E-Mail 'Making a Living as a Reseller- Part 1, by BIF' To A Friend

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7 Comments

  1. Excellent series here. This is practical, realistic info that anyone can do to support his or her preparedness or homesteading lifestyle. I began selling on eBay in 2003. Between 2013-2016, I grossed over $106,000 selling items purchased from “Going-out-of-business” sales.

    I do recommend that sellers of used items, specifically used automotive, motorcycle, ATV, tractor parts, etc., engrave your items with a small, unique symbol and clearly photograph it and record it with eBay. I have had numerous cases where buyers would attempt to return their identical but defective part for a refund. I once sold a used 2-cycle ATV cylinder that was on the original bore and the buyer attempted to return their old cylinder that had already been bored out to the limit. Luckily, the customer service rep I spoke to at eBay was the daughter of a machine shop owner and knew exactly what I was describing. Solved the whole problem: “NO RETURNS”.

  2. I found some of my fil’s old quarter horse journals and cow magazines and I listed them for auction on eBay. I did pretty well. I then used the money to buy some silver. I was pretty proud of that swap. I love to find old things. I’m going to take down some old fencing for a lady and I’ll reuse it in various places on the farm. I may make some chicken tractors with some of it. I love being thrifty!

  3. I loved a certain manufacturers product especially the well made collector stuff. Problem was I loved it so much that after I bought it I didn’t want to resell it.

  4. Since moving to Montana, my income has suffered. I am a flat rate mechanic..no work no pay. Just not busy enough to get a whole paycheck. I used to sell classic car parts in Southern Ca. Swap meets, ebay, enthusiast forums, person to person. That was a very good income. mostly cash too. Up here I can do that some after work, and supplement my income or lack thereof. If I didn’t have this I would be in big financial trouble.

    Just look at the stuff you have sitting around…collections and stuff. Picture that as 100 dollar bills sitting all around you. DO YOU NEED THAT STUFF? That’s the question to ask yourself.

    I sell on Facebook yard sale, but have a friend put it on hers. I don’t have facebook. That has help move un needed appliances and items too big to ship.

    Last , if you do ebay or something where you are shipping, it’s getting expensive. So make sure you know how much it will be before you agree to a deal. A few times shipping cost me more than the item cost…meaning I lost money..

    Have fun

    1. Hi Ray, I have lost money a few times when shipping was more than I estimated, that’s what I like about how eBay works now. I always list with the buyer paying shipping. If you box up the item, measure and weigh it accurately, eBay will do a pretty good job of calculating and charging postage for you.

      I also buy shipping through eBay, and get a discount. You can add to your profit using the discount. Last year with some of the pre-Xmas specials from eBay, I sold an item that eBay calculated around $60 shipping for. When I bought the postage, I was only charged $24, giving me an extra $36 profit. This was a bit more than usual, but I usually make $1 to $2 profit with the postage discount.

  6. You can sell almost anything on eBay. My neighbor threw his remote at his 60″ flat screen tv because the batteries died, broke the screen. He threw the tv away so I asked him if I could have it. This week I made $75 off the main board and another $50 off the power supply board, took me 5 mins to pull the parts and post them for sale online, and maybe another 30 mins total to drive to the post office to ship. If you find a tv with a broke screen just take pictures and get the model of the tv, and the board number, post it as untested with a discounted price with no returns, if they buy it then they knew it was a gamble in the first place. You can sell known bad boards to, some people refurbish them and resell. There’s never a shortage of broken tvs around, these days.

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