My neighbor tried that. Lots of the products were inferior. She sold mainly to friends and family and they complained about the quality of the products and the condition they were in when received.
I’m in real estate. Need I say more? Looking for legit home based business also.
Looking for something here too.
ping
Any business that requires that a person use their friends as customers renders that person friendless
Many people make a living on eBay and I believe there’s room for plenty more to do so. I do NOT, however, believe that the drop-ship route is a good one. Cheap crap and everybody and their brother is doing it. There are several ways to sell stuff online that might work for you:
1. eBay — Develop a discerning eye for what sells well, and work yard sales, flea markets, pawn shops, Craigslist, classifieds, etc., to find those items at a price that allows you to sell at a nice profit. Offer to put the pawn shops’ choice items on eBay for them, you handle all the hassle and take a cut.
2. Take the last sentence of the above scenario and take it to the next level. Start a business that puts other people’s items on eBay, sells them, ships them, etc. for a cut. There are quite a few of these around, but you could take it to the next level AND avoid the expense of a retail location, by offering to make “house calls” and “store calls” to pick up the items.
3. There are plenty of niche areas in which I believe you can create a successful online retail store right now. This will require a more substantial investment IMO, a truly professional website, inventory, etc.
There are some thoughts. Hope they help.
MM
I sell some items on ebay, but hadn’t for a few months, until this morning. Frankly, I find their new format difficult.
Pay Pal is the only choice sellers are given as a payment option. that adds 4 or 5% on to the transaction fee. Shipping has to be stated as a fixed amount now, no variables allowed for actual distances reflecting actual shipping costs.
Also I prefer shipping Fed Ex because their terminal is convenient for me, but no, cannot offer Fed Ex.
I need to find another site. Ebay has become too restrictive, costly, and not user friendly.
My brother in law has tried some of those home marketing sites. Mostly junk. Things we really can do without. Especially with the economy a big question. All made in China. Good luck.
Right now there is money in recycling. It may be a short time solution but one of my neighbors is picking up newpaper and cans and metals from folks in the area and hauling it to the various recycling plants. I do not know a great deal about it but I asked if I could give them a little $ to help out with Christmas coming up, but they said they were doing pretty well right now.
YIKES: Hit preview and post was longer then I expected. Sorry in advance.
I tried the drop shipping thing last year. Didn’t sell nothing and lost money on the drop ship company fees and ebay auction listings.
YMMV of course, but here are three main points that I have learned when I tried. Don’t want to talk you out of it, but just some things you should be aware of.
Part of the problem with Ebay and drop shippers is that you are up against the power sellers if you are just starting. You’re listings will show you’ve sold very little while the power sellers have sold multitudes of items. People generally go to the long time sellers not trusting the others because of fraud.
In order to compete you have to undersell, which on many items you can’t because you don’t get the deals they do or you are limited to the manufacturers lowest advertised price. There really isn’t much you can add on an auction to boost value without also boosting your or the customer’s cost.
Other thing...DON’T do electronics (phones, computers, games etc) everyone and their dog does electronics and unless you’ve got a fast track on a super product that nobody else has your selling at a loss or not selling at all.
Friend of mine has made money though by buying storage auctions. When someone doesn’t pay their rent on storage sheds the owners lock em up and auction the inside sight unseen. Problem with that is it is a gamble and one I’m not willing to take.
Friend says sometimes he buys an empty space for $300 but other times he scores big, like about $20,000 to $30,000 in misc industrial quality tools for $100 (that was his biggest score).
There is still a LOT of money to be made out there, it’s just a matter of finding your niche and honestly this is one industry where luck does play a part in your success.
bttt
If you can type well start doing transcription from home.
The forum for work at home moms (and others) has quite a few leads on jobs available for working from home. They also have lists of the shady companies to avoid.
You can find jobs in the “job listings” area posted by companies, but also find many others posted on the message boards.