There are more and more stories surfacing about stay-at-home moms and retirees who have found a way to make a full time living buying and selling on eBay. But a selct few eBay entrepreneurs, Like Sydney Johnston, have learned the secrets of making more than a hundred thousand dollars a year on their eBay business.
I saw another one on a local TV newscast a few days ago...you know...one of those stories about a stay-at-home mom whohad turned eBay into a stay-at-home job.
I like stories like that, and I especially admire people whohave found a way to make more money on eBay (without leavingtheir house) than they could commuting to a "regular" job.
But I also know this: even most people who are doing eBay"full time" haven't figured out yet how to make really bigmoney with it...like Sydney Johnston is doing.
Sydney is known as "The Queen of eBay" or "The AuctionQueen." She was one of the original sellers on eBay and hasbeen selling on eBay since the winter of 1996.
She told me during a recent interview on my San Antonioradio talk show that she runs her eBay business verydifferently from most people.
"You can spend all day Saturday going to garage sales," shesaid. "And that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with it. Butif you want to make a real a business of it, you better havea systematic method. The problem with going to garage salesis, you can’t rely on your inventory.
Sydney also mentioned the stories we've all heard: howsomeone found a trinket in their attic, put it up for bid oneBay, and sold it for hundreds of dollars.
"There ARE some incredible stories out there," she said."But they're flukes. You have to have a steady source ofsupply and it’s got to be something you can rely on. That'sstep number one"
"Step number two is to take that steady source of supply andsell the same items -- over and over again -- using the samelistings."
She says her one of her other big secrets is selling to thesame people -- over and over again.
"If you buy a men's shirt from me on eBay," she continued,"I assume that you'll buy more shirts in the future. And ifI’m selling men's shirts, you’re going to keep hearingfrom me. I'll email you, for instance, to let you know aboutmy Fourth of July sale on men’s shirts. You’re going to keephearing from me until you tell me that you don’t want tohear from me anymore."
"Furthermore, when you buy something from me, there will bean invitation to buy something else inside your package whenit's delivered."
Sydney shared about a dozen of her "secrets to success" oneBay during our time on the air. To read a transcript of theentire interview, or to listen to an MP3 recording, click onhttp://www.ebay-auction.ws/sydney.htm
Or of course, you could spend a couple of hours this weekendcruising the garage sales...
There might even be a TV crew hanging around one of them.
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