Making $$ sellining Ebay???

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

Does anyone know how profitable it is to buy direct from a car audio manufacturer to resell products on ebay?

I have access to a credit line of a few thousand dollars I could use to finance a bulk purchase, but it seems the profit margins are so slim for car audio components that it is.

Any experience with doing this?

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[95BlackGA 5,000+ posts]

Unless you get them at dealers/wholesale prices, and can make the sales and make enough profit, it's not worth it. If you buy them at retail prices and try, you'll most likely lose money. I did this with computer parts, and made ~$10,000 total profit a year or two ago. Just make sure you keep doing it and keep making money, keep buying the product and offering it at your prices so you'll get a good customer base going.

 

[c_hayhurst 10+ year member]

Unless you get them at dealers/wholesale prices, and can make the sales and make enough profit, it's not worth it.

This brings up another question:

How much do manufacturers require one to buy from them to qualify for dealer/wholesale prices? Do I need to estabilsh a formal company (taxpayer ID, articles of incorpration, etc.) in order for them to sell to me as a wholesaler?

Is this something I could do out of my house as a part-time job? I don't have a ton of space to hold the goods. A spare bedroom is all i have for storage.

 

[savagebee 10+ year member]

welll.. it will vary from company to company.. but I doubt most car audio companies will be happy with you selling stuff unauthorized online...

most big brand comps will probably want a brick and mortar storefront, or at least a strong following in the online community before the would consider it (a'la dls having ed sell their stuff online)

your best option is finding someone with a really good dealer hookup and going from there... but unless the company you buy from offers a transferable warranty then you may run into some issues..

Also, I knew a guy whos grandfather (I think) owned a car audio store, he used to buy decks @ wholesale and resell on ebay.. he said he was always getting undercut by people, doing apparently the same thing... he said you had to move such massive amounts of product to make good money that it was almost a fulltime job for him to even compete with them... but that was just his experience.. he may not have been very good at it

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

You likely will NOT get an account with the manufacturer, you will have to get an account with a wholesaler.

You will need a real business to buy from them.

You will likely not be able to compete, most of the big e-bay sellers ARE distributors -- so they are one step ahead of you.

 

[19psi 10+ year member]

it's really not profitable. i have a business license, and have an account witha wholesaler. the bad part is that the wholesale prices, which are good, are barely lower than what products are being sold for on ebay. apparently other wholesale distributors sell on ebay for thier "dealer prices", which screws all their dealers....