I’ve been an eBay member and advocate since almost the beginning. My user id goes all the way back to the dark ages of the internet (1998). In that time, I’ve used eBay in a billion different ways. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to find things I could buy cheaply enough to survive the perfect free market economy that is eBay.
I realized a few months ago that it doesn’t have to be that way. eBay’s use is so prevalent that you needn’t actually sell anything to take advantage of it. Here’s a list of things you can do to make eBay work for you.
- Become a trading assistant: Have you run out of your own things to sell on eBay? You can make an extra buck just asking around the neighborhood, or family and friends to see if they need to sell anything. You’d be amazed at the junk some people accrue, just because they don’t know how to get rid of it. Stress the fact that you have great feedback, and if they were to try and sell their items on eBay, with little or no feedback, they won’t get nearly as much. Also let them know that if they take their stuff to one of the infamous "We-help-you-sell-all-your-crap-on-eBay" drop-off stores, they’re going to pay a fee up to 36%. Just charge more like 15-25% and you’re set.
- Refer a friend: I wrote about this last week but it bears repeating. eBay is once again paying bonuses if you can refer new users. The payouts are pretty meager, but it’s easy money if you know people who were probably going to join anyway.
- AuctionAds: Have a blog or website that already has decent traffic? AuctionAds provides a super easy way to monetize your traffic. Basically, you type in a few keywords relevant to what you’re writing about, and AuctionAds displays related items on eBay. If someone clicks through, a cookie is saved on their browser. If they’re not an eBay member, and they sign up and become active (read buy something) within 30 days, you get $25. If they were already a member, and buy something on eBay within 7 days, you get half of eBay’s revenue. I’ve had people buy items completely unrelated to what I was talking about that payout $50 in commission. Pretty sweet for doing no work. UPDATE: AuctionAds has just announced a $25 sign-up bonus. You get $25 in free money, just for signing up.
- AuctionAds affiliate program: As though the normal program weren’t a good enough deal, AuctionAds also pays handsomely for you to refer new advertisers to their program. It’s built into the ads, so you don’t even have to do anything to be eligible. If someone clicks on "Ads by AuctionAds" at the bottom of the ad banner, your referral link is built in. If they sign up for the service you get $25, plus 5% of their revenue for the first 6 months they use the program. You can build a large network of people working for you, and just sit back and let the passive income roll in.
- Commission Junction: Much like AuctionAds, CJ offers similar payouts on eBay referrals. The benefit is that CJ is directly supported within eBay’s Affiliate Portal, and you can build on the API to customize the heck out of your site and have things like dynamically updated item listings.
- Build a Niche Store: Once you’ve signed up to Commission Junction’s eBay program, you have near infinite ways to market products. But what happens if you’re not savvy enough to write a dynamic site that works as a store front? That’s where BANS comes in. This is a script that will enable you to set up a niche store that searches for specific items on eBay. This is especially handy if eBay’s categories aren’t descriptive enough. eBayer’s spend a lot of time searching for exactly what they want. With a BANS storefront, it’s right there in front of them. I set up a BANS store in about 15 minutes and setup an Adwords campaign to drive traffic to the site in another 15 minutes. With no extra work, the site has paid for itself many times over in just a few weeks.
- BANS affiliate program: Got your BANS store all set up? Write about it on your blog, and tell everyone how much extra cash you’re making. BANS pays out 50% commissions on affiliate sales. They’re affiliated through Clickbank, so just sign up there, and start promoting.
- Drop Shipping: Although this is technically "selling" on eBay, it’s significantly less work than traditional selling. Basically you find a manufacturer or wholesaler who offers drop-shipping service, and list their products on eBay at a substantial markup. When someone buys the product, you get their money, send the the wholesale price to the distributor, and they ship it. Most drop-shippers even take care of RA’s and broken products, so you don’t have to. If you’re wondering where to go to find these dropshippers, I’ve done the work for you. I found the biggest, most up-to-date list of dropshippers on the web. Worldwide Brands has a pretty large staff who research these wholesalers and find the ones who are actually honest and reliable. They also offer some great tools for market research, so you can find out what’s hot on eBay, and whether you can make money before you dive in. They offer a free eBook that gives you a primer for the dropshipping business.
Every single option here can be profitable, and many require very little time or initial investment. Get going now, and in no time you’ll be able to tell your boss exactly what you really think of him.
Joe LeKostaj is an internet marketer by trade, and a blogger by hobby. His blog, Escape Job Hell, chronicles his escape from the rat race.
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