How to Start Your Own
Highly Profitable eBay Selling Business

Real people, like you, are making big bucks on eBay, and thousands have even reached Power-Sellers status by maintaining at least $1,000 per month in sales for three consecutive months.

Case in point: Angie Cash, 37, a stay-at-home mom who started selling on eBay nearly six years ago because it was "something I could do and watch the kids at the same time." Today, her Kennesaw, Georgia, company, Cashco1000 Inc., sells thousands of home-decoration and other items each month on eBay and expects to break $500,000 in sales on eBay this year.

The first thing you need in order to create an eBay business is an eBay account. More than likely, you already have one. If you do not, the account is free to create.

All you need is a home address, a credit card, and a checking account. Have a credit card and a check handy while you create your account and simply follow the steps.

The next thing you will need is merchandise. Often, the best place to start is in the world of collectibles. If you have a pile of knick-knacks lying around, then you can list and sell those.

Collectibles are very popular items for sale and purchase on eBay. Whether you have decorative plates, Beanie Babies, Stars Wars action figures, or good old stamps, this is a lucrative arena in the world of online auctions.

If you have a good collection and thorough knowledge of Depression glass, silver dollars, or Smurf figurines, you can start selling right away.

To start selling, you simply need to use your eBay account to list the items, along with pictures, set the initial price and, if you are the impatient type you can list a significantly higher "Buy it Now" price.

To list any item, you need to pay an insertion fee. For a normal item, this is dependent upon the initial price you set. This fee is non-refundable, so you need to be sure that your initial price will not scare away buyers, leaving you holding the bag on an unsalable item.

As well, you will pay a commission to eBay when the item actually sells, so keep that in mind also. This is usually a larger percentage for lower-priced items, then it slowly reduces once the final percentage passes certain benchmarks. As all of these fees are subject to change, you would be well served to check eBay for their current numbers.

The next stage to your eBay business comes when you are running low on your own stock of merchandise. If you are trying to create a business and not just clearing out the garage, you will need to replenish your small business's supply. This is where your expertise on your subject comes into play.

You need to hit the garage sales, the yard sales, the pawnshops, and the flea markets for new stock. These places are your best bet for low-priced goods that may be worth much more. If you are selling antiques, you need to hit the antique malls.

Just find places where you can find cheap goods that could be worth something. It will take some hunting and a lot of expertise and experience, but if you can find things that are broken, but are worth a lot when repaired, or if you spot a knick-knack that is worth much more than the seller thinks, your Internet business is moving forward.

But you must know your market inside and out before you start this process, and in order to know your market you must study it like it is going to get you into medical school.

Page through the blue books, magazines, fan sites, and even eBay for an idea of what things are worth. This is what will make your eBay business work.

Never stop learning. The prices are always changing, and you need to stay on top of those changes. Study, study, study. Then, when you are an expert, study even more.

Your Internet business needs you to be ahead of the curve and able to forecast where the market is going. Then you will be able to put one foot on your expertise, another foot on your merchandise, and you will be standing tall atop your eBay business.

Summary: EBay is an excellent place to establish a home-based business. With tenacity, thorough research, and the confidence that expertise can provide, you can make it a very successful one, too.

So use your knowledge, your existing supplies of merchandise, and your interest in a topic to make a few extra dollars with this new and novel form of Internet business.

Dennis D. Brown

(Dennis D. Brown is a highly successful seller on eBay as well as author of the best selling "How-To Create A fortune With eBay Secrets."