June 16th, 2010
I couldn’t find any good eBay news or topics to write about today, so thought I would reach back into the archives. This is a post I did about two years ago, that is still germain today. It was one of the most popular posts I have done in the past couple of years. Over 200 people tweeted it to their followers. However I did update it as there are some changes and some more recent reader emails added. Enjoy!
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The headline of this post is one of the most frequent topics in reader emails I get, followed by what sells best on eBay or what should I sell on eBay.
Some time, ago I shared a list of some of the more unusual terms & conditions that sellers use in their auctions. Today, I thought I would share some of the more interesting emails I get from readers.
These are just a small sample from the past few months. Some of them are well intentioned, other frustrating and others from people who I really wonder about. And, yes, these are real emails from actual readers. You can’t make this stuff up.
I have copy/pasted them exactly as they came in, so the grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalization are exactly as received with no corrections on my part: I have removed the names and email addresses to protect the guilty. Here we go:
i think that people who sale on ebay should pay taxes becasue they no better than people who pick up pop can for a living and please do not give my email address or name thank you.
Product: Ten Profitable eBay Niche
message: I need to get a refund for this item. It looks like a lot of work. I look for free money from eBayIF Skip McGrath is making so much money on ebay, why is he SELLING this information?
It looks to me, like he’s making money SELLING INFORMATION.
WHY should I BUY His imformation, when like everything else…it doesn’t deliver. WHY would he sell or even TELL his secrets?
Doesn’t he make enough on ebay without selling his secrets on a website.
I’ve sold on ebay for several years.[Note: I looked up this seller and her feedback was 23, most of it as a buyer]
Skip – Your stuff is the best, but what should I sell on eBay to make the most money???
Your newsletter is just more ebay propaganda to get out money in more fees for ebay.
Skip do you teach me the secrets that work and if you do are they still secrets if you teach them to so many people? I want just the real secrets not the ones you sell to other people. Can we make a deal? I am happy to pay extra.
I looked at every wholesale source there is and none of them really sell at wholesale. How can people make money if no one really has wholesale prices. Why won’t real wholesale companies sell to me.
Mr. McGrath: What sells best on ebay? What is hot product and where can I get it? Don’t fool with me, I want the read deal. Thank you.
I live in Nigeria and work in orphanage and want to do eBay from here to make donation to our good cause. Can you send me a free book to help my orphans, God bless to you.
What products sells best on ebay and where can I find the best wholesale source for free,,,i don’t want to pay for information.
You are screw job and so is ebay paypal why shold I buy you book ????????????? But I llike your newsletters a lot.
Mr. Skip I would like to be your agent in Nigeria and can sell millions of your product. Plesae contact me immediately to disuc uss this interesting and profitable business proposal.
[Note: This was sent from the same email address as the orphanage]
eBay hoses people and takes them for a ride why are you helping them skip mcgrath…I bet you make money too.
The last one is interesting. I am not sure if he is confusing hoses with horses or where the ride on eBay will take me.
As you can see several of the questions are from people who want to know what to sell on eBay, or what sells best on eBay. I get this question stated several ways and is probably the most asked single question (and the emails are usually polite unlike these ones). All of my books and several free articles deal with this question in great detail. I will take one more stab at the answer:
Forget selling hot consumer products. There is too much competition and the margins are very low. Find a specialized niche that is less competitive and most importantly find a niche that you know something about and enjoy working in. The combination of eBay fee increases and increase discounting during the recession, has squeezed profit margins so much that if you sell popular products, you have to sell in very high volumes to make any money. But in a niche market, you have less competition and therefore you can realize higher prices and therefore larger profit margins.
As for finding products to sell, use all of the sources available to you. And don’t just look online. I find a lot of my sources by visiting wholesale trade shows and visiting the wholesale merchandise marts located in most major cities. Here is a link to a wholesale trade show calendar at the Official Geezer Guide website.
I have more information about this topic on my Free Articles page where you can read several articles about what sells on eBay, niche marketing and where to find the wholesale products to sell on ebay.
As for secrets; If you read the sales letters for my products, you won’t find many mentions of “secrets.” I don’t keep any secrets for myself. Clever sellers are always looking for angles and often come up with new techniques, but once they use them, everyone else can pretty much see them. So are there any secrets? yes – but they don’t last very long. If you really want to make money on eBay, there is no substitute for learning the basics, doing the work and then staying on top of your business. This means you have to research and find products that will sell, take good photos, write good descriptions and keyword-rich compelling headlines and deliver excellent customer service.
At that, I will leave you with a little advertising plug (hey, I have to pay the bills too).
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If you are struggling to find wholesale products, check out WorldWide Brands. They are the only wholesale sourcing information company I recommend and my readers get a $20 discount on this excellent source of wholesale product information. www.worldwidebrands.com/skipmcgrath.
See Also
- Wholesale Buying System for eBay Sellers
Complete printed course teaches eBay sellers how, what and where to buy wholesale products to sell on eBay and comes with membership in a private website where you can access hundreds of wholesale sources that are updated every month.
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