Once upon a time... there was a young whippersnapper named Charles (that's me). Charles had a brilliant plan for making hundreds of dollars on the Internet. You see, Charles had figured that he could sell products on eBay. Buyers would come from the far corners of the globe just to bid on his eBay auctions. It was a brilliant plan!

And Charles' plan worked, for a little while at least. You see, he would buy cheap collectibles at garage sales. You know, things like collectible action figures, stamps, coins, antique books, and the like. Then, when he returned home, he would re-sell the items on eBay, hoping to earn more than he originally paid at the garage sale.

Last time he looked, Charles has over two hundred dollars in his PayPal account. Most of the money was profit, from selling several dozen items on eBay.

But, alas, Charles gave up selling items on eBay. He decided it just wasn't worth the trouble. Why, you ask?

10. It's a pain in the neck to estimate shipping costs.

9. Oftentimes people don't bid high enough to cover the cost of purchasing the item in the first place.

8. Finding boxes to fit different-sized items can seem impossible at times.

7. Charles' wife doesn't like piles of junk all over the house. ("But it's for my eBay auctions, my dear!")

6. The post office is almost always closed when Charles gets out of work.

5. Charles can get rid of a lot more stuff at his yearly garage sale... and make more money too.

4. Packing items in used boxes is very difficult because all of the boxes' old logos and words must be covered up.

3. Taking high-quality digital pictures requires a skill that Charles doesn't possess.

2. You have to wait several days before you know if you made any money on an item.

1. Buying items and reselling them on eBay requires opening your wallet many times. You have to pay the garage sale person, the eBay listing fees, the PayPal fees, the postage to send the box. Then you have to pay for packing tape, new ink cartridges from printing all of the receipts, gas to drive all over town.

So, as a result, Charles has quit selling items on eBay-- for the most part-- and has since returned to his day job. Today he is much wiser, but not so much richer, than he was when he began.

About the Author

Charles is CEO, owner, author, and Webmaster of the infamous blog, "The Frugal Life: Strategies for Saving Money".