9 FREE Ways to Source Inventory to Sell on eBay or Amazon

NOTE: This blog has moved to: http://www.HonestOnlineSelling.com

"I think that all the great adventures can be written on the back of a beer soaked napkin"

- David Lee Roth

Online sellers:

Click on this, then print it out and keep it handy.

Sometimes I marvel at how simple things are, yet we're afraid to try them because they seem too simple. (We're trained to think that becoming successful at selling online requires deep complexity, aren't we?)

But really, the fundamentals are simple: Learn what sells well online, source the crap out of it, and sell it, again and again.

I have a handful of my favorite niche-hot, out-of-production toys that I source locally (for $10 or less ea.) and sell (and  repeat again and again) for 125- 175%+ ROI (Return on Investment).

Because my eBay/Amazon listing stays the same, I just keep replenishing my inventory, and relisting the item.

Now I'm giving you the same method I use. All you have to do is think of one of your favorite things to sell online (particularly something rare, used, or out of production):

- Maybe it's a VHS copy of a rare film

- Maybe it's an older appliance that still sells like gangbusters on eBay

- Maybe it's an out-of-production Spiderman action figure.

- Maybe it's various broken iPhones that eBay buyers demand for parts

So whatever your 'favorite item to sell is' use my ideas (in the diagram above) to "source the crap out of it."

Good luck and keep me posted,

-Jordan



Why Selling on eBay Still Matters

NOTE: This blog has moved to: http://www.HonestOnlineSelling.com

I know many sellers have left eBay in droves, to sell on Amazon. I'm a big proponent of selling on Amazon too.  But I am finding eBay, as I always said, fills in an important niche for me.

See, Amazon sellers are restricted from selling pre-owned clothing and apparel. But they can on eBay.

You can't sell vintage or one-off items on Amazon (well you can but it's a difficult process and no one's really looking for that stuff on Amazon anyway). But you can on eBay.

Fact is, eBay has a HUGE audience, credit card in hand, looking for that stuff. I am going to give you 3 examples of my own sales to prove it.


1.) Used Coach Sunglass Pouch. I paid $10 at an estate sale, my wife used it for a few years, and then we sold it on eBay (within hours of listing it) for a Buy-It-Now price of $55 (Profit: ~$35). Apparently they are in hot demand.

2.) Used Tumi Duffle Bag. I paid $25 at a yard sale, used it for a few months, and then I sold it on eBay for an auction price of $98 (Profit: ~$50) 'New' Tumi duffles are $300 and up.

3.) Used Size 13 Skechers shoes. I paid $21 total at a yard sale, put them on eBay, and sold the lot for $78.77 on auction (Profit: ~$40. I didn't know folks would buy used shoes at that price but I suspect size 13 is hard to find (?).

So keep your eyes peeled for those items at your local yard sales, estate sales, garage sales, etc.

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Amazon Begs Sellers, Part Three: 1,913 Baby Items Wanted

NOTE: This blog has moved to: http://www.HonestOnlineSelling.com

Some/all Amazon FBA Sellers (including myself) got the below email from Amazon this week. This is a gold mine of information - Amazon is essentially giving you the exact information about 1,913 HOT HOT HOT Baby Items that they are running low on. Read more below. 


Why is this information a 'gold mine'?  Because these items have extremely good sales ranks AND they are in short supply in Amazon, you (as an Amazon seller) can essentially 'name your price' (within reason) if you are able to source any of these. (Good-bestseller-ranked items in short supply mean that customer Demand is far outpacing Supply. Pure 'economics' lets you raise the price of an item in short supply, that is in high demand. That's just the nature of efficient markets). 

How can you find some of these 1,913+ Baby Items? Some are impossible to find, of course, but you can do a search on TheFind.com (which searches multiple online stores).

Amazon's email to sellers is below:


Dear FBA Seller,

Thank you for selling on Amazon.com with our Fulfillment by Amazon service (FBA).
Right now, there are Baby products that have high customer demand but that aren't being fulfilled by Amazon (but may be in the future). If you have any of these products or can get them, you might want to list them on Amazon.com and fulfill them using FBA.  Note that, at this time, we are looking for products in new condition only.   

We know that customers love buying items with FBA benefits, such as FREE Super Saver Shipping, Amazon Prime, and Guaranteed Accelerated Delivery, so this is a great time to consider testing a small quantity of these items in FBA.

See the list of 1,913 products here:  (Link will expire in 14 days)

Thank you again for selling on Amazon.com.

Sincerely,
Amazon Selling Coach

When 'FREE' Really Sucks

NOTE: This blog has moved to: http://www.HonestOnlineSelling.com

eBay and Amazon sellers: Some 'free' online help may be hazardous to your health.

Let me explain:

Members of my other site (FBAFinds) pay up to $29.99/month (FBAFinds is the site that tells you 'What to Sell on Amazon and Where To Find it').

So FBAFinds is an 'exclusive' resource and forum: a capped pool of Amazon sellers with access to our mined information. (Remember, it costs me money and time to cull and analyze said information, so that's why I charge a fee. This is a business, after all).

But a handful of online sellers have thrown some pot shots, stating they are appalled that I'm not 'giving the information away (for free!)' (That's actually counter-productive, isn't it? If I gave away FBAFinds' daily list of 'what to sell on Amazon and where to find it' for free, EVERY seller would have access to the list - and thus the marketplace would become truly flooded with those 'finds', driving down the price. BTW, I also keep a cap on the # of FBAFinds subscribers.)

So I charge a modest price (less than a cup of coffee per day)' for my "friendliest online forum", as Debra Conrad puts it, and that does a MIRACULOUS thing:

It (somehow) keeps out the destructive, hurtful Amazon and eBay 'experts'.

I'll explain further.

If you're a member of any of these three free online help forums, you've probably bumped into some profoundly destructive and antagonistic Amazon sellers:

> ToySellersFBA : ToySellers FBA - Yahoo!
> Yahoo Group's FBAForum
and yes, even
Amazon.com's official seller help forum.

I've had several sellers write to me, aghast that they ask a simple question about how to sell online (on those forums), and they get immediately cast off, degraded, or subjected to a bombadment smart-aleck answers.

Participants in those free forums have been repeatedly subject to overwhelming negativity from folks who spend more energy and time bashing each other than actually helping sellers (or spending the same energy to...gasp...actually manage their selling business).

I'm not saying those forums can't help you. Yes, they're free. But free forums tend to (not always, but many times) attract the worst of the bunch. I proved that here and here.

On the other hand, paid forums - in my experience - have nary a negative tirade. There's likely some psychology/sociology-based correlation between a paid forum and the level of professional hospitaltiy, no?

Witness (and I don't get paid for referring you to these):

> MySilentTeam.com (forums with expert advice and content for selling just about anything online (Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, etc.) (I'm a member)
and
> Treasure Hunters' Cove (eBay and now Amazon selling experts) (I'm also member)

An 'investment' in either of those forums costs far less than a cup of coffee per day, but the level of help and positive encouragement is priceless. Negativity is almost non-existent.

Do you have a similar or opposite experience with any online help forum (paid or free)? Sound off by clicking 'Comments' below.