Hi Debbie,

> There is a huge swap shop and I know of
> someone who makes his living buying things
> there and reselling on ebay though I am not
> sure what he is reselling. I guess I need to
> go there , copy down prices and then check
> ebay.

Yes, actually this is what I do. I carry 3"x5" index cards and a pen with me wherever I go. If I see something that might have potential, I write down what it is and what price it's selling for. Then, when I'm back home, I check ebay. I do a search, then after searching you can click on "Completed Items" (listed under the search box, after you've done a search). Clicking on that will bring up the CLOSED auctions. Looking at the closed auctions is often better than looking at the open ones, since you can see what the item sold for in the end, and how many bids it got (was there a lot of demand for it?).

If you've found a successful auction, you can also look at how the person designed their auction (title, category, etc.), and model your auction on their already successful one.

> I assume a scanner is important so that will
> be my next investment.

Yes, I use both a digital camera and a scanner. However, if you have a scanner you can of course take normal photos and then scan the normal photos in with your scanner.

If you don't have either, you may be able to use a scanner for a fee (at places like Kinko's or some other similar type of service).... I haven't looked into this, but I suspect you probably can do it this way too (but I'm not sure how cheap or expensive it is).

You can also list your auctions without a photo, but for most items a photo seems to help the sale a lot.

> I also noticed that Yahoo now has a
> Warehouse section. Does anyone know how that
> ranks in popularity? It seems to be for used
> items I believe though I see people selling
> new items there.

I didn't know about that, thanks Debbie, I'll check it out. :)

And you don't have to stick with second-hand items. Many people sell new items on ebay (including me). Liquidated stock are good possibilities if you can buy them cheaply enough, or if you can find a local manufacturer of UNIQUE items, you may be able to buy those wholesale and resell them on ebay regularly for a profit.... If you can do this, you'll have a regular income coming in, without having to keep looking for new stuff to resell, because you'll have a regular supply. It partly depends on what you like to do.... :)

- Dien Rice