One of the first ideas I tried, to establish a stream of income outside of my regular job, was selling items at auction on eBay. This proved to be a good way to make some money. It is important that you begin your selling efforts on eBay by educating yourself about this marketplace. I recommend that you start by reading an ebook or the online help that eBay provides. Here is an inexpensive ebook offer that is designed especially for people who are new to eBay! Once you have done your reading, purchase a few items on eBay to learn, first-hand, how the auction process works. This also helps you to build your feedback rating, as I recommend you have a feedback rating of at least 10 before you start selling.

Once you are ready to start selling, begin by looking around your home for things to sell. So many of us have accumulated stuff that we no longer need or use. This is a great source of items to sell. I can tell you for certain that you will get more for your stuff on eBay than you will in a garage sale. You will need a digital camera to take pictures of the items you are selling. Practice so you can get good pictures. The quality of the pictures you take of your auction items will greatly affect the selling price of that item.

After you have had success selling your own stuff, then you can go out and find other things to sell. I use several methods to find items to sell.

1. Buy Wholesale – As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, I run an eBay store. In it I sell several items that I buy wholesale and then retail on eBay. This is easy to do, just contact the manufacturer or distributor of the products you want to sell, open up an account with them and purchase your products. Be sure to research actual selling prices on eBay so you are certain that you can retail your chosen products at a profit.
2. Garage Sales – My wife and children love to go to garage sales. I just tell them what kind of items I like to sell on eBay and they find me bargains while they are garage sailing! It works out really good. With this approach, I am selling other people’s stuff on eBay. As I mentioned in method #1, I can sell something on eBay for more than I can in a garage sale. This method of finding items has an automatic profit margin. Here is an ebook offer that will help you profit on eBay from garage sales.
3. Auctions and Estate Sales – I like to go to public auctions to find items to sell on eBay. These are usually advertised in the local want ads. When I go to an auction, I am looking for bargains. Here is where you need to be careful. You also need to understand your market. It is real easy to pay too much for something at an auction. I am looking for quality bargains. I especially like buying $1 boxes at the end of the auction. A lot of people have left already and quite often I find fantastic bargains hidden in a box that sells for one or two dollars.

With the information above, and by reading up on the subject, you should be ready to start selling on eBay!