At university in the 00s, I used to sell various bits I'd imported from China - initially fresnel lenses and 'mini aerials' back when phones still had aerials.

At university in the 00s, I used to sell various bits I'd imported from China - initially fresnel lenses and 'mini aerials' back when phones still had aerials. They were really cheap to buy and ship, but if I sold them for anything less than £5 plus postage my sales would drop like a stone. As a nod to the price conscious I'd sometimes also do penny ebay auctions to try them at lower prices, but often the bid amounts would reach or exceed the buy it now prices. Good photos and descriptions helped set a 'standard' for what I was selling, at a time when plenty of things online didn't have these. But a tiny bit of searching could find what I sold at far lower prices. But people were happy to buy from me.