Then I came across a copy of “The 100 Best Things I’ve Sold on eBay,” by Lynn Dralle, the so-called Queen of Auctions. Each page was a description of something she had bought at a yard sale for a song or had inherited — and then sold on eBay for hundreds of dollars. Ms. Dralle was spending almost nothing and making as much as $10,000 monthly.

I was hooked. With my college degree, I thought, I can do that. So, over the next year, I turned my home into a mini-auction house, snapping up knickknacks from thrift stores and yard sales and selling them online. Along the way, I learned lots of secrets about tracking down a good deal — and sold some seemingly worthless trinkets for impressive prices.

But now I’m realizing I have a lot more to learn if I want to become a truly professional seller like Ms. Dralle. In fact, I’ll probably have to devote a lot more time to eBay to make it worth my while.

1. Ransacking the Attic
2. The Hard Numbers
3. Pay more attention to the numbers
4. Reduce expenses
5. Don’t pay too much without knowing an item’s value
6. View the big-ticket hits like a bonus — nice to get, but you can’t count on them

Startup Journal