If you are reading this article, I am assuming that, like many people, you would love to be your own boss working from home. Having the ability to earn enough money to live the life you want to live without answering to a boss and owning your own destiny.

The internet has made this dream perfectly possible, but you have to get it right. The path from working your day job and working for a salary to running an online business is an interesting journey, but rarely an easy one.

Just by doing a Google search for home based business ideas, you will be amazed and maybe a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of so-called “Opportunities” out there.

I myself have been involved in a few schemes in my time and most of the time I lost money instead of winning it. Maybe it took me longer to learn than most or maybe my desire to make money was greater, but eventually I realized a few things.

Any “business opportunity” that depends on you bringing more people into the business and getting them to do the same is not sustainable, sure there are some people who have made a lot of money in these types of schemes but they are in the minority. .

You have to deliver value and provide something your customer really wants or needs; It can be a physical or digital product, as long as it meets the needs of your customers.

I am an internet marketer and an online merchant and I love both types of businesses equally, but if someone were to ask me what is the fastest way to make cash using the internet, I wouldn’t even have to think about eBay!

Sure it’s not as systemized and you don’t sell products that are automatically delivered to your customers while you sleep, but you can start earning real money within 24 hours, if you combine this with a Dropshipping strategy and scale as quickly as possible. then you have the beginning of an automated online income stream.

I personally use a mixed strategy of eBay, Amazon and my own shopping sites, but to get going it obviously has to be eBay. Why spend time, effort and money trying to attract people to your site? Just put your products where all the traffic is going and then funnel them to your site. No doubt the benefits are great, however there will be a lot of hard work that will require certain (learnable) skills. These include strategic, managerial and interpersonal skills, but I think the most important thing is discipline.

Are you able to live with a certain amount of risk, for example, no regular salary, a downturn in the economy, or a product problem that is not within your control?

So the message is, don’t quit your day job just yet! The beauty of Dropshipping and online commerce in general is that you can do both.

eBay has changed a lot since its inception more than fifteen years ago, then it was a simple second-hand auction site where anyone could become a seller. eBay has now discovered that its revenue stream comes primarily from the larger sellers who offer mostly new products at low prices. eBay is a little less focused now on individual sellers because their policies are structured to support Power Sellers. However, it is still a great place to start your online trading business.

What can be lost?

A few years ago a friend of mine proudly told me how he sold his first item on eBay and promptly lost $4.50; not surprisingly, he never went on with eBay. In that case, he was selling some things around the house and, even though he annoyed her, it wasn’t the end of the world.

This will be an experimental period for you. Yes, you win some money, but it is equally possible that you lose money. Even if your plan is to sell your own items from around the house to generate some start-up capital for your new business, you will still have some costs.

An example might be listing some items that don’t sell, but you’ll still have to pay the listing fee. You may underestimate shipping costs and end up having to pay part of the cost (I know I’ve done this). Decide how much money you can afford to lose in this experiment. If you don’t, you can get into trouble.

That doesn’t mean that when you hit your stop loss, you should give up. It means it’s time to stop and reassess and possibly change your strategy.

So remember: set a stop loss to avoid losing your mind when you start selling online.

Sell ​​some stuff!

Sounds obvious I know, but many are always getting ready to start but forget to start (I even get confused there) it’s called analysis paralysis

catchy hey!

Find some things to sell. Clean out your garage and attic. Look for items that are not difficult to ship to minimize shipping and logistics costs.

If you don’t already have one, open an eBay seller account and also a PayPal account.

When I decided I was going to scale things up and approach my online sales as a business, I opened a business account and linked my eBay and PayPal accounts to this, however you don’t have to do it right away and I really can’t explain why, but when I did this, sales improved.

Visit a local auction house and place a bid on items that you can sell to someone for more than it will cost you to buy them. Another good strategy is to visit your local stores and identify items that are in low demand locally, but when resold on eBay could experience much higher final sale prices due to increased national demand, or ask your local retailers if they have end of unsold line. items, explain that you are willing to help them get rid of their unsold stock.

One of my small victories was buying DKNY watches at a local national jewelry chain store and selling them for 50% more on eBay. Once you’ve gotten your first few products to resell, see how the reselling process works and how it feels.

• Are you comfortable answering customer questions? Can you mail an article right away?

• Are there items that haven’t sold, and if so, can you find out why? Is there something different you could have done?

• How long has this taken? Did you win or lose money? Did you subtract the administrative costs associated with eBay from your expenses?

Evaluate how well your first venture in selling goods you bought to sell worked out.

Points to consider.

• Your temperament for running a business

• Your discipline in following the details

• Your time commitment that you think will be needed to scale this to full time (if that is your goal?).

• How much money you can risk to start a business.

Online retailing doesn’t necessarily require a lot of cash, but it does require some. If you compare these setup costs to building a traditional bricks and mortar business, then it really is minimal. You will have to figure out how to pay for this.

By getting started on eBay, you can use that income stream to provide the additional income needed to take your business to the next level.

Good luck and happy selling.

jay wright