How is Anyone Making Money on Cheap Ebay Listings?

[cyberdan]

I am not much of a Tech. person so why would some one buy a SIM card that is inactive and can not be reactivated ?

I am not either but they sell. The ones I sell in lots of 10 are sorted out and identical. These sell pretty well. just sold 40 lots of 10 at $7.25 each to a cell phone company. I have been told two different uses. 1) for a phone to boot up a SIM is needed 2) with the correct SIM a cell can then connect to an open wi-fi spot even if the cell is not active with a carrier.

The other SIMs I sell are bought by gold recyclers and they pull the gold out of the card.

Most of the time sims are hard to find in bulk.

 

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[cyberdan]

..............VINTAGE ELECTRONIC JUNK DRAWER

Guess I will start with this and add more info in the body. I paid $2.00 for everything and got 7 good 3 lb lots of electronics plus extra junk I threw in from this buy. I think I will ask $19.50 each lot and do "free Shipping"

Just a follow up on this post. It took a while but I finally sold the last lot yesterday. This was true junk, but they all sold. just took up space all summer. I actually listed at $14.25 each lot. I paid shipping but still not a bad return for $2.00 total.

 

[Nitric]

I have often wondered the same thing. There just isn't any money to be made on 99 cent auctions. I go by the rule that if I can't make 5 bucks or more on an item, then I won't list it. I have one garage sale per year. The 2 or 3 dollar items, and heavy or bulky items, go in the sale. A lot of people sell in flea markets, they love these kind of items because they can sell the 2 or 3 dollar items for more and make a profit. I don't do flea markets, so that kind of stuff sells quickly at my garage sale. Usually, the 2 or 3 dollar items I picked up for a dollar or less, so both parties are making money in the end.

It's really funny how some of this stuff changes from state to state too... In Ohio I could go to auctions, which were daily, and sell the stuff anywhere it didn't matter, just turn a profit and sell the stuff. In Ga that is different, at least where I'm at. They don't have the "House hold" auctions on site. They are in Auction houses. But still limited and sorted. Not the same as just selling all contents in a yard. Or buying the contents of a whole basement,garage,attic, barn, etc... A lot more garage sales here though it seems like. Ohio and Pa were easy for me to make money on buying and selling. Times are different and location makes more of a difference than I thought it would. People are tighter with their money here too. Seems like it anyway, but that might just be the times.

I'm the person that sells the whole truck load, collection, or whatever to someone else for a profit, let them nickel and dime it. Nothing wrong with either way of doing it, I'd rather move the volume than to sit and play with individual items. Unless something really good. I might have to change that! The nickel and dimes are adding up lately!

 

[kcm]

2) with the correct SIM a cell can then connect to an open wi-fi spot even if the cell is not active with a carrier.
Guess I'll have to find out a bit more about that. ...Is this something that's legal?

 

[dieselram94]

Not sure on SIM cards but could they be used for data mining?


Sent from a spun out toilet paper tube (one ply)!

 

[kcm]

ACK! ...No thanks.

 

[cyberdan]

Not sure on SIM cards but could they be used for data mining?

What is on a sim card? not really too much unless you go out of your way to transfer your phone and email list to it so the sim can be put in a new phone. it is a lot easier to just go on the internet and mine numbers by the thousands.

A sim card is the phone companies ID that will allow you to go through the log on process and then let you make a call or text. It is your SD card that has all the photos and music and videos.

 

[smokeythecat]

I am losing money....

 

[KangaWoo]

I have been trying to work this out myself.
I paid .99c (free shipping) for 5 Tibetan beaded prayer necklace/bracelets, I know they would be cheap knock offs, but they are actually really nice, and they are surprisingly better than expected.

Including they pouch they came in, shipping from China to Australia, I am totally confused as how this could be worth the effort.

The more I use Ebay, the more confused I am becoming, I got more for a lot of total scrap sterling silver then I did for not scrap sterling (per weight) has me now thinking that I should bash and bend all my nice silver jewellery and list it as scrap. The scrap sold for over spot/melt price, could go to a bullion store and get .999 silver rounds for the same price

 

[Keppy]

It's really funny how some of this stuff changes from state to state too... In Ohio I could go to auctions, which were daily, and sell the stuff anywhere it didn't matter, just turn a profit and sell the stuff. In Ga that is different, at least where I'm at. They don't have the "House hold" auctions on site. They are in Auction houses. But still limited and sorted. Not the same as just selling all contents in a yard. Or buying the contents of a whole basement,garage,attic, barn, etc... A lot more garage sales here though it seems like. Ohio and Pa were easy for me to make money on buying and selling. Times are different and location makes more of a difference than I thought it would. People are tighter with their money here too. Seems like it anyway, but that might just be the times.

I'm the person that sells the whole truck load, collection, or whatever to someone else for a profit, let them nickel and dime it. Nothing wrong with either way of doing it, I'd rather move the volume than to sit and play with individual items. Unless something really good. I might have to change that! The nickel and dimes are adding up lately!

You should have stayed in Ohio ..

 

[jerseyben]

I have been trying to work this out myself.
I paid .99c (free shipping) for 5 Tibetan beaded prayer necklace/bracelets, I know they would be cheap knock offs, but they are actually really nice, and they are surprisingly better than expected.

Including they pouch they came in, shipping from China to Australia, I am totally confused as how this could be worth the effort.

The more I use Ebay, the more confused I am becoming, I got more for a lot of total scrap sterling silver then I did for not scrap sterling (per weight) has me now thinking that I should bash and bend all my nice silver jewellery and list it as scrap. The scrap sold for over spot/melt price, could go to a bullion store and get .999 silver rounds for the same price

China subsidizes their shipping, thereby encouraging cheap exports.

 

[dieselram94]

China subsidizes their shipping, thereby encouraging cheap exports.

Now this makes sense...



Sent from a spun out toilet paper tube (one ply)!

 

[mjlalt]

China subsidizes their shipping, thereby encouraging cheap exports.

We subsidize the the packages from China too
The USPS loses money delievering packages from China
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/the-postal-service-is-losing-millions-a-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-china/
International Agreement Forces USPS To Lose Money On Foreign Mail | The Daily Caller

 

[jerseyben]

We subsidize the the packages from China too
The USPS loses money delievering packages from China
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-year-to-help-you-buy-cheap-stuff-from-china/
International Agreement Forces USPS To Lose Money On Foreign Mail | The Daily Caller

Well, technically we are not directly subsidizing. Indirectly we are because of the lopsided agreement in which we lose money.

 

[toolmanbutch]

I have not read the other responses. eBay is a Garage Sale Atmosphere. Very seldom will you make good money on any type item. Normally you are buying high and end up selling low just to get rid of the item. I did make a lot of money on Coins, but I had zero investment as these were my Fathers. It's a hit and miss.
Toolman Butch

I have tons of things to sell, You name it! I've probably dabbled in it at one time or another. I was just listing in and playing around in one category which was pocket watches and related items. It does ok for what I have laying around. But when I run out of stuff to sell there really isn't enough out there or at least in this area to buy and resale, that will make any kind of real money. Not enough volume.

So, I'm looking through other categories of things I know a little about or that interest me.

I'm seeing people selling coins and different things for prices of $2 and as far down as 99 cents and occasionally even cheaper with free shipping!

This is where my question comes in to you seasoned sellers! How in the Heck are you able to make any kind of money selling items that cheap? I understand the concept of volume! But lets say your even going to shoot for a reasonable goal of an average $125 to $150 at a minimum a day profit, that would be a lot of time and energy to hit with items that cheap and that kind of profit margin.

What am I missing here? And how are they able to do this without it being a complete wash? Are there other reasons to do this? Maybe to draw people in and hope they make bigger purchases, like advertising?

I was just curious! I have a hard time making anything on items that are 8 bucks or below, I don't grasp or I'm missing the 99 cent idea...

Someone school me here!

 

[toolmanbutch]

Sorry I have to disagree. lets say you sell an item for .99. It's very easy to calculate the shipping costs, The Packaging Fees, The eBay and Pay Pal Fees. You add those costs to the Handling Fees. Shipping is automatic if you have the correct weight. I also add a .75 Cent misc. fee. So you end up with .99. Is it worth the effort, YES, but only if you have multiple items the same or very close to being the same. I also sell many items for friends, it's easy to do a search on eBay to see what previous items sold for, if it's a popular item I will list it and I take 25% off the final price. I am pushing 22K So far this year.
Toolman Butch

The answer is no one is making ANY money off .99 cent items. Even if you got said items for nothing. The fees, and postage for even mailing a stamp would leave you with ZERO. and the time of listing, labeling, shipping, sending feedback is your loss of time.

The only theory I can come up with is the ones still doing are doing so because they are addicted to selling on ebay.

Even 5 dollar items would not be worth my time.

 

[toolmanbutch]

You could be sitting on a bunch of money. Take an item you have and go to eBay, look for that item in search, then go to completed listing on that category and you will see what you may get for your items. DO NOT THROW AWAY until you do your research.

We, too, have thought of getting started trying to sell some things off. Right now we have nearly a full 48' semi trailer of things to get rid of - mostly knick-knacky and older/vintage stuff, tools, baseball cards, etc, but ALL in really great condition. Everything has been picked up from many years of not having any way to get rid of it here. We just got cellular internet to this area last Fall, but that's much more expensive than other internet, plus it's very unreliable. At any moment we could lose internet for 2-3 weeks!

Most of the things we have, I see selling online for well over $20, $30 and even higher. ...Talk about a predicament!!

 

[dieselram94]

I have not read the other responses. eBay is a Garage Sale Atmosphere. Very seldom will you make good money on any type item. Normally you are buying high and end up selling low just to get rid of the item. I did make a lot of money on Coins, but I had zero investment as these were my Fathers. It's a hit and miss.
Toolman Butch

I must disagree unless I read your post wrong. I have made huge profits on items selling on ebay. I've even bought on ebay and turned the item on ebay and done well. The secret to me is knowing what your looking at.


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[adamBomb]

One of my friends paid his way through college by selling on ebay. He was on the cover of ebay magazine in the late 90s. He would go and buy full warehouses full of stuff and sell it all...but you had to sell a lot and he got tired of it because it was a full time job to make real money. He has sold cars, houses, etc on there too. He still does it a bit more or less for fun now. I only sell if its $10 or more otherwise its not worth my time because I don't sell enough. I have made some great sales on ebay though making 100s of dollars through one auction. You just have to pick a few interests and know what everything is worth, sells for, etc and then find people selling it cheap. It does take a lot of time though and becomes a job...

 

[kcm]

You could be sitting on a bunch of money. Take an item you have and go to eBay, look for that item in search, then go to completed listing on that category and you will see what you may get for your items. DO NOT THROW AWAY until you do your research.

For years we bought "stuff" only for us - "stuff" we wanted - "stuff" we liked. And for the most part, that's still the way it is, only we are even more picky than ever, as we have no more vacancies!! The "stuff" we throw away is, for us, trash. There's much that is thrown away in this area that is still quite nice. ...I mean, picture this: last month, the wife wanted to stop by the local consignment store. Outside was a FREE box. In that box were several things that the wife grabbed; one of them was a 1-place china setting that is currently selling online for, if I remember correct, about $17. The dishes are in mint condition. There was also backpacks, and an in-working-condition lamp. The problem with this area is, there's not enough people. However, what people are here continue to buy things from stores, from online, get given or inherited to them, or they get it from outside the area from auctions, garage sales, consignment stores, etc. There's only so much "stuff" a place can handle. After that, it starts becoming trash.

Everything we still have is "stuff". We won't throw it away, as it is such nice "stuff" that it will never be trash in our eyes - just a pain in the butt!!