How to Make Money on eBay Canada

Posted by dragon

If I could give you just one piece of advice about starting to sell on eBay Canada I would say this: Start small and take the time to build up experience before you purchase your first big wholesale lot.

Yes, I realize you want to get cash coming in as quickly as possible (who doesn’t?), but if you rush into things then there is a big risk that you’ll lose the money you invested.

Here’s why.

If you just go with your instincts, chances are, your instincts will be wrong. Sound a bit harsh? Well it’s not. If you think about it, our instincts are based on experience. They aren’t innate as many of us would like to believe. For instance, we don’t have an innate fear of being run over by a bus – we learn from watching others that this is a possibility. What this means is that the best ideas, the best brainwaves come after time spent studying eBay and thinking about the statistics you’ve found and what works and what doesn’t. Once your brain has had time to process the eBay environment, then there is a greater likelihood you’ll have a brainwave product idea that go through the roof.

When you’re starting your business the worst thing you can do is make an emotional decision based on hype surrounding a product or your own enthusiasm for an item. Not everything works well on eBay and it’s incredibly easy to lose money rather than make it.

If you just jump right in and spend $500 on getting a couple of digital cameras to sell, you’re going to struggle. You won’t know how eBay works. You won’t know how to get the best prices on eBay. You’ll flail against masses of competition and you’ll find buyers will treat you with caution because you have zero or very little feedback. If you’re lucky you’ll make $50 on your investment. But then you’ll be hit with eBay success fees and Paypal fees…An item that sells for around $289 will cost you a substantial $12 in fees. Overall, you’ll have made $20-$30 dollars, which quite frankly, is a pretty poor return on your investment. Imagine if you were actually paying yourself for your time – you’d be running a huge loss!

Yet, if you had experimented with eBay, you’d have learned enough to keep you from making this string of errors. Don’t believe me? Just ask our Salehoo powersellers. The most successful members all say that they started gradually by selling things from around the house, then moving onto selling items for friends and family.

You’ll be surprised at just how much you can learn from even the smallest sale. What will also surprise you is what items sell well. It’s often not what you expect. How would you find out about the strong demand for good quality stock pots if you hadn’t sold the spare one you had lying around the house? Often it’s the very ideas you may scoff at initially that have the best potential! And no – reading about it isn’t enough. No-one gives away their niches or their best selling strategies. You have to learn those for yourself.

To explain what I mean, let me tell you a story. One of the first niche markets I found began with a conversation with a couple of recently married friends who had encountered trouble finding a wedding cake topper that met their specifications. After going home, I spent a few hours researching the market for this product on the Internet and was impressed with the opportunity that there seemed to be. A couple of week’s research led me to a small wholesaler of wedding cake toppers and I purchased my first lot of 20 for $2 a piece. On each one I made between $10 and $30 profit, ultimately giving me back over seven times my money which allowed me to purchase another lot to sell.

Now, this wasn’t just a fluke. Let me tell you why this idea was ultimately successful:

(a) I spent quite a number of hours researching the market for this product before I purchased the wholesale lot.
(b) I sold during the wedding season when demand was high.
(c) I had excellent photos.
(d) I used $1 NR when the few other cake toppers available started at $40-$60.
(e) I ended the listings at peak times.
(f) Because the items were small and low cost there was very little postage costs and eBay listing and success fees were low.
This is a perfect example of how success on eBay isn’t random or based on instinct: it’s the result of hard work, experience and a logical research and decision-making process.

By Jitu Singh