Snipping on eBay as way of sourcing – only pros, no cons?

I do not source on eBay, but I understand that many people do. Several weeks ago, Jay and Ryanne mentioned that they source from a seller on eBay that seems to put items up way too low. They mentioned that they use a sniping app to put in a last minute bid. Perhaps one of them will answer your question better than I can.

I find that I can source very easily through auctions and garage sales, and I just don’t have the need yet to flip through eBay. I think it could be a very efficient place to source especially if you set up a search for your BOLOs. BOLO is “be on the look out”, and it means the items that you look for because you know that they sell well.

Ostap, I snipe on eBay quite often. I have a buying account different than my selling account. Even if you use the same account, I don’t think this type of seller will notice. And even if they do, so what?

The best sniping targets are the lower quality and amateur sellers; listings with bad pictures, vague or wrong descriptions, etc. So the other negatives to that strategy include the issues that arise from buying from unprofessional sellers. I have experienced very late shipping (and having to open a case just to get them to ship), items arriving damaged due to poor packaging, hidden major defects never mentioned or pictured in the listing, etc.

The other big negative is simply the time you’ve wasted sniping an item when you don’t win it. But compared to the time one takes driving around to source locally, it’s not so bad.

We occasionally buy from other eBay sellers. I follow some sellers who sometimes list incredible items for cheap. Like you said, they use auctions and allow items to be bought for cheap cheap cheap.

There’s no downside to this other than having to also pay for the shipping. This kind of scavenging couldnt be a longterm business model because we wouldnt be able to find enough items with a high enough profit margin. Its just fun.

We recorded a conversation with a guy who buys gold coins on eBay, and resells on eBay: https://www.scavengerlife.com/2014/08/scavenger-life-episode-138-how-to-make/
Sounds like he’s spends a lot of time online searching for auctions so it doesnt make life easier. Just different.

I used to buy vintage Matchboxes (toy cars) online and resell them for profit. I would generally get 3 to 5 times what I paid, but in the end it was far too time consuming to make sense as a long time strategy.

We have done the eBay flip sometimes ourselves. Not easy, but sometimes fun when just sitting around…

We used to snipe factory auto and truck repair manuals on eBay and send them to FBA. Mostly a slow dime method of operating, but there was a good ROI. Stopped doing this after FBA storage rates and fees went up so high.

I received a one dollar offer on one of my items and I was complaining to my son about it. He said maybe it’s someone who spends all day putting in one dollar offers on buy it now items with make an offer. We laughed, as it would be a huge time suck, but maybe, just maybe once in a while you might get something real cheap…

I have sniped a lens or two and you have to be careful to be certain that you are bidding on the lens you think you are bidding on. For instance, Canon has a 100mm f2.8 USM and a 100 mm f2.8L. They are $100s apart in price and it is impossible to do an eBay search that does not pull both in. Examples similar to this are the norm rather then the exception.

Setting up a snipe on an underpriced “L” lens, I have had the experience of realizing it is not the “L” lens, but the regular lens and that is why it is underpriced. Good thing about snipes is that you can check and recheck your work.

I snipe for personal items, like clothes or shoes, and only buy them cheaply. Then if they don’t fit me, or aren’t comfortable I know I can always flip them for more. Just got a nice jacket the other day for $8 shipped. I was the only bidder. I can turn around and sell it for $30 if it doesn’t fit. I’d rather resell than return and so I’ve resold several pairs of shoes.

I haven’t had luck at all with sniping for personal items. The auctions tend to go higher than the BIN prices for things I’m looking for. I’ll try a few auctions but I always end up making offers on BIN items and get better prices than waiting on auctions.