The ULTIMATE product to sell on eBay would be one that:

1. Is in high demand
2. Is unique to you so you don’t have any direct competition
3. Costs nothing to produce
4. Costs nothing to ship
5. Doesn’t require storage space
6. Has a high profit margin
7. Can be delivered automatically on auto-pilot so your earnings aren’t dependent on the hours you spend at work
8. Can be easily adapted in response to changes in demand

Fortunately, such a product DOES exist – it’s INFORMATION!

An information product is anything that gives the consumer information – usually teaching them how to do something.  An information product can be:

1. PHYSICAL such as a CD, DVD, paper newsletter, book
2. DIGITAL such as an ebook, audio or video on the web, blog, membership site, RSS feed, podcast
3. INTANGIBLE such as a seminar, teleseminar, coaching, mentoring, consulting

So how do information products fit our criteria for the ultimate product to sell on eBay?

1. Information is in high demand

The most sought after thing on the internet is information. Before people make an expensive purchase, they read up about it. In fact, they are MORE likely to buy information on the product than they are to buy the product!
It is very easy to research the internet in general, and eBay in particular, to find out what information people are looking for. Once you know what they are looking for, you can create an information product that provides the answers they want, GUARANTEEING that your product will be in demand.

2. An information product is unique to you so you don’t have any direct competition

It is beyond the scope of this article to explain in detail how to create your own, unique information products but suffice to say that it is very easy to do. There are 4 EASY ways to obtain as many information products for as many niche markets as you could possibly want. You can:

1. create your own information product
2. have one created for you
3. use an existing one
4. sell someone else’s

3. Information products cost NOTHING to produce

If you create your own information product yourself, it costs NOTHING to produce (apart from your time). But you DON’T have to create it yourself. You can get existing information for FREE to use as your product. Or you can pay someone a small amount of money to create your product for you.

Once it’s created, a digital information product such as an ebook costs NOTHING to reproduce. It’s just a digital file that can be emailed to a customer or the customer can download it from a website.

eBay now requires digital products to be delivered in a physical format such as on a CD or DVD. Although not free, the cost of a blank CD or DVD to put your information product on is minimal. Any further back-end information products that you then sell to your customer directly, not through eBay, can be delivered electronically for FREE.

4. Information products cost NOTHING to ship

As mentioned above, an ebook costs NOTHING to deliver electronically by email or as a download. eBay now requires digital products to be delivered in a physical format such as on a CD or DVD which are very light and slim so the postage and packing costs are very low. Any further back-end information products that you then sell to your customer directly, not through eBay, can be delivered electronically for FREE.

5. Information products don’t require storage space

Once created, your information product exists as a file on your computer. The only “space” it takes up is some memory on your hard drive. If you are delivering it to your customer electronically, you do not need to store it anywhere else. If you are delivering it to your customer in a physical format you can print it on to paper, or burn it to a CD or DVD, as required just prior to delivery. There is no need to have boxes and boxes of stock cluttering up your home.

6. Information products have a high profit margin

What is the value of a scrap of paper? Nothing. But what if that scrap of paper had next Saturday’s double roll-over lottery winning numbers on it? It is now worth $millions. This is an extreme example but it illustrates that it is not the value of the paper or the disc that the information is delivered on that counts – it’s the value of the information that’s on that paper or disc that counts. The paper or disc only costs cents to produce but can be sold for $10, $100 even $1,000 – if the information it contains is good quality and the buyer wants it badly enough.

7. Information products can be delivered automatically on auto-pilot so your earnings aren’t dependent on the hours you spend at work

An information product can be sold automatically through a website. Once the customer completes the online order form and clicks the Pay Now button, they are taken to a webpage from which they can download the product. All this is done AUTOMATICALLY whilst you are asleep, watching TV, on holiday, or developing your NEXT best-selling information product!

eBay no longer allows information products to be delivered electronically so your first sell to a customer who buys from you on eBay will have to be physically sent on paper or disc. However, there are products and services that will completely automate the process for you. So when someone wins your auction, your CD or DVD is produced and shipped to your customer without you having to do anything! This can be happening while you are asleep or on holiday!

8. Information products can be easily adapted in response to changes in demand

Once you’ve created your own information product that sells successfully, you are likely to find that sales start to decline after a while. Your product may be out of date or a competitor might be selling a better product. It would be very easy for you to alter your product in response to changes in demand or changes in your target market. All you have to do is edit the content of your product. And once you’ve created one information product, it’s very easy to create another and another and another, to sell to your existing customers and to diversify into new markets.

If you already have a product line that you are selling on eBay, an information product that is RELEVANT to your market would still be useful to you either has a FRONT-END product to give away or sell cheaply to get more people on to your list or to give away with your product as a free BONUS to increase the perceived VALUE of your offer and DISTINGUISH you from your competition.

Martyn Boaden

This post is based on an extract taken from The Lazy Way To Wealth On eBay