Three High Profit Product Sourcing Ideas for Your eBay Business

Don’t you often find yourself running round in circles looking for new product ideas for your eBay business, only to find the very best ideas are actually staring you in the face? They’re ideas to do with children, for example, and factory shops, also free stuff you can grab in abundance, if you know where to look. Let me give you a few ideas to use today in your eBay business:

* CHILDREN’S CAST OFFS. Children grow quickly and discarded toys, clothing and hardware are sometimes in near perfect condition and worth up to fifty per cent their original value. Most parents are too tired, too busy, lack time and commitment to turn their discarded kiddieware into cash. But most will pay someone else to sell it for them. A one-off client is hard work, so look for a captive audience, and offer your service as consignment seller (trading assistant) to the largest Mother and Toddler groups you can find preferably close by. Most groups have a leader – official or unofficial – and this is the person to approach with offers to sell other members’ goods on eBay. Talk to the leader, make the offer, get that person to handle all communications with fellow members and also distribute money to members after the sale. This saves time and hassle for you and members are more likely to trust their leader with goods and money than an unknown agent. Have an agreement drawn up with the leader who must accept responsibility for collecting and holding all goods and all monies which absolves you from any wrongdoing that might ensue. With the exception of all but very small items it’s best to sell locally on eBay and have buyers pick up and pay for items while the group is in session. Either be there personally to claim the cash and pay the group leader once your commission is deducted or get the leader to hand over goods and take payment and you call every few days for your cut.

* FACTORY OUTLETS: Most factory outlets deal in perfect and slightly imperfect goods and there are eBayers making thousands of sales every week of items picked up inexpensively at factory outlets. I personally know some who act as trading assistants for numerous factory outlets. Those people buy just one item to illustrate, describe and test resale potential and profits. From there most factory outlet managers are happy to put similar stock to one side for future sales. You’re spoiled for choice of products to sell from manufacturers of thousands of different product types, from clothing to tableware, cosmetics to socks, cutlery to most things you care to imagine. You must choose items with potential for unlimited sales via one standard listing template that does not require extensive changes between listings. Be careful picking goods and look for slight seconds as opposed to seriously flawed items. Faults vary and you’ll have difficulty using the same listing template for items ranging from slightly to seriously flawed. Look for near perfect items or perfect overstocks and you can use the same description for all similar items with specific add-ons like: ‘perfect overstock’, ‘cancelled order’, ‘button missing’, ‘light stain easily cleaned’, ‘broken zip’, ‘light chip on spout’, ‘cooking instructions missing’, etc.

* FREE STUFF TO SELL ON EBAY: Just because it’s free doesn’t mean an item is worthless, especially on eBay, where really weird and commonplace free items can attract incredible prices. Newspapers and magazines published in one country and not available elsewhere is an obvious example, but FREE gifts given with publications are also potentially very profitable domestically and in overseas markets. Things that sell well include discount vouchers and money off tokens, bonus CDs and wallcharts and other items from newspapers and magazines, maps and travel guides from visitor centres and tourist attractions. Money Off vouchers sell particularly well on eBay, mainly cut from newspapers and magazines and product packaging.