So, all said, you may be wondering if it’s even worth effort. That depends on you and how well you prepare.

Before you open your eBay Store or run out and buy a bunch of product, visit Strictly Business Magazine’s "How to Sell on eBay Resource Center" at http://sbmag.org and read all "free" articles. Then buy and read a series of books about eBay, there are a number of them listed there. Start out with a book on basics and then more advanced volumes.

After you have read up on basics, set up a seller’s account. Not a Store yet, that starts meter running after thirty day free trial. Not a lot of money, but why pay it until you have necessary education you are going to need to be successful.

Once you have a basic education, experiment with a few items you have lying around house you’d like to get rid of. This will give you chance to experience eBay process and give you an idea of what you are in for. Pick items that sell for under $10, this will give you cheapest listing fees to experiment with. (A $9.99 item lists for half price of a $10 item, same thing as $24.99 vs $25). Also make sure you pick items that are easy to ship. Check with post office for shipping fees and packaging. If you use Express Mail, most of shipping materials are free and in some cases will more then offset higher postage fees and will get your product to your customer faster, resulting in better a Feedback Rating, something you will soon learn is very important in eBay.

As you’re reading books you have just bought, watch for important subjects such as Feedback Rating, shipping and handling, product selection, effective listings, taking and using photos and using hmtl in your listings. Also make note of other tips and ideas on keeping your listing professional but at same time keeping cost down. Other topics of importance include "keywords" and how they affect eBay search engines and auctions vs fixed price listings.

Don’t be misled into believing that buyers are clamoring all over themselves to bid up every item you offer up for sale. Go browse listings in category that you will be listing in. You may be surprised to see that most items don’t have a single bid and will not sell at all and others have only a single bid. You may also want to find out what are best days and time frames most successful auctions close.

The price you pay for a few books and time it takes to read them and do a little research may be returned ten fold or more in just first few months after opening your eBay store.

Floyd Snyder is the founder and former owner of Executive Advertising, Camera Ready Art and Strictly Business Magazine. Currently he is the owner of Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org, http://www.FrameHouseGallery.com, http://www.EducationResourcesNetwork.com/and http://www.TraderAide.com.

7. "Look at all these written testimonials." This is harder to disprove because testimonials look so real -- even companies might be real. But unless testimonials, and companies, can be verified independently, I wouldn't trust them. And I'll lay odds that they cannot be verified independently.

There is one huge exception to this: ACE-Net (http://activecapital.org). This is more properly Access to Capital Electronic Network run by venture capitalists, institutional investors and individual accredited investors. It was developed by U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy to encourage creation of a national marketplace for investors to find and invest in equity offers by small companies.

ACE-Net isn't for all companies. Those seeking under $1 million will probably find paperwork daunting. Those seeking over $5 million won't qualify. There are special qualifications, and of course lots of forms to fill out -- but nothing like forms required for a formal initial public offering. But for those who do qualify, it's an amazing tool in raising financing. Spend some time with website and forms, and see if your local SBA office can put you in touch with another company that went through process.

As with any investor tool, don't rely exclusively on ACE-Net. Use it in conjunction with your personally developed targeted funding search. This, combined with an exceptional business plan, doesn't guarantee success but it places your company head and shoulders above all rest.

MaryAnn Shank www.businessplanmaster.com http://businessplanmaster.blogspot.com