Has anyone managed to make good profits selling on Ebay? Please share your story

We started a eBay business back in 2003 selling handbags. We had built a web shop but when we looked the cost for hiring a SEO firm to market our site. The cost was more then we could afford at that time. So we started looking for new ways to market our handbags an decided to start selling our products on eBay. We did research on what items were popular searches on eBay, search engines, & shopping sites. Now sellers have eBay pulse & seller tools. When you sign up for seller tools you will get access to detailed active & ended auction listing. The reports go back 90 days. This will help you figure out what to sell and how much it should sell for. Also so it is great to look at successful auction and compare what is different about them and the listings that didn't sell. You will find that the more descriptive a listing is the higher the item sold for. Once you do start getting orders on eBay make sure to included a discount or promotion coupon on there invoice. This will help build a relationship with your customers. Also start a opt-in mailing list. We are now a wholesale supplier to many new and veteran eBay sellers. They buy wholesale from us and resale our products on eBay or through other sales channels. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have about starting a business. You can see our selection of wholesale handbags, jewelry, scarves, & printed t-shirts by visiting www.wholesalepursesandjewelry.com

I think it's very hard now, I think some people did very well years ago but now there is so much competion and a lot of things are so cheap