One of the easiest ways to make money online is through eBay (and other online auction sites, of course). The whole process is very simple:
1. Get something to sell.
2. Photograph it, and write a description.
3. Upload your listing to eBay.
4. Collect your money.
5. Dispatch the item.
That's quite simple, right? But you can make it even easier. The best part is... you don't even need to have objects to sell. You could get products to sell without even leaving your computer. Here's how.
1. Look for items without photos
There is no item listed on eBay or on any of the other online auctions that does not benefit from having a photograph or image included in the listing. In fact, most items that actually sell, which are listed without a photo, tend to fetch 20% less then similar items listed with a photo (for some categories, the difference is even higher). So here is the easy way: browse for items which don't have a photo, buy them, take some nice photos and relist them with images.
2. Find the poorly listed items
There are many reasons why someone’s listing fails to attract any worthwhile
bids. Maybe the title is bad, the description is short or poor, it was listed in the wrong category, the keywords were misspelled and
so on. You can find these by browsing around the auction site, but there is also an easier method.
Select the categories that you are interested in and look down the search
feature for items finishing within the next hour. Here is where you will find
the bargains that have failed to attract any bids for the reasons mentioned above.
(Right now I went on eBay in order to see what ends in the next hour and I just found a Fossil handbag listed as "Fossel"... I'll be right back after I finish shopping!)
3. Unsocial hours
In any book about eBay you will find tips on when is the best time for auctions to finish. The most suggested times for most items are Sunday afternoon and evenings and Wednesday evenings. Some experts suggest that for business related items Monday or Tuesday during office hours are best.
If you accept that there
are times when you will get increased bids for your items there must also be
times when if your auction ends you will not do so well. I would think if you
have an auction that finishes between say 5 am and 8 am on a Monday morning you
will not have too many people lurking to place last minute bids to push the
price up. Again, buy and relist, with your auction set to finish at a more
sociable time, and you could easily make a 20% or more profit for very little
effort.
4. Buy Collections
One of the easiest ways to make money on eBay is to cash in on other peoples
laziness. If someone has say a collection of 10 china dogs, it is a fact that
if they put all ten in one listing as a collection they will get less than if
they had listed each item separately. But it is amazing how many sellers cannot
be bothered to do this!
5. Other online auctions
Over 95% of all online auction sales are on eBay. They have the largest number
of registered buyers and items listed for sale. For this reason, items offered
for sale on eBay get the best prices. So why not search around some of the
smaller online auctions, because in many cases items listed with them will not
attract such a good prices as could be achieved on eBay. Then all you have to
do is buy from them and relist on eBay.