Flipping Craigslist Finds on eBay

I went over this with a few of my clients this week, and thought I would share.

Craigslist can be a gold mine for inventory if you check often, do your research, and act fast. People are desperate and are selling things cheap. Your eBay selling knowledge (at whatever level) will pay off here. Many people are intimidated by eBay, don't have time to learn how it works, and just settle for selling items on their local Craigslist. By snagging these items cheap, you can make much more selling them on eBay because your buying audience will be exponentially larger than the local Craigslist audience.

Here is how it works.

1. Visit Craigslist for your city or other surrounding cities.

2. Look under the FOR SALE section.

3. Browse through the categories. You will come across things you have never heard of. Do the research (Terapeak or eBay completed listings) to find out what items sell for on eBay.

A few things to look for:

Perfume, cologne, and fragrances

MLM Distributors going out of business (Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Creative Memories, NuSkin, Silpada Jewlery, etc.)

Coats

Shoes and boots

Sporting goods such as ski equipment, little league football equipment, skates, hunting / camping / fishing supplies, equestrian supplies (saddles, tack, clothing), martial arts sparring gear and clothing

DVD collections

Move out of your comfort zone and try things unknown. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. 95% of people will retreat to their comfort zone when what they try doesn't work the first time they try it. You have to explore new territory.

Key Points:

1. Check often and act fast.

2. Do the research.

3. Look in categories unfamiliar to you. Then refer to #2.

4. Focus on items that are easy to ship.

5. Be safe - only meet your Craigslist trading partner inside a public place, during daylight, and take another adult with you.

6. Click here for more information on flipping Craigslist finds on eBay.

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World of Good by eBay

Today's post is contributed by Karen Pickett, Director of Education and More. Karen made a comment on the recent post about selling damaged cashmere. Karen mentioned her organization that does something similiar - taking used sweaters, unraveling them, and using the yarn to make crafts. Here is Karen's post:

A passion to help women earn a fair wage and to earn money so they can feed and educate their children is what propels the volunteers working with Education And More.

Education And More, a Christian non-profit organization, has a simple mission – to help the impoverished lift themselves out of poverty and to further the education of the children and young adults in the rural areas of Guatemala.

The people in the rural highlands, mostly of Mayan descent, suffered greatly during the 36 year civil war which ended in 1996 with the signing of the peace accords. Today nearly 70% of the rural indigenous Mayans live in poverty and nearly half of their children suffer malnutrition.

Education and More, a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation, works with artisan groups using international Fair Trade principals, which gives the artisan a fair daily wage for the work done. This not only gives them a fair income but gives them dignity and hope for the future. In addition to earning a fair wage they receive much more through benefits which include interest free micro-credit loans and grants to help grow their business, a student sponsorship program to help educate their children, business training and development and educational opportunities for the women.

The main selling venues for the Fair Trade handcrafts is their listings on World of Good by Ebay and their online web store, although many universities, churches and volunteers host bazaars throughout the United States to help sell the beautiful handcrafts which include: weavings, jewelry, purses, computer sleeves, pet items, napkins & placemats, neck scarves, shawls, baskets and much more. Each and every sale makes a huge impact on the life of the artisan!

World of Good by Ebay is a perfect site to buy gifts that make an impact to artisans around the world.

Visit Karen's site at Education and More.

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Women's Hosiery, Stockings, and Pantyhose on eBay

During a coaching session last week, I was helping a client think through what types of items she had in her home that she could sell on eBay. (Shout out to Yvonne M.!) One category we focused on was "anything new in the package." She mentioned that she had quite a few packages of pantyhose that were unopened that had accumulated over years. But who would want to buy that?

We checked on eBay and sure enough, we found that pantyhose sold in a lot is a good seller. We found this lot of pantyhose that sold for $36:



This would be an easy sell if already have them in your home. Separate by size, take a photo of the lot, and list for a set price. Shipping is easy - you could either ship in a USPS Tyvek envelope or a box. No labor intensive packaging needed as this is not a fragile item.

I often see unopened packages of pantyhose, thigh highs, and other hosiery at thrift stores for 5o cents or less. Keep your eyes out for these, accumulate several packages, and sell as a lot.

This example just goes to show how EASY it is to sell an item you already have in your home on eBay. Download my FREE eBay Reference Guide for more ideas just like this!

Download my FREE guide with all kinds of eBay how-tos

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Pure Cashmere - Sell it on eBay Even if Damaged

(Photo from Heartfeltbaby on Etsy)

By now you know how much I LOVE cashmere. Not only is it the finest fabric in the world - luxuriously soft, comfortable, and gorgeous - but it holds it value no matter what. Here is a great idea for selling damaged cashmere sweaters (and other items) on eBay and Etsy.

The latest trend with crafters is re-purposing items. Re-purposing means taking an item (either usable or not) and using it again for a long term purpose. For example, take a plastic milk jug and make it into a bird feeder or take old cabinet hardware and make it into a piece of jewelry. (Click here for an article about selling old cabinet hardware on eBay just for re-purposing.)

So, eBay has collided with the re-purposing movement and we are now seeing listings for "Cashmere cutter." These are listings of several pure cashmere sweaters, maybe with slight damage, that crafters buy to make into other things such as scarves, baby items, blankets, or doggie sweaters. Here are a few recently completed listings:

Lot of 10 cashmere sweaters sold for $38

7 pure cashmere sweaters sold for $36

When selling a cashmere sweater, try to sell it on its own first. I usually get between $20 and $35 for a used 100% cashmere sweater in good condition. For those that don't sell after a while, or that are damaged (have holes or stains), list in a lot once you have accumulated a few. Be sure to put keywords like "cashmere cutter, craft, fabric, and material" in your listing so that you will be found on searches. If you Google "cashmere cutter" you will see eBay listings at the top of the results.

For more niche product ideas, click the banner below:

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Building Passive Income Streams - Anyone Can Do It

People often ask me if all I do is sell on eBay. No. I have many other income streams. eBay is just one of them. The key to making money with multiple streams of income is persistence, time, and commitment. For example, here is my history on eHow - an article writing site.

I started writing for eHow back in June 2007. I didn't even know the site paid its writers. I was just writing articles about how to do stuff on eBay. In January of 2008, money started showing up in my Paypal account. I have submitted 316 articles to eHow since September 2007. The last article I submitted was in February 2010. (I stopped submitting articles when the system changed and it became more time consuming to write there.) Click here to see my profile. My articles have had over 1 million views in the last 3 years and I am now making about $35 a day and haven't submitted anything in over 8 months. I now make enough money from this income stream to pay my mortgage.


Here are screen shots of how my earnings have grown over 3 years:

2008

2009

2010

Why am I telling you this? BECAUSE ANYONE CAN DO IT. All you have to do is start and make a commitment to keep building these income streams from now on. It only takes minutes a day. But you have to do it every day.

eHow is only one of my streams of income. In addition to eHow and eBay I make money from these things:

Selling books on Amazon
Google Ads on my blogs
Affiliate marketing
Writing for the Examiner

It just takes discipline, commitment, and the understanding that rewards will come later - delayed gratification. Here are some tips on where and how to get started building passive income streams.

Start a blog to promote your eBay store.

Start a blog about anything you want and monetize it.

Sign up for Swagbucks.
(Here are my gift card rewards for this year - so you can see it really works! I have redeemed 28 $50 Amazon gift cards this year so far for a total of $1,400. You can use the gift card balance immediately or let them accumulate. I will be doing all of my Christmas shopping on Amazon this year with money that Swagbucks paid me.)


Submit articles to Constant Content.

START NOW - DON'T WAIT. Six months from now you can be seeing income from these sources.

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eBay Coach Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest - Win $50

Watch the video before going any further!

You may have heard of this phenomenon over the past few years. The Ugly Christmas Sweater. Have a Christmas party and invite guests - but everyone must wear an ugly Christmas or holiday sweater. The winner gets a prize. Some of these parties are done as charity benefits, held at a public location, to raise money for needy families during the holidays. As described in the video above by Clinton Kelly of "What Not to Wear," these sweaters are "nauseatingly festive" and "disturbing."

The kicker here is that these hideous sweaters, that you can find in thrift stores for less than $5, are selling for anywhere between $10 and $100. As Bill Geist says in the video, "America seems to have vast reserves of these in thrift stores."

Sounds like we need to have our own virtual contest! Head on over to my eBay Seller's Facebook group to participate. Here is how it will work:

To be eligible, sweaters must be listed before December 1.

The sweater selling for the highest price wins!

You can post links to your ugly sweaters on the Ugly Sweater Contest thread in the group if you like.
(We can all use a daily laugh during the stressful holiday selling season!)

Winner will be announced on December 15 and will receive their $50 Amazon gift card via mail.

Feel free to repost this contest anywhere - your Facebook page, Twitter, or your own blog. Let's have some fun with ugly sweaters!

Congratulations to Suzanne C and Jessy for winning the reusable sandwich bag giveaway last month.

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Antiques and Collectibles Resource

If you are selling items from estate sales, live auctions, thrift stores, or garage sales, you will come across all sorts of items that may look valuable but you aren't sure about. On the other hand, you may have walked by items that have value, but you just don't know what can be resold for a profit online. The amount of "stuff" out there is overwhelming.

To be the most successful selling online, you must continually educate yourself on the types of items that have value. As I tell my clients, "This is like getting a college degree - but the work never ends. You have to study every day. Read, ask questions, talk to other sellers, and continue to expand your knowledge." Antiques and collectibles are a HUGE niche. One great resource is the Kovels guide and website.

Kovels Antiques, started by Ralph and Terry Kovel, has been the antiques and collectibles experts for over half a century. They have written over 100 books about antiques and collecting, have a weekly column that appears on over 150 newspapers, and have been on numerous television shows including two series - "Flea Market Finds with the Kovels" for HGTV", and "Collector's Journal with Ralph and Terry Kovel" on the Discovery Channel.

On the Kovels website, you will find a plethora of information about antiques and collecting. It is worth spending some time there every day if you really want to break into this niche. The site provides a price guide with hundreds (maybe thousands) of items, a section on identifying marks, directory for auctions and appraisal services, discussion forums, and a free weekly newsletter. If you find an item and don't know its value or just want to learn more about it, visit the Kovels website.

You can also order the 2011 Kovels' Price Guide on Amazon:


I have a Kovels' guide in my family room and pick it up a few times a week to flip through. The information is really endless and you will only learn by continuing to study.

Have a great day on eBay!

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