Anybody sell online? Looking for advice/encouragement...

Does anybody here sell things on Amazon/eBay/their own website for their main income? I have been doing research and planning for a couple of months now. Looking to start an LLC so I can buy wholesale and possibly doing some retail arbitrage. There are tons of anecdotes about people doing huge sales/profit but I'd like to hear some realistic info from people that are not trying to sell their "secret system".

I don't need to become a bazillionaire (though I wouldn't mind if that happened haha). Really just looking to be my own boss eventually. I currently work in sales and I'm used to putting in the hours and work to get things done but I'd like to reap the rewards when I do. I'm just not willing to accept a $15 bonus for landing a $50K order anymore.

So, can it be done? Any advice, links, or websites are appreciated.

I hear the Silk Road is available.

These podcasts might be helpful: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/category/podcast/

Episode 144 had someone on who talks about building a business on using Amazon etc, and IIRC there are a couple more episodes discussing these type of businesses.

What do you want to know? I run two separate Ebay / Amazon accounts out of my house. Sales (NOT PROFIT!) for the past 12 months are about $300K.

What kind of products are you interested in carrying? I'll post some basics here when I can get something more lengthy typed up.

Shameless plug, here are links to my two ebay stores. The 5000 feedback one is a year and a half old, the 200 feedback has only been serious for a month or so:

http://stores.ebay.com/dog-star-collectibles

http://stores.ebay.com/Siriusly-Cool-Collectibles

PubBurgers, what is your approximate markup, where do you source the stuff, and how much time does this take? What about the overhead?

Interesting idea. Playing with it in my head though I'm not sure it makes sense. I'll assume a 25% markup. On $300k a year, that equates to about $60,000 income, ignoring selling fees, shipping fees if you do free shipping, taxes, and any overhead.

On the other hand, if it is something that is done in about 10 hours a week (everything ends on a Friday, ship on a Saturday) maybe it isn't so bad.

Color me interested in anything you are willing to share.

Here are some random thoughts:

For me, eBay is where I do all of my sales. The fees are higher on Amazon and the competition is fierce. All sellers on one page works well for buying on Amazon, buyers being able to compare prices so easily means that if you aren't the cheapest, you aren't selling. You are not eligible to be in the "Buy box" unless you get a pro subscription at $40 a month, and even then you need to maintain good feedback and prices to get the buy box.

On eBay there are tons of people selling the same thing but you've gotta hunt for the lowest price. Being cheap is still the #1 priority but having a listing that stands out also helps. On eBay the more of the same item you sell the higher your ranking. If you've sold 30 of something at $9.99 and someone comes in cheaper you'll still be the first hit.

If you can order it wholesale so can everyone else. A good profit margin for the stuff I sell is 15%.

Be prepared to get scammed. Ebay and Amazon give the buyers all of the power so if someone says they didn't get something they'll get a refund, even with tracking confirmation. You can fight it but even if you win the buyer will likely leave negative feedback.

Ebay gives you a 20% discount on final value fees if you're a top rated seller, meaning you maintain a certain sales number and better than 98% feedback. Not letting a listing sell out is absolutely vital to keeping your ranking. If it sells through you have to start over.

On amazon automatic repricing software is an absolute necessity, on ebay not so much. Just be sure to check your competitions pricing on the regular and make sure you're not being undercut.

Dazzle is a brilliant shipping program that imports all of your addresses and weights (for Ebay). The $15 a month subscription gets you access to commercial base pricing via USPS, which pays for itself in no time. It also uploads tracking numbers for you. There's a free version that uses retail pricing for folks who don't ship much.

Like regular retail good customer service pays off. Kill them with kindness if there's a problem.

People like to complain about insertion fees, they are really a non issue.

A "Basic" ebay store gets you the same selling fee discount as all of the others. If you're listing scads of stuff is the only time getting a more upgraded store is worth it as they have more free listings and lower listing fees once you run out of freebies.

Some distributors will only sell to you if you have a retail front.

Shipping next business day at the latest is 100% a necessity.

USPS gives free priority supplies, which is nice. Keep in mind that paying for shipping supplies eats profit FAST.

Look up Ebay's Global Shipping Program. Use it. Love it. Not having to deal with international sales directly is awesome. The program is also free for sellers.

Dead product sucks, don't get in over your head.

This label printer is the E36 M3: http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-GK420d-Monochrome-Desktop-Resolution/dp/B00EUN90SG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433887889&sr=8-1&keywords=zebra+gk420d

mtn wrote: On the other hand, if it is something that is done in about 10 hours a week (everything ends on a Friday, ship on a Saturday) maybe it isn't so bad.

Auctions are useless for running a business, fixed price listings all the way. Don't do the "30 days" nonsense either. I exclusively run "good till cancelled listings" Remember, if the listing ends or sells out you lose your hard fought for ranking.

My big eBay store is a collaboration with a company I used to work for. We source from a few major hobby distributors. I get a cut of the profits. Unfortunately business has been declining which leads me to my smaller store. That one is all me. I clean out clearance stuff at retailers (I'm that guy!) and flip it. My margin for that stuff is 25%+.

I start at 7am every day and am done by 9am. The post office picks the stuff up at my front door for free. These hours do not apply at Christmas time. Around Christmas it's a 5-6 hour a day deal.

I ship 6 days a week. People are happy to get stuff ASAP so I ship it ASAP. I'd ship Sundays too if I could.

Oh yeah. On small stuff that can first class or flat rate, always do free shipping. People love free shipping.

On heavy stuff the shipping cost is highly variable. I can ship a board game to Ohio for $5.50 but it costs $13 to send it to the west coast. I prefer buyer paid shipping on stuff like that.

The margins I posted are after fees, shipping, and supplies.

If you look at my listings they all look basically the same, I like that. I filch images and product descriptions from Amazon whenever possible.

Internet sales are all about volume. The margins aren't great so you need to sell a lot of stuff.

It took me about a year to learn to deal with the intricacies of selling on eBay. There's more to it than you'd think.

lurking

In reply to PubBurgers:

Bravo!

That's about a year's worth of education in a couple of posts.

Thank you.

As for finding something to sell here's how I play it. Type "Lego Tiger" into ebay. The most popular listing (Me!) has them priced at $5.69. If I was another seller looking to sell those i'd use this site:

http://www.feesnap.com/ebay.html

That'll ship for 3 oz, so $2.10 with an envelope and packing slip. Pop in $5.69 for the "buy it now" price. From there I'd enter my potential cost and see if the margin was worth it. When doing this you'll want to take note of how many they've sold. If they've sold a bunch, probably a good candidate. If they've only sold 1 or 2, maybe not. If you click on the number sold it shows the dates of the sales, make sure there are recent sales before diving in yourself.

Always overpack everything. USPS can be REALLY rough with packages.

Got a friend back east making a nice living selling on ebaY.

He buys/sells Lionel trains..... been doing it for about 15 years now

PubBurgers wrote: Always overpack everything. USPS can be REALLY rough with packages.

Don't sell commodity items. That's just a race to the bottom. Set yourself apart with unique items, or high quality, or some other usp.

Hard to do if you're not manufacturing or designing, but boy howdy does it make a difference if you can concentrate on merit instead of being 15 cents cheaper than the other guy.

Keith Tanner wrote: Don't sell commodity items. That's just a race to the bottom. Set yourself apart with unique items, or high quality, or some other usp. Hard to do if you're not manufacturing or designing, but boy howdy does it make a difference if you can concentrate on merit instead of being 15 cents cheaper than the other guy.

This is the truth. I have to concentrate on being 15 cents cheaper (in reality i try to be just 2 cents cheaper). It really is a race to the bottom, you've just got to move all your stock before it dips below profitability.

That said, there are a few staples that will always get you at least a little profit, then it's all about volume.

This thread is relevant to my interests. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Download the ebay app for your phone and answer messages immediately. You can prevent a lot of small issues from blowing up if you don't let people stew waiting for a reply.

Thanks for the info, PubBurgers! You confirmed some of the things I was thinking, fast shipping and communication are important. It's nearly impossible to find something that isn't already being sold so good service can make you stand out.

Do you have an LLC?

Do you think wholesale is worth it for $10 items? How about $50 items?

Reselling stuff found at stores confuses me a little. It's on clearance because no one wants it, right? Also, what do you sell when that's gone? (This is my supply chain training taking over.)

A little more background. When my wife (then fiancee) graduated college she was having a hard time finding a job in her field. The whole "Can't Get Hired Without Experience but Can't Get Experience Without A Job" trap. She took to selling stuff on ebay that we weren't using and eventually started to pick up stuff at thrift stores and yard sales to resell. Not a lot but she usually had around 40 to 50 items in her store. She would pack up whatever was paid for during the day and drop it off at the post office the next morning. Her good feedback and fast shipping helped her get more for some items than other sellers. Even with only putting in a few hours a week she was making nearly 50% of what I was some weeks. She eventually left it behind when she got hired and worked her way up. Fast forward a dozen years or so and we both want out of our current situations. We started thinking if we put as much time into our own thing as we do to our current jobs we could easily replace our salaries.

I have a side business building and selling gear—mostly low cost camera dollies—for indie filmmakers. It brings in a nice little income, and lets me dirty may hands a few hours a week with something other than cars, which is a nice distraction. A couple things I have learned in the four-ish years I've been doing it:

1. All my products are designed to fit into USPS Priority Flat Rate base. It standardizes shipping,and gives me a source of free boxes.

2. PayPal has its detractors, but for a guy like ne, the convenience far outweighs the negatives. The shipping functionality is AMAZING. Once click—done. Label printed and slapped on the box.

3. eBay was not a good source for me. I didn't like the double-dipping on fees (both eBay AND PayPal take a cut). But I definitely see that it has value.

4. At some point I'll sell through Amazon. But they have very high standards. Every product has to have a UPC (about $1000 to get your first one). If they offer the product with free shipping, it means they have to have a BUNCH of them on hand in their warehouse. I can't have that much inventory tied up at once. And if you ship the products as a third party they have rather rigorous standards you have to adhere to. No going on vacation and not being able to ship within a certain timeframe.

nervousdog wrote: Do you have an LLC? Do you think wholesale is worth it for $10 items? How about $50 items?

I do not have an LLC. For my big account I'm technically a commissioned employee for my old employer. I'm given complete autonomy for that. My small account is just ramping up. I'm not sure at what point I'll need to make things more official but I know I'll need to do a lot of research when it is time as I have zero experience with that kind of stuff.

My average sold price for an item is between $10 and $20. Since I do free shipping on virtually everything that price includes shipping. As to whether cheap stuff is worth it that's entirely up to you. In my world a $10 sale probably has a cost of $5 and a profit of 50 cents for stuff ordered through a distributor. Once again this is where volume comes in. Sell enough items at 50 cents profit and it eventually adds up. More expensive stuff can be tricky too as if one is lost or damaged and you eat the cost that negates profit on a lot of sales. For stuff I'm flipping a $10 sale has a profit of $1-$2. I don't fiddle with expensive stuff much as I don't like the risk.

Reselling is definitely tricky. Constant inventory is impossible. My sweet spot for reselling is about a 75% discount off MSRP (compared to a 50% discount through a distributor). Since demand has dropped off and it's clearanced I need that steep discount to be able to sell. When I do find something I go deep to help make up for a lack of constant supply. A store near me had Mechanix gloves at 75% off and I dropped something like $1500 on those. I got around 200 pairs of gloves for that price. If I find something good at one store I'll drive around and clean out every store in that chain in a 50 mile radius. I have favorite stores to check, I have a few websites to tell me what's on clearance, and I pound pavement searching for that next great deal. I also know the clearance schedules for a couple of my favorite places. For example, Target marks down electronics clearance items on Mondays, so if I see an item at 50% I'll check again after Monday to see if it's dropped any further.

It does suck that eBay and Paypal take fees separately. However, if you have an eBay store and are a Top Rated Seller eBay/Paypal fees come out to ~12% of your sale price. On Amazon it's 15%, plus an extra dollar if you don't have a professional selling account.

On the flip side, if you have a popular item and can get the buy box on Amazon you can sell out within hours. That doesn't happen on eBay. Amazon is a MUCH bigger and more popular market. Amazon works better for some people, just not for me.

I shy away from used stuff for now because there are too many variables for me. New items are easy to do descriptions for and it's harder for people to take issue with their condition.

The Post Office will pick up packages and drop off supplies to your house for free. It's a fantastic service.

PubBurgers wrote: On amazon automatic repricing software is an absolute necessity, on ebay not so much. Just be sure to check your competitions pricing on the regular and make sure you're not being undercut.

Also, beware of automatic repricing software scams. Some companies sell Amazon repricing software that reports back to a scammer what items are being used. The scammer then lists the same item on Amazon for way below cost and waits for the items to reprice themselves. At this point, the scammer buys all the items that have been repriced, sends the price back to normal, and sells the items at normal pricing. If you go that route, get the software from a reputable company, and be sure you can set a minimum price.

MadScientistMatt wrote:

PubBurgers wrote: On amazon automatic repricing software is an absolute necessity, on ebay not so much. Just be sure to check your competitions pricing on the regular and make sure you're not being undercut.

Also, beware of automatic repricing software scams. Some companies sell Amazon repricing software that reports back to a scammer what items are being used. The scammer then lists the same item on Amazon for way below cost and waits for the items to reprice themselves. At this point, the scammer buys all the items that have been repriced, sends the price back to normal, and sells the items at normal pricing. If you go that route, get the software from a reputable company, and be sure you can set a minimum price.

Also worth noting that even on legit repricing software you need to set ceiling and floor prices. You can also set it to ignore sellers with low feedback and such.

Do you have much trouble with USPS not delivering on time and it affecting your DSR? At my current company we ship 400-500 UPS packages per year and we had 3 loss/damage incidents in the past year. My wife ships things to her parents probably 8 times per year and it always takes USPS 5-7 business days to deliver Priority Mail boxes from the Chicago suburbs to the Detroit suburbs. I'm not talking about out in the boonies on a rural route, we drop off at the distribution point for our area and her parents live 20 minutes from downtown Detroit. We've gone to shipping things via UPS even though the cost is greater just to make sure it arrives in 2 days.