These are difficult times… inflation, cost of living rises, wars, rumours of wars and endless poverty across the globe. Money is scarce and we don’t have enough of it…just meeting the family weekly bills is a strain so what can we do ?

As John Paul Getty, the oil billionaire, once observed the only way to become seriously wealthy is to own your own business. Easy if you are entrepreneurial by nature, less easy if you are not. There is, however, one sort of business that can be set up without much capital and with little or no risk yet which has the potential to turn anyone into a multi-millionaire. A business, furthermore, that doesn’t require experience or specialist skills and which can be started at home on a part-time basis. In fact, all you need to get this business going is access to a computer with a broadband connection and a digital camera. John Lowe of MoneyDoctors.ie explains…

Ever since eBay was launched in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar the media has been full of stories about how ordinary individuals have become richer than their wildest dreams of avarice thanks to the online auction site. Take David Wirtenberg, 28, for example who built up a US$10 million jewellery business (www.outrageousdiamonds.com) from the sale of a single, diamond ring on eBay in 2003.

What makes eBay such a fantastic money-making opportunity is its simplicity. Essentially, it allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to buy or sell just about anything. The scale of the operation is mind boggling. It sells a car every two minutes while MusicMagpie is eBay’s top seller selling tech, music, film, games and books. Last time I checked there were over 10 million items on offer and more than 168 million buyers. You could be selling to those 168 million buyers within minutes of finishing this article for, literally, a few euros. And, selling for a very substantial profit, too.

What could you be selling? Most new eBay entrepreneurs get started by auctioning unwanted items from their home. This can prove to be remarkably lucrative (I have a friend in West Cork who has made over €3,000 since Christmas selling off unwanted clothes, books, children’s toys and china) and also provides an opportunity to understand how eBay works. After you have the hang of it the secret is to find a product area that interests you. Currently some of the best sellers are lighting, coffee tables and sofas !

Getting started, by the way, couldn’t be easier. All you need do is log on to www.eBay.ie and complete the online registration which will ask you for a user name, password, e-mail address and a credit or debit card for verification purposes. This process won’t cost you anything.

The next stage is to create a seller’s account online, for which you have to provide credit/debit card details and bank account information for verification purposes. You then follow the listing instructions, giving product details, the duration of your listing – from one to 10 days – and the starting and reserve price if you want to set one. You have to pay a listing fee, which depends on the item’s value and is a maximum of €3. If the item is sold, you pay eBay a final value fee which will be around 5.25% of the closing price.

Once you’ve joined, you can sell anything with a few clicks of the mouse. To list your item you log in to the website with your personal ID, choose a category for your item, type in a description, details of how you propose to send the item to the buyer and a price and you’re ready to start your auction.

You really need to include a digital photograph of the item and the better your sales copy, the greater the price you are likely to get. Once an item is listed all you have to do is sit back and wait for the buyers to start bidding.

Most auctions last seven days and the bidding can be fierce – with much of it taking place in the last few minutes of the sale.

Speaking of payment, eBay make it easy to collect money via credit card thanks to their own online Pay Pal payment system. In fact, one of the best things about eBay is that it provides its sellers with plenty of support and advice. Their most useful resource is probably something called Seller Central which is to be found at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral. If you have a question about selling, the chances are that it will be answered here. This portal is divided into a handful of main categories including getting started, best practices, advance selling and news and updates. Another useful sales advice section on the eBay site is to be found at http://pages.ebay.com/startselling.

If like me, you have so much “junk” in your office and home, selling it on eBay has many benefits…

  1. You are less cluttered
  2. You have made someone very happy with the discounted item they have bought from you
  3. You have made money and tax free too ( selling the item for less than you bought will never incur a Capital Gain Tax )

Happy selling !

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