Sell these products…if you want to lose money!
Good news folks! The long-awaited Auction Inspector blog has arrived. We’ll be using the blog to let you know about updates to the Auction Inspector software, give you eBay tips and strategies, tell you how to get the most out of the Auction Inspector and much, much more.
This week, we lift the lid on one of the biggest fallacies on eBay!
Sell these products…if you want to lose money!
In my experience it seems as though 9 out of 10 new sellers on eBay want to sell Nikes, consumer electronics or Louis Vuitton handbags!
These products are super hot right now and it does seem like they could offer eBay sellers a magnificent opportunity to make a fortune…but is this actually the case?
Let’s take the Xbox 360. At the time of writing, this product was at number 3 in eBay’s top buyer searches. Sounds like a winner doesn’t it? People must be buying these by the truckload.
But let’s check it out further. If I do a completed listings search, I can see that only about seven or eight Xbox Premium Consoles are sold each day, for an average price of $370. Yet it is very difficult to buy these wholesale for less than $328. In fact, many wholesalers sell them for $368 and upwards. This is fine for retailers: the Xbox Premium Console sells for $549 or so in stores, which gives them a tidy profit. But eBay is much, much more competitive. In fact, these days, people are calling it a wholesale market.
Unfortunately the same sort of thing goes for many hot products. Some sellers are making a profit – but only $10-$50. The margins aren’t what you might expect.
As a general rule, you can only make a profit with these products if you:
(a) Are a powerseller – people are more inclined to purchase high end products from someone they see as a trusted professional (and they will pay a higher average price for this reason too).
(b) Have been in business for some time – you’ll have more cash to buy bulk orders and get better discounts as a result.
A much better idea would be to sell the accessories for these products – it is possible to make money from accessories as more people can afford to buy them (that is, you could make 20+ sales a day rather than 2 or 3) and you don’t need so much cash to purchase in bulk.
Let us now turn out attention to designer brand names such as Nike and Louis Vuitton. What are the pitfalls here?
The most common problem is the proliferation of fakes. Unless you become a preferred supplier, it is nigh-on impossible to get wholesale big name brands. Sure, there appear to be plenty of websites selling Prada handbags and so on, but if the price seems affordable (i.e. the item usually sells in the shops for $600 and they are on eBay for $40), there is no question: they will be fakes.
Well what’s wrong with selling fakes you might ask? It’s illegal and that means some pretty big risks for you as a seller:
- If Customs inspects your shipment of fake merchandise, it will most likely be thrown into the incinerator and you will lose all of your money.
- People may buy your products believing they are getting the genuine article. If they feel they’ve been had, they could well give negative feedback and request a refund.
As a general rule, designers are very strict on maintaining the exclusivity of their brand and will only distribute through preferred suppliers. Needless to say, becoming a preferred supplier is a very thorough process indeed.
If you are unsure whether a supplier’s website is advertising the real deal, then you might find these guides useful:
How to spot Fake Louis Vuitton
Have a fantastic week! Talk again soon 
