When done correctly, eBay can be set up as a "lead generation machine" for any kind of business. Better yet, you can actually make money on eBay and generate leads.

Suppose you have a service business and you want to compile a list of potential customers. I suggest you put together articles you've written (original material is best) and organize them into a short e-book (i.e., electronic book.) One advantage of e-books is that there are no distribution costs. The customer simply downloads the e-book file(s) to their computer. There are many services available that make it easy for customers to pay for and then download an e-book. Clickbank (www.clickbank.com) is one such service.

List your e-book under the appropriate category on eBay. The item description is very important. You need to convince your potential customers of the value of your product or service. In your e-book, demonstrate your superior knowledge of your subject area and include a link (or several links) to your web site. Be sure to include additional contact information… and make a case for how much easier or better it is to use your services than for the customer to do it themselves.

This technique is very effective and if you do it correctly - your leads will actually cost you nothing.

So how do you make money doing this? You could spend extra time on your e-book, put together some great original material, and sell the e-book for a reasonable price.

Suppose you have an e-book that you want to sell. I did some research and found that most of the e-books on eBay sell for less than $15. What if you have put together a very comprehensive book… chock full of valuable information that took you a considerable amount of time to compile? Your research leads you to believe that you should not sell this material for less than $40. So what do you do? You could divide the book up into smaller subsets and sell each one for $14.95... that seems to be the price that any well-marketed e-book can sell for on eBay.

However, I recommend that you utilize the power of eBay to generate thousands of qualified leads... and then market to those folks directly at your higher price.

Create a 'mini' version of your book - a 5-10 page report or subset of your larger work. Put it up for sale on eBay for $1.00 or whatever you think will draw the most bids. I recommend $1, perhaps as high as $5, depending upon the content of the mini e-book.

It is important that the bid price is low… low enough that interested people will not think twice about bidding. Your objective is not to make a lot of money on the sale of this "teaser" report. Your objective is to generate as many leads as possible and then use those qualified leads to sell your larger work.

If you have a good title, good cover design, and low price, most people interested in the subject will bid on it. You then collect your $1.00 per e-book. Your delivery costs are ZERO because an e-book is "digitally delivered." Your customer acquisition costs are almost zero. Your only fees are eBay's listing fees and perhaps credit card transaction fees, both of which are more than covered by the $1.00 you get from each successful bidder.

Now here's the beauty of this "system": All the email addresses of the bidders are sent to you automatically when the auction is complete. You have a built-in, automatic lead-generating machine going! All you have to do is make your e-book so attractive that people will bid the dollar to get it… all of the email addresses are then sent to your inbox automatically. These are qualified leads… people who you know have an interest in the product or service you offer.

Now, it is up to you to generate additional sales (and more profitable sales) from these customers acquired through eBay. You can build a significant mailing list in a very short period of time using this method. When doing this, you need to make sure (after you have delivered everyone with their e-book) that you ask permission to keep them on your FREE 'updates list" and give them an opportunity to sign-up or opt-out.

This is important… this system will do you no good whatsoever if you don't follow-through with the leads that you get. You must think about what you're going to do with the leads after you get them. Letters? Emails? Audio tapes? All of these can be sent to your prospects to make a subsequent sale.

Capture the name and address of every eBay customer you get and follow up with them on a regular basis to sell them more of what they just bought. If you sold them a "mini" e-book, follow up and try to sell them the full report. Send frequent mailings for a variety of other products.

1. Create an e-book educating people about your product or service. 
2. Create a report that's a mini version of the complete book you're really selling. 
3. List the mini e-book on eBay in the appropriate categories at a nominal opening bid. 
4. Collect the money at the end of the auction. 
5. Deliver the e-book to the winning bidders. 
6. Collect the "qualified" leads and get them to opt-in to your mailing list. 
7. Follow-up with them to sell them your real book or service. 
8. Continue to follow up offering related products and/or services or special offers.

This technique works for other items too, not just service businesses and e-books.

• Do you have a sample of your merchandise that you can auction for $1.00? 
• Do you have a low-priced item that can be auctioned for less than $5? Apply the steps above, using the sample or low-priced item instead of an e-book. The only thing to remember here is that you'll now need to account for the cost to ship the item to the winning bidder(s).

When done correctly, eBay (and any online auction site) can be set up as a "lead generation machine" for your business. The key to success is to follow through and effectively use these leads to build a loyal customer base.

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