Guest post by Simon Slade
The problem with starting an eBay business is that there are so many ways to do it. Should you join this drop shipping scheme? What about importing from China, seems like things are pretty cheap there? For the last 5 years, I’ve sold on a number of different auction sites, including the big one: eBay. I’ve tried drop shipping, I’ve done the importing things, I’ve haggled over liquidation auctions and I’ve used a lot of wholesalers. And let me tell you this: they’re all great in their way. But, I’ve discovered that there is one particular route to eBay business success that works without fail. Everyone I’ve seen follow this method has become very successful on eBay. Why? Because this roadmap gets you living and breathing eBay 
and what sells there. More importantly, you live and breathe it before you actually spend any serious money. In fact, the idea is to start making money first - and then spend what you’ve earned to scale up fast.
The market is pulling back in early trading, which is not surprising given yesterday’s outsized rally. I heard that the S&P 500 had its biggest two-week rally since 1938. Impressive, but many wonder if this will be the bear market rally that actually sticks.
I was a little ambivalent about Joe Nocera’s critique of the Madoff investors. In particular, however self-serving the investors claiming that more regulation was needed may be self-serving but they’re also right; the SEC really should be able to stop a decades-long high-prominence Ponzi scheme. The fact that Madoff wasn’t cold-calling poor, lonely widowers shouldn’t be used to undermine the fact that very real regulatory failures occurred here (this may not be Nocera’s intention, but it could be an effect.)
