Question for the Americans

[Lostsoul33]

Hi everyone. I'm on a Canadian site for freebies and coupons and I was intrigued by a post that one girl made. She is Canadian and she was talking about ebay. She said that is making $600 per month profit on a relatively inexpensive item that she is selling to Americans. Apparently this is a high demand item and it can't be found in the United States. Now I do know that we have some brands of potato chips that aren't available in the United States. I was selling chips on ebay for a bit but when customs announced that food (unless it was homemade) could no longer be sent over, that quickly put an end to that. I know sunscreen is another item but I don't see much demand for that on ebay. So, I'm wondering what she's selling. She won't tell anyone because she doesn't want competition. Can't blame her there. So...any ideas? I'm kinda thinking that it has to be a brand name of something. Thanks

[katwoman]

I have no clue.

Maybe a over the counter type product that is not available here? Steroids? Anti-aging stuff?

[jmjj215]

Perhaps it has something to do with a product that is not FDA approved here? Let us know if you find out!

[Lostsoul33]

Thanks, I will definetely let you know if and when I ever find out. I am truly stumped and this is something that I've tried to find out for a very long time.

[fiffer010]

I just started dabling in ebay, half.com to be more precise. Last week, my first week, i made 150 jsut selling old books . I'm not greedy, i'll tell my secrets.=)

[34saving]

My thinking goes along with what katwoman said . . .a supplement of some sort . . .herbs, homeopathics, something like that. Also, I wonder if the person you read about has heard about the new customs regulations? If not I know there are some "normal" US products (like candy bars) where the Canadian version is peanut free and the US version is a "may contain peanuts". She might be picking up on some sort of allergy niche . . .

[PrincessPerky]

Have you tried an ebay search for 'canadian products' or something? Or for your friends likely username?

Though I have to say my first guess is some suppliment the FDA hassnt approved or something like that.

You can sell homemade food online???

[Lostsoul33]

Yes I have tried many searches trying to figure it out but nothing has come up. I tried searching for her what her user name could be but I couldn't find that either.
I know there are some products that the FDA hasn't approved so that's definetely an option.
Princessperky, I don't know if you can sell homemade food online. Never really looked into that. I just know that if I want to ship food to the U.S., it can only be homemade food. I can't even ship a box of chocolates unless I've made them myself. Same with candy bars, I can't ship that over legally either.
I'm also going to check out half.com. I've heard a lot about that site and I do have a lot of books sitting around here that I should get rid of.
Thanks very much for all of the input. It's more than I expected. You guys are awesome! Thanks.

[jmjj215]

The thing with half.com is that once your old books are gone, there goes your income. Now if you could find a cheap source for books and resell them...now you're on to something!

[nanamom]

Last summer I sold several boxes of books at a garage sale. The people buying them were looking for books that a house bound woman could sell on ebay/half. because that was her only income besides assistance. At the time I didn't feel I had the time to do the selling myself, since then I have started selling though. The fact that eventually you run out of stuff to sell is where I was several months ago. Still haven't figured out how others do it but I know someone whose total income is from ebay.

[Lemony]

Some ideas (I'm Canadian):

~Canadian versions of music CDs - (Example: One of our versions of Barenaked Ladies Everything To Everyone includes 2 extra songs and has a different CD cover.)

~Cigarette tins - if you're not a smoker, you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but both DuMaurier and Player's sold cigarette tins with those hideous Health Canada warnings plastered across the front. My American friends think they are the funniest thing in the world and a few have asked me to send them some so they can store their smokes.

~Canadian flags to stick on a backpack when they go overseas...?

~Copies of the CTV television series Degrassi, maybe the episodes starring American director Kevin Smith.

Let me know if you figure it out! I just made my first ever ebay listing on Monday.

[Lostsoul33]

Thanks for the ideas Lemony. I did search those out on ebay and there doesn't seem to be a huge demand. I will keep looking though as this truly has me baffled.
Hey Lemony, you should PM me with your user name so I can check out your auctions. Maybe I need something. I have a couple of things listed on there right now too. Another site that you may want to check out is bidville.com Not super busy there like ebay but not a bad site. I think someone might have mentioned it in this forum here and that's how I found it.
Anyhow, thanks for all the input everyone. Lemony, good luck with your auction. If you ever need any help on ebay, give me a shout. I do know a bit. LOL

[katwoman]

Adult diapers.

Previously, these weren't offered very much. Now I look and there's a bunch of listings out of Canada.

I know LostSoul said it was a product not available in the US, but that could just have been a little white lie.

[CJsoccerchic]

hee hee Adult dispers - WOW - who would have thought?!?!?!?
The only thing that I can truly think of is merchandise from ski resorts - or sports /snow werar that would be checp in canada - ESXPENSIVE in the states.. Hope that helps....

[CJsoccerchic]

How about MAC products...? They are a cosmetic brand and I look for their stuff and it seems like an canadian chick is taking over all the ebay sales of MAC... Just an idea..

[Lostsoul33]

Thanks very much. I will definetely check these out on ebay.