Even eBay isn't get rich quick business

Submitted by Adam on February 22, 2007 - 6:22pm.

Riding Shotgun with Adam

This week there is an eBay seminar going on in our city. The sponsoring company is flooding TV, radio and newspaper with ads for the events.

It seems that such seminars come around several times each year. Each time the company presenting the seminar uses specially chosen wording to make people think that eBay has something to do with the event.

In reality, eBay only sponsors one series of seminars called eBay University. If the seminar or lecture series doesn't say eBay university than it is not sponsored by eBay.

Rick and I have done classes on eBay that truly are about how to get involved with eBay, but our lectures don't promise that you can make money easily from home. We also don't give out getting started packets or trial products.

To get involved with eBay you don't need to buy anything or enroll with any particular company except eBay.

Whenever a seminar comes around promising to show attendees how to easily make money from home using eBay, you can count on the fact that the product or service they are advertising has little to do with eBay.

One common eBay gimmick business is where a particular buys tons of junk like clock radios, back packs, cheap TVs etc. Then they let anyone who wants to enroll in the opportunity to sell their "overstock" merchandise. Usually these items are either way over priced or they are the rejected seconds that even Big Lots wouldn't take.

All you have to do to enroll in this business is pay a few hundred bucks for a packet. They will use buzzwords and terms like "Your own website," "Make millions on eBay," and "Only a few hours per day."

The enrollment fee pays for all of the junk merchandise that they provide for you to sell. After that they take a small percentage or a base price from anything you sell on eBay and you get to keep the rest.

It doesn't sound too bad until you get onto eBay and realize that everyone who has enrolled in the company us "selling" the exact same clock radio at exactly the same price. Worse yet is that no one is buying the clock radio since there are so many listed.

In the long run these businesses hurt eBay because many people will lose their money in this scam and that will be their first and only experience with eBay.

EBay is a legitimate business but it is not a get rich quick business. You can read my formula for making money on eBay in this week's email newsletter.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a beer!