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The Marketplace => Selling Venues => eBay => Topic started by: MovieMan on January 21, 2014, 11:45:05 PM

Title: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: MovieMan on January 21, 2014, 11:45:05 PM
While the east coast is suffering a lot of snow and cold, I took advantage of a sunny, 68 degree day in the central valley of California; we're about 10 degrees above normal and have gone 45 days without rain...that could be a problem this summer.

I took 270 pictures of 17 items; I take two pics of each "pose" or "angle" and then choose the best one later on the computer for posting on eBay. Each of these items are ending up with an average of 5 to 8 pics.
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: dbr831 on January 22, 2014, 08:06:07 AM
Yep, gotta love our California weather.
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on January 23, 2014, 10:45:11 AM
id recommend using the full 12 pictures or whatever is the max. yeah i agree its probably not necessary and even if the pics are repetitive more pics equals better performance in best match searches
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: MovieMan on January 23, 2014, 04:25:01 PM
id recommend using the full 12 pictures or whatever is the max. yeah i agree its probably not necessary and even if the pics are repetitive more pics equals better performance in best match searches

Twelve is the max for THEIR approach but you could put in 50 in html if you wanted to within the text portion of your listing.  When I DO use 20 to 30 pics in the html section I DO use all twelve pics in their section, but look at the next example when 2 pics will do.

An item showing through in a plastic bag. Pic one taken from the front. Pic two taken from the back of the bag where item is described on a white background. Are you going to take 12 pics of that? Nope.

Speaking of which, it's hard for me to imagine you taking 12 pics for that great selling stuff that is bringing in $20K net to you each month on eBay.  ;D
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on January 25, 2014, 09:19:44 AM
you take 12 pics whether needed or not because it doesn't matter if they are needed, what matters is having the full 12 pictures gives you the full juice you can get from ebays cassini search. and yes i do take pictures and post the full 12 in my listings.

 also, movieman you've made a couple comments to me seemingly doubting my ebay numbers or expertise so ill attach a screenshot for you.
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: MovieMan on January 25, 2014, 09:25:19 AM
you take 12 pics whether needed or not because it doesn't matter if they are needed, what matters is having the full 12 pictures gives you the full juice you can get from ebays cassini search. and yes i do take pictures and post the full 12 in my listings.

 also, movieman you've made a couple comments to me seemingly doubting my ebay numbers or expertise so ill attach a screenshot for you.

That's good proof !  A little short of the quarter million I thought it would be, but still VERY GOOD.  I also commented in past posts that you've come along way from the days several years ago when your hot products were a coin sorter made from mostly wood, and the copper ingots you used to sell on eBay....not to mention the Vietnamese Dong.

All it takes is one good line of products.  Do I remember properly that your net is about 20%.  What does that amount to in gross sales to get that kind of net ?



Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on January 25, 2014, 09:44:53 AM
ill be honest my partner is more the numbers guy im more the web/marketing/customer service end. my business is kind of down lately though still happy with where things are. ebay has instituted some new policies which limit how many listings i can put up and amounts and thats affected my search ranking and sales.

our numbers have been all over the place in terms of margins. i was always making like 8% margins but with holds and volume id run out of cash to operate iwth pretty quickly so had to find cheaper suppliers raise prices so I'm making 20% margins, cost me some business actually quite a bit but with bigger margins cashflow didn't take as big a hit as you'd expect.

occasionally however just to keep search ranking and market share would sell at prices i was not losing money on the net but losting money when taking into consideration holds and fees just to stay on top.

ive had to limit my inventory as well as my larger listings because the holds just get to be too big. ive had to go groveling to paypal to please release my money to pay taxes and buy inventory and fortunately they've kind of broken policy and helped me out a little more than they should have probably.

sucks because im having to turn away business and even having a lesser presence on ebay due to these issues which allows competitors to come in and steal some of my marketshare though im still on top. also doesn't help my wholesaler who used to be only wholesale is now competing with me on ebay lol and how can i beat his prices when i get supplied by him.

overall though things should be on an upswing soon my holds are finally starting to be released as of a few days from now. at that point its basically only profits ebay will be keeping ill still have my funds to operate with.

basically the past 3 months has been kind of treading water just tryin to stay afloat til my cashflow was better which it is now so can go back to more competitive pricing, more offerings, more listings, etc and get back to my old numbers.
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: alloro on January 25, 2014, 09:56:43 AM
also, movieman you've made a couple comments to me seemingly doubting my ebay numbers or expertise so ill attach a screenshot for you.

If you can Photoshop in a couple of red arrows, then you certainly can Photoshop in some numbers. ;)
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on January 25, 2014, 02:48:58 PM
If you can Photoshop in a couple of red arrows, then you certainly can Photoshop in some numbers. ;)


im making bank so i guess i could really care less whether anyone believes me or not but you need to understand the difference between photoshop and screenshots. its pretty clear everything in text is paypal text and pretty clear the arrows were added after the fact using jing. i have better things to do than spend time photoshopping paypal records. why dont i just give you my paypal login and you can go in and check for yourself lol
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: MovieMan on January 27, 2014, 12:48:39 PM


why dont i just give you my paypal login and you can go in and check for yourself lol

We would settle for your eBay seller's name.

Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on February 03, 2014, 06:52:44 PM
We would settle for your eBay seller's name.


seller name and you got my niche so no thanks. i will tell you silver is where im making my money now. the top silver seller on ebay did almost a million dollars in sale just this past week. many other sellers making hundreds of thousands. silver is the hottest category on ebay right now, i actually got a call from an ebay rep the other day saying hey i saw you sold silver in the past do you have any to sell right now? if so list it its the hottest ebay category.

i dont mind sharing that as there's plenty of business to be spread around, also to seriously get into selling silver you need at least 12k probably more like 30k plus, and on top of it its tough to find a reliable source who's consistant
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: MovieMan on February 03, 2014, 07:08:06 PM


seller name and you got my niche so no thanks. i will tell you silver is where im making my money now.

I'm sure you know I didn't expect you to actually tell us your "niche" product. 

So, you're making money selling silver now. Bet it beats the heck out of those copper ingots of the past !  ;D
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on February 04, 2014, 08:44:45 AM
if you got about 12k you can get into the silver game, just order from tulving or gainsville coins. pay a fair spread but still leaves plenty of room to make some money on ebay. only problem is cc is the only way to pay instantly and obviously you pay teh processin fees. if you want to send a check they have like a 7-10 day turn around time
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: luke on February 04, 2014, 10:06:10 AM
Yeah the markup on silver on ebay is crazy, but people pay it. I see it all the time, they buy from online sites and just re-sell on ebay..


12k gets you a monster box, which is discounted..
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: Travis on February 04, 2014, 11:43:43 AM
So, if you purchase a monster box for 11-12K, how much profit can you make reselling it on eBay?
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on February 04, 2014, 12:04:29 PM
travis, really depends alot on silverprices. what throws things off is there's often a turnaround time of 7-10 days so silver prices can change alot in that time. i was dealing with a lady for a while who was getting me monster boxes for $1 over spot. for a while it was good. my margins were so good i didn't even bother selling on ebay, Id pay her a dollar over spot then run to the coinshop where they would cut me a check for $2-$3.50 over spot so i making like $1500 just driving to the coinshop. well this lady said she was hooked up with the mint, she lied, turned out she had a friend who owned a coinshop and was buying in from the public. she oversold and i would have to wait a week or two to get my shipments. in that time silver went from like $28 an ounce to about $21 an ounce and i got hammered. lost most of my profits from the previous weeks but still was up a bit.

one thing i do notice on ebay is ebay prices take about 5 days to catch up with teh market so if silver prices go up you will not reap those rewards if they crash you got a few days to dump your silver before prices go up.

you need at least 12k or 13k to get into this  business as you have to buy a monster box if not a few. some people also choose to get their box graded beofre selling it. as long as you get some decent graded coins you wind up making alot more, if you got crap coins you lose money as its not cheap to get stuff graded
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on February 04, 2014, 12:05:37 PM
if anyone wants to try out silver on ebay but doesn't have cash for a monster box id be happy to sell tubes of 20 although its not going to be at teh same prices  you'd get dropping 12k on a monster box your gonna pay a premium for not buying real bulk
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: luke on February 04, 2014, 01:11:14 PM
I stack silver, I have many deposit boxes filled up at the bank, I just keep adding to them and getting new boxes..

If you have any of these..

perthmint.com.au/catalogue/gods-of-olympus-zeus-2014-2oz-silver-high-relief-coin.aspx

I'll buy them from you..
Title: Re: Took Pictures for eBay
Post by: rulesforrebels on February 04, 2014, 02:41:55 PM
I stack silver, I have many deposit boxes filled up at the bank, I just keep adding to them and getting new boxes..

If you have any of these..

perthmint.com.au/catalogue/gods-of-olympus-zeus-2014-2oz-silver-high-relief-coin.aspx

I'll buy them from you..

thanks for posting that, ill have to look into these zeuss coins. typically i only deal with eagles as coinshops will pay $1-$3 over for eagles but everything else your lucky to get spot from them. really the only specialty coins i deal with are the silver pandas but i was looking for other specialty coins iwth decent markups i could sell. if i come across any of these ill let you know