Every time I watch a television show, listen to the radio, or open a magazine, I am bombarded with advertisements for home-based business opportunities or the products of those trying to get rich quick at one scam or another. The products range from miracle diet pills (if there are so many that work miracles, why are so many people still fat?), exercise gadgets that guarantee you will shed pounds and inches (with no apparent effort on your part required), some lawn tool that will almost assuredly will break the first time I try to use it, or some clown trying to tell me he wants me to get rich with him and he will tell me the secrets of his "system" if I will just pay him three small installments of $39.99.

You know, some of them might actually be legitimate, but if their "system" is so good, why would they want to disclose their secret and ruin their own income stream by selling their secrets for three payments of $39.99? Face it, nobody is going to ring your doorbell and hand you a turn-key business that is going to make you a millionaire with no effort on your part, it just isn't going to happen.

I personally got fed up with all the rubbish they are pushing me to use or sell, and opted to get into something legitimate, in demand, and without any apparent shortage of customers, online bookselling. It is indeed a home-based business opportunity for the ambitious that is legitimate.

Every day thousands of books sell through the online marketplaces of Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Abebooks.com, Half.com, eBay.com, and the myriad of other lesser known marketplaces.

The investment and risk to start your own online bookselling business are low and the profit margins are high. You are not likely to become a millionaire any time soon, but I wouldn't rule the possibility out either. From my perspective, with almost five years experience in the business, the realistic potential for a part-time supplemental income stream is more likely to be $3,000.00 to $5,000.00 per month, while the full-time online bookseller can realize an income of $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 per month. Neither of these scenarios is going to happen quickly, both will require some time to establish an adequate inventory, but both are indeed realistic.

If you are reading this article, you already have the most expensive part of an online bookselling business, a computer. You will also need a printer, and I would suggest a DSL or cable connection. Then it is just a matter of buying the right used books and listing them on one of the Internet marketplaces.

If you are interested in reading more about online bookselling, please visit ==>www.online-bookselling.com