Monday, September 18, 2006
Buy Low Sell High
I am sure you have heard that to make money selling, “Buy low, sell high”. This is how you make money on Ebay. If you buy from a wholesaler and everyone else is buying from the same wholesaler, only the person with the highest dollar order will get the best price from that wholesaler.
What that means to you is that if four Ebay sellers find the same Widget at a wholesaler, the one who buys 100 pieces will get a better price than the person who buys only 10 pieces. Unless you have an exclusive contract on an item it is hard to be competitive and make much when others are trying to undercut your prices.
If a local store is going out of business and has that same widget, you will get a much better price than buying them wholesale. Over stock and distressed merchandise bought locally will usually give you a better price than any wholesaler can.
This past week I got a call from a person who bought a house to come see if any of the huge amount of stuff would be of interest to me. The previous owner used to go to military surplus sales and buy, buy, buy. The problem is he apparently was just a collector of junk and never sold anything. He just kept piling it higher and deeper.
I bought a moderate amount of NOS, “New Old Stock” New stuff that is 10 years old or more. One lot of stuff had 16 military test equipment cases. I bought them and some other things for only $200. So far a single case that I gutted to sell the parts has brought $189. There are still parts from that one case to sell and I have 15 more cases.
This is the type of deal where you make your best money. Buying things that someone needs to get out of their house, out of their business or out of storage.
If you watch you local paper and let people know you are interested in any excess or close out merchandise, you may find a gold mine of stuff you can sell on Ebay.
