Ebay is Becoming Ridiculously Overloaded with Sellers From All Over the World - Addressing Ebay Competition

The biggest change I have seen on Ebay since I first started 9 years ago officially in 2007, is that the competition has increased to a frightening level.  As a seasoned seller who was on top of the food chain for many years, I don't like what I am seeing.  The question is, will everyone who is listing be able to make money while Ebay is in the process of becoming ridiculously overloaded with sellers from all over the world?

I still am in the evaluation phase on this.  I now have over 10,000 positive feedback, however, it should be much greater than that.  My specialty field is baby products (you can check out my actual website, not my Ebay listings, at:  http://www.shop.nubysippycup.com  to see what I sell.) I'm not afraid of competition but I am afraid of what other sellers are doing to our online businesses, more than likely, not intentionally, but because they "think" they are making money because they are selling a few items.

In my niche, new sellers are coming onto Ebay at a rapid pace and selling items for $1 or less profit in many cases. They are lowering prices to levels that prevent most full time, seasoned sellers from being able to compete and still be in business.  This is also happening on Amazon, subsequently, where I also sell but Amazon is a whole other story in itself.  I was queen of selling one baby product for about 4 months.  In fact, between Amazon and Ebay, I sold over $10,000 a month of these baby products as a merchant seller not using FBA (fulfillment by Amazon).  We were packaging over 100 orders per day and barely able to keep up.  It was glorious for awhile.  I had to hire extra help.  I was the leading seller and I made a fair profit.  My customers were happy, I had great feedback, then BAM! in came the wholesalers.  The wholesalers and our OWN suppliers, as well as retail stores, and international sellers are now all selling on Ebay and Amazon making it nearly impossible for the average Joe to make a profit.

If you were working a full time business, would you be happy with a $1 profit?   No way.  These new, deep pocket sellers have the buying power to put many of us out of business.  Then, you have the  less experienced sellers who seem to be forgetting how much it costs to purchase poly bags, printer ink, paper, packing tape, boxes, and other materials.  They don't seem to be calculating in the gas it costs to drive to and from the postal services nor their time.  They seem to be losing money yet they continue to sell at such ridiculously low prices. 

The sad part for many of us regarding new competition is that they aren't all losing money.  Many are sellers with deep financial pockets who are able to buy up thousands of dollars in inventory directly from China or from USA manufacturers.  They make profits in various ways.  Many make a profit only through adding a $1 or two handling fee to the shipping charges and they are making money for sure.  Many sell just a few cents above cost and use items as loss leaders. 

Loss leaders are products that are selling at or below cost.  You see them all the time in grocery store ads.  They advertise a product for a penny just to get you in the door and then expect that you will not only buy the advertised product, but you will purchase other products as well.  Some offer free shipping, but when you get to their site and add on another product or two, they have handling charges that will help them make a profit or they can hike up the prices of their other items to make up for the losses on the loss leader product.  They can also sell items at near cost because they are volume sellers.  That does not help the little guy who runs a small business or who is just selling here or there and who is struggling to compete against them on any online platform.

Then you have the international sellers.  They have hit Ebay like flies on you know what.  The international field has caused Ebay to become overloaded with sellers from many countries.  I am not against anyone selling on Ebay but something is very wrong when a seller from China can take the product you are selling that costs you $5 to purchase and $2.60 to ship (actual shipping cost for 8 ounces or less USPS) and sell it for $1 or $2 with free shipping!  Granted you have to wait a few weeks to get your product from China, but if you are not in a hurry, what a deal.  People say we should support our own USA manufacturers and I agree.  The problem is, if you look on most items, you will see that they come from China or Japan or Indonesia, etc even when sold in the USA.

Ebay competition is increasing so rapidly with these international sellers that on some baby products for example, you have to scroll through the first several pages to even find a USA seller.  If you know how to use the boxes to the left  side on Ebay, you can check off USA only and that will help if you are trying to find a seller from the USA, but it looks like the international sellers are doing quite well and are selling lots of their items.  Being from China no longer seems to deter the buyers since they know that the majority of products sold in retail stores come from there anyway.

I will go into more detail on this in the next blog post.  I'm not saying that you shouldn't sell on Ebay.  I am saying that you should be prepared to deal with an excessive amount of competition when you are in a baby products niche.  Can you still sell in the baby niche and succeed?  Yes, to some extent and only if you are creative. 

That is why you need to do so much research.  You need to be able to identify a niche where there are fewer sellers and where it is less likely that you will have a ton of international competition.  Can you still succeed on Ebay these days?  Probably, but it isn't going to be the same as it was in the past and new strategies will be needed to survive all of the Ebay competition.

Where Have I Been????? Ebay Success or Failure. . . You Decide

Wow!  I looked back at this blog and saw nothing but neglect!  My original intent was to work on this blog at least once a week, but apparently that had fallen by the wayside.  That could be a good thing or a bad thing, in light of the fact that I am so busy now that I don't have time to blog.  So, I made a recommendation for the one small, inexpensive product that can help get you started.  The link is to the right.  If you have $5 it will be a fantastic investment to get a good return on your investment.  If you get the information and cannot make your $5 investment back, then you really should not do Ebay.  I will be coming back in a few days, I promise and I will give you an update on what has been going on with my account the past few years.  I now have over 10,000 feedback and growing, but I do have some new cautions and warning.  Talk to you soon.

Can You Learn How to Sell on Ebay? Yes. Here's a quick and easy way.

One of the best and easiest ways to learn to sell on Ebay is to learn from the experts.  I could say that I am an "expert" in many ways because I've been through the wringer and back again with Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, Bonanza and my own website.  It has been a long 7 years but I am finally paying my bills from a full time online business as a result.

I get so many people who want to know how to start an Ebay business, but I just don't even have the time to write my own book.  That's why I rely on experts who have a much broader area of expertise, like Skip McGrath.  I've been following his blog and information for years.  He is a wealth of information and if you really want to get started on Ebay the right way, I suggest you invest the small amount of money he is asking, into your business, so you can get started the right way.  It is an unbelievably small investment to make, so go for it.  There's even a money back guarantee.  All you will lose if your mind if you don't buy it so you can get off to a good start.  Enjoy. 

CLICK HERE FOR EBAY SELLERS RESOURCE SITE

Ebay Power Seller Success Story

Wow.  I have really neglected my ebay blog.  I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on here.  I can say that I do have a good excuse though.  I started my ebay business about 7 years ago and it has grown and blossomed and helped me to branch out into selling from many other sites as well.  I have been a power seller for several years now, but am finally making enough money to pay the bills.  Now I don't have time to blog, but still try to do it in between working.  Woo Hoo.

I am now teaching others how to do the same.  This is not an overnight success story.  It is a story of building an online business over time.  It is hard work and lots of hours but as you progress and grow your business, you can start adding staff.  That has been my big milestone this past year.  I have one near full time worker and one part time worker assisting me.  That allows me to go to my granddaughter's dance competitions or take a weekend off once in awhile or even take a week day night off.

Thanks to modern technology, I can take my business with me anywhere to keep up with correspondence and listings.  I can even take my products with me if I want to, but I would really need a big trunk so instead, I just hire someone to take over when I need a well-deserved week off.

My advice to anyone who wants to make money on Ebay is to just do it.  There is no real simple formula.  Just find a market niche that you have an interest in and do some research.   See how many people are buying the types of products you want to sell.  Find a reliable, trustworthy drop shipping company if you don't want to handle your own products (see the suggestions in my posts and on the sidebars), or find distributors to buy your products directly from if you want to have all of the control.  Since feedback is important on Ebay, making sure your dropshipping partner is reliable is all important.  You want your customers to be happy.

You might want to visit my online store which branched off as a result of my hard work on Ebay.  You can find it at http://www.shop.nubysippycup.com    The competition in this product line is fierce but after ordering online courses, reading and studying about what it takes to succeed, applying it and then just doing it, I have been able to keep up with my competition by being on the first few pages of google.  This is no easy task and takes a bit of weekly work, but it's been worth it.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope some of my articles are helpful.   I do recommend books about Ebay and other products to help get you started as I don't have time to write my own.  You can check me out on Ebay under kawasakiguy89 if you do an advanced search.  You will find the advanced search option to the right of the Ebay search bar.  Click on it and then scroll down until you see the place to put the seller's username.  Type it in and then click go or continue.  You will see all of my ebay listings. We are adding new products monthly so please come back and visit when you can.

Buying on Ebay - What Time do you Get the Best Deals

Buying on Ebay can be a great experience if you know how to search the right way.  This is going to be a short post but to the point.  To get the best deals you will want to wait until late in the day and watch for auctions that end at a strange time.  Take your timezone into consideration and look for items while most people are sleeping. 

New sellers don't always pay attention to the time they are listing their auctions.  As a result, they oftentimes will end an auction after midnight or in the middle of the night. If it's a great product with no reserve and the bid started at 99 cents, imagine what you can get!  I've gotten some great deals late at night.  

Where Should I Invest My Ebay Profits?

As a successful Ebayer, over time, you may have built up enough funds to consider investing your money outside of the Ebay business you have already built.  A consideration would be investing with investment banking firms who specialize in up and coming profitable industries.

This is an important decision that needs to be researched thoroughly in order to get the best return on your investment.  There are experts in many fields that you can consider.  Among those would be the fields of chemicals, manufacturing and engineering.  The key is to look for experts who can give you advice on how to invest and where to invest when it comes to investing in fields you are not familiar with. 

One subsector of manufacturing and engineering would be the diverse field of chemical production.  You could call on several banks to help you begin your investments into this field.  However, like anything else, as an Ebay expert, you already know it is wise to go to individuals who have specific knowledge in the area you have an interest in, to get the best advise. 

Instead of considering contacting a generalist bank that offers many diverse products, it would be more worthwhile to consider working with investment banking experts who exist specifically to guide you on mergers and acquisitions and investing in the future of worldwide chemical products.  They concentrate on the chemical field so that you don't have to be an expert to invest outside of your own areas of expertise.  You will want to rely on a firm that has many years of experience in the field of chemical investment banking and chemical mergers and acquisitions to provide the best advice. 

A firm you should research is the Valence Group.  You can find information on all of their successes by visiting their website http://www.valencegroup.com/.  They have a staff of experts who have dedicated their careers to studying the latest trends in chemical mergers and acquisitions and can provide you with the knowledge and proof of successfully completed investments among other areas you may have an interest in over time. 

This may be a field that you have never even heard of, but everyone knows that chemicals are a very important commodity globally.  It is certainly an area to consider as the field continues to grow and develop with new discoveries being made every day.

Top Ebay Brand Recognition Research for Ebay Products

Just like any major brand name, as you become more advanced in selling on Ebay, you will want to develop brand recognition for your existing Ebay products or begin to expand and search out new and exciting products for your customers.

One of the ways to do this is to find the best market research software to help you gather competitive intelligence so that you do not waste time and money on products that have no potential long term value.

Anyone can sell anything on Ebay.  The successful sellers build a business around a market niche.  A niche is simply a brand or brands of products that are closely related to one another.  For example, if an Ebay seller likes shoes, they may want to sell just tennis shoes.  They may find that carrying too many kinds of tennis shoes is a burden because they can only afford to keep so many in stock as they prefer to order from a distributor instead of a drop shipper so they can control the entire sales process.  They choose a brand of shoe to sell but find out that their sales are not as brisk as they want them to be.  They start to do some research on their own to find out why, but never really catch on.

Companies like thinkpassenger.com who are already experienced in the area of competitive intelligence would be able to help this person develop their brand, market it and promote it.  It would save time and money in the long run and bring in more focused and targeted sales.  Even though there is a cost up front, if the Ebay seller is truly looking to reach a goal in a specific niche over time, this may be a great way to start their business.  Do the research first and save yourself time and money.