How to Get Started on EBay

Here's a surefire way to get started on eBay without much capital and with an equal chance of being as successful as anyone else on eBay.
First take a moment to take the get started tour and take get familiar with the site. As with most things, it's best if you follow the "no dessert until you eat your veggies" standard. If your so anxious to dive right in and don't want to take an extended start tour, at the least read the FAQs for sellers and buyers. The time you invest here will be as important as anything you do on eBay.

Jumping right in. Start by selling the things you have and don't need any longer. If this can be in the collectibles category, great, this is eBay's forte. If you really don't have any collectibles, take an inventory and just ask yourself what you could see people paying good money for out of what your willing part with. List that first, then list even the things you think won't sell well, you'll be surprised. Try to list at least 10 items your first time.

Pay attention to patterns of what sells and how it sells. For example, very few things do well alone, most items do much better when you list them along with many other listings at the same time. Your going to find that the more you list at one time, the more bidding activity you get because of the exponential benefit of cross marketing with eBay's huge user base.

Stay away from any software or sites that charge to show you what and how to sell on eBay. eBay is designed so that just about anyone that can read can do it right off the bat. Not everyone can do it well at first, but if you can't, software & websites won't help you get along any faster. Nothing will be a greater boost than the first successful auction you close. Which brings me to this point, don't start off trying an eBay store or the "Buy It Now" option. eBay is famous for auctions, so begin with those and start the bidding for your items very low. This is critical, items with high starting bids, get very little interest, hence almost never get anymomentum and have poor sell through ratio. The market place loves a legitimate auction. If you take the gambling aspect out of an auction by placing high minimum bids or reserves you'll get a very poor response. What happens essence out of anything, it no longer has it's core value and eBay is no different. If your item is worth selling, nine times out of ten it will bring a fair market value on eBay even if you start it dirt cheap. I suggest .99 or 4.99. (I've been on eBay for 8 years and I've only broke that rule a couple of times and got poor results when I did. In the event that your item does sell low consider it a tuition cost and move on. Remember my beginning premise is that your starting with items you no longer need, so a low selling price auction shouldn't be catastrophic. I'll bet the that any loss is less expensive than what you would have wasted on confusing software or paid for "expert advice", and if you list at least 10 items at once, which I suggested, it will even out with items that sell high.

Finally, once you've had a few sales, take your last successful eBay auction and repeat the formula as often as possible, now your in the game. As your positive feedback rating climbs, so will your bid amounts. And oh yeah, look me up, I'd love to hear from you and give you some free tips.Nothing will be a greater boost than the first successful auction you close.