In last week’s eLetter we (mainly) looked at creating eBooks from works in the public domain.

Since then, I’ve heard back from several readers asking for ideas on how to turn public domain texts and images into products to sell on eBay in the run up to Christmas.

And so, I’d like to share the following suggestions with you, all based on ideas I’ve profited from myself over many years of selling on eBay.

#1. Christmas cards with a vintage appearance. For years I have sold Christmas cards of various designs and found vintage illustrations almost always outsell their modern day counterparts.

But there’s a major problem affecting most newly created products (not just Christmas cards) in that what one person thinks will sell well on eBay may not actually sell at all. This means sellers can be left with stacks of cards – and other items – that never repay their investment.

So sellers having cards created in bulk to achieve reduced printing costs may find themselves losing their hard-earned and suffering severe cash flow problems.

That’s why I never have cards I’ve created printed in bulk before I test the market. Instead, I either create my first ten cards from scratch, using a desktop printer or by printing images, cutting them out and fixing them onto plain greetings card stock. If the new product proves a winner I might have it created in bulk.

This technique works well and has never let me down, especially for cards bearing images taken from Victorian scraps like these:



Countless Christmas and non-seasonal Victorian scraps sell on eBay for a pound or so each and can be used indefinitely on numerous different products.

The beauty of using Victorian scraps is they have already been cut to shape – with no jagged or close cut edges – and they can be applied direct to a plain greetings card blank to test their profitability on eBay.

And when orders come in, either print your own copies at home or send a jpeg image to an online printer and expect stock to be delivered soon afterwards.

#2. Christmas wedding invitations. Christmas is a popular time for couples to tie the knot – and vintage designs are often favoured when it comes to wedding invitations.

Here are just three different vintage-style Christmas wedding invitations currently selling on eBay and, not to boast, they are nowhere near as attractive as those my daughter sells.

                                             

Similar items can be created from vintage images inserted into a Word file, four to an A4 size page – making them roughly A6 size – and then personalised and cut to order.

I’ll show you how to create your own unique designs in a free report I have planned for you to download next week.

Those Victorian scraps just mentioned are my preferred source of quality public domain images for Christmas wedding invitations, as well as greetings cards from the mid to late 1800s.

#3. Any product achieving high sales as a small seasonal gift can attract even bigger orders if a box or gift tag or greetings card is included and priced the same as the product without bonus.

This is my all-time biggest money-maker on eBay. Even if I price my products two or three pounds higher than similar products sold without the extras, I invariably enjoy higher sales than the seller whose product I adapted.

This is my process…

I search Goofbid.com for bestselling gift items, the kind that attract hundreds of orders each year for Christmas and other gift-giving occasions (such as Valentine’s Day and weddings).

Then I buy plain boxes wholesale on eBay, usually priced ten or twenty pence each.

Next I look for public domain images matching the theme of the gift and add the image to a Word file to end up with something like this…



… from this original image…

                                                    

That image of a horseshoe made from pansies came from a mid-19th Century Christmas card and forms the basis of paper I use to cover boxes containing gifts for people attending a wedding.

The same idea can be used for many different subjects and celebrations. I’ll show you how to achieve similar end results in my free report next week, where I will also reveal my own bestselling products.

Key ‘Christmas wrapping paper’ into the search box at Etsy.com for more unique product ideas based on images from the public domain.

#4. Personalised crackers containing jokes from 19th and early 20th Century magazines – learn how to make crackers here.

Use jokes from subject-specific magazines, such as those for hobbies and special interests. Personalising your finished product and it should be unique on eBay.

My own personalised Christmas crackers and other seasonal novelties are targeted at stamp collectors, Freemasons and numerous other niche interest groups.

Can you see how public domain offers up the possibility of hundreds of different bestselling, high profit margin products with little or no competition available for you to sell on eBay? That can begin for you today and last until the last day for posting for guaranteed delivery before Christmas 2016… and every year thereafter!

I’m sure you can – and that’s why my free report will open your eyes to perhaps the easiest and most attractive profits you ever thought possible on eBay… not forgetting Amazon, Etsy and other online marketplaces… as well as offline at fairs and though Christmas pop-up shops or with wholesale suppliers and high street retailers… and so many other profitable avenues!

The post 4 popular Xmas gifts you can create (and sell) for free! appeared first on Auction Genie.