I receive at least 5-10 emails a week from fellow ebay members with various questions about how to start an ebay business (where do you buy your product, how can I write a listing that sells, How can I make the money I need from home.) There are a few questions you should ask your self prior to starting an ebay business.

1.) Do you want to make some extra "fun" money or do you want this to be a full time job?
2.) If you would like this to replace a full time job's income, are you prepared to put in the hours necessary to succeed?
3.) How do you plan to ship your orders? Are you going to use the US Postal Service, UPS, Fed Ex or another shipping service? Are you going to pay for your postage at the shipper's office or online? Do you own a postal scale?
4.) Do you like dealing with customers and do you feel you can treat customers in a professional manner (even when difficult situations arise)?
5.) Do you have the funds to start an ebay business? Do you want to start slowly or start with a bang?
6.) What are your store (auction) policies? What forms of payment do you accept? How soon must your customers pay you? Are you willing to offer combined shipping? Are you willing to accept returns? If so, do you have any restrictions?

There certainly is a lot to consider! But there is more...

What do you want to sell?

Sell what you know. If you enjoy scrap booking, you will have a better eye (than someone who does not like scrap booking) for the items that will sell well and a better knowledge of what customers are willing to pay for those items. (This does not replace research, but it gives you a business advantage to know your industry from the consumer's prospective.)

Here are some very basic first steps you may want to follow when starting your ebay business.

1.) Start by selling items you have in your home, such as: games, clothing, movies, books, collectibles, etc. Think of items you do not need or were considering giving away. These should be items that you do not care how much money you receive for them. Selling these types of items first is good for three reasons. First, it will give you experience selling (writing titles and descriptions, interacting with customers). Second, it will give you feedback as a seller. Many buyers are hesitant to buy from a seller with little or no feedback as a seller. When you are ready to truly start your ebay business, you will have (hopefully good) feedback as a seller. Third, if you save this money, you will have money with which you may start your ebay business.

2.) Check with your city, county, and state offices governing small business. Obtain a business license and resale certificate (if necessary in your state.) Contact the IRS and obtain a business tax id number. I recommend contacting an accountant for full details on the local and federal requirements for your business.

3.) With the experience you have gained from selling your excess items, finalize your payment, shipping and return policies. 

Will you take paypal (credit cards or balance transfers only)? Will you accept mailed payments including money orders, cashier's checks and personal checks? Will you make exceptions to or place any restrictions on this policy? If a payment is mailed, is there a waiting period prior to shipment?
How soon after payment can you ship an order? Do you ship daily or only certain days of the week? Do you ship on Saturdays?
Do you accept returns? If so, do you have any restrictions (i.e. only if item is not as described, unconditional returns, exchange only, within a certain number of days, is there a restocking fee?)

4.) Evaluate your selling experience with regards to ending prices. How did your auctions do? Did they sell for a price within the average selling price for that type of item? Did they do better, or worse? If they did better, take a look at other seller's auctions and see if you can determine why yours sold for a higher price. If yours sold for a lower price than other sellers' items, take a look at their listings. Do not copy their listing, but take note of the things that make their auctions appealing (reasonable clearly defined shipping cost, good description and picture, good feedback as a seller, very rare item, etc.) Try to improve your listing to incorporate some of the techniques of successful sellers, but do not copy their listings! A seller can have ebay remove any listing that copies their text, title or picture.

5.) Buy your product to sell on ebay. You may choose to invest some of your savings, or you may use the money you earned selling the items from your home. There are many purchasing sources available for product. Some are wholesale (which usually require your resale certificate). Others may be retail. Do not rule out any purchasing source unless the product's cost makes resale unrealistic. Do not pay anyone for a list of wholesale purchasing sources! You can find much of this information for free on the internet or by contacting companies found in your local yellow pages. You need to make personal contact with companies that wholesale to build a good business relationship. I recommend a phone call to the wholesaler.

6.) Make sure you spend enough time on your ebay business. This is not a get rich quick system, but a real business that can be a lot of fun. Your hours will vary based on the number of listings you have. Personally, I average 60+ hours a week, plus I have 1 full time employee and 2 part time employees.

7.) Make yourself available to your customers and answer all inquiries as quickly as you can. Sometimes you may fall behind in answering emails (the sheer number of emails can be overwhelming at times.) Provide other contact information for your customers such as a phone number.

I hope this guide has given you some useful information and thought provoking questions to assist you in starting your own ebay business.  If you feel some information is missing, please let me know and I will add it to this guide.   If you like it, I would appreciate it if you rated my guide. Thanks so much!