How to Find an Opportunity Selling on eBay

Many people who get into selling on eBay start going to garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets, and consignment stores. They look for items that they see YouTubers like myself are selling. For example, I love to sell books. I love to sell clothing. But when these new sellers go out, they may not find those items. Then they are left thinking, “Clothing doesn’t work for me. Books don’t work for me. I see other YouTubers selling these things, but I can’t find them. What’s going on?”

You need to know your area and know your opportunities. This took me a while to figure out. It is a combination of where you live and your knowledge base.

Click To Watch This Video On YouTube…

Every Area Has Its Unique Opportunities
You need to understand that each geographical area is going to have its own opportunities. So you’ve got to start visiting your thrift stores. You’ve got to start visiting your garage sales. You’ve got to take a look and figure out what will be your opportunity. It may or may not be clothing. For example, if you live in a college town or have a university nearby, there’s a good chance that you can make an absolute killing selling books on Amazon.

If you live in a town like Austin, Texas, you are going to find a lot of sporting equipment and fitness and health-related items because in Austin people are health conscious and spend time outside being active. They’re working out. They’re exercising. If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, you might have a great chance to buy North Face, Patagonia, snowboards, and similar cold-weather items.

You need to understand what opportunities you do or don’t have. It’s great to watch videos of the many amazing YouTubers out there buying and selling various items. But you’ve got to learn what works best for you.

Go Out There and Experiment
Look around. Each thrift store is going to be different. Each garage sale is going to be different. Some thrift stores have fill-a-bag sales where you could load up. Some thrift stores are outlets, and it’s a weigh-and-pay system. You might have an amazing opportunity to buy and sell ties. I love selling ties on eBay. But some thrift stores are going to charge six bucks a tie, and that may not be the opportunity for you.

All the different selling sites—eBay, Amazon, craigslist, Poshmark, and so on—have so many categories that you can mess with, from books to clothing to electronics to sporting items. In fact, just look around your house. Look at your appliance. Look at your furniture. Look at your clothing. Look in your hall closet. All these things have opportunities.

Say you have a suitcase in your closet. You look it up, and it’s not selling for a lot. That doesn’t mean you should avoid all suitcases. I can guarantee you that tons of suitcase —whether they’re rare or vintage or specific brands—will sell for awesome profits.

Take the time to learn what is selling, and then take that leap forward and start experimenting in your geographical location to figure out where your opportunities are. What items are being underpriced and undervalued at these thrift stores? What are people just giving away? What types of items could you come in and grab for a lower price, put on eBay or Amazon, and flip for a hundred-dollar profit? There are so many opportunities out there, but you’ve got to go out there and work. You’ve got to go out there and grind. Study up. Research. Learn what’s selling.

Find Out What Works
The resources are available. Just go out there, figure out what works for you, and scale the heck out of it. That’s the best advice I can give you. Scale what is working. If you can’t find clothing, stop worrying about clothing. If you can’t find books, push that category aside. But if you notice that electronics are abundant where you live and they’re selling really well, go for that.

If you’re struggling, if you’re challenged right now to find the right items, go out there and open up your eyes to different opportunities that you may not be accustomed to. I can tell you right now that it doesn’t matter where you live, there is an opportunity. You just have to find it.