The best way to get started selling on eBay is just to start posting auctions. There are a million and one little things you can do to help you get the most out of it and entire businesses have lived and died through eBay but it's best to start with baby steps.
So look around your house and pick out a couple of things you don't really have much use for. If you *really* can't find anything like this (are you a monk?) then go to a local garage sale or second hand store and pick up a few small items. Now there are people who buy and sell cars etc... through eBay but we're not going to start there.
We're going to start by making a couple of sales here and there just to get you used to selling on eBay.
Now the most important part of all of this really, is knowing what sells best on eBay and how much to sell it for. If you buy a small porcelain figure in a charity shop and aim to sell it for 100x what you paid then sure you'll get a good return - but you probably won't make the sale.
Now there's a couple of things to remember here:
* You pay to post a listing (so you'll lose money if it doesn't sell).
* Start by selling just a few auctions. You want to maintain a good positive reputation for later.
* Double check your auctions and prices before you post them.
When setting a price for something you can't just judge on what you think makes a good deal. You need to look at the niche on eBay to see what others are buying and selling things for and how your auctions differs from theirs. Some things will sell a lot faster than others and don't get too disheartened if your first couple of auctions don't sell at all.
eBay has come a long way since it first started. From occasionally selling a few spare knick knacks from around the house businesses have started taking over and selling things at wholesale prices with proper advertising.
While your normal 'mom and pop' operation or normal user might post a few pictures and a quick description the bigger players will have prepared images, copy (advert writing) and offer free bonuses.
You don't want to compete with that.
Not to start with at least.
Baby steps, remember?
So take some time and look around eBay for a while. Find yourself a 'niche' where people are buying and selling frequently but there's not too many 'big dogs' around making it harder to make sales. This might take some time but it's worth doing because it'll make your auctions much more successful.
For an example of the kind of thing to avoid search 'iPad cover' on eBay. You see how professional everything looks and how many sales these guys get? Sure if you could make sales in there you'd make a good return but it wouldn't be easy. Now if you search 'Smurf' you'll see a niche which is far more open.
Your (long term) goal should be to take over one (or more) of these niches and apply the 'big dog' sales tactics for easy sales.
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