July 28, 2008
Your Own Small Business: Ebay Online Auction
By David Gage
People have been talking about making money online for years. In most cases they are referring to making money in an online auction called eBay. Perhaps you tried it a couple times. You may have browsed the sales and even made some tenuous bids. EBay is a revolving door of used and collectable items. There is also a large amount of new items which are offered for auction. It is a dizzying array of items: phones, DVDs, cars, vacation time in time shares, and about everything you can imagine. What you may not have realized is that online auctions are an opportunity for the little people, you and me, to start our own business and get our own products or inventions in front of the eBay public.
It’s not difficult to get started and most importantly (the question that most everyone wants to ask), it really is a legitimate, profitable work at home business. Really! There are no worries about fly-by-night companies, up-front ‘required investments’ or secret information you have to buy to succeed.
The last thing a stay at home parent wants to do is to get scammed and there are many people around who are happy to separate you from your hard earned money. There are some business which are a valuable resource. There are thousands of these types of references you can find on a search, but most are not going to give you the best advice. Reselling junk, while a great way to get your feet wet, are not very profitable. The best and most profitable businesses will be revealed in a minute. Read on.
It does not matter what your living conditions are, all can work for you in running your eBay business. These things are required: a computer, something to sell and the motivation and knowledge to get started. You can work from an apartment or out of your parents’ basement.
An eBay home business can be started in many different ways. My favorite way is to gather up things around the house or garage or attic and jump on eBay to get started. The registration and posted is simple since you just follow the eBay step-by-step instructions. All you need to do is read it through. It is straightforward and in no time you can be ready to list items and sell like a pro.
eBay also provides tips and options for making the most of your listing, such as finding out what your item is worth (see others’ average selling price and how many have sold), learning how to take photos that are well-lit with simple backgrounds, and only charging reasonable shipping costs since excessive fees will scare away buyers.
There are manuals, DVDs, even websites and blogs that can help to get you start. A little extra training can give you an advantage in several ways. You can learn techniques and tips that you may never have thought of. It can also give you more confidence in your ability to actually make money this way. This is just too good to be true: you can make money selling downloadable manuals and books, software and different kinds of lists. There is no shipping, no inventory. You simply inform the buyer where the download is and after you are paid (best part) you can let them download the information. Automatically eBay re-lists your product and it just keeps going, earning you money, as they say, while you sleep. This really is one of the really magic ways to make money on eBay. There are some considerations that you should research prior to getting started on this.
This is a great way to get you started and familiar with eBay: sell a few small things first. Gather up some stuff from your attic, closets, garage, barn, storage locker, anywhere and then put them on the auction. This does two things: it gets you started making a few bucks and gets you comfortable with the process. After that, you can branch out into other products, maybe the information-only type of product or even one of the other new unconventional eBay selling methods. This works. Buying and reselling items you know can be profitable. You can develop a relationship with a manufacturer or importer and just drop ship product. This means you get the order and they ship it out. You do not touch the product you just reap profits. You can also buy wholesale items for your personal use at great discounts. Do you really want to be at home and bored, or even worse, bored and broke? An eBay business can solve this for you same time!
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