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I am really thinking about opening up an online shop featuring antique and collectible toys. I am thinking about marketing most of my traffic through ebay and primarly selling through ebay.
My question is this a good business to be in?
Thanks.
eBay is a good place to set this type of business up. Just beware the fees! If you are planning on having a larger selection, it is sometimes more useful to set up a "eBay Store", where you pay $29.95 a month, and avoid a lot of the listing fees.
I am currently on eBay, but I don`t tend to do much with it. I have thought about using it to open a store, but am still working on crunching some of the numbers to see how useful it would be with the concept I have. It`s amazing how many people are CONSTANTLY buying things via eBay... in fact, according to the last numbers I`ve seen, eBay is the second to third most used commerce suite online (based on where you research the information from).
I believe that you might like setting up the store, then "blasting" the site via marketing across a wide array of websites/search engines, depending on your marketing allowance.
I hope this helps!
eBay tends to maret to a wider audience, like amazon, yahoo, and other such giants.
Cragislist tends to market more to the local communities, like a few other online groups.
It might be a good idea to use BOTH systems in conjunction with eachother, depending on your initial budget, dalex.
Good idea, mchutch. 
Hey dalex:
Ebay is a wonderful place to start a business. I`ve been a powerseller on Ebay and have done business on their site for almost 9 years now. I have done a good amount of business in the past within the antique and collectible toy categories.
I believe you would be very successful depending on the level of accessibility you have to items that are hot at the moment. Values change fast on Ebay. Faster than fast. What is hot this week, isn`t always hot next week. Of course there are always those tried and true items that hold their value- research those for your bread and butter.
Anyway, you can find out what is hot through Ebay research, Ebay`s Hot List and various other auction sites. Yes, the fees are to be considered but overall they amount to less than 8% of your overall revenue- with listing fees, final value fees, and paypal fees. Of course if you need a sales management system (mine is selling mgr pro) that`s another small %. But that is the cost of doing business and doing business on Ebay is still much more cost effective than most traditional retail methods. Hope this info helps.
I have seen ebay get more expensive to list due to the amount of auctions probably, I have noticed that the antique and collectible toys really catch some good money on ebay.
How will I find sources to buy in larger quanitys to resell on ebay? I am thinking about swap meets etc.
Have a great day and thanks for the help.
Dalex: Ebay listing fees may be better controlled using a lower starting price. I list items starting at or below 9.99 and many at 1.99. I just explain to my ad viewers that I start the bidding low to offer buyers a great deal as well as save on my listing fees. My philosophy: If an item is worth the money it will get the highest bids so I`m confident with my lower starting amounts. Less pictures will also keep your listing fees minimal.
As for accessibility to quantities- Yes, you will find some at flea markets but most likely will NOT find antiques and collectible toys in huge quantities. Herein lies the challenge!
There are companies that specialize in different products, and usually they are willing to cut you a discount if you "bulk buy". That is one way.
Another is to join a system like SMC... notice I said "like"... I don`t like to promote any single business as the answer, as we all have ifferent goals and expectations for our ventures!
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