The new Merch by Amazon program has taken the ecommerce world by storm… (haven’t heard of Merch by Amazon? Click here to watch my introduction to Merch by Amazon, then come back here to read about an exciting development) It seems like everyone who hears about it gets extremely excited about putting up some …
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Storage auctions have been a huge hit on TV lately. (with the A&E show, Storage Wars racking up over 3.8 million viewers. And now there are two more TV shows about Storage Unit Auctions – Auction Hunters and Storage Hunters.)
But as much fun as it seems (and it is!) to bid on and buy a storage unit, you’ve got to understand that, in order to do it right, you have to be prepared to sell a mass amount of “stuff” – stuff of all kinds!
Now, in the old days, the storage auction buyer was limited because (unless they owned a store) they could only take the stuff to a swap meet or conduct a yard sale in their front yard.
But today, with eBay, Amazon and Craigslist, the opportunities to mass-sell items have never been better!
So, allow me to list some of the steps I would take if I wanted to really build this side of my eBay business to a high level.
(I believe you will find these steps to be instructive – whether you decide to follow them or not)
You see, when the work of finding a never-ending supply of products to sell is not a challenge anymore, it is then very easy to duplicate yourself by training a college student to do the listing and shipping for you!
The idea here is that I will now be able to do the “easy” and “fun” part of the Storage Auction resale business and will have someone else do the listings and shipping!
If you have ever purchased a Storage Unit, then you know how much fun it can be.
First, you have the adrenaline rush of bidding on and winning the contents of the Storage Unit, usually in a live auction conducted by a licensed auctioneer.
Then, once you win the auction and the contents of the unit are all yours, you now have the incredible fun of searching the unit to see what types of goodies are in there!
You will find things that are obvious money-makers, right off the bat.
Then, you will also find things that appeal to you and items you want but have never purchased.
You will also find more common, household items that will still sell on eBay at decent amounts and then, of course, you may also find a percentage of the stuff that you will just have to donate to Goodwill or throw away.
(This is the fun part for me, searching through a roomful of goodies and sifting the money makers from the rest of the stuff.)
It is such an interesting and exciting part of the business – I hope you can get a taste of it for yourself!
Hold Everything!
In any case, here’s an important point I want to make…
I only give you my example of how I will tackle the storage auction business as a way to help you think about the potential of this business model!
It is important for you to see how YOU can implement this business model as a beginner and not get turned off by how a seasoned eBay seller is doing it.
The awesome thing about Storage Unit Auctions is that you can play the game at whatever level you wish!
You can buy smaller storage units for between $5 and $100 and turn that investment into more money, thus building your “investment kitty” up with consecutive purchases. (and growing your business little by little!)
For example, one of the storage units I bought was a small unit that I paid $125 for.
In that unit, I found vinyl records, (in that group there was one rare one which sold for $125) wheels for a BMW, vintage Credit Cards (also collectible) and more. I ended up selling the contents for $625. So, you really can start off with just a little over 100 bucks!
If you do not have a place to store the stuff that you buy, often you can just rent the same storage unit directly from the Storage company, right on the spot and this way you do not have to move any of the items – in many cases, you could literally sell some of the larger items directly from the Storage Unit! (check with your storage facility to see if they allow this – not all do)
Don’t have the resources to hire someone? How about hiring an intern?
Many young people will work for the experience and the ability to put that work experience on a resume. It’s a great way for them to get started in life and to build up their resume!
You could also hire a high school or college student on a commission basis – in this case, they would get a percentage of everything they sell on eBay for you!
You can try a 20%, 30% or even 40% commission, depending on how generous you feel.
In this way, you only pay that person when an item actually sells and when you actually receive the money, so the money you pay comes straight out of the profits you make!
There are a lot of ways to approach this business and most of them do not cost money to do so.
I just want to encourage you to try this approach.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, (I know, I know, I’m always talking about Storage Auctions) I only recommend this source as my favorite source because I know it has the greatest potential of all the approaches that I’ve personally tried.
If you’d like to learn more about Storage Auctions, you should definitely check out my new video course.
It’s called “Insider Secrets To Making Money With Storage Auctions” and you can find it by clicking here.
There is a whole world of wholesale lots being sold on eBay right now.
Here is a link to all the main categories on eBay.
http://shop.ebay.com/allcategories/all-categories
You’ll notice that at the end of each list of categories, there is usually a “Wholesale Lots” category.
This is where you can begin your research into profitable lots on eBay.
But before you buy, make sure you do your pre-sale pricing research.
You’ll want to check “Completed Listings” to find out what these items have actually sold for in recent weeks on eBay.
By doing this pre-sale research, you will be able to make a sound buying decision and protect yourself from doing a bad or unprofitable deal.
Take your time, do some calculating, and be sure you can make money on the wholesale lot before you buy the lot!
I’m not ashamed to admit that, in my early days, I got stuck with my share of “duds” – buying small lots of collectibles at a swap meet or yard sale, only to find out later that the items wouldn’t sell for very much on eBay.
Don’t let this happen to you – when you are buying wholesale lots on eBay, you have the benefit of being able to research the items being sold AHEAD OF TIME and really KNOW that you will be making money before you buy.
Remember, you make your money when you buy – so buy right in order to sell right! It’s great, buying when you know that you will make money!
A creative way to use Craigslist to make money is to simply act as a broker, or a middleman in a transaction.
Every day there are people looking for particular products on Craigslist.
In fact, these people are often advertising under the “for sale / wanted” category of Craigslist.
Now, this might sound really strange, but did you know that, every day there are people selling that exact same product on Craigslist?
(Sometimes they’re actually giving away that product on craigslist in the “free” category)
By acting as a broker or a middleman, you can earn finders fees, commissions, or participate in the deal in some other way. This is really only limited by your imagination.
A great way to find those products is to use the ad notification system that I teach you about in my new video training: “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash”.
By simply setting up your system to notify you of these products that people are searching for in the “wanted” section of craigslist, you can very easily build an automatic income stream.
As soon as that item pops up on Craigslist, you will be there first, and you can contact the person who is looking for it (in the wanted section) and let them know about it in exchange for a commission.
The other way to do it, is to actually go buy that product, and then resell it to the person as well.
Recently, I have been using Escrow.com to buy collections of vintage Hot Wheels. You can also use Escrow.com to “tie up” that item and that way the seller is committed to selling it to you BEFORE you go ahead and contact the eventual buyer for this item.
Taking this to a bigger level, you can use this in real estate to help agents find “for sale by owner” properties.
Or you can help a boat dealer acquire a customer who’s trying to sell his or her boat.
The number of ways to make money with craigslist is almost limitless because of the sheer number of categories that exist on craigslist.
I recommend that you check out my eBay and craigslist video training if you want to learn how to make GREAT MONEY on Craigslist!
You can do it! You just need to know how and I will teach you how! Visit: www.DaveEspinoFastCash.com to learn how to make fast cash on eBay and Craigslist.
One of my product sources / suppliers sells “As Seen On TV” products.
This is a great product to sell on craigslist, because of the huge TV exposure that these products get. Recently, I’ve been selling fitness and weight loss products on craigslist.
Because of the huge amount of TV exposure these products get, I’ve been doing great with these types of products.
Many people see a product on TV, and then go straight to craigslist or eBay to try and find that product at a cheaper price
If you’re able to find a source of products that are sold via TV commercials or even infomercials, you may have a little gold mine on your hands.
That’s because these are the types of products that craigslist buyers are looking for on a daily basis, and if you run a listing for that type of product – a good professional-looking listing – you’re bound to make a large number of sales.
And, as you know, craigslist sales are great because people come to you and they pay you in cash – so there’s no shipping involved!
So here’s today’s Craigslist Tip:
“Finding suppliers of TV-promoted products (or other extremely popular products) is a great way to sell items on craigslist because these are exactly the type of products people are looking for on craigslist”
So do some research on products that would sell well in your local area craigslist.
You may even find that you can buy wholesale lots on eBay and sell them on craigslist for more money!
In fact, I devote an entire section of my new video training course to making money with Craigslist.
Visit: www.DaveEspinoFastCash.com to see how you can make some great, profitable, quick-flip deals on Craigslist!
This month’s eBay tip comes from my experience as an eBay seller for over 12 years.
Here’s the tip:
“Be sure to develop multiple product sources, and therefore multiple streams of income on eBay. You never know when one supplier will run out of merchandise and it’s always best to have several options that you can tap into in your eBay business”
I remember once (early in my eBay business) when I was relying on one supplier for all of my products.
I was doing great and selling about $8,000 a month of this one product, when all of a sudden my supplier told me they had run out of inventory and they wouldn’t have new inventory until three weeks later.
Well, this affected my eBay business pretty dramatically back then because my cash flow suddenly stopped, and I couldn’t replenish or continue to ramp up my eBay sales.
It was then that I learned (the hard way) that I should maintain multiple product suppliers, and therefore multiple streams of income on eBay.
It’s what I recommend you do, by digging into my new video training (“How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash”) and finding multiple product sources that excite you and that you can make money with.
Not only will you not have any unexpected surprises, but you will build a more solid and stable eBay business as a result!
According to a study released about a year ago, by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, half of all adults who use the Internet in the U.S. now rely on classified ad sites such as craigslist.
The same study said that use of classified ad sites has increased faster than almost every other online activity, including online banking, travel booking, and shopping on ecommerce sites like Amazon.com.
Since craigslist gets about 93% of all traffic to classified ad sites (with about 46.5 million visitors, according to ComScore)
Some more interesting statistics in this study are that classified ad sites are generally used by a younger demographic, typically between ages 18 and 49, with most users being college graduates with an annual income above $50,000.
Many reporters covering this study have stated that craigslist appears to be enjoying a level of popularity that eBay did during its growth years; and I would tend to agree. (I often call craigslist®: “eBay’s little brother”!)
So here’s my latest Craigslist success tip:
“Even though eBay is the well-established 900 pound gorilla in the e-commerce world, don’t ignore craigslist as an excellent source of low cost products to resell”
Just as I teach you in “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash” video training, I currently have a variety of different ads on craigslist.
One of the products that I advertise for is a health-related product that people with this health issue have many extra boxes of.
I’ve been able to buy dozens of these boxes for as little as $5 to $10 each using my craigslist ad, and sell them on eBay for as much as $25 each. (for a 150% to 400% profit!)
Recently, I purchased a collectible skateboard from one of my craigslist ads. This skateboard was actually used in a recent movie and was collectible both as a movie prop, and as a piece of skateboarding history.
I bought the skateboard for $125 on craigslist and sold it for $250 on eBay!
I could go on and on with examples of how I’ve successfully used craigslist to buy products low and turn around and sell them for much more on eBay. And remember, this is just one of the craigslist techniques that I teach in “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash”!
So my goal is to encourage you to use the techniques and strategies that have taken me years to discover and develop so that you too could make all the money you need to take care of yourself, your family and your friends!
Get all the details about “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash” – Click here.
In today’s eBay tip I have had some personal experiences recently with successfully selling factory-sealed software CDs.
Here’s the tip:
“When launching a new product on eBay, be sure to test different prices, selling formats and listing upgrades to determine the best possible price, format and options to use”
As you may already know from checking out my “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash” video training, my main business on eBay involves selling vintage Hot Wheels cars and related accessories.
But recently, I decided to test a new product on eBay. I found this product wholesale, using the same exact product sourcing techniques I teach in my system!
Initially, I did my presale research to determine how the top sellers in this particular niche were doing to get great prices for their software. I then listed this new software product, using a variety of different listing formats, because I wanted to find out for myself what the best format was for this particular product. (I tested an auction listing, a fixed-price listing, an eBay Stores listing and even an eBay Classified Ad listing)
In the process of testing this new product on eBay, I also tried a variety of different listing upgrades, such as Border, Gallery Plus, Featured Plus and Featured First. (Note: as of 6-21-11, some of these upgrades no longer exist)
What I discovered (at least for this particular product) was that a “Good ‘Til Canceled” fixed-price listing using the Featured First and Gallery Plus listing upgrades was clearly the best of all worlds, generating eight sales in two days!
Prior to this, utilizing only a fixed-price listing and perhaps a Featured Plus listing upgrade, I was generating about one sale a day. So this is a vast improvement over that!
I would’ve never known about this massive improvement, had I not tested several different selling formats, and several different listing upgrades…
It’s really exciting to see sale after sale pop into my email (and my PayPal account!) over a two-day period.
I believe one of the differences between an average eBay seller and a high-level eBay Powerseller is that the high-level Powerseller is willing to test and experiment with their marketing to improve their results.
They don’t just leave well enough alone and list their items on eBay like everyone else, they are constantly striving to improve the speed of their sales, as well as the profitability of their sales.
So when you find a new product that’s a winner for you, be sure to list it in a variety of ways – using different formats and different listing upgrades. Keep track of which is which, by using the “Notes” feature in your My eBay page. (Your My eBay page allows you to place a note below each active listing.
By indicating in your note the type of listing upgrade or the type of marketing technique that you are using for that particular listing, you can easily track which marketing technique is performing best with a simple glance at your My eBay page.
I sold over $5,000 worth of this name-brand software on eBay in the first 30 days of discovering it, (and I’ve sold tens of thousands worth in the months after discovering it!) so I guess you could say I’ve found a winner. (and, an excellent new income stream on top of my already profitable eBay businesses!)
Once I found a profitable product and a successful eBay marketing technique, my next step was to ramp up the sales of this new product by increasing the number of listings, maximizing the sales on eBay and then looking to other marketplaces to increase sales yet again.
Let me take this moment to encourage you to order my “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash” eBay video training system. I’ve jammed it with a wealth of real-world knowledge and experience and if you really absorb it and take consistent action, I know you can make money! There’s a 100% money back guarantee on it, so you really can’t lose! Let me take the risk – order “How To eBay Your Way To Fast Cash” today!
