Expert: Marvinator - 10/14/2004

Question
Hello Marvin - I just recently joined Ebay, and have only been a buyer.  I am interested in becoming a Seller, and would love to get your opinion about doing online auctioning full-time.  I have heard people talk about it on TV in Infomercials, and I must admit that I became very intrigued.  I would appreciate any assistance you can provide, along with any tips, do's/dont's, etc. that is expected of a seller.  Also what type of products are "hot sellers" and is fulltime auctioning really that lucrative??   Thanks!

Answer
I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that I get this one question a lot.   First and foremost let me point out few facts that many of the "infomercials" tend to forget.    Most of the sellers on EBay do NOT make a living at it.  Most have full time jobs and supplement their income with eBay sales.  The number of full time EBay sellers like you is low, less than 1 percent of the number of full time sellers on EBay.  In addition, many of the SUCCESSFUL sellers on eBay already had full time businesses that just use EBay as another form of sale.  Goodwill stores that have 'brick and mortar' shops, now sell their high end goods on eBay.  Manufacturers who formerly sold wholesale through jobbers now do their additional selling through eBay.  Local Retail stores now also sell on eBay.  EBay has become just another market to them - a way to expand their current customer base while not having the expense of another location.  So, what does it take?
Let me take you through this step by step.  First you must find a product.  This can be easy or hard, but let's assume for just a moment, that you have a product to sell.  You must now either get the product in, or arrange with a wholesaler for drop shipping.   If you don't get the product in hand, you must arrange to get a photo of the item.  If you take the photo yourself, you must, of course, take a good photo; work with the photo to get it to look right for use on line.  Now, you must write up the auction.   This can take a bit as you want to make sure that the measurements, colors and just a bit of hype are written up carefully.  Next you must upload both the auction and the picture.  Once the auction is started, you must check your email regularly for any questions.  Answering the questions can be easy or hard.  "What color is this red dress?" (Yes, they do ask that!)  Or even "If this is a medium and I wear an 18, would this fit me?"  And even "If I were to hold this up to the light, how much light would show through?"  (These are actual questions received by real sellers!)  Ok, you take the time to answer questions about shipping rates and colors and now you just wait until the auction is done, right?  No, there's more.  
During the course of the auction you may wish to view the feedback of those bidding on your auctions.  Some may need to be questioned as to their intent.  Others you may wish to check out if they live out of the US or not. (Do you ship out of the US?  Do you know what's entailed in so doing?)  Do any of the questions bring to light information about your item that you may want to put in to the auction description?  Each and every item has this ongoing work associated with it.  And once the auction ends, you're not done.  
Now you must invoice the winner, and collect the payments.  Payments can take from 1 hour to 3 months to get in hand.  Some sellers put in their auction the time frame they expect but sometimes it just takes a while.  Once you get the payment, you pack the item and get it shipped, making a trip to the Post Office or UPS station to ship.  Full time sellers may make as many as 2-4 trips per week to ship out.  Higher end sellers will have the UPS truck arrive daily to pick up and drop off.  Once the item is shipped, you must still wait to see if the buyer is happy with the item.  Do they get what they expect? Did you write up the description properly?  Do you get problems with "This part won't work on my..." and I demand a refund.  How do you plan to handle refunds?  What about getting the product back?  Lastly, there is feedback - which a lot of people misuse as some sort of branding proposition, rather than the reward system it was designed to be.  
Now, this was ONE product.  Can you imagine the amount of work involved with doing a hundred or more?  EBay is not for the faint of heart.  It is hard and long days and there is no guarantee that anyone will buy what you are selling.  Let's add one more thought to that "infomercial" you saw.  Why are they on TV?  No one but NO one puts a commercial (or infomercial) on TV for YOUR benefit. They, of course, want to make money.  And the one, who they want to make money, is THEM.
The one thing that most sellers do NOT do when they start out is research. They know nothing more than 'put the item on auction' - 'get the money'.  They do nothing in the way of shipping, using recycled packaging or cereal boxes and newspaper.  Others sell trash items describing it as "new" when it fact many thrift stores would throw the item away.  Once the buyer gets the item, they stop responding to emails.  Lastly, there are a high number of scammers on EBay, and research bears this out.  Learning how to recognize the scam and how to avoid it is just another form of daily research.  And let's not forget EBay itself.  EBay seems to make changes to the system more quickly than the average person can track.  Keeping up with these changes is also part of the business of EBay.  Research - I cannot stress it enough.   
Lastly, "hot products" is also a changing view of EBay.  It's a formula of what you sell and how you sell it.  It is not uncommon for two sellers to sell identical products, described the same way and have the same starting price - but one gets 10 bids and the other is unsold.  Who knows why?  As for a recommendation of what to sell, I could say that selling Weldon Flanges could make you a mint, but by this weekend, that market could change.  Additionally, if you know little about Weldon or about Flanges you won't do very well with them.  Regardless of what you sell, you could end up buying a bunch of items at $5 each only to find out that they go on EBay for a top price of $3.95.  You're out money and you haven't even started!
What I usually suggest to new sellers is to research your own knowledge base.  If you know about Depression glass, then that may be a place to start.  If you don't know the difference between Cabbage Rose and Mayfair, you will lose your shirt!  Everyone knows a bit about something and this is a great way to start.  Know your own strengths and work off them.  
Now, your last question:  Is it lucrative.  If you have read the above, you may feel that I am trying to talk you out of using EBay.  Quite the contrary.  What I hope to do is to educate you to the dangers and pitfalls before you go and quit the day job.  Start slow, research the items you want to sell,  find the right product, sell it right and sell enough - yes, it can be lucrative. Don't quit the day job until the EBay job NEEDS you.   BUT remember, that the number of people who make money off eBay is LOW compared to those that don't.

As you start your business, feel free to return to this area and ask more questions, especially about how to use the EBay system to your own advantage, and what to be wary of.  Good luck in your eBay business!