Dolce and Gabbana Jacket - eBay Seller Success Story

Dana sent in her success story:


I purchased this Dolce & Gabbana Women's Jacket for $5.99 at a Goodwill Store. I started the 10-Day Auction on a Thursday night at $74.99 with a BIN of $99.99. It sold on the first Saturday for BIN! Wonder if I should have priced it higher?

Here is Dana's listing:



Wow, $99 for a used jacket from Goodwill! Congratulations, great sale. You can visit Dana's Little Bit of Everything store here on eBay and take a peek at her other great finds.

Do you have a success story to share? Send it to me at ebaycoach @ yahoo and you can be featured here, too. Also visit my eBay seller's Facebook group where nearly 2,000 sellers discuss their finds and other aspects of eBay selling.



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Selling Cell Phones on eBay - A Good or Bad Idea?

I received this email today from a reader:

I am interested in selling cell phones on eBay and wondered if you could give me some tips on getting started. Where do I get them for cheap enough to resell and what kind should I sell?

My question back was, "Why do you want to sell cell phones?"

The reader's answer, "Someone said they are a good seller and they sell for a lot of money so that seems like a good thing to sell."

I receive this question quite frequently about cell phones. Here are some things to consider.

1. Do a completed listing search on eBay and you will see over 422,000+ results for cell phone - in the cell phone category, not including accessories. Here is a screen shot:



Terapeak also identified 10,280 sellers offering "cell phones." Why would you want to sell something with that much competition?

2. Do a search for "cell phone" on Terapeak in the cell phone & pda category, excluding accessories. The sell through rate is only 35.65%. Here is the screen shot from Terapeak:



Why would you take a risk of selling a product with only a 35% chance of selling it?

And my point is...

STAY OUT OF HEAVILY SATURATED CATEGORIES AND FOCUS ON A NICHE WITH LITTLE OR NO COMPETITION.

(And don't listen to what other people say, do the research yourself!)

Most new sellers gravitate towards the hot products they see on TV, technical gadgets, or expensive items. Final selling price is NOT the same as profit. Just because an item sells for $600 does not mean the seller is making a huge profit, you have no idea what he paid to acquire the item. He may only be making $10 profit per sale.

There is much money to be made in less glamorous categories. Remember, the definition of a niche is a product for which there is a demand by a small segment of the market and little or no competition.

For example, martial arts uniforms have a sell through rate of 57.68%, 293 listings in the last 30 days, and only 100 sellers offering them:



So what if martial arts uniforms aren't a fun gadget - people need them and will pay for them. They are easy and cheap to ship (not fragile or breakable) and they never expire. The next step in the process would be to find a source for this product, such as a wholesaler or ordering direct from a manufacturer.

Use the Terapeak niche finder to uncover items like this. It is much easier to sell a product when you don't have much competition.

Click here for a list of 395 eBay friendly wholesalers along with 5 important facts for choosing profitable wholesale products to sell on eBay.

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eBay Niche Product Finder

A cool way to discover niche products to sell on eBay:




1. Go to Terapeak.
2. Select CATEGORY
3. Drill down to subcategories to find niche products
4. Look locally for these products - you may have access to something other people don't

Click here to get Terapeak

Click here to get "10 Niche Markets on eBay"

Click here for a list of 395 eBay friendly wholesalers along with 5 important facts for choosing profitable wholesale products to sell on eBay.

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Collectible Christmas Ornaments are Hot Sellers on eBay

Today's post is contributed by one of my clients, Pam, who has special knowledge of Hallmark collectible Christmas ornaments.

For Hallmark ornament collectors like myself, Christmas starts in July during Hallmark's Ornament Premier Event (it was July 10-12). This year, Hallmark had 4 different designs of "Register to Win" ornaments. They could not be purchased; the only way to get one is if they drew your name. I was lucky enough to win one and it just sold on eBay for $140! If you search "Register to Win" you will see that they are selling very well.

There are many other Hallmark collectible Christmas ornaments that are big sellers and I thought you might want to clue in your readers in case they're unaware of what they might have stored away in their Christmas decorations! Off the top of my head, here are a few of the good sellers:

1) Beauty of Birds series - if you have the 1st one in this series, it is going for $200+



2) Hallmark ornaments sold only at the San Diego Comic Con Convention (SDCC)- especially the Star Wars ornaments.




3) Not exactly sure of what specific ornaments, but anything Star Wars, Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind - if you have any of these, it's worth looking into on eBay. (And Terapeak!)




4) 2004 Christmas Cookies ornament (it looks like a stove) - very hard to find, even on eBay (and it's one I want!) - goes for $80 on the low end - $150 on the high end.




5) 2009 Seasons Treatings (a small cookie sheet with cookies on it and 1st in the series) - selling at around $80+

6) Frosty Friends series - this series has been ongoing since the early 1980's. If you have the first in this series - you probably want to sell it!




7) Hallmark collectible Christmas ornaments - "repaints", "limited quantity", "special edition".


8) Hallmark also sells recordable books. Last year, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" sold out very quickly and was selling on eBay for around $60.

Just a few ideas! Unfortunately, I tend to hang onto my ornaments, much to my hubby's dismay! I have some of the "hot" ones but can't bear to part with them!One more thing... Hallmark ornament collectors are very picky about the ornament box as well. No rips, tears, creases, etc. and do not remove the price tab! :)

Those are just a few off the top of my head; I'm sure there are many more!

Thanks, Pam, this is great information. If you have a guest post you would like to share, send it to me at ebaycoach @ yahoo for consideration.

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Video Tutorial - Edit eBay Listings in Bulk

eBay has integrated a new functionality that allows sellers to bulk edit many parts of the listing including the title, quantity, and condition. The tool looks like a spreadsheet and is very easy to use.

Bulk editing is one of the challenges that eBay is now trying to address to make life easier for sellers! Click the image above to watch the short video tutorial so that you can use this feature and save loads of time the next time you have to change something on your listings.

For more eBay tutorials, check out my videos on YouTube.

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Collectible McCoy Cookie Jar Sells for $241 on eBay

Dawn sent in her success story:

We bought this cookie jar for $2 at a church yard sale. We really had no idea what we had. Just knew McCoy Pottery was good. Here is the completed listing:



Dawn's price = $2
eBay selling price = $241.39
Profit before fees = $239.39

Outstanding! Those are the kind of sales we all hope for. Thanks for sharing, Dawn.

If you have a success story to share, send it in to me at eBaycoach @ yahoo.

For a FREE list of more items like this, click here for my list of thrift store finds to sell on eBay.

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Selling Vintage Typewriters on eBay

Today's post is by my friend and fellow seller, Lori McAulliffe, eBay ID – rocketcitysales.

After reading Suzanne’s post about others finding and selling old manual typewriters making a nice profit, my husband began looking for old typewriters out on his visits to Auctions, Thrift Stores and the like. Well I can finally report he stumbled across an old typewriter at a local thrift store this past Tuesday (July 13, 2010). The typewriter was marked $20 he talked them down to $15. This particular model came with the case and key to lock the case. The typewriter and case had been very well kept and clean for its age. Once he brought it home, I immediately began the process of researching Royal Quiet Deluxe Typewriters. What I discovered was very exciting.

Using Terapeak research, I discovered this model would sell for an average of $50 on eBay, plus I learned for the same model that came in colors (pink, red, blue and white) these can sell for upwards to $300 and more depending on the color. That made for great information to keep on file when out searching for other typewriter finds. Upon completing my research in Terapeak, I began formulating a Keyword title and description in TurboLister.

I soon discovered that this item is searched for by DeLuxe and De Luxe, so I was sure to include both spellings in my listing title. I also discovered that the word Manual was an important keyword to include. I would have thought the word vintage was a good keyword, but soon discovered this word did not improve searchability or increase views. The auction listing description I created included a self story as well as accurate information about the item and links to detailed information about buying typewriter ribbons and other manual typewriter sites. I also found an instruction manual for this typewriter posted on the web in a PDF file that I could print and include with my Typewriter since it did not come with the original manual. Here are links to some websites about Typewriters I located:


My Typewriter.com

The Classic Typewriter Page

Your Royal Portable

Next step was taking detailed pictures to show off the condition of this typewriter, plus actually typing on a piece of paper and including this in a photo I found was key to showing buyers item worked and verifying clarity of the keystrokes. I took over 12 pictures of this item and since it was the middle of the week, decided to try to sell my item in a one day listing with starting price at $39.xx and a Buy It Now of $50.00.
I can testify that all this hard work paid off. In less than 12 hours our $15 find sold for $50.00 plus shipping. Here is the listing:



Thanks for this great information, Lori! Congratulations on your sale.

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