Many work at home businesses got their start from people cleaning out their attics and selling their surplus belongings on eBay. Even if you have never been to the eBay.com, you may be able to turn your clutter, crafts, hobbies, or interests into money by selling them on the site.

First, if you do not already have an eBay account, you will need to set one up. This is a relatively quick and painless process. Once you have an account, you will need to register as a seller. This involves submitting your checking account or credit card number for verification.

After you have become a verified member of eBay, you will need to decide what you are going to sell. Before spending money on inventory and marketing, do some research to see how many other people are selling similar items. It is possible to compete with other sellers on EBay, but it can be difficult when you are just starting out. If the market for your particular product is saturated, you may want to sell something else.

If you make unique crafts, candles, or other items, listing your wares will dramatically expand your customer base. People from all over the world shop on eBay and by adding your products to the mix you just might end up selling your homemade quilt to someone in Australia.

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Article excerpt from Entrepreneur.com:
Attracting customers online isn’t so different from attracting customers to a retail store. Here’s a real-world example. Last week, I went to a mall to find a pair of jeans. Jeans used to be a simple purchase, but today they come in so many shapes, styles and sizes, it’s hard to keep track of them all. There was no one to help me through the maze of options in the store I first walked into, so I left empty-handed and went to another. There, I was immediately approached by a very helpful salesperson who explained all the varieties of jeans to me, and I bought a fancy pair of jeans at that store–at retail price! (Now that I know my size and style, I can buy them for half-price on eBay.) But which store do you think I would return to when styles change?

Expanding my jeans shopping experience to eBay, the lesson is, any item sold on eBay deserves more than a title, a picture and a one-line description. How many times have you found an item through a keyword search just to click on it and find no further information? Plenty. It happens to thousands of prospective buyers every day. As a seller, if you’re going to invest the money to list an item, give it a fighting chance for a successful sale.

An item’s description tells the customer what to expect about their possible purchase. Mention size, manufacturer, material, condition–basically, anything and everything to give the buyer more information about the item. Lucky media sellers get the advantage of eBay’s license of the Muze database, which supplies further details on books, movies, games and music. But believe it or not, some sellers don’t even take the time to click their mouse to include it in their listings–all you’ll see in their descriptions is “New and sealed.” Wow. What you should do is tell the customer what they’ll get and what to expect. Then take some time to sell yourself–tell them why they should buy from you.

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Article excerpt from Entrepreneur.com:

“Computers and computer accessories are some of the best-selling and most reliably profitable items on eBay. Thousands of people visit eBay every day to browse and shop for new PCs, printers, networking components, cables, monitors and many other computer-related items. Many savvy eBay sellers have already recognized and capitalized on eBay’s large and hungry market for everything computer related. With some research, foresight and careful planning, you can join their ranks.

Though selling on eBay is a great way to earn money, it is not a get-rich-quick miracle. Care must be taken when conducting all your transactions and dealing with bidders. eBay’s feedback system is a double-edged sword. It will, at once, boast to the world how great a seller you are, while revealing to the world exactly where you are lagging behind. It takes a lot of work to make and keep buyers happy. If you’ve ever had a job that deals directly with the public, then you know this already. If you do not have the time or interest to devote to taking care of the details of doing business, such as getting packages to the shipping store on time in the middle of a snowstorm, or answering buyer e-mails after a long day of crunching numbers in your cubicle, then selling on eBay is not for you. Your feedback score will suffer, and soon buyers will shy away from your listings. However, if you’re ready and excited for the possibilities eBay presents, then you will have a rewarding and profitable experience.

PowerSelling vs. Selling as a Hobby
The first step in selling on eBay is to decide your commitment level to this endeavor. There are two levels of commitment when discussing selling on eBay: hobby seller and PowerSeller. The hobby seller sells casually for extra cash when she finds time in her schedule. The PowerSeller has made selling online her career. The tips found in How to Sell Computers and Accessories on eBay will help both the hobby seller and PowerSeller become more successful, but the initial planning for these two commitment levels is decidedly different. The differences are discussed throughout the book, but for now just think carefully about whether you want to depend on selling computers on eBay as your only income, or if you’d like for it to supplement what you’re already earning elsewhere.

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With literally millions of auctions taking place on ebay.com all the time, you can probably already guess what the number 1 essential you need in order to succeed on ebay. You need a ‘USP’. What is a USP? Simple - a Unique Selling Proposition. Something that sets your auction apart from all the other similar auctions that are no doubt happening at the same time. There’s nothing new about the concept of USP - every successful corporation tries to differentiate both itself and its products from rivals efforts, for obvious reason.

Ebay tend to encourage the ‘lazy seller’ - numbnuts who all cut’n'paste the same description, picture and even title into their auctions. Case in point - try searching for ‘apple mac’. Once one of these ‘lazy sellers’ starts using an image, they all do! Hardly an encouragement to buy from one particular seller, is it? In fact, you could argue that the amount of effort you put into your ebay auctions will determine the amount of return you get back!

Lazy Sellers seem to think that ’stealing’ a stock photo or description somehow makes them seem more ‘professional’. In reality, the opposite is the case. Today’s surfers are sufficiently switched on to know that online auctions, even the mighty Ebay, need to be treated with caution - scammers and fraudsters abound.

So how do you go about getting a USP for your Ebay auction? THINK about it! Check out the auction titles for similar items and make sure you don’t simply copy someone else’s. Put on model and make numbers, for example, or the color. In terms of a description, ALWAYS write it yourself. Sure, you can start with a standard description, but the more you tweak it, the more potential customers will think you stand out from the crowd. Just be careful to leave the essential info in there!

When it comes to images, if you don’t have a digital camera, you are basically stuck with using stock images. Think about leaning how to manipulate images to make a subtle change - perhaps crop the image, change the contrast, and so on. Whatever you do, make sure it is SMALL - nothing scares potential customers away faster than slow loading pages. Gifs are usuall best, then Jpegs. Try not to use pngs or tiffs.

With these simple tips, you can ensure the success of your ebay auction whatever the size of the competition!

After I started selling on eBay, I was approached by friends without computers who wanted me to sell their items for them. They had heard stories about the outrageous prices items some ebay auctions brought. They knew I could get more money for them on eBay than they could get selling the items themselves. An added incentive to them was I did all the work. All they had to do is say “I don’t want this anymore, sell it for me;” and within a few weeks I converted their castoffs into cash.

I was already selling on eBay, and I had developed a system for listing and dealing with sales that allowed me to list lots of items in a short time. The chance to make a few dollars without any investment was too much to pass up. I made some good money doing this and because I didn’t have to tie up my money buying inventory I was able to use it to grow my train business.

Consignment Selling Is The Perfect Way To Start Your Own eBay Business.

There are no set up fees or investments. You won’t need to risk your own money buying items to resell. You don’t need a detailed knowledge of antiques and collectibles. You only need to know how to find the right category, write an adequate description and take some high quality photos.

Read Full eBay Consignment Article Here

Believe it or not, eBay is the ‘BEST’ home business opportunity you can use right now to make money online in the dropshipping business from the comfort of your own home.
Thousands of people just like you use eBay auctions on a daily basis to sell and buy products on the Internet; now it’s your time to START your own dropshipping home-based business and succeed in the eBay auctions ‘game’!

There are no special skills required for this dropshipping business, all you need is a computer, Internet access and some basic computer / Internet knowledge.

Dropshipping is when you sell products on the Web, forward the orders to the dropship supplier and, in return, the dropshipper ships the product to your customer (buyer).

You act as the middleman between the dropshipping supplier and your buyer. You can take orders by credit card, PayPal fax or any other method you can think of. You can sell via your own Web Site, Yahoo store, or even through e-mails.

Your profit is generated on the difference between your selling price and the price the dropshipping supplier charges you.

Thanks to dropshipping you can start making money ‘instantly’ without any investment in inventory, warehousing, shipping, equipment, employees or office space.

Read Full eBay Dropshipping Article

Book Review: How to Buy, Sell, and Profit on eBay: Kick-Start Your Home-Based Business in Just Thirty Days

The eBay phenomenon may be the greatest opportunity for home-based entrepreneurs ever. With close to zero start-up costs and a worldwide customer base of 150 million people, the little guy can now compete on a level playing field with huge corporations. Although TV infomercials and eBay itself are teeming with hucksters trying to sell advice, wholesale lists, and auction software to help you jump on the eBay bandwagon, 99 percent of it is junk and unnecessary.

In October 2001 Ginsberg had a modest business selling high-end pool tables and tried selling one on eBay on a dare. For him, the rest is history. He now runs a million-dollar eBay business and ships pool tables all over the country. This quick read is a pretty straightforward primer on the do’s and don’ts of starting your own (serious) eBay business. Since Ginsberg seems to hold back somewhat on the finer points of advanced online business management and product sourcing, you will have to do some of your own homework, but there is plenty here to get you started.

With more than 2 billion items listed on eBay in the past year, and close to $50 billion sold, the sheer size of this online marketplace can be overwhelming. Fortunately, as eBay has grown, the company has worked hard to make it easier for new sellers to get started and be successful. Here are 10 quick and easy steps for building a business on eBay.

1. Just Do It
Some people aren’t sure where to begin, says Terry Gibbs, founder of IWantCollectibles.com and author of The Auction Revolution. Gibbs has been buying and selling antiques and collectibles online since 1997. At his business’s peak in 2002, Gibbs was auctioning more than 500 items per week. Although the pace of his eBay selling has slowed since, he says, “eBay is the best way to sell [an item] quickly for the most money.”

2. Create a Routine
Next, pick a block of time you’ll devote to your business on eBay. Set aside a certain part of the day, or particular evenings each week, to pack up auctions that have ended, list new items for sale and respond to e-mails from potential buyers, says Gibbs. Not only does such discipline stake out time for your new business, but keeping sold items moving out the door also helps make space for new merchandise.

3. Take a Good Picture
Though item descriptions are important, the photo may be even more essential. Buyers assume the photo is the best-case scenario–that the product probably looks worse in real life, says Justin Hartenstein, 25, founder of Advanced Automotive Concepts in Metairie, Louisiana, which sells custom car headlights. A good photo can make or break a sale.

Read Tips 4-10 from Entrepreneur.com

Hot Holiday Toys offer Money-Making Opportunities!

Whether it was the Hoola Hoop, collectible Barbies, Furbies, Cabbage Patch Kids or the original Atari games of the 1970s, there have always been “must have” toys and games that have generated a frenzy at local stores, especially around the holidays. Today, however, in a new age of consumerism, driven by an “absolutely must have at any cost” mentality, gamers, toy collectors and, in some cases, manipulated parents are not only pre-ordering the latest fun favorites but are bidding them up to 10 times their standard retail price on eBay.

This year, cashing in on shoppers’ demands to have it “now” (or even sooner), retailers are touting their offerings earlier than ever by putting pre-order tickets in the hands of the buyers. But with much of the supply sold before the products even hit shelves, a secondary market is emerging: Smart sellers are capitalizing on the public’s insatiable demand for these hot items by using the leverage they have as owner of one of the “golden tickets” to resell them for an exorbitant price–and pocket the difference.

Gearing Up for PS3 & Wii
The latest craze focuses on the forthcoming releases of Sony’s PlayStation 3 on November 17 and Nintendo’s Wii on November 19. Pre-orders at several leading retailers, including EB Games, Gamestop and Toys R Us, allowed those who got in under the early October deadline to secure consoles and even games for the new systems. Some of the early buyers are gaming enthusiasts, but others are “situational” entrepreneurs who are turning around and selling the consoles on eBay, where prices for the 20GB and 60GB PS3s are already topping $2,000 and rising.

Julian Georgescu, a gaming enthusiast who runs the website www.MyWii.com, says prices will most likely hit well over $3,000 by Christmas. “It’s mostly hardcore gamers who are buying them at these prices,” says Georgescu, who camped out overnight last month to pay a $50 deposit for his own pre-order Nintendo Wii. (For full disclosure purposes, you should know Georgescu also works for Entrepreneur.com.)

The retail prices for the 20GB and 60GB PS3s are $500 and $600, but “They’re only shipping a limited number nationwide–I think it’s around 400,000,” offers Georgescu of the reason behind the pre-order frenzy. Nintendo, meanwhile, expects to sell some 4,000,000 units of the new Nintendo Wii by January. Despite that number, the $250 console has seen bids of $500 and up on eBay…..Read Full Article from Entrepreneur.com

Here are secrets to eBay home business success from expert eBayers:

Do Your Homework
1. Set aside a day to browse the entire ebay site. Use the eBay Navigation Bar as your anchor–it’s located on the top of every eBay page. Make a note of the pages you’ll need in the future, such as the “Services” page, which contains a treasure trove of tools and services. -J.G.

2. Get step-by-step guidance. Visit www.ebay.com/education. It teaches everything you need to know to sell on eBay and offers interactive audio tours that show you exactly how to create a listing. -C.S.

What to Sell?
3. Sell what you know first. If you’re into fashion, sell that; if you’re into golf, sell golf equipment, and so on. -M.C.

4. Be observant. Watch for opportunities to obtain items (in quantity if possible) at a low price for resale. Often, they’re right under your nose, such as merchandise your local retailer would liquidate. Make an offer to clear out the retailer’s old or damaged stock. -S.L.

5. Don’t start out with just one product or product line. An effective way to build a customer base on eBay is to offer at least two separate types of items, between which you can cross promote and drive customers from one to the other. -J.G.

6. Spend time on eBay browsing outside your normal categories. Find out what’s hot at www.ebay.com/sellercentral. -S.L.

7. Become a Trading Assistant and sell other people’s items for a commission. As a Trading Assistant, you won’t have the expense of building inventory, and you can build your business on eBay very quickly without having to spend a lot of capital. -C.S.

8. Take some calculated risks. Being too careful can cost you. Do a little research on eBay, and trust your gut when you find potentially salable items. -S.L.

9. If you’re not familiar with the product you’re trying to sell, educate yourself before you write the description. If you describe the item incorrectly, buyers may be leery of bidding. Even worse, buyers could decide not to bid on any of your future items if they’re under the impression that you don’t know what you’re selling. The more correct information you have and use, the more credible you’ll become in the buyers’ eyes. -D.E.

Read Tips 9 through 51…

Book Review: How to Buy, Sell, and Profit on eBay: Kick-Start Your Home-Based Business in Just Thirty Days

The eBay phenomenon may be the greatest opportunity for home-based entrepreneurs ever. With close to zero start-up costs and a worldwide customer base of 150 million people, the little guy can now compete on a level playing field with huge corporations. Although TV infomercials and eBay itself are teeming with hucksters trying to sell advice, wholesale lists, and auction software to help you jump on the eBay bandwagon, 99 percent of it is junk and unnecessary. In October 2001 Ginsberg had a modest business selling high-end pool tables and tried selling one on eBay on a dare. For him, the rest is history. He now runs a million-dollar eBay business and ships pool tables all over the country. This quick read is a pretty straightforward primer on the do’s and don’ts of starting your own (serious) eBay business. Since Ginsberg seems to hold back somewhat on the finer points of advanced online business management and product sourcing, you will have to do some of your own homework, but there is plenty here to get you started.

Starting an eBay business is effortless with these 10 simple steps.

With more than 2 billion items listed on eBay in the past year, and close to $50 billion sold, the sheer size of this online marketplace can be overwhelming. Fortunately, as eBay has grown, the company has worked hard to make it easier for new sellers to get started and be successful. Here are 10 quick and easy steps for building a business on eBay.

1. Just Do It
Some people aren’t sure where to begin, says Terry Gibbs, founder of IWantCollectibles.com and author of The Auction Revolution. Gibbs has been buying and selling antiques and collectibles online since 1997. At his business’s peak in 2002, Gibbs was auctioning more than 500 items per week. Although the pace of his eBay selling has slowed since, he says, “eBay is the best way to sell [an item] quickly for the most money.”

2. Create a Routine
Next, pick a block of time you’ll devote to your business on eBay. Set aside a certain part of the day, or particular evenings each week, to pack up auctions that have ended, list new items for sale and respond to e-mails from potential buyers, says Gibbs. Not only does such discipline stake out time for your new business, but keeping sold items moving out the door also helps make space for new merchandise.

3. Take a Good Picture
Though item descriptions are important, the photo may be even more essential. Buyers assume the photo is the best-case scenario–that the product probably looks worse in real life, says Justin Hartenstein, 25, founder of Advanced Automotive Concepts in Metairie, Louisiana, which sells custom car headlights. A good photo can make or break a sale.

4. Build Trust
Once you’ve got the eBay process down, your next objective is to boost your feedback rating–the number of positive responses you’ve received after transactions–which helps build trust with members of the eBay community. “If you’re new to eBay, trust is everything,” says Rogers.

5. Stick With a Niche
Once you’ve developed a process for regularly listing and selling items on eBay, it’s time to start specializing. Sellers who specialize in a particular product category have a leg up on people who sell a wide variety of goods. “Specializing gives me the ability to spot a deal,” says Gibbs.

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