How Ebay Entrepreneurs Can Profit from the Recession

As the middle class fades away, and more and more people become impoverished or even homeless, they will have to get their food, clothing and other staples from independent farmer's markets and flea markets as many impoverished folks do, or online. Unlike the last Great Depression, if we have another one, the middle class, urbanized citizens of today will be far less capable of adjusting to it than the self sufficient farmers and merchants that survived during the 1930s. For the class that values having the latest gadgets and designer label clothing as if their identity depends on it, EBay and the Internet may be their final source to obtain their precious treasures.

All around my local community, brand new DVD players, fashion clothing, and designer jewelry are being liquidated at up to 75% less than retail at normally bustling city malls, Targets, Best Buy's and other corporate outlets. As an Internet entrepreneur, I've been lapping these up and selling them on EBay in the Global market. As more and more people are finding brand new, brand name merchandise on my EBay store, the more they are stocking up, especially for the holidays since their kids are used to getting nice, shiny new toys under the tree. I sell them just enough to make a profit, not the outrageous markups you will see at Nordstrom's and Mercy's to pay for the atmosphere and the cute girl behind the counter.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, or find yourself unemployed, rather than waste your time polishing your resume and applying for jobs that are being shipped away along with our economy, why not pull your assets, sell what you can in a garage sale, EBay, or swap meet and take your nest egg to Target or Circuit City, which is going out of business, and take advantage of liquidation sales. Or, you can also find a lot of these items on websites such as Liquidation.com or Overstock.com. All it takes is a few hundred dollars to start an EBay empire. It's like building a snowball - start small, slowly build it and keep growing it and it will get bigger and bigger. Remember to reinvest the profits into your business, and keep repeating, and eventually automate the process. Don't bother listing them as auction items unless it's an antique or something rare. Simply list it as a fixed price item like you would in a store and let the low price be what attracts the buyers. Buying in bulk to save money one the single items is the best way to go to mass sell mass produced products.

You can even advertise yourself as a reseller to help stores who are going out of business. Advertise your services in the local paper or classified ad magazines, or simply talk to local shop owners and ask if they have any excess inventory. Sell yourself as a vacuum that will help these businesses unload their excess goods. You don't even have to buy it. EBay allows you to list products as a "pre-sale" if you don't already have the merchandise as long as you mention it in the listing description. Offer the services of photographing, selling, and picking up and shipping the product. Their main goal is to unload, so you'll get the products extremely cheap.

In most countries that fall to de-industrialization, businesses collapse. However, on the positive side it sets up a brand new opportunity for entrepreneurs to come in and rebuild from the ground up. Brush up on your e-commerce skills and you could laugh to the bank during these recessions.