How To Make Money On Ebay?

I think it is getting harder to make money for the non-coin dealer or private collector on ebay. I would love to hear more comments on this topic.

Personally, the hike in fees has really eaten into my already meager profit margin. If you factor in that I bought a few years ago and my coins have appreciated, I really am taking a loss selling them on ebay. But I'd take an even bigger loss selling them to a coin dealer. Also, US postal fees have climbed twice in two years, which also eats into the profit margin, because buyers are getting mad about postage being too high, so I've been keeping mine low.

The coin dealers on the other hand, can eke out bigger profits, because they have the luxury of buying collections really cheap (25-50% below book value, for example). So they should be doing ok.

Selling one coin at a time is probably the way to go.

G'day,
I think it's important that you give thought to your listings.
We all find our way around ebay by searching on words or phrases: if a seller has a vague description, buyers will never find it.
Sometimes, one sees coins described as "Great Britain, United Kingdom, England": clearly the seller wants you to find him, regardless of how out of date your knowledge of history & geography are.
If you browse through the category "coins": look at the short entries. Ask yourself, would anyone find this item with a specific search ?
Balancing all that: the best bargains on ebay are poorly described or misdescribed items, when you find them ... because nobody else will.
Peter

This is something I have been struggling with and glad someone else brought it up. I have been buying items from ebay because I can get them cheaper there than by local dealer (30-75% most of the time) but have had the toughest time figuring out if I really want to start selling items because of others I know that are having a tough time showing a profit. I like the advice of buying in bulk and then reselling them but like others I am on a tight budget and can not do this. Has someone on this site put together a pattern for selling like graceoutcast has mentioned but in greater depth?