Top Tips for Starting an eBay Business and Creating Passive Income

eBay has been up and running for around 10-15 years and as most know, acts as a virtual market place and auction between buyers and seller.

FEEDBACK! - Feedback is extremely important in becoming successful on ebay. Without a high feedback score, alot of buyers are put off purchasing from you. From what ive seen as an ebay user/seller, a feedback score under 50 really struggles to make sales, over 50 and they start to pick up, and over 100 then its coming into plain sailing territory.

How do you build a high feedback score of 50 without selling, or spending all your money on useless junk? eBay has a huge variety of items waiting to be sold. If you need a pair of socks, you can get them on eBay, same goes for books, CD's, DVD's...The key is if you need something, check it out on eBay first and buy it there, this will help your feedback profile.

What to Sell? - This is where it can get tricky - there is no definate answer as to what will or wont sell on ebay. But, what you have to bear in mind when trying to create a passive eBay income is that you want a product, or group of products that you can easy get hold of, and are good sellers on eBay...this rules out scouring stores for one off items that may sell on eBay. Working like that requires ALOT of time and having been there myself, i dont recommend it.

My most successful sellers have come to me by accident. While on a search for the items for my own personal use, after checking eBay and i either find they arent yet being sold there, or if i see that the item is being sold there but is very over priced and i know i can get it cheaper elsewhere. The latter seems to be the easier route to success as your not having to establish a new eBay market or demand for that product online...all you are doing is price competing.

Listings - When you have the item you want to sell, you then have to go about making the listing. This has to be attractive and informative or your item may struggle to sell. Ive seen some horrible listings over the years. Just the other day i was on eBay looking for a 10 inch classic sports steering while for a mini. I clicked on a listing and all it had was a blurry photo and one line stating "In gud condition". That tells me nothing of the size, the make/model, the material used, the shipping process...Nothing! That is the sort of listing you dont want.

Always include a title stating what the listing is for. Make it bold. In the description state any relevant facts - colour, weight, size, what its made of, who made it, part numbers, what it fits, etc, etc.

When outlining the shipping onformation, dont overcharge for shipping. I calculate my shipping charges in the following way;

Shipping Cost Charged by Courier + Packing Material Cost + Small Handling Fee

Always send the items as soon as possible - no one likes to wait on items being delivered and no one like to wait longer than expected either.

Conclusion - Give these tips a shot, there's too many variable to say its a sure fire way of success, but it is a step in the right direction. The Key is selling a product that has a high demand, at a good price, and deliving good customer service. Hopefully you too can create a stream of passive income through this method.

Summer Project - Mini Restoration

Instead of getting a summer job, i decided to continue on with my landscaping and eBay selling as well as take on a bit of a larger project - Restoring a 1991 Rover Mini

The idea was to buy a mini in need of some TLC, fix it up myself and sell it on at a profit.

Ill break down the costs here;

Purchase Price - £360
Retrieving the Mini - £147.63
Parts Bought So Far - £32.69
Total Cost to Date - £540.32

The mini is almost roadworthy - just needs an MOT. So for about £600 ill have a roadworthy Mini. I have budgeted roughly £800 to make the mini more appealing in terms of attractiveness and from research i expect to be able to sell the mini for around £2,500. So at the end of the day, i project a profit of £1,100. Not too bad for a summer job/hobby.

Will keep you posted on the progress.

So what is passive income?

Passive income is a form of income that you dont work for, at least in the traditional sense. Things like income from royalties and real estate. That sort of thing.

The problem with earned income from the average 9-5 job, is that the amount you are paid is directly related to the amount you work. Take for example, working in a fast food joint for minimum wage at say $5 an hour. The max you can work is 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, so the most you can earn in that week is $280.

With passive income, its pretty much limitless how much you can earn. If you write a book and recieve a royalty of 5 cents for every book sold and 1 million sell, then you've made $50,000. All you had to do was write one book, maybe it would take a year to write, but every sale from that point on earns you money.

Intro - The first post!

Hi all, and welcome to my blog.

This is my first blog, although i am quite active with various internet forums so this isnt too far out of my comfort area.

So what's this all about?

Well, today i got reading someone's blog; www.geniustypes.com Ive not read it all - lot's and lot's of info to work my way through. But it inspired me to start my own blog about the methods, challenges, and triumphs in my own battle to beat the 9-5 routine. Hopefully i can pass on some knowledge and help to those of you trying to avoid it like i am.