Good question. And almost impossible to answer accurately because the best selling item on eBay today may not be the same tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month.

So, how does an eBay seller figure out what the current hot sellers are on eBay? Glad you asked.

If you're goal is to be an eBay Power Seller, you've got to be flexible in your sales. What I mean by that is, you have to be able to roll with the trends. For instance, if you're selling something seasonal like plastic Christmas trees, it would be a big mistake to buy 1000 of them in February. Unless you have an endless flow of money, you'll be stuck with a lot of your cash flow tied up in Christmas trees that you won't be able to sell until October.

That being said, how can an eBay seller find out what is currently in high demand? There are a couple of tools that eBay offers to help you out.

"What Sells?"

Go to your MY EBAY section and hold your cursor over the SELL link at the top right of the screen. A drop down menu will appear. Click on WHAT'S HOT. You'll find a list that eBay predicts are hot at the moment. These predictions are based on eBay sales data, trade magazines, and industry experts. They also list the categories that they are planning on promoting in emails and on their main page in the near future.

EBAY PULSE

Basically, ebay Pulse is where you can go to see what the most popular search terms are and what the most "watched" items are. The results are category specific, too. Just go to their main page at pulse.ebay.com and click on the drop down menu titled CATEGORY. Choose a category and you'll immediately get the top ten searches and the five largest eBay stores in that category. And these are DAILY RESULTS. Almost as good as real time.

Couple these tools with some seasonal common sense and you're eBay business will grow faster and run smoother. What I mean by common sense is, if you find a great deal on ski jackets, but we're in May, go ahead and buy them, but don't list them on eBay until closer to ski season.

A tip within a tip: For those who don't have that huge cash flow to spend on huge lots of closeout deals (most of us), a good solution for you would be a drop shipper. That way you have a large variety of products available at any time during the year.

Quickly, a drop shipper is basically a wholesaler who will sell you one item at a time and ship it to any address you give them. You'd just list an item from their site, using their pictures, sell the item, collect payment from your buyer, and then go the drop shipper's site, order the item from him, give him your buyer's address, pay him, and keep the difference for yourself.

Drop shipping is how most small eBay sellers make their living, IF they can find a genuine wholesaler and not some middle man charging outrageous prices. Watch out for them.

Anyway, just use your common sense, and the tools eBay provides and you'll always have an idea of what is in demand.

If you're interested in using a drop shipper, click here for a list of GENUINE wholesale drop shippers.