I was up watching TV one night and saw an commercial by Dave Espinozo about how you can make millions on Ebay. So the next day I decided to give it a try. I knew that they gave you all the instructions on the site itself, so it took me about 20 minutes to come up with a listing.

It wasn't so bad at first, but then it began. I got three scam bids from Nigeria offering 2 to 7 thousand dollars for a $850 refurbished laptop. I had to wait a week and file items unpaid to get the final value fee of $130 removed.

Undaunted, I continued for about 3 weeks listing more items hoping they would sell. Then it happened again. Two of the items I listed got sold out at the drop shippers and I had to pull the listings.

12 listings and over $50 later, I finally got a bid for a camcorder I listed for about $60. I had worked on the listing for over 3 hours and I knew something had to sell. Just as I got done ordering the item, an email came in saying that the bid was withdrawn. On closer inspection, someone had listed a similar item for $1 opening bid. Yes, I lost to the competition.

That was it for me, I was back to square one. They say only 40% of the items listed sell, even for experienced power sellers (those who sell over $1,000 in one month) but I did not even come close. I decided to call it a $59 lesson and move on.

So next time you have something that you think might sell, try Ebay. But be forewarned, it may not be as easy as you think. As for Dave Espinozo and his Ebay system, well it's probably a lot of hype. They probably don't tell you the other side of that story. For every item sold on Ebay, there are probably countless others that did not. Well, back to the drawing board...