Selling on eBay can be a fun hobby or a great way to get rid of junk in the house. For individuals like myself, it is also a place to earn a full time income. To really make money on eBay you need to have a PowerSeller's frame of mind. Let's start at the beginning with the most obvious question...what is a PowerSeller?

So how does someone gain this status on eBay?

eBay makes monthly evaluations of their sellers and they have strict requirements. You can only get into the program if you are invited. To get in at the bronze level, you need a feedback rating of 100 with at least 98% being positive. You also must sell at least $1,000 worth of items or a total of 100 items every month for three months in a row. eBay will also be including the detailed seller rating into this elite status this summer, and other rules are added over time. eBay has several level of the program depending on your sales: $1,000 total is bronze, $3,000 is silver, $10,000 is gold, $25,000 is platinum and $125,000 is titanium.

Status can be lost a lot easier than it can be achieved. If a PowerSeller misses their sales quotas, or if their feedback goes under 98% positive, eBay takes it away. To put it bluntly, PowerSellers have been making money for a while and continue to make money.

The Store Or The Flea Market

The most important thing to understand about the this unique frame of mind is that selling on eBay isn't a hobby or something that happens with luck, it is a serious business.

Here is a good way to look at it. If you have a booth at a flea market or at a fair, the chances are that you have a good idea of how to sell and make money, but you sell whatever you can find and hope it works. If your friend has 200 pairs of shoes cheap, then that's what you'll be selling. Selling this way can be fun. When you have a good week, you can really score big. This, however, is no way to run a real business over the course of time.

PowerSellers like me have the frame of mind like a real store owner. We seem to sell the same items over and over again. We also do silly things like keep inventories and budgets or product and keyword research. We know what we are going to sell, how much our cost is, what the eBay and Paypal fees are, and how much it should sell for. Just like a real brick and mortar store, we go through some hard times occasionally, but our income is predictable and our overall business maintains a healthy growth rate.

The ideal PowerSeller frame of mind is looking at money over the long term instead of the short term. Guard your feedback, manage and automate your selling properly, regularly update and do regular maintenance on your systems, provide stellar customer service and the rewards will come to you over time. Then you'll get a little badge next to your name that makes people trust you more...just like the one I have!