How to Find a Profitable Product to Sell on eBay

The first question everyone asks when they start selling on eBay is, “What should I sell?” It’s a good question to ask, as you must figure out its answer before your business has any chance of succeeding.

The best way that I’ve found to answer that question is to think of a field of interest that you have some expertise in. When you pick a product that you are already familiar with, the following advantages are on your side from the start:

1. You know the market — When you are an expert in something you know the value of an item and what is a fair price for it. You’ll also be able to find the best deal for your materials.
2. You know how to sell your products — It’s easier to sell a product when you know everything about it. You know what people will want to know or should know to make them see the worth of the item. You can write as an informed seller, and not as someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about.
3. You are a credible and reliable source — Your passion and knowledge for the product will show through to your customers, and as a result, they’ll be able to trust you as a seller.
4. You’ll be able to see all the angles — Since you are an expert in your field, you’ll be able to spot deals and opportunities when they present themselves. You’ll also know the best places to do research and look for supplies.

Don’t limit yourself to just focusing on your interests and what you are truly an expert in. Think about expanding your knowledge to fields related to your interests. For example, if you grew up collecting comic books and know everything about that, think about collecting and selling something like baseball cards as well.

Even though you don’t know as much about collecting baseball cards, the rules and criteria for baseball cards are very similar to comic books. It would be easy to use the knowledge you have on one subject to give you an edge in another. Look for opportunities like this to help you expand the catalog of possible products that you will be selling.

Once you’ve done a little brainstorming and narrowed down your fields of interest to a few potential products, you must then analyze your top prospects to determine their viability. After all, there’s no sense in trying to sell a product that will only return a small profit to you—or worse, nothing at all.

Whenever I embark upon this step of my potential product research, I always ask myself the following three questions:

1. Is it rare? — Rarity is fundamental to getting people to buy your product. People can go to any store down the street to find a household item. To find something that they can’t find anywhere else, they’ll go to eBay. It could be something like the new video game that all the stores are selling out of, or it could be antique coins.
2. Is there a market for it? — There is obviously a market for products like mp3 players and movies. However, there may not be a market for a specialty cook book that only has recipes for liver and onion pastries. You need to have a product that is both rare and that there is also a market for. Just because an item is rare doesn’t mean that people will want it.
3. Is it in constant demand? — Is your product something that people are always looking for? If your product is seasonal, then probably not. You can sell seasonal items, but you’ll also want to have another product that sells well throughout the entire year.

Obviously, if the market is right, the item is in demand, and it’s rare, you’ll have a better chance at selling that product for a higher price, especially if the product suddenly increases in rarity or in demand. If you can find a product that meets all of the criteria, then you have a product that will quickly take you to the top!

And not only will this product be extremely profitable, but because you already know quite a bit about it, you won’t have to waste any time learning your way around the market. So whenever you are considering a new item to possibly sell on eBay, ask yourself those three questions, and this winning formula will be sure to deliver a profitable product that exceeds your expectations.