Adventures in eBay Reselling #3 – Where to Find Stock When Your Favorite Store is Sold Out

This is something that we have all probably faced. You have mistaken how many units of something you have in stock and now you have sold one, or more, too many units. You are in a pickle because you don’t want to risk your high seller rating or making a customer mad. What to do? If you are an old hat eBay reseller then you probably already did the things listed in this article – for those new, or wanting to start, eBay reselling you may find some interesting tips here.

Have multiple sources for product

This should be a no brainer but you would be surprised at how many people I talk with that don’t follow this simple tip. I understand I am a lucky person to live where I live. I have multiple Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Krogers, etc within a thirty-minute drive of my home (many are on the way to a post office to boot.

Don’t worry if you don’t have multiple stores like that nearby. Though, even if you have one of each between Target, Kroger, and Walmart then you may not realize it but you have multiple sources for some product. I focus on reselling toys and more recently, candy. These are almost universal among stores. The problem is figuring out which are profitable and which are available at more than one location nearby.

This could be licensed product for you, such as NFL or WWE toys. These toys also go on clearance A LOT. I have recently found one Walmart that is just outside of my 30-minute area that has already put those new WWE toys on clearance (Mutants, Zombies, recent classic releases). They also have all of those new Star Wars toys on sale for about 50% off (some are 75% off).

Keep the apps available

Some stores, like Kroger, will not give you detailed information on their inventory at each store. That is a shame because sometimes I just don’t want to drive there to find out they are completely sold out of my favorite yogurt or sugar free candy. Oh well, I just move Kroger to my last chance effort to get certain toys. The apps, for those new to my series, allow you to sometimes check other stores for product before driving there.

If you are low tech you may want to keep some of these handy:

Available on eBay.

You can get mini versions that will fit nicely in your pocket (they are usually three for a buck or two). I have one for each store I visit because I like to have hard copies (and I have had cell phones crap out on me at the worst time).

Basically I keep a list of the title of the toy, what isle it was on and the price and date I was there. This works out nicely when trying to compare on Ebay later (sometimes it is not convenient to do so right there).

Android users, this launcher helps with Ebay reselling

If you are an Android user then you need to get Arrow launcher by Microsoft. I did a preview of it on my site, Gravis Ludus and a review here on Steemit.

The biggest reason you need this is simple. Swipe from right to left on the home screen and you get a screen where you can add notes. This is ideal for anyone that doesn't want to carry around little books full of pages of information. You can jot down short notes and the like. Once you have no more use for that note then you can just check the box beside it and it is removed from your active list. Handy dandy.

Also, Arrow automatically populates your home screen with the apps you use the most. This means you will save time from having to hit the app drawer button then swiping trying to find the app you are looking for (such as eBay, store app, or your browser).

Back to sourcing and why multiple sources are a required resource

Like I said before, I focus on toys and candy. This is because most stores will stock these items, and keep them in stock, because they are almost guaranteed regular sales. You may find something else at stores near you that you feel you can make a profit off of.

Available on eBay

I also keep my investments very low (nothing more than $5 if I can help it, more often $1 or less). This tactic gives me the ability to resell at an extremely low rate on eBay and still turn a decent profit. I doe my best to stay away from $50+ items for many reasons (primarily being it sucks to sit on a $50+ item for any length of time waiting for it to sell).

An adventure comes to ming

I sell Batman Unliimited Minis, a lot, on eBay. That is my focus - toys mainly. The little ones. The ones that are easily overlooked while at stores. I also do a lot of reselling of store exclusives like the Fast and the Furious Hot Wheels sets (here is one from that set on eBay). Walmart is one store that does a lot of store exclusives which works out for me as not everyone has a Walmart close enough for them to scour for deals. The trick here is to remember to not be greedy - don't clear a store out of stock and don't gouge customers on eBay.

The adventure is that I sold out of one character in the Batman Unlimited Minis line - Chemo.

Available on eBay.

I had only been able to find a few of this one but mistakenly listed one too many on eBay. I sold both in one day and quickly realized I only had one in stock (other than the opened one for the pic and one set aside for the set). This led me and my wife on a short adventure trying to find a replacement.

One Walmart store in particular, Bryant for those keeping track, has a few Batman Unlimited Minis still in stock (about 100 of them total) so that is where we headed first. If this location did not have any Chemo characters in stock then we were out of luck as I would be at a loss as to where to look next, other than directly on eBay itself (not an option as most resellers don't list what characters you get in their blind packs - maybe they don't know?).

I reached the aisle where the Batman Unlimited Minis are kept (hint, it is not the traditional toy aisle so scour your stores for those special aisles of seemingly misplaced product). I started pulling packages off the hooks and started looking for Chemo. Out of the first 30 or so packages I found nearly 10 of them so I grabbed two and put the other eight back on the shelf for someone else to grab (either a fan or fellow eBay reseller looking for that particular character).

Crisis averted. We are leaving out as soon as I post this to mail those two Chemo characters off to their new owners. One is in California and the other is in New York (locations where probably 80% of my sales go).

Remember, keep your eyes open for deals. and don't be greedy.

Previous entries:
Ebay Reselling and How to Get Inventory
How to Make Money on Ebay, Not as Simple as it Sounds
Adventures in Ebay Reselling #1 - Just Because the App Says They Have It, They Don't
[Adventures in Ebay Reselling #2- The Adventure is Often Worth More than What You Resell}(https://steemit.com/ebay/@triverse/adventures-in-ebay-reselling-the-adventure-is-often-worth-more-than-what-you-resell)