making travelin money - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**jabad17** · 03-17-2005, 07:17 PM

ok, so I love traveling and have done some buying/selling on ebay. I was wondering if anyone had used ebay to make some money off/for traveling. As in buying souvenirs while traveling, then selling them on ebay. It seems that with a little work you could make a decent amount of extra cash while traveling to supplement your budget.

also, would it like fall under international trade regulations or something?

Thanks.
jp

**TimmyJames1976** · 03-18-2005, 05:52 AM

hey, i sold a bunch of old toys on ebay to fund my trip, but what you said sounds like a great idea! i will have to keep my eyes open when overseas now.

Tancred · 03-18-2005, 09:25 AM

A guy I knew bought up a buncha fake jeans in Thailand and sold them on ebay, he scored like 2000$ before ebay shut him down..

**urOZm8** · 03-18-2005, 07:35 PM

Good idea in theory, not quite sure about in practice - Carrying around all those souvenirs could become a bit weighty (depending on their size) and even if you didnt carry them the cost of postage could take a bit of the profits.

Good idea if you're hanging around in one place for a while but

ev

**simply_angelic** · 03-20-2005, 12:10 AM

that's exactly what I was thinking.....kind of defeats the purpose of backpacking if you have to hire a truck/assistant/slave to haul your goods around....

**jabad17** · 03-20-2005, 06:01 AM

thanks for the feedback. i guess i was thinking more along the lines of picking up two or three small items, putting them on a three day auction and mailing them out at the next stop. (hey, shipping on there is often a joke anyway

)

i guess i got the idea after watching some tourists gushing over the oddest things during one of my trips to mexico. i thought, where better to put a tourist trap then online?

**simply_angelic** · 03-20-2005, 06:57 AM

haha.....ooooh what a way to think........

**butterj** · 03-20-2005, 03:43 PM

Not a bad idea, could be done im not sure how much you would make, just a tip you may want to try selling on the UK ebay, prices here are alot higher for everything so you may make more money. there are for instance hundreds of people selling electrical stuff and they are all based in hong kong. I have bought stuff of them great prices but if you do it make sure the buyers know they will have to wait along time for delivery or you will end up with loads of poor feedback.

Jaimie7777 · 03-21-2005, 06:36 PM

I have sold some books from my personal collection for my trip and have made over $600 in less than a month on Ebay.

**TheJake** · 03-21-2005, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jaimie7777@Mar 21 2005, 07:35 PM
I have sold some books from my personal collection for my trip and have made over $600 in less than a month on Ebay.

holy crap what kind of books?!?

**omisan** · 03-21-2005, 09:39 PM

I think they were hollowed out and filled with weed

Jaimie7777 · 03-21-2005, 09:52 PM

lol, no...they are what you call chick lit books. I paid about $13-25 for each one..bought them for personal use...and sold each one for an average of $7. I have sold over 82. Thinking about actually investing and doing it 4 real.

**TimmyJames1976** · 03-22-2005, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jaimie7777@Mar 21 2005, 10:51 PM
lol, no...they are what you call chick lit books. I paid about $13-25 for each one..bought them for personal use...and sold each one for an average of $7. I have sold over 82. Thinking about actually investing and doing it 4 real.

I hope that was $7 profit not just $7 dollars or that would be a short lived business venture

Jaimie7777 · 03-22-2005, 07:57 AM

Well no, but I have bought them for $0.25-$3.00 and made up to $6 profit on each one. The others were ones I bought for myself, never thought I would sell but I need to raise money for my trip.

**TimmyJames1976** · 03-22-2005, 08:01 AM

oooooooooooh well that seems like a nice little side business