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While purchasing products from other sources is one way to sell on eBay, it is by no means the only option. You can, and should, also use your own talents to produce products or services for sale. While this is an often overlooked area of where you can obtain goods for sale, it holds great potential because many times once a product is created, it can be sold time and time again.
For example, maybe you have some fantastic recipes that you created that all your friends and family are constantly asking for. Or maybe your family has traditional recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation that are specific to your region of the country. If this is the case, take a few hours to type a few of the recipes up, or better yet, take all of your best recipes and create a recipe book. Of course putting the book together will take time, but once you have finished, you will have an item that can be sold again and again.
Along the same lines, if you have expertise in a certain area, you may be able to write a guide for it. Again, it will take time to produce the guide, but once it is finished, you can sell it multiple times. While you may not be able to sell it for a large amount of money, there is only the cost of listing the auction. Once you cover your auction costs, everything else is pure profit which means you don't have to sell it for a lot to still make money.
Of course, using yourself as a source of revenue doesn't only have to come from writing. Any talent that you have can be leveraged to make goods that can be resold on the online auctions. Maybe your talent lies in photography. If so, you may want to try selling some of your photos. The same can be done with paintings, sculptures, patchwork, knitting or any other hobby/talent you have.
Using yourself doesn't have to be limited to creating products. You can also offer services on the online auctions. Again, the service you auction off is only limited by your imagination of what you can do. The service can be as varied as creating websites to dog sitting for people in your local area. Again, finding your talent and leveraging it can be a good way to create a constant income source.
It goes without saying that combining both a product and a service can also be sold on auction. If you create gifts for all your friends for their birthdays, anniversaries, etc, then your same gifts may well have appeal with others out there. Here you not only sell the products for the gift baskets, but also your expertise in putting them together. In this case arranging specific gift baskets for others may be a perfect service and product combination to offer on online auctions.
The possibilities are only limited to your imagination. For example, I was on vacation in Oregon and ran across a woman one morning while jogging along the beach. We struck up a conversation and I was surprised to learn that she had turned her morning walks into an online auction side business. She had leveraged something she was already doing for nothing into something that brought in extra money. As she walked, she gathered up interesting pieces of driftwood along the beach. She had always arranged these pieces of driftwood into little scenes that she gave to her family and friends as gifts. She just took this a step further and began creating the driftwood scenes to sell on auction.
Taking some time to think of areas where you may be able to create products or give services can give you a base of auctions that you can use as many time as you want. Although this is not essential to running an online auction business, it is an area that certainly should not be overlooked.
Copyright Jeffrey Strain and SavingAdvice.com 2003 - 2004, All Rights Reserved. If you find anything inaccurate in this article, please email us. Also be sure to read our disclaimer.
For example, maybe you have some fantastic recipes that you created that all your friends and family are constantly asking for. Or maybe your family has traditional recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation that are specific to your region of the country. If this is the case, take a few hours to type a few of the recipes up, or better yet, take all of your best recipes and create a recipe book. Of course putting the book together will take time, but once you have finished, you will have an item that can be sold again and again.
Along the same lines, if you have expertise in a certain area, you may be able to write a guide for it. Again, it will take time to produce the guide, but once it is finished, you can sell it multiple times. While you may not be able to sell it for a large amount of money, there is only the cost of listing the auction. Once you cover your auction costs, everything else is pure profit which means you don't have to sell it for a lot to still make money.
Of course, using yourself as a source of revenue doesn't only have to come from writing. Any talent that you have can be leveraged to make goods that can be resold on the online auctions. Maybe your talent lies in photography. If so, you may want to try selling some of your photos. The same can be done with paintings, sculptures, patchwork, knitting or any other hobby/talent you have.
Using yourself doesn't have to be limited to creating products. You can also offer services on the online auctions. Again, the service you auction off is only limited by your imagination of what you can do. The service can be as varied as creating websites to dog sitting for people in your local area. Again, finding your talent and leveraging it can be a good way to create a constant income source.
It goes without saying that combining both a product and a service can also be sold on auction. If you create gifts for all your friends for their birthdays, anniversaries, etc, then your same gifts may well have appeal with others out there. Here you not only sell the products for the gift baskets, but also your expertise in putting them together. In this case arranging specific gift baskets for others may be a perfect service and product combination to offer on online auctions.
The possibilities are only limited to your imagination. For example, I was on vacation in Oregon and ran across a woman one morning while jogging along the beach. We struck up a conversation and I was surprised to learn that she had turned her morning walks into an online auction side business. She had leveraged something she was already doing for nothing into something that brought in extra money. As she walked, she gathered up interesting pieces of driftwood along the beach. She had always arranged these pieces of driftwood into little scenes that she gave to her family and friends as gifts. She just took this a step further and began creating the driftwood scenes to sell on auction.
Taking some time to think of areas where you may be able to create products or give services can give you a base of auctions that you can use as many time as you want. Although this is not essential to running an online auction business, it is an area that certainly should not be overlooked.
Copyright Jeffrey Strain and SavingAdvice.com 2003 - 2004, All Rights Reserved. If you find anything inaccurate in this article, please email us. Also be sure to read our disclaimer.