One of the most common businesses in the world is not a local coffee shop, not a convenience store, not a beauty salon, not a drug store, and not even Wal-Mart! One of the most common businesses in the world is an eBay business run at home.

   Perhaps you are one of those eBay Maniacs (as I like to call them) like my husband who would much rather work at home on the family eBay business than work outside the home doing something else. Or perhaps you have a spouse who does this and you wonder what all the fuss is about. Or perhaps you're entire family are eBay Maniacs... There are worse things!

   Before doing anything else in your home-based eBay business, you must remember: it is a business in every sense of the word. I can't stress that enough.

   If your family sells one item a week, it's a business in the eyes of the IRS, so you need to view it as a business also. Viewing your sales as a business opens doors for you though. When you think in business terms, you can begin to see ways around huge problems that you will turn into minor inconveniences. Even outlays to purchase some equipment, such as an electronic stapler for boxes, to help your business run more smoothly becomes an acceptable investment once you view it as a goal to produce higher sales (or ease of fulfilling your sales) in the future.

Death and Taxes

   The two constants for everyone are death and taxes. The Eternal Revenue Service usually gets more than its share; that's why your taxes last longer than your life when they pillage your family with estate taxes. Life or death, the Infernal Revenue Service's hands are in your pocket.

   There's a loophole, though. A perfectly legal loophole that is obligatory on your part to take advantage of. All expenses directly and indirectly related to your eBay business are usually deductible from any income you make.

   This isn't a tax advice guide, and you didn't read it to learn about taxes I assume. If you did, you came to the wrong place but my husband BidMentor (he's the eBay Maniac although I'm becoming one!) and I know eBay - not tax advice except that which applies directly to us and we don't know that much even then. Having said that, we can certainly give you direction.

   The best thing about going into business on eBay is that it offers tremendous advantages over a traditional storefront.

Bricks-and-Mortar vs Clicks-and-Mortar

   A traditional storefront is often called a bricks-and-mortar business due to the physical building. An Internet-based business is often called a clicks-and-mortar business because much of the activity is done through mouse and keyboard clicking and the physical building (your home in this case) is less important to the online business model than a traditional one. For a bricks-and-mortar business, your retail store has to be ready (and meet massive regulatory requirements as a business) for customers to walk through the door at any time.

   Consider some of the advantages of an eBay business over a traditional bricks-and-mortar store:

• You have a global presence and not just a neighborhood presence. It's about as simple for a New Zealander to buy something from you as it is for a New Yorker.
• Your start-up costs are negligible compared to those of a traditional business. Sure, your computer hardware and software costs money, your utilities cost money, some of your wrapping and mailing materials cost money, your Internet connection costs money, but those are all expenses you'd have if you started a traditional business as well. The extra expenses of a traditional business include the massive outlay of funds for renting (or buying) the storefront and preparing it for full customer access.
• Your operating costs are negligible. You'll pay far more to run a stand-alone business than you will pay extra over your normal household expenses that support your eBay sales.
• Your start-up time is completely negligible. If neither you nor your eBay Maniac were selling on eBay yet, in less than an hour you can be signed up and listing items for sale. Try going into a new bricks-and-mortar business in under an hour!

   Keep all this in mind as you enter your the world of selling on eBay. The odds are already vastly in your favor to success whereas the odds of success in a traditional start-up business are only about 20% or less. Most start-ups go out of business within 3 years. Most people who started selling extra household stuff on eBay 6-7 years ago are still working eBay today.