photobucket. Once you have a free account, you can upload photos and images to albums that you create - see Photobucket for how to. When you have uploaded images you want to use in your listing, you need to get the HTML code for the pictures. You get this from below the picture. Highlight the code for the picture then copy it ready to paste into your listing. You might want to paste it into a Wordpad document to keep until you need it then copy & paste it from there.

When you type in your item description on ebay - stop typing at the point you want to insert an image then click the HTML tab. Copy and paste the images HTML code at the end of the code where you finished typing. If you want the image to appear in the center of your description, type

after the item description code then copy and paste the picture code.

You can resize pictures to suite your listing on Photobucket. To add more text, click the Standard tab and carry on typing your description.

You can dry-run your listing on ebay and play around with the coding, positioning etc. Insert your text and image codes then preview how your listing will appear to see if you like it. If you don’t like it simply delete it.

Another way to add photos is to use an ebay template. You can get them free online. One site that supplies free templates is onlineauctiontrader

With an ebay template, you can type in your item description and add image HTML. You will be shown where in the template code to place your text and image codes

It’s all quite easy really once you’ve tried it. One word of warning though, if someone clicks on your Photobucket images, they will be taken to your Photobucket album so be sure not to have photos of a personal nature in that album. Create separate albums for different products.

The popular auction site has become the largest marketplace in the world, and there are literally millions of people selling stuff on the popular auction site. There are even more buyers who visit the site looking for items to purchase. This is the power of the most popular auction site online: the millions of buyers who go to the site with money in their pockets looking for something to buy, and those buyers determine the top selling items on eBay.

Of all the people who sell there, only a small percentage make the really big bucks. What makes the difference between those who make lots of money and those who just make a few bucks here and there? Those sellers who make it big do so by listing the top selling items in hot, lucrative niches.

Selling popular products is the single most important element when it comes to making big money on eBay. Lots of sellers make money, but those who make the really big money manage to find and list in the top selling items.

So what are the top selling items on eBay? These change constantly as market trends change, but at this writing some of the most popular products include video gaming systems and videogame accessories. Two of the most popular systems are the Sony Playstation system and the Wii system. People who play games on these systems buy many accessories that go along with the games, and manufacturers are coming up with more creative accessories all the time. One of the reasons this niche is so popular is that many videogame enthusiasts purchase every new accessory that becomes available.

So let’s get down to business shall we? First of all, don’t use tacky cliches. If you want to stand out in the crowd, try and look classy instead of desperate. There are plenty of auction titles that say something like “Super rare item wow look low price”. Those titles don’t help sell your product. They just make your business look unprofessional.

Also, don’t write your title in all caps. IT LOOKS TACKY! See? Wasn’t that tacky? Again, the idea is not to look unprofessional.

Instead of thinking like a seller, think like a buyer: If you were looking for an item, then what exactly would you type into the search box? Would you type “ultra rare nowhere else in the world can you find this item buy it now now now!!!!”? Of course not. That would be ridiculous.

Most people search for the core keywords of what they are searching for. If someone is searching for a Wii game system, they will search for “wii console” or “wii system”. So, if you’re trying to sell your item, a title like “Nintendo Wii Console Video Game System”. That would cover most of the keywords most people search for when trying to buy the Wii.

Many people would tell you to think like other sellers, but I think that is dumb. eBay is too competitive to try and copy what others would do. You need to find what works for your business, not theirs.

Last, when writing a killer title you should be specific in your title. If you are selling a 1967 Camaro SS, then your title should be something like “1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS, Red w/16,500 miles” That is specific enough that anyone who sees that will know exactly what you are trying to sell. That kind of specificity engenders buyers trust and also makes your auction all the more searchable. You kill two birds with one stone.

So, to sum this up your auction titles should do three things:

1. Don’t be tacky - use proper capitalization and avoid cliches.
2. Use keywords - getting the core keywords into your title makes it more searchable
3. Be specific - specific titles add trust and make your auction easier to understand

That’s all there is to it. Do those three key things and you should improve your auction response immediately. Good luck.

Some sellers start their prices at $1 and sell thousands of items in one day. These sellers are relying on selling massive amounts of goods, but this really has to be a risky eBay business model.

To beat the competition you need to use marketing and differentiate yourself from the competition. This means developing a unique brand so that people recognize you and the differences you deliver and choose you over the competition even if the price is higher.

You should target all areas of your business and strive to make each areas excel. This means excel in the warranty departments, the delivery departments, the pricing department and the customer feedback department. This can be difficult for a small business but if you thoroughly investigate each process for each department you will be able to set standards and then aim for these standard for each department.

Another way to increase profits to find unique products. This will allow you to charge a premium as it will take sometime before your competition sources the same or similar product and then start to drive prices down. Unique products can be found in different ways. Is there something in your countries culture that is totally unique and hard to find in countries worldwide? If you find something you could sell these items in other countries - listing them on eBay sites for that particular country.

So think carefully about who you are and how this is reflected in your company. Create a unique marketing brand and find unique products to sell. This way you are more likely to avoid discounting due to competitors and your profits should soar.

Yes, you read that correctly: ten years. eBay was created in September 1995, by a man called Pierre Omidyar, who was living in San Jose. He wanted his site - then called ‘AuctionWeb’ - to be an online marketplace, and wrote the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first websites of its kind in the world. The name ‘eBay’ comes from the domain Omidyar used for his site. His company’s name was Echo Bay, and the ‘eBay AuctionWeb’ was originally just one part of Echo Bay’s website at ebay.com. The first thing ever sold on the site was Omidyar’s broken laser pointer, which he got $14 for.

The site quickly became massively popular, as sellers came to list all sorts of odd things and buyers actually bought them. Relying on trust seemed to work remarkably well, and meant that the site could almost be left alone to run itself. The site had been designed from the start to collect a small fee on each sale, and it was this money that Omidyar used to pay for AuctionWeb’s expansion. The fees quickly added up to more than his current salary, and so he decided to quit his job and work on the site full-time. It was at this point, in 1996, that he added the feedback facilities, to let buyers and sellers rate each other and make buying and selling safer.

In 1997, Omidyar changed AuctionWeb’s - and his company’s - name to ‘eBay’, which is what people had been calling the site for a long time. He began to spend a lot of money on advertising, and had the eBay logo designed. It was in this year that the one-millionth item was sold (it was a toy version of Big Bird from Sesame Street).

Then, in 1998 - the peak of the dotcom boom - eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market. It started to encourage people to sell more than just collectibles, and quickly became a massive site where you could sell anything, large or small. Unlike other sites, though, eBay survived the end of the boom, and is still going strong today.

1999 saw eBay go worldwide, launching sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay bought half.com, an Amazon-like online retailer, in the year 2000 - the same year it introduced Buy it Now - and bought PayPal, an online payment service, in 2002.

Pierre Omidyar has now earned an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board. Oddly enough, he keeps a personal weblog at http://pierre.typepad.com. There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay - that’s a lot of laser pointers.

Now that you know the history of eBay, perhaps you’d like to know how it could work for you? Our next email will give you an idea of the possibilities.

POSITIVE: Item shipped quickly, have been having erotic dreams about seller. Thanks!

POSITIVE: Thanks for great Rainbow Brite lunchbox. Should shrunken head be inside?

NEUTRAL: Excellent communication, but should’ve poked holes in box before shipping the kitten. Refunded.

NEGATIVE: Despite indication in listing, I could not fit item into any of my body cavities.

NEGATIVE: Honda R-Type sticker did not add horsepower as advertised.

NEUTRAL: Item shipped promptly and in good condition, but I should not have to bid on birthday presents from my parents.

POSITIVE: I don’t really remember what I ordered. But I’ve been sitting in the box it came in all day, and it’s great!

NEGATIVE: Product didn’t work, possibly broken. I woke up this morning and was disappointed to find I still believe in Jesus Christ our Savior.

POSITIVE: Excellent Buyer. A++++++. Thrilled by the quartz movement of the “Rolex”. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

NEGATIVE: Should have been clearer that seller only accepts payment in Bhats via Eastern Union Moneygram.

POSITIVE: Plain brown packaging seemed to fool my wife. Thanks!

NEGATIVE: The dog won’t hunt.

NEGATIVE: Very nice monkey mascot costume, but it’s a size 34, not a 63 as advertised.

NEGATIVE: Lederhosen not as pink as the picture led me to believe.

POSITIVE: A+++++. Items are exactly as described. Best case of kalashnikovs I’ve ever bought. Allah Akbar!

NEGATIVE: This is clearly the ninth, NOT THE SIXTH, repackaging of Mad Super Special #24.

POSITIVE: One of the scents mixed in with the packing peanuts remind me of a passionate weekend in Rio… was that you?

POSITIVE: The way you wrote my zip-code makes me weak in the knees. Such smooth strokes. A+!

NEGATIVE: Though you did nothing wrong, I am giving you this negative feedback to teach you that the universe is arbitrary and unfair.

NEGATIVE: Buying this Space 1999 Lunchbox did not fill the void in my empty life for as long as I’d hoped.

In 2007 Stuart asked me to pen down a book on eBay, I tot it would be a pretty interesting project. But before I put pen to paper, I did some research I went to my local book stores and as a reference bought every book I could find on eBay. That was when I was truly discussed every one of the 47 books I bought was like a clone of every other. The total content could be sumed up - How to Join? How to buy? How to sell? I made sure my book was not like the others but incase you still need to know “how to?” then check out this video