We’ve all heard the stories about how some people have left their day jobs and are now making money with eBay.
I first started trying to make money online back in 2005; and like most people at the time I turned to eBay to see if I could make a go of it.
So where to start making money with eBay
You obviously need an eBay account, I also recommend you get a PayPal account as it provides a certain amount of protection both as a seller and as a buyer. If you’re not sure how to get set up, do a quick search on YouTube and you’ll find a ton of how to videos…
or if you don’t want to trawl through all the videos…save some time and take a look at Plugin Auction Profits which was written by a good friend of mine Robert Corrigan.
Rob and I have worked together on several products over the years and Rob is my go to guy for all things eBay. And he will soon have you avoiding the mistakes that 95% of people make when they first start making money with eBay.
So what should you sell?
It is still the same today as it was when I started back in ’05 – a great place to start making money with eBay is to get rid of all the stuff you have hanging around the house that you no longer use.
Eventually you are going to run out and have to find something else to sell.
You could sell stuff for other people through your account, but make sure you make enough money from the sale to cover all of your eBay and PayPal fees and don’t forget to charge something for your time or you’ll end up working for nothing.
Alternatively you could start buying products from a wholesaler and then selling them onto eBay shoppers. Even better if you can do what’s known as drop-shipping.
“This is where you list an item on eBay, your customer pays for it and then you place an order to your supplier. The supplier then ships the product directly to your customer, often without any branding so it looks like it came directly from you”.
Drop shipping is great because you don’t need to carry any stock or worry about any fulfillment issues. The downside to working with wholesalers is that you need to go through a bit of a learning curve to work out who can be trusted and who should be avoided.
I use Salehoo – which currently has a directory of over 8,000 trusted worldwide suppliers. I think it’s now owned by Mark Ling who showed me how to succeed in Affiliate Marketing. I completed the Affilo Blueprint Course and did quite well with it.
There must be an easier way for making money with eBay
If you really don’t want to have to deal with physical products you could always try selling information.
Did you know information is the one thing that has been sold the most over the years.
And the right information, sold to the right people at the right time, can be worth a large amount of money.
So what sort of information should you sell?
I suggest you sell what people want.
Hmm, that’s pretty vague Steve!
I know.
How about you find out what they want.
Research, Research, Research!
and this is where a lot of people fall down when they’re trying to make money online.
Choose a topic that you are passionate about, even better if you are passionate and knowledgeable about the subject too.
Next you need to go visit some forums in your chosen topic and see what people are talking about. See if there are any questions that get asked a lot.
If you’re in Internet Marketing, visit the Warrior Forum and click the tab that sorts how many views a thread has had, They are popular threads for a reason…try being a detective and see if you find a golden nugget and then go and address it.
So back to selling information on eBay
eBay used to allow you to simply sell an eBook (electronic book) which is a fancy way of saying PDF.
There was a lot of abuse so eBay changed their rules and these days you have to sell them as CD-Roms. Oddly enough it makes them physical…but inside you’re still getting a PDF.
Unless the product creator has a bit of imagination and creates some videos too. Which is what I do.
It may seem like a difficult thing to learn to do, but like all things if you have a good instructor it’s much easier. I learned how by following John Thornhill’s ‘Your Own eBook Business‘ and the ‘90 Day Powerseller Challenge‘ both are still relevant and both are worth every penny.
So is it worth the effort?
Good question and that really depends on how much time you have to put in and how much you want or need to earn….and ultimately how you go about it.
“I make a point of giving really good service”
I’ve been doing this for a while and while it’s only a small part of my golf business, I usually make around £500/$800 in sales each month.
I sell physical goods in the golf niche.
And I make a point of giving really good service, making sure I dispatch the items as soon as possible and it’s where I add real value to both my customer and my business.
I send every buyer a free CD-Rom which contains some free video golf coaching, which gives them a chance to buy more of my products especially my annual recurring membership site
Like all things in life if you’re prepared to put in some work, not get discouraged and finish what you start you too can start making money with eBay.
Have you tried selling on eBay? If so, how have you fared…
Or are you more a fan of Amazon, or do you just not fancy selling on these kind of sites…feel free to share your experiences in the comments below
Happy eBaying
Steve
