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I sell books. Mostly history books. They must not be generic history books, but books about specifics. For instance....History of US Since 1865 would not sell. But History of Jeff Davis County, Texas would sell.

Inside the US Civil War would not sell, but Cannoneers in the Army of Tennessee would sell. I actually buy books for $3.99 off the Hastings bargain rack and resell them. I bought a History of the US Marine Corps in the Civil War Volume I, which was a small run book off of a university press, for $3.99 and sold it the next night for $28.00. I bought a set of Persian Language Tapes for $3.99 and sold them for $26.00. However Japanese and German language tapes would not sell. It has to be sort of unique to sell well.

You could not make a living off of selling books unless you had a really good supply and steady stream. But, selling a few books here and there could help a bottom line.

Genealogy related books also sell well.

Yes ma'm, it is possible for him to make a good living on ebay, I know a few people who are doing quite well. And don't forget half.com, an ebay company. While I don't make a living on these two, I make some nice 'mad money' for the extras I then usually turn around and find at great prices on ebay.

I haven't attended any of the ebay conferences, but I've heard that they are very good. ebay itself is happy to answer some of the questions he might have. Not only should he look at estate sales, etc., but wholesale items that he can then turn around and sell at a small mark up that keeps it a good ebay buy vs. retail.

One of the best things he can do to begin is just spend time looking on ebay to learn what people are looking for and if he is near any kind of outlet stores - say Pottery Barn, Le Creuset cookware, Linens & Things, any type of outlet store where he can pick up quality items with a slight irregularity, he can easily make a profit by selling them again. Hope that helps!

The bottom line is that you have to be able to know what is valuable and what is junk.

Also, your items have to be small enough to mail cheaply. A piece of furniture, for example, will not sell well if the buyer will have to pay half it's cost for shipping.

I would suggest that your brother make a list of the items he usually finds at estate sales and then do eBay searches on such items. He can then see what sells and what does not.

However, again, you have to be knowledgeable about what you are selling. A friend of mine makes a good bit of money buying old paperback novels for five cents apiece at junk sales and selling some of them on eBay for over $50. When I asked her why anyone would pay $55 for the item she was showing me on her computer screen, she explained that that particular paperback novel was the first novel by a now famous romance writer and that only a small number of copies were printed.

The lesson is that my friend can make money selling paperback novels on eBay because she knows the paperback novel market. However, I would lose my shirt on posting fees since I don't know the first thing about that particular market.