There are lots of people w.h.o are “shooting stars” in the auction game: they dash in with wild enthusiasm, stars in their eyes, filled with plans.

Yet, talk to them three months later and you will hear a sour story about how “auctions don’t work”.

After all, they reason, they listed lots of items, worked hard to satisfy customers - and lost money.

What happened? They fell victim to the internet myth which says that anyone can jump in and become one of the new web millionaires. It’s easy and doesn’t take much time, right?

Wrong! All high paying professions demand knowledge, skills, a certain level of expertise. Why should net auctions be any different?

All genuine teachers advise their students to begin with small steps that won’t be too costly if they fail. Then, as expertise and confidence grows, we can take bigger and bigger leaps.

So, the secret to minimizing any losses and maximizing your gains is simply this ..

#1. When starting, invest only small amounts of money that you can comfortably lose - investing the week’s grocery allowance in a piece of antique jewelry that you are SURE will sell, isn’t prudent for anyone (unless you are a REAL expert on antique jewelry.)

#2. Test, test, test!

I NEVER invest any significant sum of money in merchandise until I have tested and re-tested with a small amount of (whatever)!

After 4 years in the auction business, I hold to this rule. If I am in the auction business 10 years from now, I will obey this rule.

Have I always been so careful? No. And I have almost always lost money when I got carried away by the “great deal” that I had to act upon immediately.

A great example is grills that cook on top of the stove.

I sold them several times and was positive they would sell well. So, I listed them on the $99.95 featured category on ebay. They are awkward to ship because there is no priority mail box from the post office that fits the darn things, so shipping was … painful. But I was sure I would profit from them.

And, I did.

The first time, I sold 100 of them and my profit was $298.37.

Then I tried selling 50 at a time. This time my profit was 529.83! With half of the work!

Does that seem odd to you?

With only 50, the price went higher than with 100 - and my costs were lower. With huge numbers of items, the price has no chance to go anywhere. Yet, y.o.u will regularly see sellers listing 5,000 and even 20,000 items.

Does this mean you will always make more money with fewer items?

Not at all - it just means that testing is a very necessary ingredient of your success.

The best advice I can give new sellers is: Don’t be in a rush.

I made a lot of early mistakes by rushing in before I knew what I was doing. I was a complete novice and I floundered around a lot my first year. I didn’t understand how necessary good records were, so I don’t know how well I did financially that first six months or so. But, if I had to guess I would bet that I worked very hard, spent lots and lots of time - and lost money.

That is the value of learning from people who have been there and done that. You can cut your learning curve.

So, proceed carefully, test and keep records of what y.o.u are doing and you will cut months - even a year or two - off your learning curve and zoom ahead to a fabulous, very profitable auction business.