AuctionCut

Alright, just a little back ground. I've been selling on ebay since 2001. I have been a full time powerseller since 2005. My business has evolved from deal-finding (where newbies should start) to a full blown store with hundreds of products, many of which I have manufactured from scratch. People ask me all the time about making money on ebay.

That being said, I'm about to give you a basic formula that I teach people all the time, and they love it. I use this very formula on a regular basis.

It's all about Finding deals - buying quality items for below wholesale prices. In this market, finding deals is so much easier then when it was when I first started.

Okay, so onto the good stuff.

Step 1: Goto www.Craigslist.com
- You don't want to look for anything specific, if you do you will pass over potential deals.
- If you want to narrow your search type unspecific search terms such as "Gps" , "DVD" , "laptop" , "Notebook" etc. But don't get brand and item specific.

If I do this in my city, I will come up with atleast 100 new items that were posted each day. Some deals, some not so much. But keep reading.

This step should take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Not much more unless you're looking for a ton of deals

Step 2: RESEARCH
After you find 20 items or so. You now want to do your research on the item. (I'm going not going to go too much into this, because this is a topic all by it's self.) But basically, you want to use the advanced search funtion to look at what similar items have sold for in the past 30 days by looking at "completed listings"

Step 3: The Secret Formula!
This formula is designed to make sure you buy the item RIGHT and will guarantee you make money.

Example: You find a DVD player on Craigslist that is listed for $100.
After you do you research on ebay (based on sold items in the past) You determine that the EMV (Ebay Market Value) is $120.00

You want to then use this formula.

EMV * .55

The (.55) is saying that you are going to buy the DVD player at 55cents on the dollar of the Ebay Market Value. This percentage will also include the ebay fees that you will include, so you don't have to worry about deducting them. However, for some items, i still may subtract the fees (but most I don't) so this formula may look like (EMV * .55 - PP Fees - EB Fees)

Okay, back to the dvd Player.

So to find out what you need to BUY this DVD player at to make a decent profit do this:

$120 (EMV) * .55 = $66 <--that's your Offer Amount.

So what you know from this is, if you plan on making a good profit , you want to pay no more then $66 items for this DVD player. (This will yield you about a $50 profit!)

Step 4: Make the offer!
Right now, I get about 2 out of 10 deals at 55 cents on the dollar. This means more people are going to deny your offer, but you're looking for the 2 people that will. If you do this everyday, on a similar item you will be making $100 per day, or $3000 per month.

If you make these sort of offers on larger items, then you can see where the real money comes in.


Step 5: Get the item, List it, and collect your profit!

Folks, it really is this easy! But I can almost promise you... 1 percent of the readers who read this won't take action.. and they won't make money. But that one person , who is like me, will see the REAL opportunity here and Maximize it's potential! Are you the hungry one?


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What's so great about this method:
NOW more then ever people are trying to sell stuff, to make ends meet. I recently purchased a $300 GPS system for $50, and it was damn near brand new.

It's a CASH game. When people see cash in their face, they are likely to take it and forget about the loss. People want that cold hard green cash!

Well That's about it, if you have any questions please ask me! I'm going to try to make a few more posts like this one that outlines some basic techniques that I've used to make thousands of dollars.

And remember once you have read this it's now upto you to TAKE ACTION One thing I can promise you, is this won't work if you Don't Take ACTION!

To the best of luck!

William Leides

Great Post.. I have done that, but I like your method..

I'd be interested to know how you decide what to search for though, if being non specific, there are loads and loads, I mean hundreds and thousands of products you could look up and research. Are some items to be avoided?

Great post Spencer, Craigs list is a great overlooked place to get bargains from for re-selling. Research, like you mention is crucial. Many new people on ebay buy a product and then try to sell it. The real way to succeed is to find if there is a market before you spend any money. If there is a market then find the products to fill it. This is a faster way to success. Good podt full of valuable content.

very insightful intell thanks for it~