How I spent over 6 months in SE Asia, made $25,000+ w eBay

[livefreeordie]

About two to three years ago I spent 7 months holidaying around the world, 4 months in cambodia, 3 months in philippines, and around a month seeing family in Europe

There are ways one can move towards location independence, and i found eBay was a great resource for me on my travels

The trick is to find a profitable product to sell, and my specialty at the time was electronics, specifically one type, and via a supplier I was able to get the item for $50, and sell for about $130-$140 on eBay, which netted me about $70-$80 profit per item. These items are around and by going through various importing courses, you can see that this is repeatable when you source cool products that are in demand at the time, like samurai pocket bikes, portable DVD players at one point, and so on

You can actually put things on autopilot where you repeat your listings, and keep tweaking the copy to get maximum results. The bottleneck was posting and packaging, which I had a close friend do for about $50 per week

I was only paying about $100 per month USD for a pretty nice apartment in sihanoukville, but the plastic burning started to get to me and i left. The girls are some of the most beautiful stunning and gorgeous in the world, but it can be easy to get into a bit of a rut there too adjusting to the totally different culture and excessive partying going on

In Cebu where i stayed after, I payed about $400 USD p month but for a really nice villa in mactan, with wood finishes, swimming pool, billiards room and nice features.

In closing other opportunities I would look at closely in the future for location independent cashflow streams:
-eBay but for unique specialty items, avoiding competitive niches. Hunting gear, drones, hi tech gadgets, security equipment, health supps, anything really that is a good deal, and eBayers who buy a lot know what im talking about
-Import/export: a huge opportunity to take advantage of arbitrage, where many countries dont deliver the same deals that places like the USA take advantage of in cheap electronics. For example in Australia, we get screwed in prices for so many things, especially with things like building materials.
-Personal services, lifestyle businesses. Boating activities and water-sports, tourist activities for a good price.
-Finance related services: asset protection, foreign business registration, outsourcing etc
-Tech related and innovation. Go to china or php to setup small teams to develop these ideas to bring them to market

[xiongmao]

Nice tips. The plastic burning guy near my apartment in China used to annoy me - I should have paid him to move neighborhoods lol.

I fancy that I could make $$$$$ in China by being a life coach. Those wealthy time poor Shenzhen ladies must have problems I could solve.

[gnosis]

This is interesting.

I've been in sihanoukville several times. I don't remember anyone burning plastic, but no doubt it happens.

[droid]

sihanoukville

Sounds like some lost Ontario town lol

The bottleneck was posting and packaging, which I had a close friend do for about $50 per week

Yeah i figure this can be a problem. I know you may not want to share any 'secrets' but, did you ship bulk to your friend in Australia and he repackaged? or was he in SEA and did individual shipments from there? I guess your bigger margin allows a lot more flexibility.

I've been looking at logistics/warehousing services and trying to see if one can bundle sea-shipping.
Can you share some insight?

[Banano]

Can you sell authentic branded product on ebay or do you have to be authorized by company?

[starchild5]

Any PayPal Proofs or link to your ebay shopping page. Only people making money out of ebay is paypal and ebay fees. eBay is saturated with very less volume. ebay stocks have crashed for a reason.

EBay's disappointing forecast fuels stock decline

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebay- ... SKCN0V52QW

everyone must read this article

The Rise and Fall (and Rise and Fall) of eBay

http://time.com/3695714/ebay-rise-and-fall/

Ebay is dead as a dodo...The real money is in Amazon, if you are a verified seller. What our member ethan did is another alternative to make money.

[livefreeordie]

sihanoukville

Sounds like some lost Ontario town lol

The bottleneck was posting and packaging, which I had a close friend do for about $50 per week

Yeah i figure this can be a problem. I know you may not want to share any 'secrets' but, did you ship bulk to your friend in Australia and he repackaged? or was he in SEA and did individual shipments from there? I guess your bigger margin allows a lot more flexibility.

I've been looking at logistics/warehousing services and trying to see if one can bundle sea-shipping.
Can you share some insight?

I had all my supplies in australia in my hometown, and they were shipped to customers via australia post and friend's help

on that account id look at the free material on china import secrets, he seems to have some good information on that, but i think its best to start small and use a family garage etc, then move onto a warehouse or logistics company if you get the volume. Starting small you can get your systems worked out, as there are lots of little steps like taking photos of shipping labels in case a buyer places a dispute etc

the critical thing is having the right product so if you can supply a need/solve a problem in the market you will be able to scale up. In my case i had a consumer electronic item that was in high demand, which i could secure at the right price. You could also try and get deals with the factory or manufacturer but its best to usually find whats hot in the market first, as many items dont have margins worth the effort

[livefreeordie]

Any PayPal Proofs or link to your ebay shopping page. Only people making money out of ebay is paypal and ebay fees. eBay is saturated with very less volume. ebay stocks have crashed for a reason.

EBay's disappointing forecast fuels stock decline

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ebay- ... SKCN0V52QW

everyone must read this article

The Rise and Fall (and Rise and Fall) of eBay

http://time.com/3695714/ebay-rise-and-fall/

Ebay is dead as a dodo...The real money is in Amazon, if you are a verified seller. What our member ethan did is another alternative to make money.

I strongly disagree with this statement. You are making a very big generalization that isnt based on evidence, and there continue to be many power sellers who make incomes via ebay. I still continue to use ebay to get really good deals, and for non US customers amazon is often cumbersome and not worth the effort. You cant have a marketplace that delivers amazing value on such a wide variety of things not have some traction going into the future, and i have a lot of faith that eBay will continue to deliver value

I was thinking i could post my username but that would leave identifying information and id prefer to stay anonymous, plus i have nothing to prove anyway

[Winston]

There are many professional power sellers on Ebay for sure, who sell thousands of items. I've seen them when I bought stuff from Ebay. So you can make a living from Ebay if you find your niche.

OP, can you tell us which products you were selling specifically?

Also, didn't you have to spend a lot of time at the post office? And aren't people hesitant to buy something from the Philippines on Ebay?

Also, how do you find the suppliers? I've asked many Ebay sellers where they get their products from, especially if it's a smart phone, and usually they dodge the question as though it were a secret. Why do they do that?

[livefreeordie]

Hi Winston

I was selling portable hard drives, which i bought from a locally sourced supplier that i found through a classifieds site called gumtree. I bought them in bulk for $50 and sold for $130-$140

One thing that was a bit annoying was the regular trips to the post office. But if you organize yourself well, buy packing materials in bulk, and print off labels then take the photos, you can streamline this into a fairly simple task you can bundle in with doing things like food shopping etc. Once you get into higher volume and profits you can outsource it too

When i was in asia as mentioned before i had a local friend do the work for $50 a week, which she called her 'slave labour' but nonetheless ive been a very good friend to her anyway

Sellers might dodge those sort of questions because its a major part of their profits having a good profitable supply source and hence its confidential and valuable information. I even had an idiot i once knew try and blackmail me for the information. I recommend members check out 'china import formula' and similar import/export courses /articles out there, its not rocket science it just takes some work or an advantage, which i had in having a good local supplier. Its a worldwide marketplace and a great medium to use to have a regular income. Off the top of my head these are eBay ideas id explore

-supplements and health products
-alternative medicine and medical devices like the bob beck /parasite zapper/ rife machine
-specialty electronics-spy gadgets -hacking devices (defcon)
-HOT esp in australia-building materials
-buy and selling cars or higher ticket items
-ebooks and info products in high demand niches, not 'how to make money online' unless its radically different

You can also check out google trends, and with good market research find additional product ideas/ market problems that you can solve. One of the better ways is do a list of problems, and then create a list of items to solve it.

[droid]

Sweet man, interesting insights, thanks. How did you deal with returns, warrranty? what percentage of deals would have issues?

[Winston]

OP,
I once tried to sell Philippines artwork from Baguio on Ebay. But not many were interested and no one wanted to pay very much for it. lol. So that idea bombed. I posted a thread about it before.

viewtopic.php?t=7512

How did you build up your reputation on Ebay? When you first start out, you have zero feedback, so how did you get anyone to trust you as a seller in the beginning?

Btw, have you seen the major alternative to Ebay? It's called Bonanza and is rated as the best alternative to Ebay. It has no seller's fees, so that's one advantage it has over Ebay. Check it out below.

http://www.bonanza.com

Btw, I don't get something. When Ebay sellers get their electronic products, such as smart phones, from their secret suppliers, where do these suppliers get them from? The black market? The manufacturer? Do they obtain them legally? Are they from reputable suppliers that have quality products? Or are they rejects from the factory line? Any idea?

[livefreeordie]

OP,
I once tried to sell Philippines artwork from Baguio on Ebay. But not many were interested and no one wanted to pay very much for it. lol. So that idea bombed. I posted a thread about it before.

viewtopic.php?t=7512

How did you build up your reputation on Ebay? When you first start out, you have zero feedback, so how did you get anyone to trust you as a seller in the beginning?

Btw, have you seen the major alternative to Ebay? It's called Bonanza and is rated as the best alternative to Ebay. It has no seller's fees, so that's one advantage it has over Ebay. Check it out below.

http://www.bonanza.com

Btw, I don't get something. When Ebay sellers get their electronic products, such as smart phones, from their secret suppliers, where do these suppliers get them from? The black market? The manufacturer? Do they obtain them legally? Are they from reputable suppliers that have quality products? Or are they rejects from the factory line? Any idea?

warranty issues would be covered by the maker of the electronics with proof of purchase, which is all electronic over paypal/ebay etc

returns were rare but sometimes they were a giant pain in the ass, and paypal had a pretty dismal attitude when it came to what i deemed as potential fake 'item not received' cases. This is why it is ESSENTIAL if you are an ebay seller, to take a photo of the stamped parcel and keep the postage receipt of every item you post, otherwise you may be up for covering the loss of the whole item. I also blame the declining quality of Australia post over the years

building up a rep quickly is really easy, just search building a rep fast on ebay on youtube or google, you can buy 99c items etc and quickly get a few dozen/hundred feedbacks, then pivot that. Have tried alternatives except shopping on Amazon, which i find irritating as most items dont ship to Aus.

In regards to getting supply, sure there are sometimes black market or sly deals with insiders at the factory, but the big majority are negotiate as close to the manufacturer as possible. As per some things mentioned in china import formula you can 'tack' on your order on top of another client's big order, to 'get in' on a good price for the item rather than paying top dollar for a small order. Often-times its good to find a good buyers agent, who can negotiate on the ground in china or your manufacturer country, rather than having the big culture difference and language barrier, as I find when navigating alibaba etc myself

Regarding the artwork idea, i think that would be a difficult one, as it seems art is quite flooded in that niche, and you need to market it well or have some kind of demand, but there could be a niche if you marketed it as an 'exotic' art work store.

eBay selling is one good strategy to look at if you like buying and selling things ( check your entreprenuerial profile via wealth dynamics test/info), however ive now moved onto bigger and better things

[nomadphilippines]

i dont know if the ebay stuff is legit, but i do know that the 'girls in sihanoukville are some of the most beautiful' comment is pretty ridiculous, even if looks are subjective

been in asia 4 years myself, spent 7 months in sihanoukville....... only place i would rate behind it in far of looks would be subic

angeles, cebu, manila, jakarta, bangkok, pattaya, phnom penh......... the list goes on for places where i have seen hotter average girls