Beating a Path To the PowerSellers

My grandmother, Big Mama, never liked flea markets or yard sales.

"You're just buying other people's junk," Big Mama would say.

But my grandmother never had a chance to see the growth of eBay, the online flea market and yard sale extraordinaire.

I've never bought or sold anything on eBay, but I have spent time window-shopping on the site.

As eBay has grown, so has the variety of its inventory. You can buy such items as CDs, collectibles, cameras and cars. While millions of people see eBay as a one-time opportunity to unload unwanted items, a growing number of people are using it as a chance to make a little extra cash or start a small business. Some folks have been able to make a good living selling stuff on this online auction site.

In fact, in a study conducted for eBay by ACNielsen International Research, more than 724,000 Americans report selling on eBay as their primary or secondary source of income. In addition to these professional eBay sellers, 1.5 million individuals say they supplement their income this way, according to the July survey. In the first six months of 2005, eBay members in the United States sold merchandise worth approximately $10.6 billion.

So would you like to get in on this action? If you do, I suggest you get a copy of August's Color of Money Book Club, "The eBay Millionaire" by Amy Joyner (Wiley, $22.95). Joyner is a former business and technology reporter and now columnist for the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C. For more than three years, Joyner has run her own eBay business, and her book offers advice based on her experiences.

But the bulk of the book focuses on profiles of 18 successful eBay businessmen and businesswomen, whom the site crowns "Titanium PowerSellers." If you sell at least $150,000 a month on eBay, you get this top-level status.

The highly profitable sellers Joyner profiles come from all around the country and sell a variety of products, including vintage Rolex watches, golf balls and costume jewelry.

"There are many eBay hucksters around -- people who promise that amateurs can earn quick and easy riches by selling on the Web site," Joyner writes. "But these top-level PowerSellers are frank about the hard work that is required to truly build a multimillion-dollar business."

It's the stories of these PowerSellers and the question-and-answer sections at the end of each chapter (with each online merchant) that make this book interesting.

Here are some of the successful selling strategies from top eBay sellers: