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Geek Culture / Anyone have their own ebay business here?

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 5th Jan 2007 04:13
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I'm looking into different ways to make money for college and I thinking about running a small ebay business, or something close to it. Just buying and selling a bunch of stuff on ebay. Good idea?

Anyway, I'm looking to 'learn the ropes'. Anyone know any good books or advice?
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Michael S
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Posted: 5th Jan 2007 04:17 Edited at: 6th Jan 2007 01:37
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I don't have a business but I have a good book its called eBay Money Making Madne$$ by Lynn A. Dralle

If the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, how fast is dark?
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Robin
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Posted: 5th Jan 2007 11:35
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I've been looking into doing the same, also to fund my studies...

Don't know which way to go though. Seems I can buy some stock on wholesale (ie. from the wholesale pages on ebay) and then try reselling the stuff back on ebay, or I can go the dropshipping route, and sell another company's products. I like the concept of dropshipping, just havent found a decent supplier with items worthwhile advertising for sale. Would only be interested in computing peripherals etc. as I think this has the biggest market.

Can anyone recommend a decent supplier for either wholesale or dropshipping within the UK?

Also, I'm not quite sure about whether I need to register a company...I'm guessing if I use dropshipping I will need to do so, but if I just buy some items in bulk off ebay and resell them, then providing I don't make ridiculous amounts of money, registering a company won't be necessary...?

Robin

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 5th Jan 2007 21:50
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Glad to hear you got the same plan. As far as money goes for college I don't really have a whole lot to "mess up" with as far as stocks go. Stocks are risky. I'm thinking ebay might be a little risky too but how hard can that be? Thats more of 'your' doing than the market if you can't sell anything. There are variables there but you get the drift. I mean the concept "buy low sell high" still applies and the main goal is to just that on ebay: Buy something and then sell it higher. Can it be that hard? I wonder what some of the downfalls are...

Thanks for the book suggestion seven, i'll have to check that one out.
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 01:35 Edited at: 6th Jan 2007 01:36
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I'd recommend selling popular vehicle's racing addons and vanity items. I sell a few items a week, I'm by no means getting rich, but I make a few hundred dollars a month. If I had more money to invest at once, I would look into buying different kinds of car items, but for now I'm limited to 2. I can easily see people making eBay into a business at this point in time. If you find a good item, then you are set.

I dunno if you need any books to get into it. I didn't, someone hooked me up with a distribution license for a racing parts company. Ebay is easy enough to learn, and all you need to do is be competitive with other sellers with similar products. BTW, cheap shipping always seems to grab attention

Sometimes the only way over a wall is to pile up enough bodies to climb over - Dave W.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 03:53
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Cheap shipping, huh, I'll have to remember that.

Whats all this stuff about distribution licenses. Is there something different that buying someone's (for example) video card and then turning around and selling as your own again? What do you do, like sell FOR businesses?
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Gamedesign er20
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 04:32
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Do you already have an ebay account?, because before you can sell anything on ebay, you have to buy alot of stuff to get a decent feedback rating. Also, about the liscenses, I have never dealt with that type of stuff, but my aunt, selling on ebay has been her full-time job for years now. If you want, I can try asking her about that stuff.

Cocacola and Pepsi aren't that differnt. Deal with it.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 06:29
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I'm not to sure actually. I thought I made one a little while ago but I don't know. I haven't bought anything though. I've never heard of having to buy things to get your rating up. If you sell something and get a perfect rating your at 100% already. Your fighting your way up, it's just staying there. Kinda like grades in high school... at least I think
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 06:54
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Yeah, your feedback rating is whether or not people had an enjoyable experience selling to/buying from you. It's based on a percentage of positive and negative feedbacks. So you want to keep your rating as high as possible otherwise, you will have people wary of buying from you.

You can go to stores, pick up things on sale and resell them for full price, garbage picking, garage sales, or become a distributor for a manufacture or store or something. I'm not entirely sure how you go about doing it. Like I said, my friend hooked me up. He did all the work and just sent me some papers to sign so I could buy their items at wholesale cost and all that.

Sometimes the only way over a wall is to pile up enough bodies to climb over - Dave W.
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Dazzag
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 14:09
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I don't, but my friend is thinking of jacking in his programming job to do his Ebay thing full time. He basically knows a hell of a lot about computer games and goes to a lot of car boot sales. He then picks up a load of old games that he knows sell well on Ebay (RPG's mainly) and sells them on Ebay. Makes a decent profit most of the time. He has expanded to those board games now (eg. Warhammer) and makes a mint now and again. The other day he had like 5 or 6 board games that he bought together for about £10. He sold them on Ebay for about £20 each. If you know what you are looking for then you are sorted. Plus hope that the carbooters don't know anything about games.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
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Hobgoblin Lord
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 15:59
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Quote: "Do you already have an ebay account?, because before you can sell anything on ebay, you have to buy alot of stuff to get a decent feedback rating."


Good feedback is important, but many buyers look to make sure your feedback is from selling not buying. In fact tell tale mark of a scam artist seller is good feedback all from buying little items.

Build a good seller feedback buy using a verified paypal account, don't ask for money orders, cash etc start with paypal only it adds trust. Don't start out trying to sell rare items like vintage sports cards etc, start with some old dvd's, cd's etc.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=73324&b=8
My RPG WIP, check it out
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 16:33
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If you have a perfect feedback rating, it's a great thing to be able to advertise that as well. My mom's/my feedback score (we share the account) is 100% and we are close to 400 transactions. It's not hard to have a good score, just be considerate. Don't leave negative feedback for others if you can help it, as they may retaliate with negative feedback also.

Sometimes the only way over a wall is to pile up enough bodies to climb over - Dave W.
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Steve J
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Posted: 6th Jan 2007 23:39
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This actually works? Wow, I always thought it was make believe...

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 7th Jan 2007 15:56
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Yea, I understand the whole feedback thing now, thanks And yes I do intend on using paypal for everything. Especially since it covers stuff up to $1000.

@SteveJ: Lol, like the tooth fairy?
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Steve J
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Posted: 8th Jan 2007 03:05
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yes, I heard talk of it but..its ebay

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Phaelax
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Posted: 8th Jan 2007 03:40
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Quote: "Build a good seller feedback buy using a verified paypal account, don't ask for money orders, cash etc start with paypal only it adds trust."


I won't buy from anyone for any reason unless they accept Paypal.

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