Ebay does a massive amount of business on a global level every day. Last year, in fact, eBay sold 38 billion dollars worth of goods and services. 14% of all transactions that take place online are done via eBay's auctions. 45,000 people buy products through eBay every day, and it's only growing as eBay expands and enters new markets. Ebay provides a tremendous amount of opportunity to all people of an entrepreneurial mindset.

So what are people buying on eBay?

The truth is that people are buying anything and everything. Of source, there are some markets that are more popular than others. The billion dollar business takes place in the following categories:

Clothing. In eBay land, an article of clothing sells every three seconds. Much of this clothing is gently used, bought on clearance, or has been sitting in a closet for years. Power Sellers usually buy wholesale and sell below retail.

Electronics. This covers a lot of technology - televisions, broken equipment for parts, outdated computers. A digital camera sells every minute on eBay - an important thing to know if you're constantly upgrading your own technology at home.

Collectibles. This is the niche lover's dream. Avid collectors of antiques, artifacts, pop culture, and even used dental equipment swarm to eBay to compete over the next addition to their collection.

Jewelry. People buy costume jewelry, handcrafted jewelry, wedding bands, precious stones and antiques. The profit margin is usually much better than you will get at an estate sale or pawn shop.

Sporting goods. Every day somebody throws in the towel and gets rid of that unused ab cruncher, weight bench, or boxing gloves. There always seems to be somebody else that is eager to take that sport or activity on themselves.

Cars. This is the top grossing category on eBay by far. Ebay sells more cars in a morning than most car dealers sell in a year. This is why many car dealers are taking their hard-to-sell trade-ins and auctioning them off on eBay. Other car sellers on eBay have turned their fixer-upper mentality into a profit by going to local government auctions, replacing parts, and then auctioning the car off to the highest bidder.

No matter what you're selling on eBay, there is a market for your product. These categories will give you an idea of where the most common profits come from, but don't think that you can't carve a niche out in a different category. There is plenty of room to develop, and test, new products on eBay and find your own spot in the market. Just do your research, be creative in your marketing, and make sure your auctions have good descriptions and accurate pictures. And if something isn't selling, you can always change to a new category or change your product lines. In many cases, you can actually change your entire focus overnight! How many offline retailers can do that?