Looking For Product To Sell

I spent about 30 minutes looking for things to sell yesterday (no cost - all were within walking distance of my home) and found a number of possibilities, but most didn't fit the $20 starting budget. The problem is that eBay listing fees will eat up the $20 rather quickly. Technically, I won't have to pay them until the next credit card payment arrives, but to be conservative, I will count the money as being gone when I list the products.

So I had a dilemma of how to get started on the tight budget - and then it came to me. There was a hobby shop I visited that is selling a number of items I think I can resell for a profit. Most are over my $20 budget. To lessen the risk, I talked to the owner and asked if I could come back and take photos of certain items he has (I explained a friend in the US was looking for things and I wanted to make sure they were the right ones before buying them) and he agreed. So I will take pictures today and list the items tomorrow.

This means that on the money side, I have greatly reduced my risk (if I'm wrong and the item doesn't sell, then I don't have any dead stock and am only out the listing fee). Where I will increase my risk is on the supply side - I will be in real trouble if I sell something on eBay and then go back to the store and find the item has been sold. I will therefore ask what type of supply he has for each of the items to lessen the risk that they are all sold out.