Ebay: Buy Sell And Profit Online - By Roy Scott

Say the words home-based business and many people will automatically think of ebay. And why wouldn't they. Ebay is, by far, the world's largest online auction with over 40 million dollars moving through its coffers each day. If you're thinking of joining the ebay profit bonanza, read on.

After registering as a seller with ebay you'll immediately be faced with the seemingly daunting task of deciding what to sell. The more beneficial question to ask yourself is, what should I buy? As strange as it seems your first transactions with ebay should be purchases. You want to build up some positive feedback before you start selling. The quality of your feedback will be the foundation of your ebay business. Always remember this.

Now, back to the matter of what to sell. Ebay wants you to do well and they offer many resources to help you be a successful seller. Some of their paid and free resources are: the marketplace research buyer behaviour report, sales reports, merchandising calender, ebay pulse, hot items by category, and the ebay solutions directory. All of these very useful tools are accessible through your ebay sellers account. There are also courses by Powersellers and others knowledgeable about making money on ebay. Just make sure that the courses are no older than 18 months. Ebay is constantly changing.

Some of the more popular places to find things to sell on ebay are, flea markets, yard sales, secondhand stores, and liquidation sales. Then there are the formal avenues of working through drop shippers or buying bulk wholesale.

The appeal of drop shippers is that they carry the inventory, and do the packing and shipping of the purchases. Your only job is the placing of the ads and the handling of the financial transactions. Sounds easy doesn't it. But there is a downside. Late shipments, out of stock items, and damaged shipments, are three very real concerns that could devastate your feedback rating. And the process of finding a reputable drop shipper is not a cakewalk if you don't know what you're doing. There are a lot of shysters out there ready to sell you worthless list of drop shippers.

Buying bulk wholesale, on the other hand, comes with the twin problems of storing huge amounts of merchandise and coming up with the money to make large bulk purchases. And then there's the not so little problem of will you be able to move the merchandise and turn a profit.

The best advice for those new to ebay is to start modestly. Learn the ins and outs of ebay; things like merchandise presentation, writing ad copy, pricing, and auction length. Build your positive feedback, find your niche, and take advantage of all of the resources that ebay offers you. By the way, there are alternatives to ebay, like Overstock.com, Auction Fire, and uBid. Check them out and see if they're more your speed. They all have their merit, but there's no doubt ebay is the king.

To learn more about starting and growing an ebay business, visit http://www.ebaygreen.com.