Could I Make a Partial Living Flipping Items on E-bay

[Drago]

Originally posted by tabs
Net or Gross...

Net.

I think I'll suggest she start flipping Art though. Wow.

[tabs]

The list started with one name..after awhile it builds, and for what U don't know WWWfindartinfo.com or other subscription sites fills in the blanks...that site even will show what the signatures are supposed to look like where available.

One thing about pricing art, just because its by the artist it doesn't mean top buxs...if an artist is known for harbor scenes and gets big money that doesn't mean a landscape will pull the same.

Also you want to sell a piece of art in the geographical region he is popular in . East Coast Harbor scenes don't pull the same money on the West coast.

Frames have a life of their own and if made by a well known maker can be more expensive than the art that is in them.

So start beating the bushes..
Also for art under say $3000 E-bay is really the best place to sell it.

[tabs]

With the Norman MacLeish I saw it down at the junk pile end of Abels warehouse at a Thursday sale. I looked on the back and it had an Art Institute of Chicago Art Show Label dated 1938 on it. I looked up the artist, his records weren't that strong, but the piece looked good to me, as thats what caught my attention in the first place. So I left an absentee bid of $350 on it, it came in at $300 plus the 10% comission...$330.

Took it home sent pics off to the auction house where MacLeishs work had been sold before. They said $2500 to $4500 and that was back in 2001.

I can pull out another 15 or so paintings that have a similar story or are better than that. For an amateur I got to be pretty well respected by the Dealers who went to Abels as having a good eye for things and knowing their value.

[Danglerb]

Its all about applying expertise. About 5 years ago I used to hang with a bunch of ebay full time sellers, who all pretty much followed the same pattern, buy whats cheap here and expensive someplace else, and vice versa. Trouble is everybody knows about the internet these days, and its easy to get "reference" prices, which are often horrible inflated or just plain wrong for the item in question. I was never that much of an ebay seller, and got really tired of shipping issues.

Look over all the good and bad, and decide if it suits you. As a "job" I'd say in general it sucks and doesn't pay that well, but its ok as a hobby that puts money in your pocket from time to time.

[tabs]

What I'm talking about goes beyond the Net or E-bay...the Bay is just convient for people to sell their ***** on. Its all basically the same hustle though...use your knowledge to find something that underpriced and turn and sell it in a more specfic selling venue where its real value can be reflected.

There is a guy who buys and sells art on the bay...ARTFORME17...he owns a bunch of those single story business/office buildings that U see down in Irvine, CA...he has his secratary do the listing and shipping for the bay. He keeps the kinda stuff I hang in my house in his office and the good stuff in his home in Newport Beach.

[tabs]

I have to agree that your not gona get rich on selling Antiques for a living. However to suplement income, a hobby job or just to aqquire some nice things that increase your wealth its very doable.

Here in Vegas I have a competitor who is a Chiropractor who hits 4 guns stores 4 times a week for the past 30 years. In the one that I go to he spends about $40,000 a year on buying used/collectable/antique guns. He only sells to Dealers, one of his customers is the gunshop in Houston called...Collectable Arms.

[Zeke]

Kurt, if you'd buy 500 worth of pertinent yellow zinc'd metric nuts and bolts, you'd have your hands full selling them onsey, twosey.

[techweenie]

Milt is right. Small quantities of stuff sold at low prices, but with a fixed shipping charge that covrs the actual cost of the item, shipping and minimal profit. Then anything bid for it is pure profit.

Having said that, imagine if you will, 40 sales a day of $4 items sold for $8 to 9. You have eBay fees, packaging, labeling, a tracking system you need to carefully monitor in order to manage your shipping and feedback. Don't forget offering PayPal, which will take 2.9% of your sale. Of course, you will have to consider the gas to get to the post office, and the time to deal with them.

It's a hard way to make a living. Higher ticket items will not sell at the same pace, and you'll be running around more.

If you had an area expertise -- hobby related, or whatever -- you might be able to buy low and sell high. I've done that a lot with Porsche items and have a robust rating. When you have a strong rating, your bids and profits will be higher.

Lots to consider. The good thing is, you can try it and decide.

[dmcummins]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Find the storage rooms around Jeff City. Find out when they are doing their sales of people who have not paid and are being evicted.

I have done a few and made some descent money while doing so. Just takes some luck and a bit of storage space.

I bought one of these and so far it has turned out well. My problem is I bought a unit full of 69 and 70 Mustang parts and really had no idea of the value. The nice thing about E-bay was I didn't have to know the value so much as listing it properly and letting the bidders decide. I was pleasantly surprised at the prices some of the parts have brung. I got lucky though.

And it is a part time job handling and shipping the stuff.

[dmcummins]

You could always buy rusted out sports cars and part them out.

[Rot 911]

You guys have given me some great ideas. Fortunately I don't have to make a living at it. I think I will start first with stuff around the house and keep my eyes open for storage unit sales.

[techweenie]

A friend of a friend bought a storage unit's contents a year and a half ago. It turned out to belong to Steven Spielberg and contained the first movie he had made. Last I heard, she was trying (without success) to get a quarter million for it.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by tabs

You can literally make money on Cast Iron Pots and Pans...or how about Womens Designer Purses, Belts and Shoes...I was standing in lie at Fed-ex one day and a gal told me that she MADE $500 a week selling Designer Womens stuff on the bay.

So its there if you wana look.

Unfortunately for you Kurt I don't think you are near this type of location but but a friends office worker makes pretty good money (so I am told) by going to the downtown Los Angeles fashion district (think blocks and blocks of small shops selling designer and designer knock offs) buying up belts, purses, etc. and selling them on ebay.

[JeffreyNMemphis]

Hi Kurt,

Check out the community portion of the Ebay website. It is sort of like here at Pelican I think... You can learn a lot from the people who are successful on Ebay. The coolest thing is that you can get started with a small amount of capital and get it rolling into something much bigger.

I think it also helps to specialize in something, because after all, Ebay is a market place. Buying low and selling high requires some specialized knowledge when buying and adding value somehow to fill a need.

There are some franchise systems that are setups to sell stuff for people. Becoming an expert on using ebay itself adds value. People drop off their old stuff and come back a week later to get the cash. Of course, you can just study the franchise and come up with your own concepts if you don't want to play by their rules and pay royalties, fees etc.

[bigchillcar]

tech - i could have gone the rest of my life without hearing a story like that! lol.

[austin552]

I used to buy and re-sell electronics on ebay. I could double my money. The ad one posts means allot. Got tired of dealing with all the nutty people. Have some car parts I need to sell also...

[Cornpanzer]

There is a large pick-your-part here in my area that scraps hundreds of cars a month. While the cars are in the yard, parts are sold very cheaply at flat fees. $5.00 for a carb for example. A local retired guy makes $20k a year by going to the scrapyard every couple days and buying the small easy to ship parts from these cars and throwing them on ebay.