I'd missed the boat after thinking about it for way too many years.

I think as long as your expectations are realistic and you are prepared to take it slow, it's never too late. It was definitely easier to build up a business a couple of years ago, but eBay have introduced a lot of policies that can thwart someone attempting to start big straight away.

Finding niche products is, as mentioned above, recommended above items in flooded categories, even if you can offer them at very competitive prices. And, just IMHO, I wouldn't just focus on products, I think it's just as important to build a brand, even if just looking for supplementary income - I don't necessarily mean your own branded products, I mean establishing an identity as a seller, because as time goes by, people will remember certain things about the items and service you provide, and it's better for them to connect that to you / your store, than a product others sellers can stock, and eventually you might find that you build up a regular customer base.

Re: Starting small?

stationmasterhobbies — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 08:02:51 GMT

after listing over 200 items I have sold 2 in the past week/ i usually find to list just after christmas. If you have the 3 free auto relists i found that works the best. look out in the forums or additional 3 listing. once you extablished your selling move bigger open a shop if you like.

Enjoy your sales and accomplishments

Provide excellent customer service.

and have grae listings and photos.

good Luck Anthony

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 08:22:43 GMT

Thanks for all the info, great community and information. I've asked the distributor (in Oz) for a minimum number and price so I'll see what they say.

Re: Starting small?

chameleon54 — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 11:01:42 GMT

@vjrossi wrote:
I'd like to ask if there's still room for small sellers and how small is too small? How about if I have 10 (yes 10) new items (say for e.g. tech toys about $100 ea) bought directly from a distributor and want to just test the water. Is there any point, and would I need to open a store at that point?

Ultimately I'd like to expand to a supplement full time job more and more over 1-2 years.

I'm currently reading lots of similar posts, and will continue to research while awaiting your advice 🙂

If I read your posts correctly, you mention there are only a couple of Australian sellers and not many OS sellers of your product. it sounds like you have found a nice little market niche. This always works much better than trying to compete with hundreds of other sellers in the bulk products market. Sales are very slow for many ebay sellers at the moment, ( myself included ) but some things are still selling consistently.

The forums are a place where people come to seek answers to problems, so they can tend to offer a bit of a one sided, gloomy picture. It is still possible to sell stuff on ebay, its just not as good as it was two years ago. Our private account which just uses feeebie listings to sell collectables and "old stuff" is still doing a quite a reasonable trade. Unfortunately our stores are fairly flat, but still making consistent sales.

If you want to try a few products and see if they sell with a view to building a business, go for it. Just be carefull not to invest too much money in stock for a start. Your idea of buying the minimum number from your supplier sounds like a plan. If they cost you more per item than a larger purchase, just cut your profit margin so that the selling price will still be the same as you would offer buyers if you purchased a larger number. At least this way you will get an idea if people will buy them, even if you dont make much profit initially.

Re: Starting small?

*tippy*toes* — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 12:02:12 GMT

The only thing I have to add onto the other excellent advice is, when the time comes to start listing and selling, venture back in here. There are a lot of very experienced sellers who are more than happy to help you out with anything you want to know. Even if it's something like "I've just listed my first item, can people go and have a look and tell me what you think?".

A lot of new sellers have been helped out immensely with getting their listings right. We've all made mistakes when we were starting out, getting advice in here might help you not have to find out the hard way too! Some people might be very critical, but if that's what it takes to have an effective listing,accept the criticism.

Decide on whether you want to run auctions or straight out buy it now. If you decide to start with auctions, always start with the lowest amount you are willing to accept. When creating your listings, use the advanced listing tool, there are so many more option available. You will probably go into the quick lister by default when you go to list your first item, if that happens, up the top right corner is a link to switch to advanced.

After that listing is submitted, go to it on your selling page, use the dropdown on the right and select sell similar. That was you only need to adjust details for your next listing, all the other stuff will remain that you'd want in every listing.

Re: Starting small?

phorum_junkie* — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 22:18:11 GMT

You say there are only a couple of domstic sellers, could that be because it is not an item in high demand? Have you done a completed items search to see just what percentage of this item sells and how much they sell for.

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 22:25:55 GMT

@*tippy*toes* wrote:
The only thing I have to add onto the other excellent advice is, when the time comes to start listing and selling, venture back in here. There are a lot of very experienced sellers who are more than happy to help you out with anything you want to know.

...

Thanks for the practical advice. I was thinking Buy it Now just looking at how similar products are currently being sold. Will definitely be back, still not sure if I'll do anything before Christmas. Don't want to get a bad rep by stuffing up people's gifts even it might be AP's doing.

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 22:27:36 GMT

@phorum_junkie* wrote:
You say there are only a couple of domstic sellers, could that be because it is not an item in high demand? Have you done a completed items search to see just what percentage of this item sells and how much they sell for.

Thanks I'll do that. I think I already did but it's hard to find a certain product amongst lots of different ones, over a period of time, unless there's a better way of doing it. But I'll do that now.

Re: Starting small?

vjrossi — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 23:07:19 GMT

@phorum_junkie* wrote:
Have you done a completed items search to see just what percentage of this item sells and how much they sell for.

Looks like November was the month, 19 sold by 1 seller, I guess Christmas lead-up? They all sold at the same price as they are listed as BIN. Oct was 2, December 2, as of 01/12. The other seller has only 1 sold (yesterday).

PS: is there any reading material worth a look at to get started, or is it just a matter of doing due diligence and learning it the hard way, reading blog posts, forums, etc.

PPS: does one create a new 'seller' eBay account for the 'business', at least initially? I'd rather not use this one (even in the forums TBH).

Re: Starting small?

lyndal1838 — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 23:10:58 GMT

@vjrossi wrote:

Thanks for the practical advice. I was thinking Buy it Now just looking at how similar products are currently being sold. Will definitely be back, still not sure if I'll do anything before Christmas. Don't want to get a bad rep by stuffing up people's gifts even it might be AP's doing.

You ony have 14 days till Christmas Eve. If the items are not yet in your possession I would think it is far too late to start selling before Christmas. It is a disaster waiting to happen and your feedback will probably suffer big time.

Re: Starting small?

pennyforum14 — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 23:24:27 GMT

If you start a new ID be aware that it will probably have both listing limits and a 21 day hold on funds, until you "prove yourself" to eBay. If your current ID has a good track record for recent selling, you may be able to successfully apply for an increased selling limit, but it will be harder to convince Paypal to lift the funds hold, especially if the items are of a different nature or a higher price bracket than you normally sell (sometimes if they are uncooperative, mentioning the FOS can elicit a swift and positive result).

I agree it is probably to late for this Christmas, unless the items are in your hands for quick despatch.