"The big challenge is, where to buy those items, at a low enough price to cover all the costs here."
I totally agree with that. As soon as you find a place to buy at a low enough price, other people follow!
This is especially true for online auctions advertised on EBay to participate in. Do not get caught up in a bidding war thinking that you're still getting a 'deal' at an auction! My experience has been that maybe you will win the item because that's the highest price anyone should ever pay for the item and reselling it on ebay won't get a higher price. This is true for Gold Jewelry, Native American Jewelry and Laddro items. I've had better luck with paintings . . . but they tend to hang around (sorry for the pun) for about 6 months until sold. Some things just won't sell because they are too nitch. Also what I've noticed is that some nitch items have a better chance being sold to certain parts of the country. Some antiques do well being sold to South Eastern United States; whereas some other type of anitque being sold to North Eastern United States. Because of this, postage costs has to be taken into consideration to determine if there is any profit to be made.
My experience so far shows that items that weight below 16 oz do best in terms of price and how quickly they go out my front door. Also, surprisingly it isn't things that I thought that had value that matters . . .it's what other people perceive as having value. And for some time, Silver items, talking pure silver .9999 silver items (not Sterling Silver) but coins, bullion, sell because they have a perceived value of being worth money, a store of wealth, and good to have in times of uncertainty. A lot of people on Ebay want things on the cheap, but they will pay for things have true and lasting value.
The question as the prior comment suggests is just Where to buy something to resell it. The problem with the answer is that even if you find a place, or have some things you want to sell, there probably is someone on EBay selling similar items that has a HUGE selection to offer to the public and can essentially be 'market makers' of the item! Just look at the Crystal items being offered by some folks in China! They start their auctions at a super low price and charge FREE SHIPPING from CHINA! How can anyone else compete against that? Or how about a few folks that sell Native American Jewelry starting at super low prices (.99 cents) . . .. and have so much stuff there's no end in site. One can't compete against someone that can set the market for price. You can only offer your stuff and hope someone will like yours more than yours, but it all comes down to price.
