I was talking to someone waiting for an estate sale to open, and they asked do you sell on eBay, blah blah blah, the usual pre sale banter. Anyways, she said she was having trouble making a profit after all is said and done, and she thought she was paying fair prices for their merchandise. I said my rule is 5 times the purchase price for eBay, 2 times for the swap meet. I also said it is not worth having any kind of storage. If it wont sell in 30 days, and it's bulky, dump it. I only keep what I can store at home, and if that stuff hangs around a year, it's yard sale time.
Factor in all possible expenses, gas, returns, taxes, packing materials and materials and time to refurbish items that need it, and car wear and tear. Factor in item that don't sell(I told her everyone makes mistakes, and the ones who say they don't, are lying) Look it up, everything but the no brainers, because for most things, prices are falling. Some things drastically in a period of a year or less. You also are going to have to knock on doors and talk your way into sales early. That's where your going to make a living.
She said I'm not the type of person who can just knock on peoples doors, and that sounds unsafe, and she thought my 5 time the purchase price was crazy, but I explained, if something sells pretty consitantly for $100, costs $20 to ship, roughly %20 in fees on the profit with the FVF on shipping, and has a possible loss period of 180 days, $20 is the max I'll pay. You have to figure expences and time spent to find it, and you don't find things every trip. If you have $100, 17 bucks and change in fees, $20 purchase, factor in another 10% to find it, it's at $50 profit. If it comes back, and we all know if it does who's footing the bill, that's $40 in the hole, and the second time selling it's going to be a wash, or a loss. If they send back a brick, it's all loss. Swap meet, all cash, nothing to come back and haunt you, but it has the be the right items. Items I have a cash sure thing, I'll go on slim margins, but it has to be a slam dunk.
This formula has kept me in the black for years, so I stick by it. I don't get many returns, but I also stick to a narrow product line for online sales that has low fraud(for now). High potential fraud items are face to face cash period. Having a casino luck I have to find it, infrequently find the same thing twice supply chain is completely different than getting mass produced items from a steady vendor. The same rules do not apply. Your buying on your gut, and doing market research and making decision on a different product almost every single time. Lots of people try, but over my 20 years of doing this, I've seen a handfull stay in the game. I don't think people appreciate or even realize the skill set(ruthlessness being one of them) and refining of those skills it takes to make a real living at this.
