Category Archives: eBay

Resell Kijiji and Craigslist items on eBay for a profit!

I’ve written about how you can find poorly listed eBay auctions with typos, buy cheap then resell at a higher price, again on eBay.

Today we’ll look at the more traditional method of buying in the real world, then listing the item for sale online.

Priced low enough, buying what you don’t want or need on Kijiji, Craigslist, at a flea market, or even garage sale may be the best purchase you can make! It will be that much easier to promptly list it on eBay and make a tidy profit for your trouble.

The trick here is the item must have enough potential for profit when you factor in your own time. You can estimate what the selling price will be with some quick research on eBay, which I will describe in further detail later.

Why it works

The bidding system on eBay is an economic marvel, as people will pay what an item is worth to them, and sometimes it’s vastly different than you’d expect. This is when the worlds of “real” versus perceived value collide.

If a product is rare or sold out everywhere, even the manufacturers are surprised and often disapproving of the sky-high prices their products sold for via auction. Perhaps they’re wishing they sold it on eBay themselves?

“That’s not what we want to see happen,” said a Sony exec when their limited edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4, styled after the original PS1, sold for thousands on eBay. One went for $20,100, while another had a final bid of $15,100. 12,300 individually numbered units were made. It originally retailed for $500.

How to research an item before buying

An important and too often overlooked step is research. Listening to your gut can bring you entirely off base, as your perception of an item’s value may fall outside the average. What you need is objective data to make an informed decision.

Every marketplace gets different results, so as you plan to sell on eBay you’ll need to know real world prices auctions have sold for in the past.

Let’s say you come across a stack of retro game cartridges at a garage sale and you spot The Secret of Mana, one of the most collectable SNES games.

To check the price it’s sold for in the past, visit eBay, type in the name of the item, then check “Sold listings” under “Show only” in the sidebar. You’re only interested in what an item actually sold for because there are too many folks trying to sell items for more than it’s worth and you can’t let this cloud your judgment. Prices may vary greatly depending on sheer timing, location of the item, and the quality of the listing. It never hurts to err on the side of pessimism so you’ll only take risks truly worth taking.

Instant karma

Some people are in a tough spot and need their items sold quickly or simply lack the patience or knowledge to sell items for the highest price possible. In many cases you can offer Kijiji or Craigslist sellers a fair price and still make cash on the resale of an item, so if possible try to make every deal win-win for everyone involved for extra karma points.

eBay no longer fun? Try using some auction tools

Yesterday, an article written by Keith Rabois was posted on seekingalpha, slamming eBay for not being fun anymore. “Where Did All the Fun Go?”, the headline asks.

Most often, people blame eBay’s decay on factors like the weakening economy, the rise of Amazon, as well as eBay’s own inefficient search functionality. But the real and simple reason is eBay is no longer fun. Over the years, it has lost online ground and eyeballs to pure entertainment destinations such as YouTube and social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

To help push this argument home, various traffic research graphs illustrate how eBay’s traffic has slowed down (see the most recent example below, comparing 2007 and 2008). While the internet as a whole grew, eBay shrunk.

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In the first quarter of 2004, almost 50 percent of the entire U.S. Internet population visited eBay every month. By 2008, eBay’s visitors accounted for only 1.5 percent of total minutes spent online.

Still, I fail to see how less traffic necessarily means online auctions are not as fun as they used to be to the average person.

In a similar (and more convincing) article, Scot Wingo blames online classified sites such as kijiji or craigslist for eBay’s dwindling popularity.

pew-classified-adsNewspapers were losing classified revenue to eBay hand over fist in 2000/2001, as eBay gave people a much easier way to sell their items. The Pew Internet Project released a report, showing that classified sites (mainly craigslist), have doubled in usage between 2005-2009.

Was it just social networking and free online classified ads that led to the decline or is there more to this?

Has eBay become just another dull shopping site?

Perhaps eBay was more fun in 2000 because it was relatively new. For many at the time, buying online was a fascinating new possibility and the fact it was an online auction made it more exciting.

One user commented that sniping tools have taken the fun away. “You are battling a competitor you’ve fought a number of times before–and someone comes in 5 seconds before the end of the auction with a computerized snipe taking it away from both of you.”

Sure it sucks being sniped when you lose. But how about when you win? For web savvy surfers sniping tools are great since they allow you to set the maximum bid and forget about it. One reason eBay isn’t getting as much traffic, is because snipers don’t have to keep visiting the auction, refreshing their browser and staring at a clock.

Less time on eBay might simply mean surfers have become more efficient with the use of numerous online tools. In my eyes, the tools make eBay a more exciting place to visit all over again.

Find Hidden Deals on eBay now!