So you’ve sold a few items on eBay. Congratulations! That alone sets you apart from the rest of the crowd. There are many people who "wish" to sell on eBay full-time but don’t even get their first listing up.

But right now, you’re probably wondering what’s next? Aside from getting rid of some unwanted clutter around the house, where does the true money on eBay come from?

Well, let’s talk business. What makes a successful business? What turns a single small hamburger stand into the multi-million dollar McDonald’s chain? Answer: the money is always in the system. It’s the streamlined and repeatable process that works, every time, all the time. And the best systems work without you having to even be there. Having inventory that automatically lists and gets sold while you sleep is just one great example. There are some amazing tools to help you do this, and they free you from sitting in front of the computer all the time. It’s an awesome feeling waking up the next morning and seeing how much more money you got in your account. It’s almost like I get paid to sleep.

Here’s two more tips:

Buy stuff to sell. Of course not everybody has the money to invest in a warehouse full of inventory, but start small. The key here is doing your research. What’s already selling on eBay, and how can I buy it for less than it’s currently selling for? Knowing your market is key. How do you do that? Well…

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse. If you want a quick, big-picture snapshot of what people are looking to buy on eBay, then go to http://pulse.ebay.com. This is a page where eBay lists the top 10 most searched for words in each category, the most watched items, and also displays the top 5 largest eBay stores. At a glance, you can easily spot current trends. For example, right now all of the top stores are selling media items, either books or music. That suggests that these categories are strong sellers.

This is a great tool to help you start identifying what is most often searched for on eBay, and what the buyer is looking for. Type those highly searched items in to the search bar and see how much competition there is. Once you find an item that is highly searched for but has a low number of competitors, you know what you should be trying to find to sell.