Have you tried this source for eBay inventory? Hint: You don't need to leave your home.

[love2beselling]

Posting this here for all us hardworking sellers.

We’re always running around to find amazing inventory, but have you tried kicking back on your couch and browsing with the eBay app? You can score big by spotting undervalued gems from casual sellers just looking to make a few bucks, and folks that have created lots because they want to get stuff sold fast.

So, do you shop eBay for inventory? If you haven’t, give it a try, you'll be amazed at the goodies that are listed!

[gurlcat]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

So, do you shop eBay for inventory?

I do it all the time. 

I just make sure I do not use the same account to sell it. 

I once bought 500 35mm slides for $100, and two weeks later I sold sold 2 of the slides for $125.

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I often forget to switch to my buyer's account to purchase inventory, or can't because the way I would pay is via my 'available funds' which I can't transfer to my buyer account. 

But it's very sound advice and I can testify to what can happen when you "sh!t where you eat". 🤣 Namely I'm recalling (at least) three sellers who somehow had HUGE hoards of vintage jewelry they knew nothing about, didn't cite the designer names or any other marks (one of them didn't even notice gold marks!!) and none of them took very good photographs of their lots, but I'd recognize a few pieces that (alone) were worth the BIN price or if it was an auction I'd win very easily and cheaply, because the listings just didn't draw much attention.  Then I'd open the packages and find many more very lucrative pieces besides the ones I recognized. 

So you can probably guess the rest: I'd list and sell the awesome pieces for great money because their brands/materials were cited in the title, with the pieces beautifully photographed (sometimes also cleaned up or even repaired).   And those sellers didn't catch on immediately; I'd be able to buy at least a few more lots from them (cheap) but at some point I'd observe the exact moment they checked out my store and learned how much money they were throwing away, because they started including brand names in the titles, getting better photos, and pulling better pieces from lots to sell separately. 

In short, sh!tting where you eat is almost guaranteed to cost you your honeypot at some point!

[tools*]

Like that time I bought all those plumbing supplies on eBay with my selling ID so I could install that bathroom in my kitchen? Maybe mounting the toilet to the dining table was a mistake, but it was so convenient.

[toysaver]

That kind of shopping makes you fat.  I'd rather be out and about hunting my prey.  

[gurlcat]

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@bashort wrote:

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I used to do a whole lot of it, I used to search my fav category, auctions only, ending soonest with no key words and set and watch a endless stream of potential new inventory scroll by, I sometimes would do this for hours sometimes making many bids, ebay ended the ability to search like that some time ago.

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That sounds exactly how I do it, sometimes for hours on end, except I do use the specific-enough-but-not-too-specific keywords possible.  I can't recall if I've ever even tried to do it without any keywords, only filtering/sorting.  -Is that what eBay ended, the 'no keyword' ability? 

BTW if you ever try it again, here's the alternate method I switch to whenever I've gotten caught up enough with the nearly-ended auction listings: change the filter to BIN, and change the time to 'Newly listed.'  Then you can see all the recent potentially underpriced listings, and snatch them up.  I would say a good 1/3 of my good 'steal-deals' were ones I got that way.  -Including my most recent (HUGE) one, 295 NOS vintage jewelry pieces, most with original cards and tags, for just over $400.  Only about 5 of the pieces have already reimbursed me for that, lol.  

Now, IDK what your favorite category is, but there are certain ones SO hot that underpriced new listings get snatched shockingly fast day or night, because very clearly there are a bunch of buyers with alert settings to notify them, so they don't even have to be actively searching to find the items.  Gold is the most obvious example; if I list scrap for just under the current spot price (adjusted for purity), it won't stay up more than 15 minutes.  My record fastest was 3 minutes.   But if your fav isn't something that universally valuable and precisely calculable, your best 'gets' might be available for a full day.  Anyway it's worth giving a try.

[gurlcat]

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

I once bought 500 35mm slides for $100, and two weeks later I sold sold 2 of the slides for $125.

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Just curious: what was the subject of those slides?

I have seen properly preserved Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides (cool dry storage in either their original boxes or carousel slide trays) that were photographed as far back as the 1950s and the color rendition is still dead nuts PERFECT. They look like they were photographed yesterday.

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When it comes to old photos of any kind, important/famous people are hands down the best sellers.  I discovered this when I had several hundred stereoscope cards circa 1900-1910.  -I don't mean just my anecdotal experience; before I listed them I did a lot of research, and then my sales affirmed what I had read.  The highest price I got was for some Eastern prince I never heard of, whereas images I found WAY more interesting fetched less money or didn't sell (individually) at all, so I wound up making little lots of them, to fetch enough worth the shipping. 

Here's the one I couldn't bear to let go of for cheap, so I just kept it.  1903, men inflating their inside-out, whole-cow "skin boats" to cross the treacherous rapids of the Sutlej River in northern India.

[gurlcat]

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@roccotacodad54 wrote:

  There are a lot of sellers on this venue that haven't a clue as to the value of the items they sell. If I think the item is undervalued I'll check their other listings and quite often the item is unlike anything else they have listed. Something they just want out of their inventory and don't want to bother with any research.

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YUP!!  For me the pinnacle of that is a mixed lot of old jewelry and the seller's other listings are all 'dude' stuff.   😉

[chapeau-noir]

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@toysaver wrote:

That kind of shopping makes you fat.  I'd rather be out and about hunting my prey.  

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I thought too much eating made you fat.

[gurlcat]

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@toysaver wrote:

That kind of shopping makes you fat.  I'd rather be out and about hunting my prey.  

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You are not wrong about that!  I've gotten so fat from so much sedentary work that when I do go to my favorite local sources or garage/estate sale-hopping, I'm only good for a max of a couple hours shopping, then all my joints are shot for at least the next 24 hours. 
 
But the vintage jewelry lady with several booths/rooms of used jewelry at a local antique mall  -she's smart; she has various stools and ottomans placed everywhere.  Quite often all I need is a 2-3 minute sit to 'reset' (especially my back), then I'm good as new for a while.  She makes it easy for buyers to stay for more time (and spend more money) that way. 

[a_c_green]

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@gurlcat wrote:
1903, men inflating their inside-out, whole-cow "skin boats" to cross the treacherous rapids of the Sutlej River in northern India.

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Words fail me... 😳

[sin-n-dex]

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

So, do you shop eBay for inventory?

I do it all the time. 

I just make sure I do not use the same account to sell it. 

I once bought 500 35mm slides for $100, and two weeks later I sold sold 2 of the slides for $125.

---

I often forget to switch to my buyer's account to purchase inventory, or can't because the way I would pay is via my 'available funds' which I can't transfer to my buyer account. 

But it's very sound advice and I can testify to what can happen when you "sh!t where you eat". 🤣 Namely I'm recalling (at least) three sellers who somehow had HUGE hoards of vintage jewelry they knew nothing about, didn't cite the designer names or any other marks (one of them didn't even notice gold marks!!) and none of them took very good photographs of their lots, but I'd recognize a few pieces that (alone) were worth the BIN price or if it was an auction I'd win very easily and cheaply, because the listings just didn't draw much attention.  Then I'd open the packages and find many more very lucrative pieces besides the ones I recognized. 

So you can probably guess the rest: I'd list and sell the awesome pieces for great money because their brands/materials were cited in the title, with the pieces beautifully photographed (sometimes also cleaned up or even repaired).   And those sellers didn't catch on immediately; I'd be able to buy at least a few more lots from them (cheap) but at some point I'd observe the exact moment they checked out my store and learned how much money they were throwing away, because they started including brand names in the titles, getting better photos, and pulling better pieces from lots to sell separately. 

In short, sh!tting where you eat is almost guaranteed to cost you your honeypot at some point!

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I've occasionally bought stamp lots on eBay (I say occasionally since it's a long time since I've done this, I have enough stamps now). I would bid on albums at auction, so it ends for what it ends for, the seller of this shouldn't be upset. If I wasn't the final bid, it would possibly end for less if no one else was bidding up the price.

I did buy some lots recently from a European seller and no doubt he has guessed that I'm doing something with them in my store (maybe not immediately). I got a decade's set of stamps from a specific country to break the set into smaller lots and sell. I'm sure he doesn't want to spend the time on it, and from his listing he's sold a lot of them, so I doubt he'd be too upset if he checked my store.

I personally don't look for anything I've sold in anyone's store on eBay because I don't really care what's done with it when it sells. If they get a good deal from me and manage to spend time and effort to make money, great, so long as the item sold for an acceptable price I have no complaints. And if it didn't sell for an acceptable price I probably goofed on the listing.

C.

[coastaltechsolution]

@a_c_green 

That must have been a gut wrenching ride 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I'm old. I remember as a kid when most large department stores had chairs at strategic spots for shoppers to sit a minute.