How to Ebay

So, as someone who does a fair amount of eBaying, a few
observations. There are ways to make money, if you're into that.

1. Large lots. Find what you specialize in, know about, can value, like, think you can sell, something. It almost doesn't matter what. Then, obviously, check the unit price. I've found, say, 12 Mcfarlane Dorothy figures for, I dunno, $125. I can sell them all day long for $35 plus shipping. Most of them were going for around $45.

2. Mixed lots. For what I fool with, classic game carts, mixed lots can be a real boon. Most people collect for a few systems at best. So there might be a cart or three in there they want, but not enough to buy a bunch of stuff they don't want. Because they're not resellers. So I got nearly forty carts for $50. Three of them alone, for the Tandy Color Computer, a system I don't collect for, are worth $30-$40, together. Granted, this might not apply to any field out there, but it certainly works in my case.

3. Lowball. I find that it doesn't hurt to just bid the minimum, or a few dollars more than that, on a lot of stuff. You won't get all of it, but you definitely will get some of it, and always at a great price. It's pretty low to no risk.

4. For non-video game stuff, I know a woman who, among other things, does extreme low-balling. She finds all the auctions that are ending where the people miscalculated, and started with, say, an opening bid of a penny, and free shipping... She doesn't get everything she bids on, but she can make $100 stretch a LONG way, a penny at a time. Then she resells it for whatever in her flea market shop. And they actually lose money in the process. Oh, well.

5. Get a store. It's less than $20 a month. Plan on keeping it forever, expense-wise. But I think you can sell 100 items from the basic store. You should be able to make at least that much from sales in a month, or you're simply not trying. But it is slow to build traffic, which is why the sooner you start building a presence, the better.

Anyway, I got an unopened case of Colecovision River Raid carts, and shrink-wrapped Gremlins for the Apple 2. Holla.