The best-selling items on eBay… why YOU shouldn’t sell them
March 4, 2008
Looking for best-selling items on eBay so you can cash in on their popularity? Well stop shooting yourself in the foot!The trouble with jumping on the eBay best-selling items bandwagon is that tons of other people have the same idea. These markets are already saturated - making it very difficult to turn a profit.
DVDs and consumer electronics, for example, are two totally saturated markets on eBay. You can still enter these markets, and you may even be able to sell lots of these products. But to earn a decent full-time or even part-time income, you’d need to find a supplier who can sell you items at rock-bottom prices!
That’s because you’ll be competing with PowerSellers - seasoned eBay merchants who have built up a big customer base, earned a good reputation, and established long-term relationships with suppliers. Not only that, but because they sell so much product, they can afford to sell at lower prices.
So how do you avoid falling into the "hot products" trap?
Instead of duking it out with the heavyweights for best-selling eBay items, start focusing on your own areas of expertise, then find products that relate to them. For example, if you already know a lot about baseball cards and have collected them in the past, think about collecting cards relating to other sports. Even though you may not know as much about those other subjects, you DO know a lot about what collecting the cards means to people, how to source cards, how to build collections, and so on. So your learning curve will be much easier than if you jump into a completely new category.
Here’s how you find profitable products related to your interest areas:
- Start by identifying your top five areas of interest. Keep in mind that the more you know about these areas, the easier it will be to share your enthusiasm and establish credibility - which will help you sell more items for a higher price. (And who doesn’t want that?)
- Cut back your list to the three areas you know the most about to narrow your focus and cut back on your research time.
- Brainstorm a list of 5 to 10 related products for each area. The more specific you can be about your product, the easier your research will be. If your top category is soccer, for example, your list might include "Nike soccer cleats," "goalie gloves," "size 5 soccer balls," or "referee whistles."
Once you’ve built a list of specific products related to your interest areas, you can use them as a jumping-off point for further research using advanced eBay research tools. (The absolute BEST third-party eBay tool we use here at IMC is Terapeak. Our team of Advanced eBay Mentors use it to help clients find crucial information like product demand compared to the amount and type of competition, as well as the average selling price and the sell-through rate for similar items.)
That’s all there is to it! Instead of wasting valuable hours searching for "best-selling" items on eBay in markets you can’t possibly compete in, find a niche you know something about and lay the groundwork for your own highly profitable eBay business.
Photo by liewcf on Flickr. Some rights reserved
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This is great that anyone can make good sums of money Selling on Ebay business online. Looking for best-selling items on eBay so you can cash in on their popularity? Well stop shooting yourself in the foot! The trouble with jumping on the eBay best-selling items bandwagon is that tons of other people have the same idea. These markets are already saturated - making it very difficult to turn a profit. I recommend that ebay is the best online business that money can be earned easily.
hello Derek,
I am really inerested in becoming one of your members. I would like to get more information on earning money on EBAY.
Hi my name is faith oduah. I have been finding it very difficuty to find something to sell on e-bay. I don’t have any idea to open a website, could you help me in life, pls, pls. Your reward will not be on earth , but the almighty God will contiuning abide in you, and your family. If you want to contact me my phone is 07960082902. Godbless you!
Aloha Derek and IMC Professionals,
Thank you for the great information you pass on to the “Small-Time” internet entrepreneur wanna bees like me. I read just about everything that is listed in your newsletters and apply those principals in my own eBay store and auctions and get in return, a generous amount of traffic and sales but not as I would like them to be.
Yes, I do agree that in your story about “Best Selling-What not to Sell” in the electronics field is somewhat accurate with 52% in my favor taking on these bigtime powersellers and sellers with the best suppliers. I will tell you this, by applying some of your principals and some through research using Tera and another great research tool I use Adva***t A**** Se*f**** (trying not to give up too much my my techniques) I was able to break into and become a PowerSeller myself in a short time.
It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I received that email from eBay telling me that I made it… and in such a short time…3 months to be exact because my sales were based on that average. The traffic through my site was unbelievable and I was competing with the Big Boys & Girls.
But then!!! reality set in!!! I would have to be even more cautious of my sales, item description, customer service, listing, shipping cost & speed, reliability, dependability, Quality, Communication, feedbacks, and the infamous, DSR and everything else to stay here in the land of the few. and that becomes as basis of my post here.
Finding a Niche for ebay is like trying to count the stars up above during daylight! It can only be done with the use of special tools and techniques that are changing every day. How do I redirect myself when it become harder as competition is always on your heels? I know that tactic many use and like you said, “Go to those listings and see what is making them successful”. well, I’ll put it to you this way, after I have listed my items I’ll have 40+ watchers on that listing but only 4-6 buyers are actually competing… go figure!
Then it dawned on me, these watcher, I can only assume are there to see similar products that I am selling and the headlines I used to generate those high number of potential buyers. Even though it’s not rocket science, I understand how search tips can be used against you and before you know it, your listing become Hi-Jacked for it’s keywords and redirecting my potential buyers. I don’t worry much because most people using ebay to make purchases will either return because my feedback rating is high and so is my DSR’s.
With the use of that simple tool, the other sellers now begin the process of lowering their cost, changing shipping and headlines, to create a better bargain to beat you. Shame shame I say because now my market niche is saturated with other sellers selling their wares at dealer cost and stealing your buyer only to be hurting the rest of us.
I know I can do much better so I’ll be watching and learning!
Mahalo, Derek