How to Make Money With Online Auctions

If you're looking for a side hustle, you might be wondering if you can be successful in buying and selling items at online auctions. The good news is that this can definitely work, as long as you take steps to make sure you're being smart with your money.

Steps

1
Sell what you would buy for yourself. If you have your own crafts or items to sell, that's great. But if you want to sell consumer goods, you'll want to buy them from elsewhere and re-sell them through an auction. The key is to balance your outgoing and incoming money so you make a profit; buy low and sell high.
- Let's assume that you want to sell Nokia mobile phones and you have found them for R842 including delivery, on Amazon/aliexpress/shein etc, now you need the research: search on the internet to see what is the price range for that item, and let's assume that the prices are from R1400 to R2600. Read carefully the quantity available, and all the details for the product you found (location, delivery time(ideally you need one week delivery or less), description); you will need to reproduce that exactly in your listing and to make sure that you won't remain out of stock when you still have your opened auction for that product.
- Let's say that you will sell the product for R1500, using PayPal/Bank transfer/Cash, and you have received the payment from your customer. Now go and buy the phone from Amazon/aliexpress/shein and you will earn a R658 profit (from which you will have to pay your auction fees and your PayPal/banking fees) so this means that you will remain with a profit of around $7-8, depending on the auction website you are using. If you sell at least 3 pieces a day you will have $24 in your pocket, but you can sell more
2
Choose the online auction platform you want to use. eBay is one of the biggest online marketplaces, but there are other options too, with varying fees and options. Try your local online Auction Group on Facebook, find out their auction fees, lead/collection times and payment method (most local auction groups use cash which will save you on banking costs. Calculate your costs and set your bidding price 10 to 20% above cost. If you have a reserve price it is important to list this also if the platform permits it.
3
Offer trustworthy options to your potential customers. Each platform you choose will have several verification features. Become verified! This will help your customers trust you, and lead to more potential sales.
- List more items; if you only have 1-2 items for sale, you will not give your visitors the possibility to choose, and if they are not happy with the selection, they will go to somebody else. More selections mean more visibility on the platform.
4
Stay in contact! If you have more items for sale you will probably receive a lot of messages with questions from customers. Respond to them all in a timely manner,to cultivate trust with your customers.
5
Market your items. Some auction sites receive enough visitors to give you a steady stream of potential customers. However, others are smaller, and you'll want to do the legwork to promote your items, consider sharing the platform or posting to your timeline that you are going to an online auction event. Use everything you can to share the auction links: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit and so on
- Choose your words carefully when you list your item and when you post about it. Try not to sound spammy, but offer genuinely reliable items at a fair price, and you'll gain traffic and customers.
6
Play fair. To build a loyal customer base and not end up dealing with poor reviews and returns, you have to be honest and fair. List the condition of all items honestly, and follow up with any customer concerns. Make sure you offer:
- Accurate description of the product
- Exact delivery/pickup details
- Collection/Dispatch times
- Return policy if the platform does not provide one
7
Put customers first. Remember to provide your customers friendly customer support before, during and after sale.
8
Don't be a fraud! Why take a few rands on one scam sale when you can do a good job and grow every day? If you don't send your buyer his product, they will report you, and you can be blacklisted both from the auction platform and the payment transfer/banking companies.
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