Is eBay the Promised Land?

johnny.shz asks: "Even the politicians were claiming: millions of people are making a living off eBay. eBay does have millions of people selling at any given time, but how many are actually making a living? I've sold many things on eBay, mostly junk. My feeling is that I'm making eBay richer (all fees plus PayPal account about 10%), but certainly not myself. Despite all the hoopla of the new promised land, I don't see the promise on eBay. How many of you are making a living off eBay? How many of you actually know someone who does?"

Comments

Yes, but usually not the individual.

[Rolan]

There are certainly people making a living off of eBay. They aren't your general user (like you). I'm curious where you read the politicians claiming "millions."

The people making a living off eBay are the small business owners that may (or may not) have a storefront in some town with limited exposure. They setup an eBay store, or list a most of their items on eBay for sale and make additional sales from stock they already had. They adjust their prices to compensate for the fees of doing business (which may very well be cheaper). They're generally able to avoid dealing with taxes (unless you're in their state), they don't have to deal with the overhead of store rent, electricity, etc that a physical store incurs.

If I were so inclined, I'm sure I could setup a business in my house that sells purely online/through eBay and be able to make a better profit than a standard storefront, simply due to the considerable difference in overhead. However, I'm not interested in owning that kind of business.

Depends how you do it.

[ForestGrump]

I know someone who makes about $600 per month in sales, which is enough for a college student to live on (if you have fin aid/loans/mom to pay for school).

How he does it.
Deal sites.
Rebate whore
Price match.
invest all your free time on ebay sales.
prompt shipping.

Grump

Re:Depends how you do it.

[Profane MuthaFucka]

By deal sites, you mean he buys stock from deal websites?

And is "rebate whore" the reason why it's common to find hard drives for sale on EBay in the original box, but missing the UPC code?

"eBay consignment shop"

[vasqzr]

A local businessman has set up an 'eBay Consignment' shop, you drop off an item, and he sells it on eBay for a fee. He takes pictures, does the description, lists the item...

21st century pawn shop

Monopoly

[BrookHarty]

I know lots of people who make a living off Ebay, most own a home business and sell some of their products on Ebay. A couple at work had to quit their job to work full time on the ebay selling, so you can make money buying and reselling. A few buy wholesale from overseas

The problem I have with Ebay and Paypal, is the monopoly aspect. They start to morally judge what you can and cant sell, who you can/cant take money from with paypal. This is suppose to be a free market, but if you sell something some corporation doesnt want you to sell, they just have to write a letter to ebay to end your auction. Paypal doesnt have the same regulations as a bank, they dont want you transfering money across borders. (Try to donate money overseas with paypal, little problems, but it can be done.)

Too bad everyone is cornering themselves into 1 company for most products, your choice is disappearing. Finally you end up with a company that can do what it wants, and you have no options to go else where.

While the fees and prices go up...

Easy

[one9nine]

"How many of you are making a living off eBay?"

Once I learned how to burn grilled cheese sandwiches a certian way, it was a snap.

Craigslist

[winthrop]

The real promised land is Craigslist.

If you live in a city with lots of rich people, they just throw good stuff away. I've got a washer/dryer, clothes, guitar, rugs, furniture, most free, some low-cost. A penny saved is a penny earned.

Possible - yes ; Easy - no

[Port1080]

Starting selling on eBay is just like starting any other small retail business. It requires a lot of hard work and effort, but it's certainly possible. The bonus of selling on eBay is that the world is your market - the downside is that you have a ton of competition. I do about $54,000 a year gross sales on eBay (net profit is, of course, much less than that). It's enough to keep me going while I take some time off between undergrad and grad school, but I wouldn't want to be doing this my whole life. There are, however, plenty of people out there who are making a lot of money on eBay. The keys are:

1. Find a reliable supplier where you can get items at wholesale

1a. Find about 20 items that sell well from that supplier and list them over and over again! Nothing sucks more than having to write new listings every week.

2. Spend a lot of time initititally working out your shipping system to minimize cost and time effort.

3. Profit!

Not a living, but making Earth more livable

[computersareevil]

I'm certainly not making any real money on eBay, but I can't tell you how much better it feels to ship some piece of junk to somebody who want it, rather than dumping it in the trash can.

eBay may not be the "promised land", but it certainly is improving the land by being the best recycling tool ever invented.

FreeCycle

[ClioCJS]

http://www.freecycle.org

Index of 4000+ local yahoo freecycle groups. All groups are ways of getting stuff for free, and getting rid of your own stuff easily. I got a 27" TV for my bedroom and a free router.