Is It Still Possible To Make Money On eBay?

That's one question often asked by people who are either just starting out on eBay or used to sell and quite selling.

The answer is a little difficult. You can still make money selling on eBay. It's just not as easy as it once was. You used to be able to list something and often, you'd be shocked at what price it brought. When it was first started back in 1995, the founder sold a broken laser pointer for almost $15! Since then, the amount of listings and sellers has skyrocketed and eBay is one of the great American success stories.

These days, eBay has anyone and everyone buying and selling. Major corporations use eBay as a liquidation center to move old inventory. Professional refurbishers, buy and refurbish items then resell them for a fraction of retail. The amount of sellers have grown tremendously. The only problem is when everyone is selling the same things (search iPad and you'll get well over 100,000 in different categories) what makes you stand out?

I've used several different methods of selling on eBay over the years and all were profitable. Some a little more than others.

1) Wholesale Dropshipping - I ran this very smoothly. My lifetime membership to Worldwide gave me several sources for dropshipping products. I setup an eBay store and went to work. It was running around $5000 per month in sales using just one of their dropshippers. The problem was the profit margin for consumer electronics wasn't much. While I could still sell for less than any of your local retailers, I was only clearing about $500 per month and was having trouble getting past $5000 per month. It's tough to sell when you're competing against 1000s of other sellers for the same buyers.

2) Selling Others People's Stuff - I did this again with an eBay store but using a local furniture company. They had a massive warehouse and tons of inventory. Everything from exotic furniture to marble statuary. Shipping was a pain in the butt! Folks want to buy that lifesize hippo (yes, I said hippo). Never sold one but came damn close a few times! This method still has a nice profit margin and I'm probably going to go back to experimenting with it now that I see Uship has simplified the shipping process for unusual items.

3) Making What You Sell - I'm just now starting to experiment with this one. I've always loved the look of old signage and magazine covers. I just started combining the two and recreating old magazine covers on wood panels. Sold a couple and the margins are quite nice. If you can make something, try selling it on eBay. You may be surprised.

4) Information publishing - This is probably the most profitable way to earn money on eBay. Make just about any "How To" book and sell it. If you use a digital download book, it doesn't cost you anything to create it and its incredibly profitable. There are tons of eBook sellers on eBay.

5) Selling Used Stuff - This is the simplest way to get started in my opinion. People look on eBay mainly for a deal on something. If you've picked up a used iPad that you found on Craigslist or somewhere else, you can usually sell it for a lot higher profit than the guys selling the new ones. Since the market for iPads is so large, selling it won't be a problem. I still think selling used stuff is the way to go for any beginner.

The key to selling anything on eBay for a tidy profit comes down to tools and research. If you know what it sells for and you know what your costs to sell it are, you already know your profit when you buy it. Use HammerTap for your research and a good eBay fee calculator to check your fees and you're good to go!

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