Many people seem to think it can't be done.  "There's too much competition already!" they say.

Not true.

There are a LOT of sellers on eBay to be sure, but there were loads of them when my partner and I decided we'd have a go at selling items on the UK site.

That was well over two years ago.  We made it to PowerSeller in three months flat - that's the fastest time you can do it - and we have never lost it since.  In fact we've crept up to Silver a couple of times too; that's where we are at the moment after a frenzied season of selling over the Christmas period!

This hub was inspired by the frustration I feel when I hear other people saying that they can't do something - before they have even tried.  It's not easy getting to PowerSeller; you do need to work for it.  But becoming a PowerSeller on eBay is worth it. 

But believe me when I say that this type of 'work' is enjoyable, fascinating and great fun!

Let's discover how you can start your own journey towards PowerSeller status. 

I can't stress this enough.  It's easy to go onto eBay and see that some sellers are selling hundreds if not thousands of items a month and get disillusioned before you even begin.

What you have to remember is that they didn't just spring into life like that.  They started small.  WE started small.  I remember to begin with we ordered eight products from our first supplier, spending £200 in the process.  That's currently about $292, but back then it was more like $400 worth.  That's the state of the exchange rate for you!

We sold enough of those products to pay for them when the credit card bill came in (we were going to pay for them out of our savings, but didn't need to in the end), and then put in another order.  The second time around we re-ordered the big sellers we'd nearly run out of, and ordered two or three more new items as well.

And that is how we continued.  We gradually expanded our range over the next two years, and now we have something like 170+ products in stock and selling, depending on what's in stock and what we sell out of.  And we are still continually adding to that inventory.  I just unpacked another order today that had around seven new items in it - I never tire of seeing the new stock and wondering how well it will sell!

This technique is what you would call "scaling up", and here it is step by step:

• start small
• use the profits to reinvest in new stock
• add more lines to your inventory
• use the profits from those sales to invest in more...

And on it goes.  It does take time, but if you are determined to reach PowerSeller and you want to get to the stage where you can earn a reasonable living from your eBay business - as we do - then you should be ready to meet that challenge. 

If you think more about your customers and how you can serve them well, you'll make more money than if you consciously think of nothing but the money!

This really is true.

Make sure your customers come first.  If you do this, they'll not only come back to you, they'll recommend you to others as well.  We've had this happen, and there is nothing nicer.

So if you are thinking of starting a business on eBay, don't try and get to the finishing line before you've even got out of the starting blocks.  Take it one step at a time, plan ahead, and never give up.

THAT'S how you get to be a PowerSeller on eBay.  Good luck. 

It also helps to start off with a specific niche in mind.  If you try to appeal to everyone, your eBay shop or listings won't have any order or familiarity to them.

We sell toys of all kinds, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone.  What do you love?  If you have a passion for cars then you might do well selling car spares, for example.  We like to think that we can keep the child in us alive by selling toys on eBay!  It's got nothing to do with having to test everything to make sure it works, honest...

Your niche might be very different from your first idea, though.  Our original plan was to sell DVDs, but after months of fruitless searching for a supplier who actually sold DVDs people would want to buy, we gave up.

We then happened to put a secondhand toy on eBay to get rid of it, looked up the name of the supplier... and hey presto, one trade account and two years later they are still our best source of goods.

It just goes to show the weird ways that you can stumble across your best source of goods to sell on eBay. 

You know, I've seen plenty of sellers on eBay who seem to just buy anything and think it will sell.

It probably does eventually, but it's much better if you do your research first to figure out what the bestsellers are.  We do this all the time, and we sometimes come across items that are really hot sellers without knowing where on earth the sellers are getting them from.

And then several weeks or months later, we'll trip over that manufacturer at a trade show, or see the item on sale in a shop and the web address is printed on the base of it.

The more research you do, the more knowledge you build up.  And the more you do it, the more sales and money you will make.  Don't try shortcuts.  Don't charge a fortune for things and assume that people will pay it.  Most of the time they won't.

Thankfully this describes only a small portion of the eBay sellers who use the site.  And their sales don't seem that great either, so you can see this technique doesn't work for the long term. 

This hub was written by Allison Whitehead, a full time freelance writer working in the UK.  You can visit her website at http://www.allisonwhitehead.co.uk.