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Edited on Mon Nov-03-03 01:21 PM by amazona
I don't buy anything to re-sell, that's pretty much a losing game unless you are an established power seller or have a bricks and mortar store behind you or something of that sort.
Everything sells if you can price it low enough. To tell you what to sell, I would need to know what your area of expertise is and also what you can get for free in your area. Dumpster diving used to be a great source of goods, and sneaking off with the neighbor's garbage bags after a garage sale or moving day is still good -- however, most people who know me, know I do this, so nowadays they just tell me to come get stuff they plan to throw out. Don't become a "free" hauling service, only take stuff you can sell unless you have a way to dispose of the real garbage for free. (I still have unlimited garbage pick-up at my residence.) When your name gets passed around, it is nice; for instance, a friend gave my name to a blind lady who wanted someone trustworthy to remove about several hundred pounds of rocks from her husband's rock collection after he died. I was able to identify these rocks and sell them for several dollars apiece (sometimes more), and she was able to clear her home for free and get it ready to sell. So everybody wins in this type of situation.
To get started, do a GOOD cleaning of your home and attic. Put up stuff worth selling for a low price, and be SURE to do a good job shipping items out quickly. Books are no longer worth selling unless you can put several of them in one package just to clear them out; bestselling books are not worth selling at all. (Exception: recent specialty textbooks can get a very good price.) Describe the conditions of what you are selling accurately. Provide photographs. Ask all of your buyers to please leave feedback if they are happy, and to please EMAIL you privately if they are unhappy, so you can correct their problems.
The prices you will receive on Ebay are only a fraction of what you would have gotten 4 years ago, but if you just need to pick up some extra Christmas money, and you are cleaning out your house and attic anyway, it can still be somewhat worthwhile. But please do NOT fall in the trap of buying stuff for resale; everyone I know who does that ends up in the hole. Would you buy stuff to resell at your garage sale? Ebay is just a bigger garage sale.
ON EDIT: I do not agree with the advice to BUY items to get feedback. It won't work because people can check and see that you got your feedback as a "B" rather than an "S." If you want to sell stuff for good money, you need lots of feedbacks from BUYERS telling of how fast you ship as a SELLER. I ship U.S. Priority Mail so from the very first feedback I have positive comments like: "WOW! Fast shipping!" That's what buyers are looking for.
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