buy off ebay and resell on ebay?

[Beachkid23]

Do any of you do this at all and have any luck at it? I have been for awhile. This last week was a 12k not gold filled necklace and sterling. Paid $30 and listed the cross at $159 bin Obo. Another lot had a pearl bracelet with 14k in it. $28 for the lot, listed it alone $279 Obo! I've done this for awhile now, but have been seeing better deals with silver and gold up a bit. Usually I look for sellers with lower feedback. Like under 200 or 300, which I probably have 50 of them saved. Only advise is know what your buying!

 

[boristhespider88]

Do any of you do this at all and have any luck at it? I have been for awhile. This last week was a 12k not gold filled necklace and sterling. Paid $30 and listed the cross at $159 bin Obo. Another lot had a pearl bracelet with 14k in it. $28 for the lot, listed it alone $279 Obo! I've done this for awhile now, but have been seeing better deals with silver and gold up a bit. Usually I look for sellers with lower feedback. Like under 200 or 300, which I probably have 50 of them saved. Only advise is know what your buying!

Not too often, but I use to. I don't make huge returns (like maybe getting something for free but that was it).

I can think of 3 opportunities:
1) Lot of 5 1909 Lincoln cents for $3.80 ---> sold 4 of them for ~$11, kept the best one
2) Mixed lot: 1960 proof quarter, a 1943 Merc and $.75 in clad quarters for ~$8 ---> sold the proof quarter for $10, kept the Merc, and cashed the clad quarters.
3) Lot of 4 2009 American Samoa quarters (P/D/S/Silver S) for $9.99 ---> sold P/D/S for $5.50, kept the silver S proof quarter (silver was about $30-$35 per troy ounce)

A few others but those were the best ones for me.

 

[Beachkid23]

With eBay bucks, ($12) I just bought a sterling silpada necklace for $9.21. Free shipping! They look to have a higher resale then $21.

 

[clovis97]

This past winter, I bought Lionel trains and a type of tool on ebay, and flipped them.

I was very blessed in both areas, and had a very good winter. I am wondering if I should only focus on flipping trains in the future, and not hitting the estate sales as much.

Trains are tricky though. You've got to know what you are looking at, which takes considerable time and experience. Then, you've got to be able to buy it right, trust that the seller is being truthful with the item, and then overcome the shipping and the ebay fees.

In the old days, I could have made a ton of money because the fees were so low. In today's world, not so much.

The problem with the tool that I was flipping is that everyone and their brother has copied my listings. I was selling an item for $20 BIN, and was selling them FAST. There are people, right now, that are running 2.99 auctions with free shipping. I think that market is totally gone.

 

[clovis97]

One other downside to the ebay flipping game is the time involved. I routinely study 40 pages of auction listings, and many times, come up with nothing worth flipping.

 

[insontis]

One other downside to the ebay flipping game is the time involved. I routinely study 40 pages of auction listings, and many times, come up with nothing worth flipping.

I do this also. I focus mainly on jewelry and rarely find an easy flip as it is rare to find anything below spot to buy.. and most sales occur at spot prices (especially in auction). Not to say I haven't had success in this area.. you just have to have a desirable item (and being lightweight helps a ton!). An example is my very first buy/sell on eBay was a box link chain that weighed 1.1 grams of 14K. Bought it at spot price, sold it at a $0.99 auction and it went up to $50. eBay buying & selling is very time consuming.. even with an arsenal of saved searches. Not only does it take a good chunk of time to find a worthwhile item (and hopefully win it if it's an auction), but you also have to deal with a slew of uninformed/dishonest sellers selling counterfeit items. Most of the time they are simply mistaken and were under the wrong impression that their item was.. for example gold when it's actually silver.. or gold plated. I've had numerous instances of this occurring, but its only a minor nuisance to return ship the item.

Despite the downsides/risks to flipping on eBay, I'd say I'm still doing well in the long run. Buying high requires selling higher.. and that takes considerably longer to cash in on. This on top of the time it takes to find an item at a low enough price to even attempt to resell may not be a worthwhile investment for the potentially low return. I find there are many ups and downs.. but as a hobby it doesn't bother me much being in a dry run.

 

[diggummup]

Iron Patch makes his living buying off ebay and reselling on ebay. Myself, I have too much stuff already to get rid of. I don't need to look for anything on ebay to flip. I do look for bargains though. My buys are usually for my personal collections.

 

[Beachkid23]

Iron Patch makes his living buying off ebay and reselling on ebay. Myself, I have too much stuff already to get rid of. I don't need to look for anything on ebay to flip. I do look for bargains though. My buys are usually for my personal collections.

I second this. We have a tunnel to the computer ! And not a thing of it was added by my family members besides me!

 

[JustinNH]

Error coins. Some of the first things I was selling on Ebay. I'd buy 10-20 of one kind of error, and then the same for other kinds. Lot them together so its one of 5 different errors and do that for a while.

Only thing besides that has been a Burberry tie I bought for $10 with free shipping. It was authentic and I was able to sell it for a good profit.

 

[Fushek]

My key to flipping an eBay item is finding a niche market and understanding what is rare/valuable in that market and watching for someone to unknowingly list them with a BIN. For instance, most Atari games are a dime a dozen, but there are a few gems that are worth hundreds. Someone who is selling a lot of them together may offer a BIN without researching them and I'm able to pick them up cheap and resell at a nice profit.

I only do this is about 3 niche markets that I have interest in and that I have studied thoroughly. So the key:

1) Most items of this market come cheap
2) You study and know the rare items
3) Watch New Listings for BINs or (if you're aggressive) offer a BIN to the seller quickly if only an auction.

 

[Digger]

I buy but seldom sell anymore. Charges have just gotten ridiculous.

Be careful buying and selling that gold. I bought a so advertised 14k solid gold necklace from a guy with a feedback in the 500's 100%. I didn't test it because I didn't doubt him. Cost me $500. A few weeks later I put it up for sale on eBay and a guy bought it. I shipped it to the California address he had, because all my listing were for lower 48 states ONLY, A week or so later I get an email from eBay saying this guy filed a claim that my necklace was fake so eBay pulled $500 out of my back account and put it on hold until an "investigation" could be completed. The problems was it was going to take some time because this guy actually lived in Hawaii and was having the necklace shipped to him for testing. I called eBay to tell them if it turned out to be fake I was going to file a claim on the guy I got it from. I told them the reason I'm calling is because you only have 30 days to file a claim and by the time this guy gets this necklace shipped to him in Hawaii, which already should have already broke the rules because eBay says once an item is second shipped no claims can be filled because there is no way to know if the right item was shipped. I was calling to let them know my 30 days to file would be up and I wanted them to know I was going to file if it turned out to be fake.

Well it turned out to be fake because although everything looked right it was slightly attracted to a magnet. Long story short, the guy got my $500 back, I called eBay to file and they said rotten luck you're past your 30 days no refund for you. I contacted the seller who simply claimed the one he sold me was real solid gold. I got screwed because I didn't test it with a magnet. Lesson learned and eBay can kiss my backside now. I won't sell and I use gift every chance I get.

 

[jerseyben]

I buy but seldom sell anymore. Charges have just gotten ridiculous.

Be careful buying and selling that gold. I bought a so advertised 14k solid gold necklace from a guy with a feedback in the 500's 100%. I didn't test it because I didn't doubt him. Cost me $500. A few weeks later I put it up for sale on eBay and a guy bought it. I shipped it to the California address he had, because all my listing were for lower 48 states ONLY, A week or so later I get an email from eBay saying this guy filed a claim that my necklace was fake so eBay pulled $500 out of my back account and put it on hold until an "investigation" could be completed. The problems was it was going to take some time because this guy actually lived in Hawaii and was having the necklace shipped to him for testing. I called eBay to tell them if it turned out to be fake I was going to file a claim on the guy I got it from. I told them the reason I'm calling is because you only have 30 days to file a claim and by the time this guy gets this necklace shipped to him in Hawaii, which already should have already broke the rules because eBay says once an item is second shipped no claims can be filled because there is no way to know if the right item was shipped. I was calling to let them know my 30 days to file would be up and I wanted them to know I was going to file if it turned out to be fake.

Well it turned out to be fake because although everything looked right it was slightly attracted to a magnet. Long story short, the guy got my $500 back, I called eBay to file and they said rotten luck you're past your 30 days no refund for you. I contacted the seller who simply claimed the one he sold me was real solid gold. I got screwed because I didn't test it with a magnet. Lesson learned and eBay can kiss my backside now. I won't sell and I use gift every chance I get.

Sounds like YOU got burned and are bitter because you didn't do your homework. Don't blame ebay for your own mistakes.

 

[Digger]

Sounds like YOU got burned and are bitter because you didn't do your homework. Don't blame ebay for your own mistakes.

Sorry I keep saying Hawaii when I meant China. The guy actually lived in China and had it shipped from California to China.

Yes, my mistake was expecting eBay to treat me fairly. I understand my mistake was not checking the chain before selling it, but it was eBay who refused to allow me to file even though I called them SPECIFICALLY to inform them I would be filing but circumstances dictated I could not do it within the 30 days. They cut me no slack but cut everyone else involved slack. <- the point. I called them to put in my notice pre the 30 days and I got screwed. So yes, I do blame eBay and I am bitter and rightly so.

They gave the guy that screwed me in the first place off with no accountability.
They let the guy I sold it to off after breaking the second shipping rule and still refunded his money. The chain sent from California to China could have been switched with a fake or the guy from China could have sent me back a Chinese fake.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

NOT with Coins or PM's. But I used to buy and Sell on Ebay all the time. In fact so much where they froze my accounts to inquire where I was getting all of my Merchandise. Once they saw what i was doing, the unfroze both accounts. Of course i never used the same account to buy and sell, that would just be dumb.

But I dont like selling on there anymore. its too much of a pain, dealing with all the new rules and regs. best of luck thou!

 

[dumpsterdiver]

Occasionally my super power of being a terrible speller will still find a good deal ever now and then. Not like it was years ago. But their are still some people whose spelling is so far off that I see deals that way.

 

[Bassmaster96]

Yeah, I do it a little bit, but I still get my best things off of forums and yard sales/auctions. Have you guys ever had anyone cancel after you bought something? I bought something that was at $3 and I figured I could get $20-$30 for it. They cancelled and refunded me because they messed up on the price.

 

[diggummup]

I called them SPECIFICALLY to inform them I would be filing but circumstances dictated I could not do it within the 30 days. They cut me no slack but cut everyone else involved slack. <- the point. I called them to put in my notice pre the 30 days and I got screwed. So yes, I do blame eBay and I am bitter and rightly so.

They gave the guy that screwed me in the first place off with no accountability.
They let the guy I sold it to off after breaking the second shipping rule and still refunded his money. The chain sent from California to China could have been switched with a fake or the guy from China could have sent me back a Chinese fake.

You actually have 45 days to file a claim. And you cannot blame ebay for some guy selling you a fake gold chain. The very first thing I would have done upon arrival of my "gold" chain would have been to have it authenticated, especially if I was going to resell it. That was your mistake, not Ebay's.

 

[Beachkid23]

Yeah, I do it a little bit, but I still get my best things off of forums and yard sales/auctions. Have you guys ever had anyone cancel after you bought something? I bought something that was at $3 and I figured I could get $20-$30 for it. They cancelled and refunded me because they messed up on the price.

Yes, I did it to some one. Listed a gold chain for 29.99 instead of 299.99. It sold in about 2 seconds and was paid for... Told him I messed up and couldn't sell that for that cheap, he accepted and I canceled. Sent him a free morgan for understanding!

 

[Bassmaster96]

Well, the guy just told me he was going to have to cancel. I buy and sell fishing lures all the time, and I know max for these was $30 or so, so I was surprised he didn't sell them to me and not take the risk of someone being rude and not understanding. Anyway, I think he relisted them for $200 or $300. I'm sure he still has them.