How do people make tons of money on eBay?

[TheWizardOfMudd]

I heard a guy say he was making $100,000 a year!

[flowomo]

1. they sell tons of stuff I guess

[larryepke]

2. I think it's more likely...

he's making money by telling other people how to make money on eBay!

[Deja Q]

9. Agreed

Those guys are scam artists.

They show you their balance sheet and tell you how to do the same. Of course, they know you're not as good with your mouth as they are and, of course, the potential market.

It's all hogwash, at least for the majority of people, these get-rich-quick schemes.

[cheezus]

3. fencing stolen goods

the markup is pretty good when the items were free

[Dookus]

4. I suppose

you could make money by going to lots of yard sales, buying crap, and reselling it on ebay. 100k seems like a lot, though, and seems like a lot of work.

But there's no question people will pay a lot for junk on ebay.

[Catholic Sensation]

5. by lying in commercials

and getting paid for appearing in the commercial

[TheWizardOfMudd]

7. No!

The guy was a caller on Bruce Williams' show asking what the chances were the IRS was going to catch him! Heh.

[Speck Tater]

6. I make a couple hundred a week on ebay in my spare time

buying and selling used books.

[Deja Q]

8. Well, those who bought Arnie for $80 on ebay got screwed...

http://www.bosleybobbers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BB0054

I don't know whether or not to laugh or cry.

Cry because it's a swindle.

Laugh because people find the system acceptable. :eyes:

[okieinpain]

10. I've bought some computer stuff on ebay, that I could not find locally.

you probably can make a nice piece of change, maybe even a lot if it's your full time job, and you really get into it. to me it's like a flea market.

[stinkeefresh]

11. I have a friend who is an expert on _______

he knows, just by looking at a pic of a _____ whether its the kind that's worth $200 or $5. So do a lot of people. What my friend does that others don't is search for items that are misspelled or otherwise poorly listed. He then buys them for a song and resells them, listed properly, for far more than he paid, often in the same week.

poorly listed items don't get seen by most people on ebay (because they're listed poorly, of course!) therefore, they don't bring in the amount they should. taking advantage of the "listing gap" can be very profitable, but only if you have a field of expertise and want to spend all day ebaying.

(blanks are so you won't compete specifically in my friend's field. he'd kick my ass.)