It’s should be no surprise to you that there are many people making a lot of money by doing business with eBay. I’ve read about their successes and I’ve read lots of bloggers bragging about how easy it is to make money on eBay. There are countless e-books, manuals, video series, blogs and classes about the subject and many people have been successful at making money on eBay. From cars to stamps to airplanes to small parts for just about anything, eBay is the place to market your goods.

The problem is, what if you don’t have any goods to sell? What if you don’t have a wholesale account with anyone? What if you’re just an average Joe wanting to make a buck off of eBay? Although this seems like a hard question to answer, it’s really not. If you’re like me and are not a manufacturer and you don’t have any inventory to liquidate, then the best option available is to start a niche website made for eBay.

What is a Niche Website?

Do you know what a niche is? Merriam-Webster defines the word niche as: “a specialized market”. In other words, a niche is something very specific tailored to a particular group of people. For example, a niche could be “resistance exercise bands”. This niche is very specific in that it targets those people looking to buy resistance exercise bands and nothing else. The type of people looking at these items could be gyms or individuals looking for resistance bands for home or travel. This specific niche could have an eBay store made for it that would sell various kinds of resistance bands.

The first step in creating a niche website is, obviously, to define your niche. You need to think about what sells well on eBay, what people are looking for on the search engines, and how much money you could stand to make on certain items.

In order to find out what sells on eBay, you can do one of several things. You could use your intuition, you could read the news about hot products, or…you could take the easy way out and check out eBay Pulse. Ebay Pulse lists several of eBay’s most sought after items in addition to providing you with trends of what has been selling well over certain periods.

Set Up Your Affiliate Account

After looking at eBay Pulse and deciding on a product, you need to establish an affiliate account with eBay. With an affilaite account you can earn money by either having people sign up for eBay or by having people buy stuff from your eBay store. We’ll stick to the second thing, but once in a while you’ll have people sign up for eBay through you for an added bonus.

eBay’s payout is pretty generous, I receive 50% of eBay’s cut for the first $99 you sell through your website, and the percentage grows from there. Check out eBay’s payout schedule for more details.

Build Your Website

Now comes the fun part. You already have a winning product selected. You already have your eBay affiliate account ready to roll. At this point, you can start making a website that will maximize your earnings on eBay. But how do you build a winning website? There are several options, of course.

Firstly, you need a good domain name. Domain names are so cheap that you can get one for about $6. Check out Godaddy.com to sign up for a new domain and start earning. Think of domain names relevant to your niche. If you’re doing exercise bands, try to get exercisebands.com or some variation. Use your imagination and do your best to lock in a .com domain name.

Next thing you need to do is to have your own web host. Whatever you do, don’t use a free hosting service. In addition to hurting your rankings on the search engines, free hosting services are often unreliable and give your site less credibility. Sign up for a solid web host like Hostgator.com where you can have unlimited domains, unlimited databases, super easy software installation through Fantastico and much more for as little as $4.95 per month. I use Hostgator.com and have not yet been let down! Their support is incredibly fast and the service is excellent. If you don’t have a host yet, sign up for Hostgator.com right now!

Once you have a domain name and a web host, you can build your website. The easiest way to accomplish this is by automatically pulling in live auctions from eBay to your website. Not only does this give your website a ring of authenticity, but it also provides your customers with relevant auctions where they can buy goods straight from your website and generate your commissions. Believe it or now, this is MUCH easier than it sounds! With Hostgator.com, you can install Wordpress in under 2 minutes. All you need after Wordpress is a nifty plugin called PHPBay Pro. PHPBay Pro plugs in to eBay and pulls in live auctions automatically. For only $39, you can start building your eBay empire.

PHPBay Pro is extremely easy to use and set up. Wade, PHPBay Pro’s developer is very helpful and responsive through email and helps you through any questions you may have.

Check out one of my made for eBay stores. This store is targeted to those looking for cheap digital frames. I found a domain name, have it hosted at Hostgator.com and am now making a few bucks every day with the help of PHPBay Pro. If you haven’t purchased yourself a Christmas gift, this is the package that I recommend. It will pay you back in dividends if you do your homework and work the system.