Scavenger Life Episode 230: Does It Matter What You Sell On eBay?

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Does it matter what I sell on eBay? How do I make the most money? How can I quit my job and live the good life? All common questions. The answer is not always so easy.

It’s obviously smart to sell items that are easy and cheap to find. When we started selling on eBay, we sold clothes. Lots and lots and lots of clothes. We had a couple thrift shops where we could buy clothes by the bagful for pennies on the dollar. It was a lot of work, but we also had a very low investment so could afford to make mistakes and still make money.

As we evolved as online sellers, we definitely felt the stress of “always be listing” in order to make a decent income. It started to feel like a job we didn’t like. As one smart listener said, we created a sweatshop for ourselves. We were finding items to sell for cheap, but we were also not making much profit on each item.

Plus, it felt boring. We knew what each day would be like. No surprises. If we’re bored, we don’t work as hard. If we don’t work as hard, don’t list as much. If we don’t list as much, we don’t make money. If we don’t make money, we have to start searching for a job where we work for someone else who tells us what to do.

This is why we began focusing on selling items that we enjoyed scavenging, researching, AND listing. In a country with so much excess and waste, why not treat it like an actual Treasure Hunt? We began digging and searching and having fun finding weird items that most people overlooked. We enjoyed learning about the history and use of these items. And we realized that many of these items would often make us a higher profit margin. But in the end, the most important thing is that we enjoyed what we did.

So does it matter what you sell on eBay? Yes and no. Everything sells. It’s relatively easy to be a successful online seller for short periods of time. The key is finding a way to make sure you enjoy the process day in and day out. Month after month. Year after year.

Our Store Week November 22-28, 2015