Getting Started
 

In the next few years there are people in the UK who are going to make a lot of money through online auctions and there are going to be thousands more who even if they do not make a fortune will build substantial second incomes for themselves.
Which you opt to do is entirely up to you.

It is very easy for me to say that, but where is the proof? Well to give you some idea of the potential of online auctions lets look at what is happening in the USA. According to the latest figures I saw eBay have 46 million users in the USA and 7 million items for sale at any one time. You do not get those kinds of figures if items are not being sold. Another fact worth considering is that if you sell more than US$2,000 dollars worth of items consistently each and every month, then eBay class you as a Power Seller. Currently in the US there are between 20 and 25 thousand Power Sellers and many of these are working part-time from home. If that many people can succeed in building up a business with that kind of turnover there is no reason why you cannot as well. And Remember that 2,00 dollar a month figure is the minimum, some Power Sellers turnover a great deal more.

Having discovered online auctions I wanted to test them myself. Well I don’t know about you, but my house is full of unwanted or unused items, I am always telling my wife that I ought to move into the loft, we seem to have more of our worldly possession there than anywhere else in the house. The garage is not much better, at times as I can hardly get the car in for all the boxes and junk that are stored in it. And it would not surprise me to find that many of you are in a similar position. So why not start by looking out a few items that you no longer need and put them up for auction. A browse around the eBay site should soon give you an idea of which of your surplus items you could sell online.

When I did this I had some amazing results, now I know that both my wife and I are hoarders, so we might have a bit more to get rid of than some other people, but even so I thought our results were impressive. Purely by going through my audio tape, record, video and book collection I came up with eighty items. I put each one up for auction with various starting prices ranging from £2 to £25. I submitted 10 items a day for eight days with each auction lasting 7 days. As a result I sold 56 items for well over £300 and at a cost to me of about £10. Because it really is true, one persons junk is another persons gold.

You may think that selling a few unwanted items is hardly the way to start a highly profitable business but I assure you that it is a perfect way to build up some experience and credibility whilst you are deciding on which specific areas to concentrate on. Remember the old saying, slowly, slowly catchy monkey. Start slowly, learn quickly and soon you could have a hundred items online or you᾿re running a Dutch auction that brings you in a steady income and you will be wondering why you hadn’t started years ago. The main restriction that online sellers have is the amount of time they can afford or want to spend on their new business. For many people once they have got started and learnt the ropes they find that they only need to spend a couple of hours a week running their business.

Providing you have a computer and access to the Internet anyone can build themselves a business selling products through online auctions. And it does not matter whether you are a student, a grand mother, house bound or whatever; this really is the most equal of all equal opportunities.

It is my belief that there is not a better low cost opportunity around but just because it is easy and cheap to enter it does not mean that it does not require some effort from you. I know of no business that will give you lots of money for no effort, if that is what you want I suggest that you buy a lottery ticket and hope. As you will see you can build your self a profitable business and get to the stage where you only need to spend a couple of hours a week on it, but at the beginning, whilst learning the basics you will need to spend more time.

What you will have to do is adopt a professional approach to your business. That includes giving fair and honest description of the items you are selling, dispatching the goods as soon as you receive payment and keeping comprehensive records. But providing you are willing to do this you should be able quickly build yourself a profitable home business.

© 2003 Dave Bromley & Ezeeweb Solution Limited.

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