If you want to make the big bucks selling license plates on eBay, you should stock and sell only old, rare plates. Uh, yeah…try finding those on a regular basis. Every once and in awhile those special gems will come your way at a yard sale or auction, but in the meantime, you’ve got have some cash flow. And to keep the cash pouring in, your best bet is to maintain a stash of the old reliable best-selling common tags. These are easy to obtain in bulk at inexpensive prices, and if marketed correctly, will bring you 200% to 400% profits every time.
License plates from vacation spots such as Hawaii and Florida always do well because people often buy them as memory pieces. And in Hawaii’s case, many people view it almost like a faraway land. I mean, how many Hawaii registered vehicles have you seen on the road lately? But the reality is, plates from Hawaii and Florida are plentiful in part due to the large rental car fleets needed to handle the tourist business in each state.
New York is another great seller, because New York City represents capitalism and is also a destination that many people long to visit. Unfortunately, that state’s plates are not as easy to come by. Still, you can find great bulk bargains on the older orange plates and the very hot Statue of Liberty base plate that was used by the state from 1986 through 2000. Foreigners love this one. Use the keywords Statue of Liberty in your title.
The so-called Wild West States are also very attractive to international buyers. Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Texas are four examples that illicit thoughts of the Old West in our foreign friends. Using keywords in your listing titles like Cactus, Desert or Grand Canyon for Arizona; Window Rock for Utah; Cowboy or Rodeo for Wyoming and Cowboy, Space Shuttle, and Oil Well for Texas will get you plenty of hits on your auctions.
Staying with the old west theme, international buyers are fascinated by Native American items. The Oklahoma passenger plates in use from 1990 to 2009 and the Nebraska passenger plate used from 1977 to 1986 are two very easy-to-obtain plates that sell well because they have Native American graphics on them. Make sure you include title keywords like Native American, Indian, and Peace Pipe. eBay will send you a warning about the use of these words, but since you are not claiming that the plates are Native American artifacts, you are not breaking any rules.
Finally, you will find that people like brightly colored license plates. So no matter how common a plate is, you can grab some good sales simply by throwing the color into the listing title. States with a history of brightly colored license plates include Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico.
Keep in mind that all of the license plates discussed here are considered to be very common plates among collectors. But by using the proper keywords, you can sell them to non-collectors quite easily. After a few successes, you’ll see that keywords are as important to your listing titles as, well… syrup is to hotcakes.