Discover How to Find Items Online to Flip on eBay

Most eBay sellers love the thrill of the hunt in thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales. But what if something is preventing you from sourcing inventory as often as you like? Maybe it is an illness, a loved one you care for, a 9-5 job, poor sourcing choices in your area, or life is just busy? 

Now you can discover how to find the low hanging fruit on eBay - millions of low cost items (even 99 cent items) that go unsold every month that YOU can sell for high profit.

In this 75 minute course, I reveal how to:

1. Find items on eBay priced low that you can easily flip for much higher profit.

2. Target Mega Sellers who sell thousands of department store items for 99 cents every day. Buy their stuff cheap and resell much higher!

3. Use local Facebook groups to source inventory (neat tricks I've learned).

4. Find misspelled auctions without bids - they don't come up in searches.

You also receive a bonus section where I reveal my process for discovering discontinued consumer goods to resell. A process I've been using since 2009. 

The course comes with:

75 minutes of video explaining exactly how to find items to flip

56 page eBook

Resource list with over 100 brands of items to look for to flip and use in the misspelling tool

My guarantee for success - if you have questions or need help, just shoot me an email or Facebook message and I will personally help you by phone or email. 

Get started virtual picking today!

eBay Coaching Program - Grow Your Business and Achieve Success

Are you ready to take your eBay business to the next level? You know you can do better but you just aren't sure how to get there. There are three ways successful business owners have built their business - dedication, support from colleagues, and business coaching.

I actually have a business coach and she helps me in a variety of ways. I can help you with these aspects of your business, too!

1.  Enhanced focus. Overwhelm is a common feeling when you are juggling so many different tasks. We will focus on the the big picture and I will point out the specific areas that need attention immediately.

2. Accountability.  This is huge for business owners. I will hold you accountable for the things you must to to move forward. Maybe it is listing that huge pile of stuff you bought six months ago. Or maybe you want to be pushed out of your comfort zone to learn new things like international shipping, how to source online, or how to hire help. I'll give you homework that must be completed by a deadline we agree on so that you can achieve your goals.

3. Goal setting.  As a business owner, you must have a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish. For most eBay sellers, the goal is netting a certain amount of money each month. We will develop a plan with your goals in mind, and develop strategies overcome the obstacles that are getting in your way. There is a solution for everything, we just have to figure out what it is and what works for you and your family.

 4. Productive brainstorming. It can be difficult to see all of the different ways to tackle a problem by yourself. By putting our heads together, we can come up with creative ideas to overcome what's holding you back.

5. Experience. I have seen the good, bad, and the ugly since I started coaching in 2009. By working with so many different types of sellers and and business owners from all walks of life, I have gained wisdom that can be applied to help your business, too.

6. Improved profitability: My clients' businesses have grown. (See testimonials here.)  Clients report their sales have increased, and more importantly their profits have increased. They have learned to work smarter, leverage their knowledge, and have created sustainable businesses that they love working on every day.

I've developed a coaching program to help you achieve the success you desire based on your business model, lifestyle, schedule, and working with products you love. 


My coaching program includes:

• Store critique in writing so you can work through necessary changes 
• A plan to scale your business to reach a specific profit number 
• Instruction on how to research and make better buying decisions 
• 4 / 30 minute phone calls (1 per week) 
• 2 / 5 minute "check in" calls per week to keep you on track 
• Homework to hold you accountable 
• 50% off all information products on my website   

The cost is $350 per month for this hands on, one-on-one program that has proven results. Space is limited, as I can only take on a limited number of clients to ensure that each client receives dedicated time and attention. Sign up here and let's take your eBay business to the next level!

eBay Shipping Tip - Frankenstein Boxes

 If you sell on eBay for any length of time, you will be faced with the dilemma of finding the right size box to ship a large or odd shaped item. It happens to everyone at some point.

Frankenstein boxes are the answer. Also known as Frankenboxes, these are created when taping 2 or more boxes together to create a larger box. This process is called telescoping when  2 or more boxes are taped together end to end to create a longer box - hence the "telescoping" effect.

Frankenboxes are shipping boxes you can make yourself to accommodate any size item. This technique comes in handy year round, but especially during 4th quarter when sales spike and you may be shipping items you don't normally work with. There are a few rules to be aware of so you don't get in trouble with the post office.

Flat Rate and Regional Rate boxes cannot be altered, telescoped, or Frankensteined.

The price for shipping these items has been configured based on size and maximum weight. They cannot be altered in any way.

It is ok to Frankenstein Priority boxes.

You are free to use regular (not flat rate or regional rate) boxes in any configuration you want to create as long as the item is shipped Priority. Turning the box inside out or covering it with brown paper or poly mailers then shipping Parcel Select is a big no-no. Priority boxes must be used for Priority Mail, period. No exceptions.

Plain or recycled boxes can be Frankensteined.

As long as you aren't using a flat rate or regional rate box from USPS, anything is fair game.

Use plenty of tape to secure edges.

The USPS requires that all edges are taped and any gaps or flaps are covered with tape. You don't want flaps or box edges getting caught in sorting machines or on conveyer belts. Make sure everything is tight and secure.

Be aware of oversize restrictions.

Boxes measuring over 12 x 12 x 12 may be subject to oversize charges. It depends on the distance the package will travel.

Don't "piggyback" boxes.

Piggybacking refers to taping 2 boxes together that are not the same size, the smaller on top of the larger. USPS won't accept these.

Consider a box resizer for cutting down larger boxes.

Sometimes you have a box that is too large for the item, and rather than fill it with packing material and increase the shipping weight and cost, cut down the box using a box resizer tool. This tool is very handy, easy to use, and creates clean looking packages. You can buy them at office supply stores, on eBay, or Amazon.

I actually did a survey on my Facebook group asking other sellers about their Frankenbox experiences, and here are some of the responses:

Joseph said, "We just took a package to the post office today that combined 5 priority shipping boxes (totaled over 12" x 12" x 40" long). The postal clerk actually complimented us on the creative construction."

Debbie said, "Tonight we bought a 3" PVC pipe for $8 to mail metal roof edge moldings for a 1957 Mercury. 67 x 3 x 3 girth 4.75 I think....price to mail just under $11. We Franken-pack all the time!"

Sarah said, "Monday I stacked & taped 6 large Priority boxes together. Total height 58" x 12 x 12. I was shipping a wakeboard. 17 pounds from Alabama to Oklahoma just under $11.00."

So there you have it. If you don't have the right size box,  get creative and make one. Just be sure to keep plenty of tape on hand at all times.

If you need more help with shipping, download my free eBay Shipping Flow Chart here.

Related Articles:

How to Charge for Shipping on eBay

Pros and Cons of eBay Global Shipping Program

Can it be Shipped Media Mail?

Flipping Facebook Sale Items on eBay

Opportunities for making money are all around us. Most folks selling on eBay already know how to source from thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales. But have you tried using Facebook groups as a source of inventory? Lots of people don't want the hassle of figuring out how to sell on eBay or ship items. They just want to sell extra stuff around their house a little at a time to local people.

That's where eBay sellers can seize the opportunity. Scroll though the "For Sale" posts on local Facebook buy / sell groups and you can score some real deals. My daughter recently found this lot of 12 Mary Kay foundation makeup tubes for $15. (Pictured above.) She bought the lot on Friday, and by Sunday had already sold 2 tubes to different buyers. Here is the listing for the sold item:

If she sells all of these at this price, profit is around $128. Not bad for a few minutes time scrolling through Facebook group posts, meeting the seller about 5 miles from home, and listing the item.

The key is to use the resources around you to make money.  Opportunities are all around you - but you have to pay attention to them. Think about how many households are in a 5 mile radius of your home, and how much stuff is in all of those households. Those people may be posting things on Facebook that YOU can resell for a nice profit on eBay. Pay attention!

Related Articles:

What is Alpaca and Why Should eBay Sellers Care?

Here is What I Love About eBay

Atlanta eBay Sellers Do You Have Too Much Inventory?

eBay 20th Anniversary Special: 20 Minutes for $20

Happy Anniversary, eBay! Have you seen the 20 Days of Deals on eBay commemorating their anniversary? Check it out - there are some really great bargains.

In honor of eBay's 20 years in business, I am also offering a special. This weekend only, September 11-13 get a 20 minute phone consultation for just $20. I'll help you with any eBay topic including:

What to sell
Where and how to buy inventory
Shipping
Storage and inventory management
Record keeping
Hiring help
Selling internationally
How to identify discontinued items to sell
Time management
Optimizing listings for search
Staying motivated and growing your business

I can also take a look at your store and give you suggestions for improving what you are already doing, or give you strategies for taking your business to the next level.

Book your appointment here.

I'm looking forward to chatting with you this weekend and helping you with your eBay business!

Amazon Success Story - 5 Years Later

I received this email a couple of weeks ago from a client I worked with in 2010 (5 years ago). His story is inspiring and shows that with hard work and a commitment to success, anything can be achieved. Am so proud of you Jorge and for what you have accomplished.

"Hello, Suzanne.  I can't recall ever taking this long to reply, but I am going to look at things on the bright side and say that it's  'better late than never.'  With many apologies included, of course :)

How could I summarize almost 5 years in a single email?  It makes sense to start from where I am today and go back.

I have over 10,000 transactions under my belt selling on Amazon, mostly from DVD orders fulfilled by Amazon.  Amazingly enough, I have been able to maintain 100% positive feedback, though it's been no easy task.  I have had plenty of customer service issues to deal with, but fortunately I've been able to resolve all but one (and that one doesn't bring me under 99.5% positive so it rounds out to 100%).

I have been making a living selling on Amazon since October of 2012, when I was able to quit the 9 to 5.  It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but I have maintained gross profits above the minimum desired level for going on 3 years now.

I am now at a crossroads, again.  I have recently resumed working on getting approval to sell DVDs with MSRPs over $25.  I worked on getting approval full time between September and November of last year (selling on Amazon became part time, but with full time pay luckily).

After the new policy took effect in mid November, I then started working on getting back up to where I was when I could sell the newly restricted DVDs.  My profits dropped 50% in December of 2014 compared to the prior year, and January of this year was also a bit rough.  But then I was back up to speed in February, and since March I have actually doing better than I had been in prior years.  So far my sales are up around 25% compared to the year to date numbers in 2013 and 2014, and YTD gross profits are even higher compared to 2013 and 2014.

So what was once an oversight is now my core business.  If I could get approval for the over $25 MSRP DVDs and could apply the newly acquired sourcing techniques, I could comfortably triple what I was averaging in 2013 and 2014.

That, in a nutshell, is what has been going on with my business.  There are plenty more details naturally, but it is certainly not my intention to give you an overwhelming account of what's happened in the past few years.  If you would like to know some more specifics out of curiosity or if you feel you might find some of these details useful, then please let me know and I would be happy to share anything you would like to know.

Can't say so long for now without thanking you again for having made all of this possible.  Your coaching gave me the foundation for everything I am currently doing in my business.  I remember that you even covered flipping eBay items, though at the time I had no idea that would become my primary sourcing method.

It would be nice to know how you are doing, time permitting of course.  I imagine you might be as busy as you were before or possibly more so.  I remember back in 2010 you were involved in a number of different things.  I just do one thing and that definitely keeps me quite occupied.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Jorge"

I am honored to be a part of helping someone build their business and love getting emails like this.
Visit Jorge's Amazon store here and see for yourself what can be done with hard work and commitment.

If you are ready to make a commitment and need a mentor to help you get there, let's talk about how I can help you reach your goals. Set up an phone consultation here and start growing your ecommerce business today.

Related Articles:

Make Money Selling Grocery Items on Amazon

Top 10 Grocery Items to Sell on Amazon

How Kraft Foods Paid my Mortgage

Make Money Selling Lots of Scrabble Tiles on eBay

Here is another "odds and ends" type item you can make money selling on eBay - Scrabble tiles. Scrabble games are an easy find at garage sales and thrift stores. Rather than selling and shipping the entire game (where the box may be crushed or torn and unappealing anyway), salvage the tiles. Let them accumulate over time and you have a item that is easy to ship in a padded flat rate envelope for $5.35 (with your eBay discount).

Your next question might be, who the heck would buy several hundred or thousand Scrabble tiles? Crafters, that's who. And what can be made from a bunch of random Scrabble tiles? Here are some examples:

Baby Gifts

Coasters

Teacher Gifts

Jewelry

Christmas Ornaments

You get the idea. eBay shows 682 sold listings for "Scrabble Tiles" in used condition. You can sell the wooden letter racks in lots as those are used for crafts also. The colored tiles will sell for more as they are more scarce. (Remember, the more scarce something is the more it is worth.) Just a ball park figure - a lot of 300 wooden tiles sells for about $25.

So make yourself a little Scrabble Tile stockpile area and start adding to it when you see incomplete or less than optimal Scrabble games at garage sales and thrift stores. Crafters will thank you!

Related Articles:

Don't Throw That Trash Away - Sell it on eBay

Sell Damaged Cashmere on eBay

Sell Old Tractor Parts on eBay

Denim Trucker Jackets are a Consistent Seller on eBay

Add denim trucker jackets to your BOLO (be on the lookout) list for things to flip on eBay. Thanks to my friend Magi and all the other savvy sellers on my eBay Seller Facebook group for teaching me about this item. I finally found and sold one! The above screen shot is of my sale, an item that cost just a few dollars at a local thrift store. I had this item for sale in my eBay store for about 6 months with best offer. It sold for full price, $79.97 last week (in June).

A denim trucker jacket is usually made of heavy weight denim and lined with fleece. They are waist length and made by the major denim manufacturers including Levis, Lee, and Wrangler. eBay shows over 2,400 sold listings for these jackets.

I'm putting this out there for 2 reasons:

1. The power of community. Surround yourself with people who know more than you do. You will continue to increase your knowledge base simply by association.

2. Don't hesitate to list an item in the off season. It is impossible for something to sell when it is sitting in a bag in the corner and not listed on eBay. Refer to this article:

No Free Listings Left - So What?

Add denim trucker jackets to your BOLO list and keep on listing!


Related Articles:

eBay Sellers, if You Have It, List It!

Top 10 BOLOs to Sell on eBay

5 Things I Learned to Sell on eBay in 2014

Working a Full Time Job While Selling on eBay

 

Many of you out there have a full-time job outside the home and sell on eBay in your spare time. Others have been selling on eBay for a while full-time and may need to go back to the 9-5 for whatever reason - benefits, more predictable income, or saving for retirement. Antonette recently asked this question on my eBay Seller Facebook Group:


"Does anyone work a conventional job as well? I had to go back to the 9-5 because my husband was hurt on the job and didnt recover well from his surgery. I am having a hard time getting things posted. I need the ebay income as well. Just wondering if you have any advice, best practices."

There were some great answers!

Becky said, "Maybe break it down, like do photos for 20 listings 1 night, then weigh them, then sit down an list them all. You can schedule your listings so that 1 to 3 a night go live. Then while those are going live each night repeat the process."

Sharon said, " First, I try to list at least one item per day. Then at least something new is getting out there. Second, I am more selective about what I buy. I don't buy something unless I think it will be a $20 profit, and I shoot for a $30 profit. Since I don't have a lot of time to list, this helps. For sourcing, I do some on Facebook Grops so I can be at home or wherever when I do it. Otherwise, I go out one morning every couple of weeks to garage sales and thrift stores. I also ask friends and family for inventory and that works well (obviously sometimes my profit on those items is lower, but I didn't have to spend time sourcing them). I tend to have about 110 items listed at one time."

Suzanne said, "One thing that I have seen others do, is let the kids be involved in the eBay process. They could help find things to sell, take photos, learn to research, eventually learn to list etc, that way it could be a family project that generates income. Great family time together also!"

Nancy said, " I work full time. I shop and photograph on weekends and then can list each night a few things, or depending on time and how many items I may list on the weekends as well. I have grown children though so I do have more free time after work."

Ashley said, "I hired a virtual assistant for selling a few days ago. I also work full-time with an assistant. I can't do it all. When you delegate (your kids, spouse, whatever you have) you share the work and the wealth."

I honestly don't know how some of you juggle a full-time job, children, and eBay. Kudos to all of you for making it work.

Related Articles:

Hiring Help for a Small eBay Business

5 Ways to Save Time and Money Printing Shipping Labels from Your eBay Account

eBay Seller Success Story $6,000 in Sales in 30 Days

Make Money Selling Fragrance Samples and Trial Sizes on eBay

I just love garage and estate sales. I love digging through the boxes and looking for the hidden gems. It's the thrill of the hunt, meeting new people, and never knowing what cool things you might come home with to sell on eBay. One of those things is fragrance samples and trial sizes.

Yes, they sell! You can batch these types of items together and sell for good money. I'm talking about all the little samples you get when you buy cosmetics or fragrances at the mall or from Avon or Mary Kay. Some people have stockpiles of that stuff and it ends up in their garage sales. Estate sales are great for these kinds of products because sometimes there are decades worth of fragrance samples and trial sizes in a big box and you can negotiate a killer price.

I purchased the items in the photo above at an estate sale yesterday for $15. The Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds products will sell for about $50 in a lot. The Poison EDT is 1/3 full and will sell for around $25. Not bad for 10 minutes worth of work on my way home from Saturday morning errands.

Need more proof? Here are some eBay stats:

6,000+ completed sold listings for "perfume samples"

2,000+ completed sold listings for "cologne samples"

6,500+ completed sold listings for "EDT samples" (eau de toilette)

There is probably some overlap, some listings with a full size container included, but you get the idea. There is definitely a demand for "itty bitty" fragrance samples on eBay.

Remember fragrances are flammable and HAZMAT and can only be shipped parcel select (ground). They may not be shipped First Class or Priority.

Now go check your bathroom junk drawers and see what you have to sell!

Related Articles:

Selling Vintage Perfume Bottles on eBay

 Estate Sales for Beginners

Flipping Craigslist Items on eBay

What Kind of Dress Is This?

Keywords are very important on eBay. You want your buyer to be able to find your item so it is imperative that you use the same keywords in your title and description that the buyer is searching for. I see a lot of questions on my Facebook group about clothing, especially the names of different styles of dresses.

If you ever find yourself in a bind trying to figure out a style for any type of clothing - shirts, skirts, coats, or jackets, head over to Pinterest and do a search for Style Guides. There is so much information on Pinterest about clothing you will be shocked! Everything you need to know is right there and it is very visual so you can find what you need quickly.

Just for reference, below is a Dress Style Guide so you can see the different styles and their corresponding names:

Selling clothing on eBay is a lucrative business. Thrift stores are packed with inexpensive clothing for the picking - lots of low hanging fruit that can be flipped on eBay for nice profit if you know what to look for. Learn more about selling women's clothing on eBay at these links:

Best Keywords for Selling Handbags on eBay

Why I Sell Ugly Shoes on eBay

Lumberjack Chic a Profitable Niche on eBay