One of my online businesses is ebay so I aim to show you here how to avoid the mistakes I made when starting an ebay business. Here are 3 crucial steps that will help you get off to a good start.

1. Research what to sell
2. Decide whether to open an ebay shop
3. Find the best source for the product you want to sell.

Starting an ebay business – what to sell?
Many people think that starting an eBay business & selling on eBay just involves getting rid of junk from their loft or garage. In actual fact people sell pretty much everything on eBay – from DVD’s and Music to Shoes, Clothes, Jewelry of all kinds, Sports Equipment, Tickets, Toys and much, much more. Some people make a full-time income on eBay, in some cases 5-figures a month…

There are currently 37 different categories of products on eBay and within each of those, there are any number of sub-categories!

Its not always the best idea to try and compete with the big sellers for best selling items on eBay. You need to find a niche which will enable you to be a big fish in that small pond, rather than trying to be a big fish in a sea full of sharks!

The way to find a niche is to click on one of the 37 categories halfway down the left-hand side of eBay’s home page. For example click on Pet Supplies and you will be led through to 9 sub-categories. Click on one of those such as Apparel. This leads through to yet more sub-categories. One of these is Bandanas (bizarrely!). This is a niche product. You now need to see how well they sell. Click on ‘completed listings’ and you can study which type sells the best, which fetch the highest prices and how much eBay competition there is for that product.

Doing this kind of research before you make a firm decision about what to sell is invaluable. The last thing you want to do is invest in a load of stock before you have studied whether there is a demand for it. It’s a good idea to start with categories that tie in with your interests, as you will be more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about that.

Starting an eBay business – Open an eBay shop or not?
If you want to sell more than a handful of products it can be very cost-effective to open an eBay shop as you can place hundreds of items in there much more cheaply than putting them all into auctions. You can also create a brand and identity for yourself which means you will get customer loyalty and repeat business.

Where to find items to sell.
You can choose from making things, finding things at places like car boot sales, using a wholesaler, using an online wholesale catalog or buying at wholesale on eBay itself. Again, this is a vital step because the better the wholesale price the more your profit could be. This can really add up if you are selling 100’s or 1000’s of items a month!

Author Bio: For further information about starting an eBay business, plus lots more FREE tips about how to sell on eBay, the best wholesalers, plus eBay books written by the top earners on eBay please visit my website: Starting an eBay business http://www.waystomakemoneyonebay.com

Category: Internet
Keywords: starting an ebay business, sell on ebay, make money on ebay, making money on ebay, make money online