picking on ebay

[jerseyben]

Besides Iron Patch, who successfully picks their treasures on ebay (meaning you are buying stuff below market value, possibly for resale)?

IMO, it could go either way. I have tried it in the past and after putting in 3-4 hours of browsing every time, I typically only find 1 or 2 items worth bidding on. To the best of my knowledge, I only "scored" twice. Sadly, both times the buyer cancelled the transaction.

Part of me wants to say that picking on ebay is the "lazy method" because anyone can do it. The other part of me says that in theory it seems easy, but in reality, it is quite challenging. You basically have to "outsmart" people and know more than they know. It is hard to do that when you both have access to the same resources.

It almost seems like you have to get lucky AND know what you are looking for in order to score.

I would like to hear some stories of ebay picks from others. What have you scored on? Do you find it easier or harder than picking in person?

 

[trdhrdr007]

I've managed to buy a few coins at decent prices & have talked with other people that have been able to cherry pick die varieties & VAMs. It seems to me that you have to have some sort of specialized knowledge along with a market to resell that specialty. I definitely wouldn't call it the "lazy method". It's got to be a huge investment of time to find that one good item amongst hundreds or even thousands of auctions.

 

[jerseyben]

I've managed to buy a few coins at decent prices & have talked with other people that have been able to cherry pick die varieties & VAMs. It seems to me that you have to have some sort of specialized knowledge along with a market to resell that specialty. I definitely wouldn't call it the "lazy method". It's got to be a huge investment of time to find that one good item amongst hundreds or even thousands of auctions.

I dont want to catch any flack for that comment. To clarify, ANYONE can buy stuff on ebay without even getting out of bed. I suppose it takes knowledge to be able to do it right.

 

[randazzo1]

I played around with this quite a bit last year and had some success, but only with very specific strategies. There's no way to explain it without giving up the info, so here it goes. You have to think about items that people might make a mistake on and that you know enough about to not make a mistake yourself. I search for a few things: In the Jewelry and watches section set the search to preowned and not specified. Then "search in descriptions". Then type in the search box "14KP". This will return (not everyday - but with some frequency), items described in the title as "Gold Plated" or "Costume" and in the description something to the effect of "Marked 14KP". The gold bugs know that 14KP is 14K 'Plumb' not 14K 'plate'. Run it for 10KP and 18KP as well. You can get a similar result with the combined search "spoon coin" (make sure descriptions is selected). You will occassionally get "lot of old spoons" and in the description -- 2 spoons marked Rogers, 3 marked Coin. Silver bugs will know its coin (90%) silver. I've got one more of these that works well but I'm not allowed to share it without permission. I asked today.

Far more difficult -- spotting gold by weight. A lot people put up their gold jewelry "Buy It Now". If you have a sense of what things weigh, you can make money on a lot of these. It's a bit riskier and requires more experience, but it works and you can do it every day. Competition is extremely fierce. on the best items, you have a split second to make a decision and need to be constantly reloading search results. More often than not the item will sell before you can read the whole listing.

I tried the various misspellings approaches, but did not have much luck. You can search things like "wustof" or "novou"

The last version I used with some success was searching very generic terms like "Big lot of old" "lot of old" "lot of vintage" or "lot of dirty". We bought a lot of old toys this way and did very well, also pens, door knobs, poker chips and a giant lot of fishing lures I still haven't searched through. You can also try "collection" etc.

The key with most of these things is hitting the buy it nows. The auctions are tough because there is too much time for everyone to look at them and there are just too many armchair pickers out there. They use special searching programs (aka miners). If you don't log enough a computer time in your day-job, this can be profitable. For me -- it's just too many hours on the screeen.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I have been doing that on ebay since 2005....My biggie was on Air pumps and Air compressors......and not to forget that amount of people that cant spell the word Taillight...or is it Tailight....Or Tail Light....or Taillite...

I have actually seen it spelled ALL those ways.

But lately , its not fun anymore...once they jacked up the fees...and started helping people spell right...I really dont even look anymore


Here is a pic of the pump I was selling.....market value was 100-150+...I found a guy that was selling them to me BRAND NEW for 25 a piece....he ended up selling me right around 100 of them....It was good while it lasted.

 

[jerseyben]

I played around with this quite a bit last year and had some success, but only with very specific strategies.

Thank you for such a detailed reponse but I would actually ask that you revise your post. I was not intending to have anyone give up their secrets here. Thank you though!

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Thank you for such a detailed reponse but I would actually ask that you revise your post. I was not intending to have anyone give up their secrets here. Thank you though!

Oh my Bad...I sorta mentioned what i was looking for...but dont anymore

 

[clovis97]

I've been buying and reselling a specific tool on ebay.

Lazy? No. I might find 4 of these tools a year out in the wild, and I go to a minimum of 50 auctions or sales a year. I've found two of these tools this year. I figure that checking the listings every day is a smart way to do business. No drive time, no wear on my car, no $4 gas burned, no stress, no hauling it home.

I look at it as a smart way to do business. Even though I love to travel and get out to buy, I'd rather that I could more of this stuff on ebay.

It has been highly profitable so far. I bought one of these tools last week for $13 delivered, and have already sold $84 in parts so far, and I still have another $100 listed. I've bought almost 10 in the past month, and the profit is already helping the bottom line in a big way.

I'm spending about 8 minutes a day looking on ebay for these tools.

I am looking forward to this winter when another seasonal item should be selling at its lowest points, and I am going to snap them up for resale later in 2014 when they get to crazy selling prices.

Since starting this, I have a far greater respect for IP, and wish that I could have some of the skills he has.

 

[Iron Patch]

God I wish I could be lazy. Well actually I do at times, but that's when I have taken some long breaks... but the long breaks tend to come because I burn out. I do understand where you're coming from, but are there any non lazy sellers who have in the range of 504 feedback in the last month? All computer of not, I guarantee there's nothing lazy about my ebay and the reality is I don't have enough hours in the day. If I sell too much I'm missing deals buying, and if I am buying a lot I run out of money and have to be selling more. It's challenging at times to find a balance, but I do, and when I do I am as busy as heck. My Explorer just bit it, and in a way I'm not too upset because the extra day or two per week will really help me out.

 

[boristhespider88]

Nothing spectacular, I found a guy that made an error in his listing for 5 1909 cents (something about the wording sounded like it was just for one coin when it was all 5). I got them for $3.80 and was able to sell the 4 worst ones for $3.50 each and kept the best looking one for my collection. Also got a 1960 proof quarter, a Mercury dime, and some clad coins for almost $10; sold the proof quarter for $11, kept the Merc and cashed the clad.

Nothing else really as of late.

- DS

 

[Baltimore]

Great thread, It's awesome to see all of these strategies. I have been doing this for most of my online career, but I do it slightly differently than most. It seems like most people here buy items and then sell them again. I decided to take it one step further and cross platforms, and it has worked very well.

I sell a lot of vintage clothing, and I've discovered that etsy is an excellent place to sell it. Less fees (only 3%) and a lot of people with a lot of money. I started out just going to thrift stores and selling the stuff I found, but then I realized that ebay was a fairly untapped gold mine of vintage stuff. Because so many people put random vintage clothing on ebay, a lot of time with bad photos and descriptions, The market becomes saturated and I am able to cherry pick excellent items for cheap, and then flip them on etsy for large profits. As long as you take really nice photos and use a lot of keywords in your descriptions, it's a recipe for success. I've actually done the same thing the opposite way, I once bought a pair of red wings on etsy for $30 and resold them on ebay for $110. It required a lot of advance knowledge about what people will buy on etsy, but once you figure out a niche it is smooth sailing!

It's kind of my trade secret, but you guys deserve to know. In case anyone's interested.

 

[GibH]

It used to be a lot easier finding hidden treasures on ebay. Mis-spelled items and collectibles in the wrong categories. Now the best buys I usually find by checking the newest listed buy it nows. Other good buys come from sellers with less than perfect feedback. Funny how multimillion dollar companies will advertise 95% satisfaction rate as a good thing, but ebay buyers will run from a seller with a 95% feedback.

 

[Chevyfan2k9]

It used to be a lot easier finding hidden treasures on ebay. Mis-spelled items and collectibles in the wrong categories. Now the best buys I usually find by checking the newest listed buy it nows. Other good buys come from sellers with less than perfect feedback. Funny how multimillion dollar companies will advertise 95% satisfaction rate as a good thing, but ebay buyers will run from a seller with a 95% feedback.

I just bought 2 metal detectors from eBay sellers with less than 95% feedback both very good machines and are mint condition and total with shipping $145 first one was a teknetics delta 4000 paid $90 free shipping the other was a bh 2200 elite with extra 4" coil for $55 free shipping so I agree buyers tend to avoid sellers with 95% or less feedback

 

[randazzo1]

Thank you for such a detailed reponse but I would actually ask that you revise your post. I was not intending to have anyone give up their secrets here. Thank you though!

Jerseyben -- no problem at all. I also Got permission to post the other "trick". I, personally, find this to be hilarious - I don't mean that in a nasty way because I know it is kind of laughing at the people who list these. If you search "UL Lamp" or "Underwriter Laboratories Lamp" you will get tapped into people who are selling things on ebay without doing a drop of research. Even if you didn't know that UL was a rating lab, rather than a lamp manufacturer (and I'm sure there are plenty of people way smarter than me that don't) if you took 2 seconds to google it, you would know right away. Who takes the time to photograph and list something, withut bothering to even google it? Now -- I bought two awesome lamps this way (one Danish piece and an engineering lamp). More importantly though, finding these listings taps you into dealers who are listing stuff without looking it up. It's like a grab bag -- I have a list of them and check it every day -- they list all sorts of crazy things that you wouldn't even think of -- Half the time, I have to research the item fromt he pictures to figure out what it is. Anyway - it's kind of fun. Also -- you'll find yourself cluing people in sometimes because you feel bad going for something too valuable.

 

[jerseyben]

Jerseyben -- no problem at all. I also Got permission to post the other "trick". I, personally, find this to be hilarious - I don't mean that in a nasty way because I know it is kind of laughing at the people who list these. If you search "UL Lamp" or "Underwriter Laboratories Lamp" you will get tapped into people who are selling things on ebay without doing a drop of research. Even if you didn't know that UL was a rating lab, rather than a lamp manufacturer (and I'm sure there are plenty of people way smarter than me that don't) if you took 2 seconds to google it, you would know right away. Who takes the time to photograph and list something, withut bothering to even google it? Now -- I bought two awesome lamps this way (one Danish piece and an engineering lamp). More importantly though, finding these listings taps you into dealers who are listing stuff without looking it up. It's like a grab bag -- I have a list of them and check it every day -- they list all sorts of crazy things that you wouldn't even think of -- Half the time, I have to research the item fromt he pictures to figure out what it is. Anyway - it's kind of fun. Also -- you'll find yourself cluing people in sometimes because you feel bad going for something too valuable.

That is one of my personal methods: Find an item that is seemingly listed incorrectly or poorly. Then I view all items being sold by that seller to see what else they are clueless about. Have yet to find any goodies this way but I am still looking.

 

[boristhespider88]

Or you could do a search by misspelling words. Sliver turns up a lot. I found a guy who was listing a bunch of coins all as NASCAR memorabilia. Every. Single. Listing.

 

[Fushek]

I've picked on eBay before, but my finds are usually because people are too lazy to research what they have. I buy and sell a lot of video games and books. The key for me is knowing what EVERYTHING is worth for the products that I sell and finding something in which SOME of the items aren't worth much but SOME spike in value. For instance, in an older book series volumes 1 through 10 were pretty common and worth $5/ea. However, starting with #21, they stopped making many and they're worth $50/ea ... this is a perfect item to watch for someone who has a bunch thinking they are all worth $5/ea and throw it up as a Buy It Now. Viola, buy it and resell for profit. Video game industry is the same thing ... except there you have variations of the same game that might skyrocket the price.

The key is to KNOW what everything is worth ... and then you can strike when you see it.

On another note, does anyone here ever offer the seller a Buy It Now in hopes to get him to sell quickly when you know the auction is worth a lot more? I have in the past (and got many to bite!) but have mixed feelings on the practice ... kinda feels slimy but I would do the same to someone at a garage sale so why is it any different? Thoughts?

 

[Iron Patch]

On another note, does anyone here ever offer the seller a Buy It Now in hopes to get him to sell quickly when you know the auction is worth a lot more? I have in the past (and got many to bite!) but have mixed feelings on the practice ... kinda feels slimy but I would do the same to someone at a garage sale so why is it any different? Thoughts?

Nothing wrong with that at all. They are game to sell their item so whether it's an auction or buy it now what's the difference. Plus there's a chance it would have sold for even less had it run through and you were the only bidder.

 

[Tallone]

does anyone here ever offer the seller a Buy It Now in hopes to get him to sell quickly when you know the auction is worth a lot more? I have in the past (and got many to bite!) but have mixed feelings on the practice ... kinda feels slimy but I would do the same to someone at a garage sale so why is it any different? Thoughts?

I don't do much buying on ebay but I do a good bit of selling and I have had several people try to get me to switch and auction listing to BIN so they can buy my item. I always view an offer like that as a sure sign that my item will get lots of bids and sell for WAY more than the guy offered me. That has proven to be true in every case. I don't have a problem with people making offers like this. Nobody is forcing me to take the offer. All I have to do is say "No thanks."

 

[Iron Patch]

Several years back getting two BIN offers in the first 10 minutes on what I thought was a $15 coin tipped me off to look into it. In the matter of 5 minutes I found it, it was an error and a fairly rare coin. I started the auction at 99 cents and luckily when people offer to buy it they don't bid, because bidding locks the seller out of adding a buy it now. So I was able to go in, revise my tittle, and add the error category as a 2nd category. I let it run and sold for about $300 more than than the $15 I expected.

The coin was actually in nice condition, and it must be rare, because in the 5 or 6 years since the sale I have looked on a fairly regular basis in my normal searches and have yet to see another.