What's not to like? Since you have no inventory costs you will need very little capital and it's easy to get started – all you need to know is how to sell on eBay.

With the fame of eBay increasing daily, there's lots of money to be made. The best known is AuctionDrop, a professional consignment service. They have been so successful they raised $500,000 in venture capital and have recently negotiated a breath-taking deal with UPS. There are 3400 UPS stores and interested sellers can drop off their treasures location.

The way it works is this: the seller takes his object-for-sale to a UPS store who packages it and sends it to AuctionDrop. The UPS store has nothing to do with selling on eBay – it is simply the location for prearranged shipping. The customer pays to ship to AuctionDrop.

What is AD's responsibility? It evaluates the item, creates professional photographs, writes detailed descriptions, answers buyer questions, processes payment and ships to the winner. It also verifies against fraud, making the merchandise more attractive to buyers.

If the item sells, AD sends a check to the customer. If an item doesn’t sell, it will be returned to the customer at no additional cost.

eBay has a “Trading Assistants” program to help folks who want help selling their goodies. If you'd like to become a member, you can sign up here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?GetTAHubPage

The requirements are that you have to have sold an item in the last 30 days, have a feedback rating of 50 or higher and have a minimum of 97% positive feedback.

Since the consignment business is thriving, perhaps it's 'too late' for the so-called little gal or guy? NOT! Starbuck's, for example, dominates the coffee market in the US, but they still represent only 16% of all the coffee outlets in the country. Considering the amount of coffee that Americans drink, the other 84% are making lots of money!

If you want to learn the business, the best source for information is How To Start And Run An eBay Consignment Business. It includes 200+ pages of everything you need to know, including how to find consignment customers, corporate sales, fees and costs, writing a business plan, setting up for mass production management software, how to integrate with websites and eBay stores and everything else you would need to know.

It also includes 2 CDs:

1. A tutorial on auction photos, including how to choose a camera, “Three Point Lighting”, key lights, bounce cards and much more.
2. A consignment CD with resources and links, including such basics as letters to use, advertising posters, consignment agreements and record keeping.

AuctionDrop's usual percentage for sales is 40%. Pretty nice for merchandise you don't own, right? It's definitely not too late to get into this game!