If you have gone through your house and have been listing off your odds and ends, by now you should be mostly sold out of them. Now it is time to start searching for items to go out and buy to get listed. You should now be a master at completed item research, and as you go out and hunt for deals it will prove to be invaluable.

This is where you go hunting for inventory at outlet malls, the mall and other storefronts. Look for inventory from stores that are clearing things out. Discount orientated stores like Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack and Ross are perfect to find deals at when sales are on. Jot down any potential items on paper and if you can, take a quick snapshot with your camera phone. You’re just looking to see what’s out there at this point. Take a look at the eBay pulse to give you a good idea of what you should be searching for in these stores.

Take home the list of deals you found and sort out which ones are good and which ones are bad. Do some completed item research on eBay to see which items are selling and at what price. Once you have found out which ones look profitable to sell (after listing fees), head back and grab the items you want to start listing.

Buy multiples of the profitable items if possible. Selling multiples of an item you only have to list once makes you more money and saves you time.

Can this be profitable or is it just a waste of time? Doing this same strategy we found a $9 pair of jeans at Marshalls and sold them on eBay for $100.

After a few trips to the store, you can really get to know exactly what you can sell on eBay for a profit. You can also start developing some relationships with the store managers and offer to take old clearance inventory off their hands. Most of the time, they are more than glad to clear out old stock that still might sell like hotcakes on eBay.

Jesse Holmes is an eBay PowerSeller who has been making money on eBay for more than 3 years. Before you start selling on eBay, don’t miss his excellent free eBay Business Start Up Kit, showing you step by step how to learn to sell on eBay.