Cold Items
Most of the popular niches on eBay are very crowded, with hundreds of sellers resulting in very low margins for sellers. However, some sellers continue to make substantial profits on eBay.
These sellers concentrate on small, many times unknown, niches on eBay to sell in. These small unknown, often emerging, niches are where these continue to concentrate my efforts on eBay today.
These items are called cold items and a cold item must meet all, or most, of the following criteria:
- They must have an active group of buyers who regularly seek out and then actively bid on them.
- They don't show up on any "Hot Item" list.
- There must be little or no real competition already selling them on eBay.
- There must be a realistic chance that the seller will realize at least a 300% profit on them although the seller may try to get a much higher profit.
- They must have a sell-through rate well above the eBay average of approx. 40%.
- They must be available in numbers that provide the opportunity to locate and buy it on a regular basis.
- The cost to acquire them should rarely exceed $25.
- They must be things which most people looking for eBay inventory would ignore and walk right by.
- They must be available at antique shops/malls, flea markets, auction sales, estate sales, book sales, thrift shops, or garage/yard sales on a regular basis.