What is the hardest part for you in the reselling game?

[clovis97]

I'd like to know what the hardest part for you is in the reselling game. What do you struggle with the most?

For me, I struggle with the pricing of rare items, with little or no history on ebay.

Getting items listed seems to be the second hardest thing for us. Sure, it is easy to list, especially with the iPhone app, but it sure takes time. I could save a bunch of time by giving shorter descriptions in my ads, but I feel like the very descriptive ads have helped me keep our top rated plus seller status.

What is it for you??

 

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[clovis97]

I should add that I've had a difficult time with the depressed prices on ebay. The lower prices and lower demand for some items has really thrown me for a loop at times!!!!

For instance, I've had an interest in timber framing and old barn restoration. When I was shopping for framing slicks, also known as 'big old chisels', a set of three in great condition were selling for $250 to $300. Well, I found a nice set of slicks at an auction, in various sizes, featuring very good brand names, and at last check, in this economy, I doubt they would sell for much over $125. FWIW, I was thrilled when I bought those for a song, and even called my wife to tell her that "we just made our pay day for the week." Imagine how stunned I was when I learned how much the value had dropped!!

 

[Beans]

Finding packing material. Hard to keep the shipping cost down when you have to buy the packing material. Even for comics the cost to pack in the right material and shipping sometimes is more than the item.

 

[famous turtle treasures]

The hardest part for me is not having someone trustworthy to teach about reselling so I can focus on other aspects of reselling.

 

[trdhrdr007]

The hardest part is finding inventory at the right price.

 

[diggummup]

The hardest part is finding inventory at the right price.

Mine is kind of the opposite of yours. I have no problem finding small dollar items ($20 and under) cheap and consistently. I believe that is just demographics though. The hardest part for me is finding the time to list all my inventory. I buy a lot of stuff to get a better price. I'll usually make a small profit by selling a few of the recently purchased items from each weekend and then the rest just goes into storage. Every now and then i'll pull out a box or two and list the contents. I think it's about time for another yard sale.

 

[smokeythecat]

I haven't been selling, just buying. Selling takes an enormous amount of time. This year Goodwill got a lot of (non coin) stuff, but some nice collectibles. I just don't have the time to do Ebay anymore. I had a friend sell some nicer 1th century non dug items for me. He does shows.

 

[Produce Guy]

Try using popcorn for packing material(the kind you eat),it's cheaper than the plastic kind.

 

[GibH]

Try using popcorn for packing material(the kind you eat),it's cheaper than the plastic kind.

Darn butter gets all over everything.

 

[SEANO]

Item listing sucks, unless I know it's a high $$ item.

Love the hunt.

 

[trdhrdr007]

Mine is kind of the opposite of yours. I have no problem finding small dollar items ($20 and under) cheap and consistently. I believe that is just demographics though.

A lot of my problem with finding inventory is due to my location. I'm in a fairly small town & am at least 45 minutes from a city of decent size.

I'm also limited by what I'm willing to buy. I resell in a display case at the local antique mall, on ebay, to other dealers, and to refiners & specialist collectors/dealers I have located online. I see a lot of lower dollar items that I know won't sell in my display case & won't net enough profit to make an ebay sale worth while. I'm not interested in spending the time required to photograph, list, pack & ship an item unless I'm going to make at least $15 profit.....& even that's marginal.

 

[Minrelica]

Finding packing material. Hard to keep the shipping cost down when you have to buy the packing material. Even for comics the cost to pack in the right material and shipping sometimes is more than the item.

You should have no problem finding FREE packing material.

- Get boxes from grocery stores, dollar stores etc. or any business for that matter. They are more than happy to give them to you. If there's too much advertising on the boxes then wrap them up like a Christmas present in a brown grocery bag. Sometimes I buy a roll of wrapping paper for $1 at the dollar store.

- Bubble wrap & packing peanuts: Ask around, ask friends and family members about what they throw away at work. I've been a seller on eBay for 14 years and I've only had to buy bubble wrap once because I didn't realize I was low at the time. You would be surprised at how many businesses throw away a ton of bubble wrap every day and then turn around and order it for items they ship. Fine with me, I'll take it.

- Tape can also be purchased from the dollar store.

- Newspaper and free news stand publications make for great packing material as well. Save the bubble wrap and peanuts for the real fragile items.

- If a box is too large it can always be trimmed down to a smaller size. I do this every day (I can show you how if you need me to)

The stuff is out there. It can be stressful enough doing everything else, no need to stress on finding packing materials.

 

[Minrelica]

The hardest part for me is not having someone trustworthy to teach about reselling so I can focus on other aspects of reselling.

I never though in a million years that I'd let anyone list any auctions for me but just recently my girlfriend of 5 years offered to take over the clothing listings since I don't make time for them. It's working out great and she's actually been making sales.

 

[Minrelica]

The hardest part is finding inventory at the right price.

Depending on where you're looking, it can be tough indeed. It's gotten a bit tougher over the past few years due to all of the TV shows such as Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Toy Hunter etc. Everyone thinks that their items are worth more than they are and they don't want to be "that guy" that sold the item for $1 to someone who'll resell it for $100. These people can be broken down though and that's where the experienced buyer does his thing. I go on a 100 mile garage sale every years and the past 2 years I've overheard multiple people at sales mumbling about "I saw this on Pickers so that's why I'm asking $XXXX for it" and similar statements.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I actually do alot of Reselling of items Ive found either on Ebay/ CL..garage sales..etc. My parents have recently gotten into buying Storage Units, and have gotten lucky a couple times. You would be suprised how much FREE packing material is out there, I have a couple places i hit that i find gobbs of bubble wrap, and different size boxes. There was a time on ebay that I would buy an Item , that was used for a specific thing, but then I would find another use for it, and list it for the "Other" use, for twice or 3 times as much (because that was the current rate).
I dont find them anymore like I used too, but every once in awhile i will find someone just wanting to get rid of items they have no idea what they are.

The worst day of my Ebaying, was the day they did the "spell check" feature..You wouldnt belive how many "Chevy" items i bought from the spelling of Chvey or Chvy..

 

[jerseyben]

I do most of my shopping online and so does my wife. That being said, I let the companies that mail us our goods do the dirty work for me. I just save all the packing materials from the stuff I would normally buy and re-use it to ship my ebay items.

 

[GibH]

The worst day of my Ebaying, was the day they did the "spell check" feature..You wouldnt belive how many "Chevy" items i bought from the spelling of Chvey or Chvy..

Spell check and the listing wizard. You used to be able to get bargain basement prices on miscategorized items.

 

[dejapooh]

For me, the worst part has ALWAYS been the whole shipping process. I finally made a deal with a Mailbox shop near my house. As soon as I buy something, I bring it in for a shipping quote. The quote include the box, packing material, and $1 per item fee. I list my items with the shipping price spot on to the penny. Once an item gets a bid, I bring it in, he sits on the item until it is paid for than he ships it out. He charges my paypal directly. My shipping fees are higher than other peoples, but my service is impeccable, fast, accurate, and best of all, EASY EASY EASY!

 

[cyberdan]

I work for a printing company and get all the cartons and packing materials I need. I only take the used brown ones because our company has white cartons with their name and phone number printed in big black letters and numbers.

But still packing a shipping is what I dread the most.

 

[Minrelica]

For me, the worst part has ALWAYS been the whole shipping process. I finally made a deal with a Mailbox shop near my house. As soon as I buy something, I bring it in for a shipping quote. The quote include the box, packing material, and $1 per item fee. I list my items with the shipping price spot on to the penny. Once an item gets a bid, I bring it in, he sits on the item until it is paid for than he ships it out. He charges my paypal directly. My shipping fees are higher than other peoples, but my service is impeccable, fast, accurate, and best of all, EASY EASY EASY!

My service level is second to none and that sounds like a big hassle... You can figure out shipping costs at home... as you stated.. EASY EASY EASY