Opening an ebay store and researching items that have sold already

[BitShift]

So I want to open ebay store to sell some items that Im familiar with. If Im looking at past sales and I see the same item being listed 3 different times, whats the point of even bothering to list that item? Then there are items I have a supplier for, which I have not seen listed on ebay. These are the ones that might have potential for me, but I dont have a sale history for them either which will allow me to price my items. Unless of course, I just compare similar items.

So is anyone actually making money with an ebay store, considering all the fees from ebay and paypal?

[T_Miller]

Yes.
We have been for years.

And PayPal fees are no different than merchant account fees if you take credit cards online or in a B&M. In fact, if you do reasonable volume, the discounted rates from PP are quite competitive.

eBay's fees are a business expense. We consider it an advertising expense (literally). Unlike many forms of advertising (print, radio, etc), we can actually see a direct sales result from the dollars spent on eBay. The more we spend listing on eBay, the more we sell.

Of course, your business model has to be well thought out to make a profit on eBay.

Though many try to make a killing off widgets selling for under $5 or with VERY slim profit margins, it is pretty tough—and you'll work your butt off chasing pennies and nickles. Economies of scale are much better for higher priced items

[tangor]

For a period of time I sold vintage musical instruments on eBay. Mid to High dollar stuff. Did okay. When I ran out of all 60 items I was done... no more to sell. :)

As for pricing, do your research not just on eBay but everywhere else. Most likely folks browsing eBay already have an idea of what their widget desire will cost.

[nick95514]

i am selling tattoo products on ebay, it is too competitive, but anyway, i am making some profit, terepeak is a good tool to analyze