Have you ever bought something on eBay or another auction site, then turned around and resold it on eBay? There is probably not enough of this sort of action out there to make a living, but it can be fun. I have made tidy profits on items purchased from online auctions on several occasions. I've bought Tootsietoy and Midgetoy diecast cars and trucks from Yahoo Auctions, where they aren't very popular, and sold them on eBay, where they are popular and bring high prices.
I've also bought items on eBay and resold them on eBay, either because no one else happened to find them, or because they were poorly described. An example of the latter was a hard-to-find collectible called a "poker slide rule." Made in the early 1960s, it was a wooden slide rule without a cursor and marked with poker cards and hands. The device was used to calculate the odds of being dealt a certain hand in draw poker games. I had just sold one for $48 in an auction with three bidders when, on a whim, I decided to see if there were any more of these around.
Searching with "poker slide rule" didn't yield anything, but when I searched using the words "poker" "ruler" and "wood" I found another poker slide rule, posted with the title "Card Game Ruler." (These are the only two examples I've ever seen.) I bought it for $10, including shipping, and posted and resold it for $42.
I know of several sellers who buy old (pre-1960) toys on eBay to refurnish and resell. These sellers will typically buy broken toys, but sometimes go for toys that are in good shape but worn. As they accumulate multiples of the same toy, they take the best parts from each and combine them into a near-perfect item. Then they take the next-best parts and create a toy in good conditions. These are for the most part high-end toys, which can be sold at a large enough profit to justify the investment in the broken toys and parts.
While it doesn't happen every day, it is possible to score some great resale merchandise in online auctions.
About the author:
Michael A. Banks is the author of The eBay Survival Guide: How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt (No Starch Press, 2005. ISBN: 1-59327-063-1). He has written 39 books and more than 3,000 magazine articles and short stories. A full-time freelance writer and editor since 1983, Banks has written for most major computer magazines, and has served as a Contributing Editor for such publications as Windows Magazine, Computer Shopper, Connect Magazine, and others. He began writing about computing for Popular Computing in 1981. In addition to writing for the computer press, Banks has contributed to a diverse range of magazines, including Writer's Digest, Science Digest, Analog Science Fiction, Cavalier, Grit, Visual Merchandising, Starlog, Modern People, Good Housekeeping, and many other special- and general-interest publications. His work has been reprinted in Japan and South America, and he has written features and columns for magazines in Japan and England. His latest book is How to Become a Full-Time Freelance Writer, published by The Writer Books. http://michaelabanks.com
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