Source: Sun-Sentinel.com, Florida
in a new study conducted for eBay by ACNielsen International Research, more than 724,000 Americans report that selling on eBay is their primary or secondary source of income. In addition to these professional eBay sellers, another 1.5 million individuals say they supplement their income this way, according to the July 2005 survey. In the first six months of 2005, eBay members in the U.S. 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 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 women, 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 from vintage Rolex watches to golf balls to 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.