Is Selling on EBay Still Profitable in 2008?

Thank you for reading this article! Let me first say that this article is written as of September 2008. As you all know, America is suffering from the largest economic crisis in decades. According to CNN news, over 159,000 jobs were cut this year and internet spending is clearly down at the moment. With that being said our focus today is on the auction giant “eBay”. With over 147 million members worldwide eBay is currently the largest and most popular auction site in the world. I myself was once a member of this auction site, however, escalating fees and unreasonable new policies have drove me and thousands more away from eBay. It seems that more and more people are becoming aware of eBay’s shortcomings, but the question is:

Is selling on eBay still profitable in our current economy where retail and even internet spending is declining?

Well, to answer that question you have to ask yourself a question! Are you prepared to pay eBay’s fees whether your items sell or not? eBay charges a host of fees including, insertion fees, starting price fees, “buy it now” fees as well as fees for special features like highlighted borders and featured gallery. If your item does not sell, you are still responsible to pay these charges. A poll conducted by Thesellingwizard.com revealed that 54% of auction items listed on eBay receive no bids and thus do not sell. According to Auctiva.com(A partner site of ebay), 60% of fixed price(Buy it now) items don’t sell either.

This doesn’t mean that you have no chance of making a great income on eBay, it just means that it will not be easy. There are many sellers who make a great 5 and even 6 figure income from selling on eBay. These sellers are called “powersellers”. Many of these powersellers will tell you that they began their eBay journey when eBay first opened it’s doors in 1995. Ebay was a very different place in those days. In the nineties you were free to sell whatever you wanted with very few restrictions. There was also great customer service then due to the fact that eBay hadn’t grown so large yet. All in all, eBay has changed and the site has become over-saturated with sellers. If you browse the collectibles section you will find over 2 million listings. If you’re looking for an Ipod in electronics, you have your choice of over 94 thousand listings. The idea of being able to make a great income from the comfort of your home was too good for the common dreamer to resist. eBay offered just that, a great way to make extra money from home. Over the years, many people have jumped on the eBay band wagon and eBay is now overcrowded.

Let’s talk a little about Dave Espino’s “auctions for income” system.

You may have seen the 2am infomercial on TV but does it work? I have reviewed his system and 90% of what I read and watched on his dvd’s were realistic and informative but not geared toward eBay’s present policies. His student’s claim that they earn $100,000, $200,000 and one claims that she made $1.2 million. I wonder if they are talking profits or just total overall sales! Dave’s students tell you how much money they made, but not when they made it. From experience I know that they must have started selling on eBay before eBay became so oversaturated with sellers. Keep this in mind, if you are a new seller, eBay now limits the amount of items you can sell as well as what types of payments you can accept. Dave’s course would have you to believe that you can read his book, watch his dvd and just start making piles of money on eBay. This is not true! eBay fully regulates the amount of money you can make and eBay has actually instituted a new policy in which the money you make is held for up to 21 days after the end of your sale(For new members). eBay is also instituting a new policy in November that will no longer allow sellers to accept checks or money orders as a form of payment for their items. This means that you will have to use PayPal which is owned by eBay or some other electronic type of payment. eBay claims that this policy is to promote safety but savvy sellers know that this just means more money for PayPal and ultimately more money for eBay. I recommend that anyone looking to join eBay as a seller check out http://www.powersellersunite.com. This is a site created by some of eBay’s top powersellers to discuss their displeasure with what eBay has become.

In summary, eBay has become very crowded with sellers(This means that you will have a lot of competition!) and the amount of items you can sell is regulated by eBay’s policies. Before you will make any real money on eBay, you also have to build a good reputation of positive feedback. This will take take time seeing that eBay has new policies on this aspect of their site as well. As a former eBay seller I suggest that sellers do their research and try their hands at building a website of their own. It will take time and you will experience trial and error as you go along but it’s worth it. Thank you for taking the time to read my article, my next article will be “5 alternatives to eBay”.

Here are a few resources to help you along the way.

There was a lot that that I couldn’t mention in this little article but you can also go to http://www.youtube.com and just type in the word “eBay” and you will see many informative videos and true stories of eBay members as well as some hilarious eBay parodies. You can also go to Google.com and type in “eBay”.