While the online garage sale approach can be profitable, you are likely to have more success on eBay if you specialize in a particular type of product. Your customers will learn to associate your specialty with your User ID, and will remember you when they are shopping for those types of products again.

You should start by exploring your areas of personal interest. What are you an expert at, and what do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Simply answering those two questions is often enough to identify a niche that could be a goldmine for you. After answering those questions, conduct a search of both active and completed auctions to see what related products are in demand and bringing a price that will adequately pay for your time.

It is important to note that if a lot of products in your chosen specialty are going unsold, or are selling at well below their value, then you need to find a different specialty. Spend as much time on this as necessary. Diving into a market blind could result in a big investment with little return and a lot of unsold items collecting dust in your garage.

If you're having trouble identifying a niche, just take a look around your house. Do you have lots of old books or record albums? Look them up on eBay and see what they're selling for. Go ahead and auction some to test the waters. Do you have old collectibles, Christmas ornaments, or china boxed up and in storage? Dig it out and research it on eBay. You may have thousands of dollars in your attic and not even know it. And exploring what you have in your house could reveal a hot product that you might otherwise not have thought of.

Are there products manufactured in your area that you can buy wholesale and pick up locally? By not having to pay freight, you may be able to undercut competing sellers and dominate the market share for this particular product or products. Explore everything you can think of and research it fully against what is selling and what it's selling for before diving in head first and risk losing a lot of money and wasted time and effort. This will prevent a number of disappointing experiences further on down the road when you find it impossible to sell those products you bought and paid a lot of money for.