Secrets of the eBay

220 Secrets of the eBay Millionaires
anything unless I research it first on eBay. I still find new suppliers today.
It’s a consistent, constant search on my end, because DVDs are a massively
popular product. eBay provides you with a unique opportunity to find out
what something sells for, nationwide. So always do your research.”
Like many of eBay’s most active sellers, eBay’s own price increases
have forced Harmon to look beyond eBay to sell merchandise. “eBay’s
price increases for eBay Stores hurt tremendously. Now it costs us more
to do the same thing. For someone like myself who has 130,000 items in
store, when they take dead aim at you, you have to say, ‘OK, eBay is
a large portion of the business, but it can no longer be the only portion
of the business.’ A lot of the larger sellers are launching web sites, and we
are launching a web site, too.”
“Everyone Gets Burned Trying to Find New Suppliers”
If finding suppliers is the key to doing business on eBay, how does one find
a reputable source of merchandise? “That’s very difficult,” Harmon admits.
“You have to do a lot of testing. There are a lot of dos and don’ts for finding
a new contact. If they want payment up front or wire transfer up front, I would
suggest not going with them.
“Believe it or not, a lot of suppliers are already selling on eBay,” he adds.
“I can look up their feedback on eBay. It’s very tough, everyone gets burned
trying to get new suppliers. If you can’t get them on the phone, that’s not
a good thing. If you can’t see images of their products online, that’s not
good, either. You have to be very careful that you are getting a legitimate
product. Buy 10 things to try them out, or ask them for some samples first.
That way, if you get burned, you’re not out a lot of money.”
It’s interesting to note that, even though Harmon has a lot of competition in the
CD/DVD category on eBay, he is on friendly terms with some of his competitors.
“In my category one of the biggest sellers is Glacier Bay DVD. Randy from Glacier Bay
and I talk almost every day. We’re very friendly competitors.” It’s not unusual to be able
to communicate with competitors in your category on eBay. You can find them in eBay’s
Category-Specific Chat Rooms, for instance (http://pages.ebay.com/community/chat/
index.html). You might also meet them at gatherings like eBay Live. Don’t shy away from
such meetings; it’s always useful to compare notes and share ideas about what sells and
what doesn’t in your chosen area.
Managing Sales with Special Software: Jon Stein
The dog house is a good place to be on eBay, especially if you’re in Jake’s
Dog House. Jake is the yellow Labrador retriever who was owned by Jon
Stein and his family. Jon named his business after Jake back in 1995. Today,