Market size / profit potential estimation on eBay

[lwsimon 1]

Does anyone have experience on methods of collecting data and estimating how much a particular market segment or search term will net you over time?

Right now, I'm manually coming up with search terms, feeding them into the site search, looking at others with lot auctions of vinyl decals, checking the history, and extrapolating from there how much demand there is for a particular product.

FWIW, on average, my estimates show that I can expect to sell one decal per day per 10 auctions on the site, at a profit of $3.00 - $4.00 each.

I'm interested to hear if any of you guys have done similar analytics before, and if so, would you be interested in comparing results?  I'm considering coding up a quick app that will do some of the grunt work for me automatically and help identify under-served niches, but I'm not sure if the return on my time will be worth the effort.

[lwsimon 1]

No interest?  That surprises me a little - eBay is a pain, but it also represents possibly the largest target audience I can easily reach. 

For what it's worth, my preliminary estimates seem to be be close - I posted 5 auctions Friday and another 7 Sunday, and so far have made one sale for a net of $5.40.  I hope to get 100 items listed in the next two weeks, and hire a highschooler to come in and weed, pack, and ship for me.

Current estimations show a net of $55 per day before employee expenses with 100 listings - that gives me a small profit and lots of room to grow, with minimal ongoing time investment.

[JoeDirt 5]

ebay also has a similar deal. what people are searching in specific categories you can find it here

http://pulse.ebay.com/

then go to bottom leaft

See more eBay Pulse Categories...

maybe that will help

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I was making a good living on ebay for 3 years, then they changed things around and my sales are about 1/3 of what they were. Fortunately, I have a bunch of regular customers.

AND...the ebay screw has hit me again...the basic store used to have a listing fee of $.03 cents. Starting March 30, it went up to $.20 cents. That's one hell of a jump.

Ebay is about to lose another seller.

Good luck...maybe what you sell will do better than what I sell (I don't sell decals).

[Guest YHC]

I've looked into selling on eBay to. But I've found that after the eBay and paypal fees and listing them for next to nothing so that I can stay with the current prices others have posted. What are you really making. Plus if you count the time involved in making them.

I'm sure if you have a unique item that someone isn't selling yet. Then you have a good chance of making something. I'm just not smart enough to come up with a toothpick idea to get rich off of lol.

[lwsimon 1]

I wasn't aware of eBay Pulse.  I'll investigate that tonight - any info is good info

As for the fees - yeah, I get that.  I'm paying eBay $1.08 for every decal I sell right now, and PayPal gets another $.50.  Shipping materials + postage is an addition $.84 for me.  That puts me at $2.42 off the top of anything I sell.  I try to get $7.00 gross for a single decal sale, and will not go below $5.49 unless I'm clearing out stock or something like that.

As I said above, my plan is to spend more time than my competitors working towards and individual niche.  I don't plan on competing on price - I will not be the cheapest decal for a topic, but I do want to be the most desirable.

Pricing changes - that is what makes me a bit leery.  I cannot allow a single sales channel, outside of my control, to be my only revenue stream.  I plan to use eBay as a way to sell a lot of decals quickly, and get a base built up that I can build on to (hopefully) move to vinyl full time.  I also have a website, and plan to build many more.  I also do dance competitions, gun shows, and will be setting up a roadside stand this summer.

My ultimate goal with vinyl is to make $100,000 of "side cash" to deal with some existing debt --- that's not going to happen so long as I depend only on the work I can do myself, from 6-9pm each weekday.  I *have* to be able to afford an employee, even if that means a family member on a 1099, to get to my goal

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I have been selling vehicle graphics on Ebay for 4 years now.  mostly fullside vehicle graphics.  This is how I make my living.  Average price $55-85.00 per set. Left and right.

[lwsimon 1]

I have been selling vehicle graphics on Ebay for 4 years now.  mostly fullside vehicle graphics.  This is how I make my living.  Average price $55-85.00 per set. Left and right.

I've been considering that, but would prefer to have experience doing it myself before selling it RTA.

What vinyl do you use?  Oracal 751/951?

[Guest YHC]

I have been selling vehicle graphics on Ebay for 4 years now.  mostly fullside vehicle graphics.  This is how I make my living.  Average price $55-85.00 per set. Left and right.

I've been considering that, but would prefer to have experience doing it myself before selling it RTA.

What vinyl do you use?  Oracal 751/951?

Yah, I have been wanting to get involved with these as well but wasn't really sure what the standard size was to fit most cars/trucks. Do you have to know the size of each make and model or do you have the size that will work on all?

[midwaste 4]

No interest?  That surprises me a little - eBay is a pain, but it also represents possibly the largest target audience I can easily reach. 

For what it's worth, my preliminary estimates seem to be be close - I posted 5 auctions Friday and another 7 Sunday, and so far have made one sale for a net of $5.40.  I hope to get 100 items listed in the next two weeks, and hire a highschooler to come in and weed, pack, and ship for me.

Current estimations show a net of $55 per day before employee expenses with 100 listings - that gives me a small profit and lots of room to grow, with minimal ongoing time investment.

This is precisely why I have never seriously considered ebay as a source of revenue in vinyl.  Net of $55/day before employee expenses, i.e. after paying someone or personally listing 100 items??  Minimal ongoing time investment, really? 

A single decent lettering or signage job will yield a weeks worth of ebay wrangling in a matter of hours.

I applaud your analysis efforts, though.  Combined with minimal market research, they should be enough to show you that the ebay market is beyond saturated for all but the nichest of markets, which, of course, have low volume.

[lwsimon 1]

No interest?  That surprises me a little - eBay is a pain, but it also represents possibly the largest target audience I can easily reach. 

For what it's worth, my preliminary estimates seem to be be close - I posted 5 auctions Friday and another 7 Sunday, and so far have made one sale for a net of $5.40.  I hope to get 100 items listed in the next two weeks, and hire a highschooler to come in and weed, pack, and ship for me.

Current estimations show a net of $55 per day before employee expenses with 100 listings - that gives me a small profit and lots of room to grow, with minimal ongoing time investment.

This is precisely why I have never seriously considered ebay as a source of revenue in vinyl.  Net of $55/day before employee expenses, i.e. after paying someone or personally listing 100 items??  Minimal ongoing time investment, really?   

A single decent lettering or signage job will yield a weeks worth of ebay wrangling in a matter of hours.

I applaud your analysis efforts, though.  Combined with minimal market research, they should be enough to show you that the ebay market is beyond saturated for all but the nichest of markets, which, of course, have low volume.

The actual listing is trivial - I'm using Blackthorne right now, but lots of tools exist to make it faster.  I'm using it as a means of building my vector portfolio too, so I can't really count that time as 100% in support of eBay.

Fwiw, it took me 20 minutes to list 20 items so far. 

[lwsimon 1]

Just an update --- going on two weeks now, I've netted about $180.  I've been tracking my time, and it comes out to about $30 / hour, including everything from research to cutting and shipping the decals.

[midwaste 4]

I did some of the same type of analysis you are talking about, with regard to hunting-based graphics.   I am going to set up a table at a neighborhood-wide garage sale with various crap; turkey feet, deer hooves, various hunting shit; to generate a few hundred in short term cash and just to see how it goes.

I basically just searched hunting decals/stickers, checked out the auctions that paid for the premium listings (border, top spots, etc), then searched the sellers' history for top-selling items.

Without divulging any secrets, is this about what you are doing?   I think ebay is a fantastic source of market data, but I still have my doubts about it paying off big, at least without significant time investment.

Edit:  As of this post, "Cricut Cartridge" is the second most popular search term on eBay pulse, lol.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I have been selling vehicle graphics on Ebay for 4 years now.  mostly fullside vehicle graphics.  This is how I make my living.  Average price $55-85.00 per set. Left and right.

I've been considering that, but would prefer to have experience doing it myself before selling it RTA.

What vinyl do you use?  Oracal 751/951?

Yah, I have been wanting to get involved with these as well but wasn't really sure what the standard size was to fit most cars/trucks. Do you have to know the size of each make and model or do you have the size that will work on all?

 

I list a standard size,  customers can also request  special order for anything. I give them a price quote for their item.

[tlzimmerman 11]

I won't do ebay, simply because it puts my good designs in front of a bunch of people ripping designs off and selling for price, I don't want to compete on price I want to compete on design, and quality, at a fair price.

I spent $250 on advertising on a hunting forum the other month....generated about $20-30 a day, or $100 a week for a month, and has broadened my customer base considerably (I know have a bit of a following there, and picture of my work popping up, and return customers).  I got my money back, and have been considerably more busy since that point.

You can make money on Ebay, but I think there are better ways.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Ebay over the years has gotten sooo expensive compared to what it used to be and so many people doing vinyl on there it just is hard to find a niche. and like said above everything gets ripped off that is listed

[lwsimon 1]

Just thought I'd update this - I'm about two months in now, and I've made about 50 sales, for a revenue of $440, and a profit of $280 after eBay fees, PayPal fees, shipping supplies,and postage.  I have 37 active listings, and I spent about 2 hours per week working on it.

My active listings can be found here if you're curious as to what I'm selling.

Always interested to hear your ideas, and happy to provide information if anyone is interested.  It's a big market out there, and I like to compete

[JoeCamaro 11]

Ebay is expensive, thats true. It is also true that there are too many people selling decals in there. Let's not forget that it is also a world wide known site and that people go there looking for what you are selling.

It wotks for me. I have sent decals to all over the USA, And places like Australia, UK, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore and more.

[midwaste 4]

If you really only spend 2 hours a week working on ebay sales (which I'm not inclined to believe that you include the time to cut, weed and pack the decals that sold), that works out to be $35/hr.  Not great if you eventually plan to figure in overhead and taxes.

Hopefully, as your sales accumulate and your rating goes up you can increase your feedback and get better conversion.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

same here, Ebay is my full time job, and totally supports me,  and has for over 4 years.  You just have to have more unique items at a fair price. My business consists mainly of fullside vehicle graphics. I didn't say cheap , ... FAIR, you don't have to give them away.  If you are unique, and have different items, people don't question your prices,  they want it.  and give them a great quality product, with reasonable shipping prices, in a very quick time. my items are always shipped same day or next day, depending on when the order is placed. . And those things will get you great ratings, Great ratings get you a Top Rated Seller standing, which gets your listings at the top, So they are seen first.  and more sales.  

[Guest fivestar]

Ebay just isn't worth it for vinyl decals if you ask me.  I used to sell on there for our flower shop and made decent money.  But since I got into vinyl I don't have time and I can make a hellva lot more money focusing on my local market (which is probably one of the smallest out of anyone on this board) than I can on ebay.

[lwsimon 1]

Ebay just isn't worth it for vinyl decals if you ask me.  I used to sell on there for our flower shop and made decent money.  But since I got into vinyl I don't have time and I can make a hellva lot more money focusing on my local market (which is probably one of the smallest out of anyone on this board) than I can on ebay.

Oh, I don't know.  I live in Harrison, AR, which is a town of about 12,000 people and the county seat.  There is plenty of business here, but there are also 8 sign shops already.  I eventually want to open a full-service sign shop, but for now, I'm trying to to work up my business to the point I can hire someone and start accumulating the necessary capital.  If things keep going the way they are, then I'll get a highschool kid in my shop in the afternoons to help.

[Guest fivestar]

Ebay just isn't worth it for vinyl decals if you ask me.  I used to sell on there for our flower shop and made decent money.  But since I got into vinyl I don't have time and I can make a hellva lot more money focusing on my local market (which is probably one of the smallest out of anyone on this board) than I can on ebay.

Oh, I don't know.  I live in Harrison, AR, which is a town of about 12,000 people and the county seat.  There is plenty of business here, but there are also 8 sign shops already.  I eventually want to open a full-service sign shop, but for now, I'm trying to to work up my business to the point I can hire someone and start accumulating the necessary capital.  If things keep going the way they are, then I'll get a highschool kid in my shop in the afternoons to help.

LOL my whole county at the last census was 12,500.

[Jeffrey06 2]

I've been going through my books as I've been doing ebay for a little while now. Overall after supplies, shipping and sales. Half my sales was pure profit, the other half went to ebay fees, materials, etc..

[lwsimon 1]

I've been going through my books as I've been doing ebay for a little while now. Overall after supplies, shipping and sales. Half my sales was pure profit, the other half went to ebay fees, materials, etc..

Yeah, it seems like it ends up that you get 50% of whatever you make as profit, if you're set up right.

I'm all decals right now, but I'm thinking about adding metal signs.  Wensco has some cheap 12x18" aluminum blanks that would be much nicer than the poly signs the competition is using, for around the same price point.  I'm a bit distracted right now trying to get my setup together for conventions (gun shows), and I only have 4.5 hours / week guaranteed for vinyl.  It may be a few weeks before I add a new category.