In past eBay auction tutorials, we've talked about how there are people just waiting out there to buy you knowledge, and the best way to sell it to them is through writing ebooks. But whether you're going to sell ebooks or CDs, you need to do some research before diving in and selling. I know you're excited about starting your own eBay home business, but spending a nickel's worth of time on research can save you dollars worth of regret later.

Before you post your first item up for sale, search for related topics on eBay to see what your competitors are selling. If you're going to write an ebook full of fishing tips, use eBay Search to look for other items with "fishing tips" in the title, or maybe even just "fishing". The eBay Search window can be found in the upper right of the main eBay page (www.ebay.com), and on every other page on the site!

Don't be too concerned if there's someone else out there selling the same thing you're going to sell, but if there are 1000 other people selling your item, you may want to come up with another idea. Still, through superior marketing (and creating a superior product!), you can still do well. The idea here is to get an idea of how many people are already selling what you want to sell, and for how much they're selling it for.

While you have to be price competitive, don't make the mistake of selling your goods too cheaply, because cheap prices make potential customers think your goods are cheap, and you don't want that. Don't try to beat the competition by having the lowest price - beat them by having a superior product.

Now that you know what your competition is doing, you've got to sit down and create a plan for what you're going to do. After all, if you were driving from California to Florida, you wouldn't just drive your car out the driveway and aimlessly drive around just hoping you were on the right road, right? Right! The road to success must be planned as well. In my next eBay auction tutorial, I'll tell you what this plan MUST include. Until then, get started with your eBay research, and I'll see you tomorrow with another eBay home business tutorial!