So, you know that we’ve been doing an eBay upselling challenge. We published part 1 a couple of weeks ago explaining what we’re doing and why.
It’s a simple challenge – can we buy something on eBay and then sell it back on that very same platform whilst managing to make a profit?
It sounds like it shouldn’t be possible, but there’s only one way to find out…
So how is eBay reselling working out for us?
We’ve now completed our purchases, so we’re at the half way stage. So it’s time for a full update.
Now, the first thing to say here is that Dave managed not to buy anything at all. In October, the month where we set our ambitious challenge for ourselves, Dave actually had a holiday planned. It makes it a little difficult to keep up any eBay reselling when you’re travelling around – especially in a country where you’ve got to pay eye-watering sums if you want to use your mobile phone data. So count him out.
Ben and Chris soldiered on and both made purchases – so let’s find out from each of them how that went:
What was your strategy for the task?
Ben
I’ve been eBaying for a number of years with vastly fluctuating enthusiasm for the process, the outcome, eBay and PayPal, but to be fair it has nearly always managed to find me a customer for something or other that I wanted to get rid of. I am an avid recycler; I hate waste and try to put as little in the bin/take things to the tip as possible – because of this, I have often been willing to offer items at a lower price than I should have, just to ensure they get a home.
With this task, I had to change strategy. The profit was very much going to be based around how successful I was in the selection and purchasing of whatever it was I was going to buy.
I was hoping that misspelled items would lead the way to Eldorado and began the search online to see what tips others had posted. I found a couple of websites which had some sort of search function where you type in a product and it searches on different variations and common spelling mistakes; I found them quite annoying and lost patience with them quickly so decided to start trawling eBay myself with a few spelling errors to see what I could come up with.
Chris
I’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t put a bit of time and effort into eBay listings then that can be a costly mistake. For me, two of the easiest mistakes to make are ending your auction at the wrong time of day and not taking good enough pictures.
Both of those mistakes are easily fixed. I’ll look to add value by improving the presentation of the items. It helps that I’ve got a good camera that I’ll use to take top notch pics. In addition, I’ll make sure that the items get listed back on eBay during the peak buying times (which I’m led to believe are Tues-Thurs 7-9pm).
A decent camera (no, not this one) is key to my plans!
I’m was also thinking I’ll shop in the very cheap end of the market and look to buy a few different items to spread my risk and hopefully try a couple of different strategies when it comes to selling them on.
It’s a simple strategy. Hopefully it pays off.
How did you settle on a particular product to buy?
Ben
My first search was for “ipone.” I pretty quickly found an iPhone 5S which was in immaculate condition (someone was selling it on behalf of their mum…at least that was the story…
It was up for £5+ about another £7.50p&p and a quick search showed that I could probably sell it for about £40 – a nice return. I put a maximum bid in for £15 and for a few days I was top of the bidders; with about two days to go I was outbid but rather than up my bid I decided just to monitor the auction and see where things ended up. The final price was £36 making it way too expensive for me to make any money out of it; lesson learned: ipone is a common error and people know what to look for.
Back to the drawing board…
Some consideration led me to Steiff Teddy Bears. The unnatural spelling would surely mean people would make errors in listings, wouldn’t they? Sure enough there were loads of listings where people had spelt it Stieff rather than Steiff; despite that however, the listings were mostly quite highly priced (in line with what a Steiff bear is worth, so no real complaints there), but like my failed ipone bid, there wasn’t much money to be made, until…
…I found it! A bear, spelt Stieff, priced at £3 with £5.05p&p, complete with tags! I reckoned I could flip it for about £20 + p&p, so I added it to the watch list. As the auction neared its end, I placed my bid with a maximum of £9. Success! The auction closed with me as the highest bidder at £5.
Chris
I’ve never gone on to eBay just with the objective of finding what I thought were under priced items. I had no category in mind and found that I was jumping all over the place at first, which was a bit confusing. So I decided to narrow my search down to one particular product type and try to hone my eye to spot a bargain in that niche.
I settled on the idea of used football boots. This was for several reasons: I’m interested in football boots and I know a bit about them. A good pair of new boots can cost quite a lot and I’m thinking a well presented second-hand boot has got potential to attract decent interest. In addition, not many people clean their boots properly (or seem to know how to do it thoroughly) so I don’t mind giving them a once-over if it helps me make a bit more money.
After waiting it out for a couple of weeks and studying the market I got to a position where I think I could spot a bargain. I scoured the listings of football boots on eBay ending in unpopular times (which were typically the 9-5 working hours).
My big reservation with my choice is that boots cost quite a bit to post. I’m looking to pay £1-2 per pair but postage is always around the £3 mark. So I’ve got to re-sell these boots at £5-6 per pair – excluding postage – just to break even (especially taking into account eBay fees). I’m panicking slightly whether that sort of mark-up is possible. Maybe I should have bought something more expensive where I’m not relying on a 200-300% mark-up just to break even. Too late now.
What did you end up buying and were you happy with what you received?
Ben
My bear arrived a few days later; it was in great condition so I was really happy. A bit of me considered giving it to one of my nieces but there’s no room for sentiment here; Chris and Dave have all made a contribution to the coffers while I’ve been messing around with vanity projects – it was time to make some money.
I was very conscious of having all my eggs in one basket, but just like Fat Lama and Stashbee before him, I went all in on the bear!
There was nothing I could do with him, so I just had to photograph and list – this was a pure play on someone’s misspelling. There was no value I could add, there was only value they (the seller) had lost – unfortunate for them, but in the cut and thrust of trying to make a few extra £££ I remember the words of that chap in Jerry Maguire:
Buoyed by a successful purchase, I went on the hunt for more bear-based bargains, but they were hard to find. I’m continuing to monitor the situation as Steiff teddy bears are very collectible; but in the mean time I’m stalking the “Raph Lauren” listings and got close on a couple of auctions, but was outbid. Discipline is key otherwise I’ll overspend and end up with something which is no use to me whatsoever and £££ down the drain.
Chris
I bought 3 pairs of kids football boots, all under £5 each including postage and packaging. Only 2 arrived and the other is in dispute with eBay. That has been a real pain. I don’t know what happened with that particular seller. They had good feedback, but once I’d bought and paid for the boots they were selling they just disappeared off into the night and there was no reply from them. I’m pretty sure I’ll get a refund from eBay – though be warned, it’s a lengthy process.
I’m really disappointed the 3rd pair didn’t arrive as I was hoping to diversify my risk across more than just 2 purchases.
But I was really happy with the 2 pairs that did arrive. They were both in really good condition and had nice features that I knew I could sell better in a new listing. Both of them required a deeper clean in order to improve the look, but that didn’t take long at all.
Once cleaned, I decided to I wait for the weekend in order to get some good pictures of the boots in natural light. Getting good pictures is a main part of my strategy. After that, it’s time to get those bad boys listed back on eBay again. I’m going for 7 day auctions with plenty of time to sit and contemplate whether I’ve made a massive mistake with this strategy.
Here’s one of the pairs of football boots that I purchased – before I cleaned and re-photographed them. Surely I can do a better job at selling these, right?!
How much have you spent so far?
Ben
Expenditure to date stands at £10.05 for a bear with postage.
Chris
On the two pairs of boots that actually arrived, I spent a grand total of £4.95 + £4.05 = £9.00 including postage and packaging.
I’m not including the amount that I paid for the third pair of football boots that haven’t arrived. I’ve got a case open with eBay and I intend to get my money back on those!