Over the last ten years I have purchased hundreds of customer returned pallets and at least 60-70 truckloads of wholesale liquidation merchandise. It all started was back when my wife and I started a small business at home selling on eBay. Selling from our kitchen table we were able to turn a part time income into a large successful retail business!
The first small loads of wholesale merchandise we purchased were 100-300 piece Shelf pull apparel lots. Often known or referred to as New With Tags. I have to admit that clothing was not my first choice, but my wife had a passion for clothing and this is where we started.
Our first purchase was a 110 piece lot of Macy’s womens apparel and we bought it from a liquidator here in California. Being new at that time we really did not know what to expect. We paid for the lot and it was to be shipped by UPS. A few days later my wife called me at work to advise the shipment had arrived. She was excited to say the least.
By the time I got home that night she had already sorted all the apparel looking for damages and even photographed a few of the items to prepare for eBay listing. Within two to three days she had all of the clothing listed on eBay and low and behold we were off on a great adventure from there.
I think if I recall we ended up selling 42 of the 100 pieces on the first go round of auctions and then re-listed the remaining. After about a week and a half we had enough money in our Paypal account to re-purchase another load of clothing. This time we purchased fro ma different liquidator and must say that when this apparel arrived we were not very happy as roughly 20-25% of the load was damaged.
I placed a call to the company we bought from and no one would return my call. Message after message was left, but it seemed as though this particular company did not care to make us a repeat customer. After days of researching the company we bought from and researching shelf pull apparel in general I came to the conclusion that each and every load would probably be different. Kind of a “craps” shoot, if you will.
Back in that first year of getting our feet wet we ended up trying 4-5 different sources for shelf pull apparel and found two reliable suppliers that consistently provided excellent service and loads which were reasonably priced.
How did you get started buying and selling shelf pull apparel?
I was reading the latest copy of Cover magazine and I stumbled upon a wholesale company called Trademarkcommerce.com. This wholesale company has an interesting marketing pitch as they show you what the products they distribute sell for on eBay and Amazon.com.
I was intrigued to say the least, so I thought I would complete my own research and see if I could come up with the same final selling prices (on eBay) for some of the products they are wholesaling. The products I will be researching today are found on the flyer they are advertising.
You can research an items’ profitability on eBay!
Lets get started……
First of all, if you do not know how to research an item on eBay make sure you take some notes on the following steps:
- Obviously, you will need to go to http://ebay.com
- In the search field enter the item you are interested in researching, press search
- Once the following page loads look to the right of the ‘search” button for the link “Advanced”
- Once you have clicked the Advanced link you will be taken to a page where if you scroll down you will notice criteria stating ‘Search Including” – Check this box
- Scroll down and click “Search”
- Results that are displayed in GREEN closed with a winning bid
- You can take those results and average the totals to get a good idea about whether the item in question will sell and how much you can expect to receive as a auction seller
The first product I researched on eBay was the Black iRobot. The advertised wholesale price from Trade Mark Commerce is $101.33. They advertise this product selling on eBay for $179.99.
When I searched eBay I found one iRobot had sold on eBay in the last two weeks and the final auction price was $149.99 with FREE Shipping. I would imagine that the seller paid at least $10 to ship this to the winning bidder, so profit looks to be $149.99 – $10 (Shipping) – $101.33 (Cost) = $38.66 before eBay listing and final value fees.
The second product I researched was the Advent GPS. The advertised wholesale price from Trade Mark Commerce is $99.99. They advertise this product selling on eBay for $229.99.
When I searched eBay I found one Advent GPS unit that had sold on eBay in the last two weeks and the final auction price was $140.24 with FREE Shipping. I would imagine that the seller paid at least $8 to ship this to the winning bidder, so profit looks to be $140.24 – $8 (Shipping) – $99.99 (Cost) = $32.25 before eBay listing and final value fees.
I should mention that while the above two items did sell on eBay, there were dozens of the same item that did not close with a winning bid. Using the ‘Completed” auction search feature on eBay is a great way to evaluate the profitability of an item you are thinking of reselling.
In my opinion, TradeMark Commerce might be a viable option for inventory. They certainly have a diverse product selection. You will need to sign up as a registered buyer before you will be able to view their entire online catalog. Once you are registered you can then check their pricing with the “Completed” item search feature found on eBay.
I would love to hear from anyone who has purchased from this company…any thoughts?
As a new seller on Ebay the easiest and most preferred method of payment is through PayPal. If you are planning to do a lot of Ebaying you will want to set up an account on there. Setting up a PayPal account is both quick and easy. All you need to do is go to www.paypal.com and select the “Getting started” option. This section will give you answers to the most basic questions for signing up regarding verification and what it means, countries that PayPal is accepted in, the required information for opening a PayPal account, time zone, their security features and more.
On the left hand side of the page under “Getting started” you will see additional categories that will give you all of the details on fees, account types, sending and receiving money through PayPal, and PayPal’s usage policy on what is acceptable and what is not. Continuing on down the left hand side of the page are other categories as well that will completely outline and answer many other questions pertaining to bank cards, credit cards, account viewing, resolving account issues, filing disputes and claims, PayPal with Ebay linking, products, features, and merchant services.
There are three types of accounts to get you going on PayPal. For beginners, a personal account is fine and best of all, FREE! Once you plan to make this a business you will want to upgrade to a premier or even a business account. The fee is reasonable for either of these accounts and will not empty your wallet. Seller’s fees for all accounts are also a bargain and well worth it for fast and ready payment and convenience purposes. PayPal even has its own special section for its Ebay users.
PayPal a secure and safe method of payment and their customer service is top notch. They are readily available by e-mail or telephone whenever you need them. Sign up for a PayPal account today and begin selling your items on your Ebay auction account. The fastest, easiest, payment choice on the internet is hands down, Paypal!
You would be quite surprised how many people are using eBay as a way to make a second income. They simply take a lot of items and they auction them off. If you’ve ever heard the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” eBay is the perfect example of this for the fact that some of the items that are sold are items that some people would think no one wanted. But the truth is that people want virtually anything.
But you can only sell so much, right?
That is true. You can only sell so many items out of your home. Eventually, you may run out of items to sell. But that doesn’t have to be the end of the road for you. You don’t have to say goodbye to your eBay selling career. Here are some ways to really make eBay a second income for you that goes way beyond selling your belongings:
Find some great deals on the Internet. These can be wholesale deals or other such deals and sell these items on eBay for a higher price. But you still have to make sure the item is cheaper than what they could buy in a retail store.
Hit up flea markets, yard sales, and estate sales. Nab up items that are very cheap so that you can list them on eBay for a price higher than what you paid for it. You can almost always count on making your money back on these items.
Go to Liquidation sales and find out which stores in your area are closing. You can get their items for just a few dollars and sell them for more than you paid. That way you can make a profit.
Make sure you set up a website where you can list your items. eBay sellers with websites are eBay sellers who can build quite the reputation.
You can continue doing this over and over. There is always something that someone else wants to get rid of that you can sell on eBay. And if you are really gutsy, you can look through alleys for stuff that people put out to be taken. Some individuals beg for people to take away items. In other words, they invite stealing, although it is technically not stealing.
So go ahead and give eBay a try. Many individuals are making their primary and second incomes by using eBay so you might as well too. Why let something so profitable slip through your fingers?
