I have a small business going on ebay, and was wondering if these auctions were a good place to source goods. Does anyone have suggestions of the sort of things that go to these auctions that would sell well on ebay?

Auctions are actually really great sources for product, so long as you practice self control and know what you want. You can get a lot of usually high-priced items for relatively dirt cheap-- or just flat out cheap. I’ve seen Dyson upright vacuums with an MSRP of $400 go for less than $50, and Panasonic DVDs for less than $10, rather than the usual $150. You can get anything from toys, to TVs, to houses at auction, so the question really is what do you want to sell. You’ll occasionally get lots, but usually you’ll find individual items, so you’ll usually need to go for multiple items if you’re going to actually get much profit out of reselling the auction items.

That said, it is seriously easy to get carried away. Auctions are by their nature exciting, with bids flying back and forth, and one can quickly spend more on an item than what will draw profit, or even more than its actual value. That’s where the discipline comes in. Typically, when the auction is announced, you’ll be able to access a listing of the items being sold, and this several days to a week or two previous to the actual event. Occasionally, there will be a viewing of the items on offer.

Take advantage of this services, and make a list of the items you think you can move at profit. Research what those items usually retail for, and set a limit per item for what you’re able to spend on it. Stop bidding before the price exceeds that amount, and don’t get pulled into bidding on any items you haven’t researched or planned on buying.

As far as what items to get at auction, I’d say go with what you know. If you’ve been running your ebay storefront for any length of time at all, you know what you can sell and what you can’t. You are your own best metric in this case. You can certainly try software like Terapeak or something, but you already know what will sell for you.

If you do see something being auctioned that’s listed at a crazy “discount” , like 90% (which isn’t uncommon, usual range at police auctions is 10%-90%, depending) I’d recommend checking out other auctions on ebay to see what the winning prices are on similar items. If it looks like you can push something outside your usual pervue, then by all means, go for it.

Hi Specialist,

Try using Terapeak to see what sells well on eBay. After you have done your market research you can see which of the products that sell best on eBay can be sourced from government or police auctions.

Remember that the best product to sell is almost always the product that you are interested in or personally know something about

Good luck