Making money on ebay isn't like it used to be. In the old days a person who get an account with an online wholesaler or even a drop shipper and start listing their items on Ebay immediately. There items would sell quickly and at a nice profit and all the seller had to do was ship and repeat the process. Times were smooth sailing.

Today things have changed markedly. There have been new fees introduced at Ebay that increase the burden on the seller -- for instance their is a listing fee that the seller must pay whether her item sells or not -- and the numbers of sellers has reached a near-saturation point. Add in the fact that many individuals now use Ebay to hawk stolen goods at prices no legitimate seller can afford to match. Add this all up and you have an environment that is vastly different from the environment that was present not too long ago.

So does that mean that you can't make money with ebay auctions, anymore? Absolutely not. People are still making money with Ebay Auctions. And people are making even more with Ebay's Partner Network which I am going to have to tackle in another hub.

But, back to the topic at hand: What are the best things to sell on Ebay to make a significant income? I have found that the best products for Ebay auctions have one attribute in common. In nearly every case, I task myself to ask one question to predetermine an item's success:

Can I buy the product at Walmart or Target?

This question tells you quickly if the item has the uniqueness necessary to be successful in today's climate.You see, before selling popular retail items was where the money was at. But, consumer boredom set it, tons of thefties descended upon Ebay, and people got tired of having to wait for the item to come in the mail. Today, most people, if they want something, simply head to Target and buy it.

Therefore the best things to sell on ebay today tend NOT to be the best-sellers at the local Walmart and Target. I think the mailing lag is one of the prime reasons for this. At a big retail brick and mortar you can have your item in the time it takes to find it and wait in the checkout line. You don't have to wait a week or more to get your toy.

Now don't get me wrong. In a lot of cases you CAN make money selling these type of items. For instance, if the item is too hot to stay in stock, people will head online to buy it. Or, perhaps, you got a great wholesale price on an item that allows you to way undersell the retail price. But, I'm just trying for an estimation of the trend.

Considering this, I believe that your best items for ebay auction, will be more unique and, in some cases, impossible to find in the buyer's area. Does this mean that you need an autographed original copy of The White Album to make any money? No, it just means you have to look for items that have that uniqueness and that people will NOT be able to buy at Target or Walmart. In fact, in most cases you can still use a wholesaler as your source, or maybe even a drop shipper. It's just that the items that sell won't be your typical name brand items.

Consider this example. A guy I know makes a good deal of money running auctions on reproductions of historical documents that he buys from a wholesaler. His best sellers are the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. His items aren't one-of-a-kind by any means. But there is a small but regular market for them. And, and this is important, the items are quite unique and definitely hard to find.

If you don't happen to find yourself in Washington or Philadelphia you are probably not going to be seeing this item in your local retail outlets.

What he has done is tap into a profitable market for items that are hard for buyers to find, but easy for sellers to source. And that, my friends, is how you find items to sell on ebay.