That word is 'topo', short for topographical, which represents eBay's most popular and profitable product type in the category of Vintage Postcards.

Topographical postcards (sometimes simply called 'view cards') depict geographical locations like towns, cities, villages.

There's a very easy living to be made selling vintage topographical postcards on eBay, especially if you focus on buying low cost topographical postcards at flea markets and boot sales, and resell those postcards on eBay.

This does not mean that you should ignore other types of postcard, but I suggest you start to learn the simple process of selling the most profitable topographical type first.

Here's an example of the sometimes staggering profits possible selling view postcards on eBay that are not unique and not even all that rare.

• 1903 EALING Singapore to Hong Kong & Hainan Postcard - £170.35 (approximately $340)
• MONTANA Marsh School, Evelyn Cameron c.1910 RP Postcard - £165.34 (approximately $330)
• RPPC New Salem Kansas Santa Fe Railroad Depot Postcard - £216.18 (approximately $431)

These are particularly excellent prices and not every listing is going to pull that level of profit. However, postcards are among the most collectable items and they virtually sell themselves. They rank third most collectable item worldwide, just behind coins and stamps. They're not the bits of worthless paper many people imagine, in fact postcards many flea market visitors may consider overpriced at a few pennies can fetch double figure, sometimes three figure sums on eBay.

In the early days of postcard collecting (called 'deltiology') almost every family had its own album, sometimes several. These heirlooms were cherished and passed through the generations, postcards were rarely destroyed or lost. Consequently many very early postcards remain in undamaged condition today, usually still in their original albums. So you can buy hundreds or thousands of postcards in just one day at specialist postcard auctions and non-specialist sales, especially complete household clearances from elderly deceased collectors. You can actually buy hoards of postcards in just a few minutes, where traders in other antiques and collectible niches take weeks or months to acquire stock to even contemplate making the kind of money you could soon be making.

Postcards are usually all the same shape, roughly the same weight, making them extremely easy to pack and very inexpensive to post. You won't have to waste time looking for boxes of varying sizes to pack and post your products, as happens to eBayers selling oddly shaped items. All you need are a few cardboard backed envelopes. Postcards also fit into any local post box so Post Office visits are few, unlike shipping larger more fragile items that need to be individually weighed and the handling calculated.

Because so few listing details vary between postcards - usually just location, age, publisher, postmark - you can create a template to suit every postcard you ever list from now to forever, where only a few details need changing each time.

One massive advantage is that people who collect one postcard, typically collect lots of postcards, so you could develop a huge customer base of people who you can sell to time and time again.

It is the ideal, stress-free way to earn big profits on eBay.