HERE ARE MY TOP 5 LOCAL SOURCING IDEAS

Easy Local Sourcing Idea #1 - Your own house!
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It is estimated that the average person has at least $1000 worth of 'stuff' lying
around their house that they are not likely to use again or could easily do without.
Some people could have $1000s more!

* DVDs

Did you know that some of your DVDs could still sell for as much as you paid for them retail or more? I recently sold a DVD box set that I picked up for $14.95 at a department store on sale and watched once. I wasn't particularly interested in watching it again and so I thought that I would list it on eBay to recover some money to invest in another DVD... I sold it for $29! That's TWICE what I paid for it! AND I watched it! Now I don't know about you but I am always happy to be paid $15 to watch movies! I just wish that it happened more often - but then again I don't tend to buy a lot of DVDs. You might have $100s even $1000s in extra cash at home here!

* CD's and XBox/PS2 games are the same!

* Your Old clothes

I have a pair of Ralph Lauren Polo jeans at home that I bought before I got married 4 years ago. They are now too small for me thanks to a more sedentary and lazy married lifestyle but I just can't part with them because I am determined to get back into shape and wear them again. Maybe I should just get rid of them! They are in perfect condition and I could sell them on eBay for about $60! I could put that towards some more fat jeans or get myself onto Weight Watchers for a few months! Anyway, what I am trying to say is that we all have some clothes at home that we probably won't wear anymore. These clothes are hot on eBay and there are some sellers who are making good money from selling 'Vintage' clothing exclusively.

Which brings me to...

* Baby and Toddler Clothing

A have two little kiddies age 1 and 3. I also have as a consequence about 10-15 packing boxes full of their hand me down clothes in case we have more children (actually at the time of writing this we are expecting baby no. 3!). These clothes are still in great condition and because my wife is unable to go to a department store without looking at children's clothing and buying anything on special. We have heaps that was not even worn before it was grown out of. This clothing is gold on eBay if it is in good condition and particularly if it is branded! You should expect to sell new or near new and clean second hand baby clothing for anywhere between $5 - $30 on eBay!

Seriously.

I haven't been able to convince my wife to let me sell any of our kids old clothes yet, but I have sold heaps that I have picked up for $0.50 or $1.00 at yard sales or opportunity shops...see Idea #3!

Easy Local Sourcing Idea #2 - Someone else's house!
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* Vintage Books

My first really hot selling items on eBay were vintage books that I came across when my wife's parents cleaned out their late parent’s home to get it ready to put on the market. Under the house there were all sorts of old stuff and we filled up about 3 skips with old paintings and brick-a-brake. My wife's grandfather was stationed in the Sudan for several years in the military and while living abroad he collected a number of old books written by contemporaries who were exploring the African continent. He was an avid reader and I decided that I would look up some of the books that he had on his shelves on eBay!

I couldn't believe it! In my first search I found at least 4 books that had sold on eBay for over $100 each! My in-laws were just going to throw the books out and so I took them home and listed them steadily for a few months (there were a lot of books!). I made over $2000 from selling these books and could probably have made a lot more if I knew as much then as I knew now. I had a first edition Lawrence of Arabia, an Ernest Hemingway first edition and several very sought after explorers.

Do you know someone who has a garage full of old books or clothes or DVDs that they would love to get rid of but don't know how? You could go halves with them in everything that you make selling their items on eBay - in fact, there is a whole breed of people on eBay called Trading Assistants who sell other peoples goods for a small fee.

Easy Local Sourcing Idea #3 - Opportunity shops & garage sales
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Are you a ‘horder’ or do you like to periodically get rid of some of your old stuff. Chances are you have put a few bags of old clothes into a Red Cross or Salvation Army donations bin in your lifetime - or had a yard sale or garage sale. If you haven't then I'll bet that you have been op-shopping or garage-saleing. You know what it's like - a bit of a gamble, sometimes you can spend hours driving around in the rain on a Saturday morning to visit house after house where the greedy occupants are trying to peddle their used tea bags for $2 and their scratched DVDs for $10! On other days, LOOKOUT! There is some SERIOUS money to be made from the really good sales. I have to tell you a story here!

* My Golf Clubs Story

I would love to take up golf! I really enjoy it (despite being pretty much a beginner), but my situation at the moment doesn't give me much time to be able to stroll around the course on a Saturday morning and attend lessons or the driving range in between. Besides I feel enough guilt at the moment for spending all the time that I spend away from my family to study and work all day and night until I finish my qualifications. BUT I still read quite a bit about golf and can recognise all of the good gear... which is why when I found a set of clubs at a garage sale including THREE Titleist and Cobra drivers (worth at least $100 second hand) going for only $50 not only did I have to buy them instantly but I also stood guard by them for over half an hour even after paying for them while my wife continued
shopping - we bought heaps at this garage sale because the owner was genuinely trying to make some space in her house and just wanted to sell some stuff and wasn't trying to run her own garage store! I was so worried about the yard sale psychos who snatch things out of other people's hands if they don't get there first (you know the types!)

I sold the drivers individually and then sold the set and buggy for a grand total of over $400!

* Baby and Toddler Clothing (con't)

I suggested that this is a great source of income from your home supply (or it could be a great source from someone you know) but this is a fantastic source of income when you can find it at yard sales or op shops. A few months ago I even talked one happy yard-saler to sell me almost everything in her garage for a few hundred bucks one Saturday morning. She had hundreds of old kids clothes sets and they were mostly brand name outfits that were almost brand new and I was busy collecting a huge pile of them when it just occurred to me that I should offer her something for the whole lot! She not only had great clothes but she had heaps of near new kids toys and high chairs. I bought two full station wagon loads in the end and I had to drive back and forwards for almost 2 hours to get everything home,
but after taking off an amount for the high chairs (which we needed) and the toys (which we didn't but anyway) I had only spent about $0.25 for each item of clothing and have been selling them steadily for $5 each. I've still got two large bags full of clothes that I just haven't gotten around to listing yet! I bought over 300 items of clothing and will make about $1000!

Easy Local Sourcing Idea #4 - Retail department stores
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You may not believe this but you can often sell on eBay for more than you would have to pay in your local department store or discount/outlet store! Yes, eBay is known for being the most price competitive market on the planet, but it is also a huge (MASSIVE!) market and some of the people who shop on eBay do so because they may not have access to a local department store. I know one buyer in a regional area in Australia who can hardly get more than a beer and a few stamps from the stores local to her and so she shops on eBay to buy all her designer clothes and toys and etc. But that’s not the only reason why you can make great money on eBay selling goods from your local department store.

* Christmas Backorders

At Christmas time retailers really struggle with supplying the hottest toys consistently. We have all heard the conspiracy theories about how retailers pump up their promotion of particular toys that they know they are not going to have much stock of so that we will lay-by it and then go and buy something else when we know we are not going to get it for Christmas only to complete the lay-by in the new year giving the store a sale that it wouldn't otherwise have made! Who knows whether that's true. I suspect that it is to a certain degree... but you can profit from this if you know of toys that are going to be released and snapped up within days. Get some and then when the department store shelves are empty list them on eBay and watch the money roll in!

I didn't believe this until I had tried it. Last year I bought a few TMX Elmos before my local Target ran out and I made $50 each selling them on eBay within a few days of listing them!

I got the idea for the Elmo's from Jenni Hunt, who runs an excellent website for moms who are selling on eBay (but you don't have to be a mom to join!) at HuntedTreasure.com and each year she publishes a holiday toy selling guide featuring the hottest toys for the season. You can sign up to receive this year's guide at HolidayToyGuide.com

* Specials

Let's face it we all love to set our eyes on an item that we have wanted at half price. I think that my wife has a serious knack for stumbling onto these sales - I even take her out shopping and sourcing with me because I believe in her talent so firmly! Theses sales never last and that is unfortunate - but it means that you can make some good money on eBay by taking advantage of stock take sales and other spot specials that come and go - by selling on eBay after prices return to normal. This is how I was able to make $15 for watching the first season of WITHOUT A TRACE over the holidays!

Easy Local Sourcing Idea #5 - eBay and Other Online Auctions
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* Misspelt Items

If you have never considered searching for misspelt items on eBay to resell then there a great ebook that you need to read. It's called AUCTION MERCENARY and what you will learn from this ebook will enable you to get some VERY good buys on eBay that you can turn around and sell for a huge profit.

* Simply Cheap Items

The beauty of eBay is that you can get a great deal on some stuff that would otherwise cost you more than you could afford, but if you take a look at the completed items pages on some items you will find that the final prices vary a lot for some items - particularly more expensive new items. Let's say you are after a 2nd Gen Ipod Nano 4GB. If you had been bidding over the last 10 days then depending on which auction you were bidding on you may have paid anywhere from $81 to $300! If you could regularly buy something for $81 and sell it for $300 wouldn't you do it in a second! You can set up your eBay preferences to keep track of your favourite searches so that you never miss a bargain and use a sniping service to keep the price low until you swoop in and snatch a bargain from under everyone's
noses! Remember that you can also pick up a lot of wholesale auctions on eBay.

Happy eBaying

JV

OnlineBusinessAddict.com