I keep building an inventory with an eye towards an ebay business.

Along with my sculpting......not sure anything will materialize.

Whats it like being an ebay seller? My experiences with selling to consumers is that business owners are far, far, far better people to do business with.

I used to deal with residential aquariums in my first two years. People would be fine with making me drive 50 miles if they saved a buck or two.

Check out these sites, PT. Maybe they'll answer your questions:


http://www.tinaja.com/glib/ebaysell.pdf

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/online ... ngtips.htm

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html

Thanks Cat, the first link is hilarious....and useful.

Ebay kinda depends on how much time and patience you have. One summer I sold about 500 books. Because books seem to sell easily and because I have a zillion books...anyhow. YOu have to realize that people on ebay expect to get shit for free. Seriously. If they have to pay a fricken $1 for the item, it better really be worth like $60 or people are reluctant to actually bid on something, unless of course, your thing is unique or something collectors are looking for (comic books or something). I had a book that was quite literally one of a very few of the remaining copies of this philosophy book. If I were to buy it at a rare book store, it would have cost me at least $200. I listed it for like $30. No one bid. Then I get an email from someone who had been watching the item and he basically talked me into selling it to him for like $10 bucks. (Yes, I'm an idiot at business deals.) Plus, packaging and shipping can end up being a supreme pain in the ass. People not only expect for things to cost nothing, but they also think you have powers of teleportation and, aside from the fact that they were only willing to pay for the cheapest possible shipping method, they expect the item will be at their house in like 30 mins.

Of course, I know people who don't mind all that tedious shit and do make some money on ebay. But its not a gold mine. Just be prepared for a ton of work with a tiny bit of profit.

Well I'd prefer a ton of profit with a tiny bit of work. I should have been a Bushbarian investing in their war machine stocks.

i agree 3000%. i too sell on ebay and its a pain. i dont sell a lot. ive sold maybe 100 total auctions in about 5 years. people are such crybabies. ebay is a glorified garage sale. noting more. if you dont sell at garage sale prices dont expect much. yes, if that box does not get there in half an hour you can count on neg feedback. you will find out quickly that you have to be an asshole. sorry but thats the way it is.