It has been a pretty long time since the last time that I did some project updates on the different ventures that I am working on, so I thought it was about time that I started putting together some new ones. I’ll be updating you all on my eBay business, my website design and development business, and other side projects. Today, I’ll be touching on the eBay business, Radford Auctions.
Over the past few months, I have really been comtemplating what I wanted to do with this business. When I launched Radford Auctions with my partner back in 2007 it was an opportunity for us to learn about starting a business, expanding on something we knew (eBay), and also making money. We started out with the consignment store mentality where we would sell other peoples items for them. My friend had previous experience working with a buddy who ran Shooting Authority, so we went with the camping niche. We quickly learned that unless we put some money into the advertising of the business and invested in some software, that we would not be able to do it as effectively as we wanted. Instead, we kept with that idea, but made it a second focus of the business. Our first focus became purchasing inventory and reselling on eBay. I quickly scooped up lots of rock climbing equipment and camping equipment that we sold on eBay seperately.
From there, we expanding into offering brand new products that I purchased from the manufacturers. This worked out very well for us! However, our product line was not as expansive as we wanted so we started looking for other options. Now we are dealing with three different manufacturers of outdoor equipment and looking to add a forth in the next month. This has expanded our opportunities greatly! By now selling more products, we have been able to make a significant amount of more money. Our profits on products went from being a couple dollars to $20+ dollars on each auction. With this strategy, we have also been able to increase our overall sales figures per month and are quickly approaching becoming a Power Seller. I need to have sales of $1000 per month, for three months in a row to achieve the status and then maintain that. Now that I am selling a lot of items that range in values of $50 – $150, this should not be too much of a hurdle to jump over and I am looking for to it!
With the increase in product offering, and the more focused related industry/niche, I have been considering changing the name of my eBay store. I currently operate as Radford Auctions and my username is radfordauctions. However, your store name and username do not have to be the same. I have been thinking of changing my store name to TheGearHouse to coincide with my website – www.thegearhouse.com. This would be a great opportunity because then I can cross promote and sell products directly from my website and the eBay store. I have been working on doing this, but I have been a bit hesitant because of using two differnet names. The other reason I am hesitant to make the switch is because I sell a decent amount of stuff that is not outdoor gear related such as coins/stamps and supplies, jewelry, books, clothing, and more.
Some numbers:
- $900+ in sales in the last 30 days
- $2,000+ in sales in he last 90 days
- Top performing categories: camping/hiking/backpacking, rock climbing – ropes, coins and supplies
- 60 successful listings in the last 60 days (includes store format and auction format)
Do you sell on eBay? I’d love to hear your experiences and stories! If you have any questions about eBay and being a seller, feel free to ask!
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I used to sell Boy Scout collectibles on eBay. It was easy to pick up local items or stuff from flea markets, split it up, and list it. I used to make a good amount and then I went overseas for a year. I tried to start back up but the market is flooded and its hard to consistantly make good money.
Collectibles for groups such as the Boy Scouts and fraternities are usually good sellers, great point Dan. I had a lot of Boy Scout merit badge books that were outdated by at least 6 years that I sold a couple weeks ago for almost $20. I hadn’t expected to get more than $5.
I do many carpentry/woodworking projects and i was wondering if i would be able to make and sell small projects like tolite paper holders, magazine holders and other small projects. Would these items most likely sell? And what are some other ideas that i might also be able to make and sell?