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More than 90pc of consumers will be shopping online for Christmas presents this year, according to a new survey by eDigitalResearch and IMRG. So why not turn the tables and sell your stuff to the bargain shoppers this Christmas?

Read on to find out how you can make a extra money online this Christmas.

1. ETSY (www.etsy.com)
Etsy.com is the most well-known place to sell handmade items online. But you are not just limited to selling crafts here, you can sell artwork and prints, craft supplies and vintage items through the site. With over 3.3 million members, only 250,000 of those are sellers, meaning that there are more than enough customers to go around.

To become a seller on Etsy, the first thing to do is register for a buyer account. Be careful when choosing your username, as it will also be your shop name, located at http://username.etsy.com

Photographs are the most important aspect of selling on Etsy and you are allowed five photos per item. See our box below to learn how to take the best pictures for your listings.

Descriptions are also important. Give all pertinent information including size, materials and crafting method. Also include information about the process or why the item is special.

It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months and when your item sells, you are charged 3.5pc transaction fee. Fees are paid monthly using either PayPal or the credit card on file. Listings expire after a few months and a fee must be paid to re-list them.

A quick look on the website gives the impression that this business is primarily in the United States, but do not let that put you off, as 40pc of sales are from international buyers.

While prices are listed in US dollars, PayPal will correctly convert your currency, but all other sales, such as money order and check, need to be calculated by you.

Keep up to date of current exchange rates and use a currency calculator such as www.xe.com to update prices at least once a month. Remember to update the shipping price if necessary.

2. DAWANDA (www.dawanda.com)
Dawanda.com is similar to Etsy, but lists prices in euros. Anyone who makes handmade products or offers customised and tailor made items can become a seller on DaWanda. All you need to do is register first and then to create your shop.

To create your shop you will have to provide details such as your address, your payment details, your shop name, and a description about you.

You can upload your personal banner and photo to customise your shop. After that you can start to list the items you would like to sell.

DaWanda charges no listing fees, just 5pc commission when an item sells. The items remain listed until they sell or 120 days.

3.VALUEMYSTUFFNOW.COM
If you fancy a clear out before Christmas, why not find out how much it is worth?

Visit this new valuation service for antiques, collectables and paintings and send in photographs of your valuables to find out online what they might sell for.

Founded in earlier this year by an ex-director at Sotheby’s, ValueMyStuffNow.com is a unique service providing accessible, specialist valuations.

The website boasts a team of valuation specialists drawn from Christie’s, Sotheby’s and other leading auction houses and valuations are guaranteed within 48 hours or your money back.

Simple to use, simply upload a photo, choose a category, describe the item and submit.

Prices range from £3.99 for one valuation, £9.99 for three or you can buy ten credits for £29.99.

4. GREENMETROPOLIS.COM
If you are a bit of a bookworm, you could have hundreds of pounds just sitting on your shelves.

Why not list your books on GreenMetropolis.com and sell your second hand books online and help the Woodland Trust at the same time.

To list books for sale, you must first register and open an account. Just enter the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) to get the book details from the website’s database including an image of the book cover and the price you would pay if you were to buy it new. This bar code, typically found on the back of a book, is made up of either 10 or 13 digits.

The whole process takes just a few seconds and then it is immediately up for sale.

All books cost just £3.75 to buy, of which the site will pay £3 to the seller and 5p to the Woodland Trust.

The seller pays for postage for all books sent. However when listing heavier books, the system will recognise the book and allow a postage payment to be added to help cover the costs of sending heavier books.

5. EBAY (www.ebay.co.uk)
From old cricket bats to Christmas decorations, you’ll be amazed what you can sell online with eBay – and how much you can make.

To begin selling on eBay, you will need to register and then create a seller’s account. To open an account, visit www.ebay.co.uk and click on the “Sell” link at the top of every eBay page. Then select the link marked “Create a Seller’s Account” and enter your details.

For verification purposes, you will be asked to provide credit or debit card details and bank account information.

But before you place anything for sale, remember that preparation is key – make sure you do your research and be realistic.

To get an idea of how much you can expect to sell your item for and to find out how other sellers have sold similar items, check eBay’s “Completed Items” search.

There are two ways to sell your stuff, either through an auction-style listing or at a fixed price with “Buy It Now”. For beginners, the auction is generally the way to go as with the fixed price option you will need feedback from at least 10 sales in order to list.

It is now free to start your auction-style listing at 99p and keep in mind that the lower you start the bidding, the more likely you are to sell your item.

Many sellers list their items for seven days, in order to include a weekend to capture weekend shoppers as Sunday evenings are the busiest for shoppers.

To maximise the number of potential bidders, write a descriptive title using all relevant keywords to describe your item and always include photos.

Once the listing ends, contact the buyer to arrange payment and get delivery details. But remember, only post the item once you have received payment.

6. AMAZON (www.amazon.co.uk)
Amazon.co.uk became famous for selling books, but in the past ten years, the website has expanded and now sells everything from bicycles to bath mats.

Unlike eBay, Amazon sells at fixed prices and listings can last for months or years and listing an item is even easier than you would think.

A listing for a book, for example, only requires a search for your books by title, ISBN or EAN, so there is no need to write a description or bother with pictures.

The EAN, or The European Article Number, is a bar code that is similar to a UPC code in the US. This 12- or 13-digit product identification code, uniquely identifies the product, manufacturer, and its attributes; typically, the EAN is printed on a product label or packaging.

Just select the condition of the item, for example, like new, and choose a price. You will be notified by email when an item sells and postage is broken down by item category and is automatically added to your listing, so you do not need to bother with a set of scales.

7. EBID (www.uk.ebid.net)
Ebid is the leading alternative to eBay but the biggest difference is that at eBid it is free to list your auction no matter what price you start accepting bid.

To register for a selling account, you must first sign up as a buyer, then upgrade your account to either Seller or Seller+.Seller gives you access to the “Standard” auction format which is free to list with a 3pc final value fee. If you upgrade to Seller+ can use the “Free Auction” which has no listing fees and no final value fees.

Prices range from £1.99 for on week to £49.99 for a year. The only catch is that these subscriptions are recurring payments, so unless you cancel your membership, you will be charged regularly.

8. GUMTREE (www.gumtree.com)
This is the UKs biggest website for local community classifieds. It is free to post items for sale on the site and with over a million visitors a month, this site covers tons of cities across the country from Brighton to Belfast to Birmingham.

Posting an ad on Gumtree is quick and easy. Simply visit the site home page and click on the “post an ad” button, then choose the most relevant category for your ad and then enter the details.

Once submitted, there can be a delay of up to 3-4 hours before the ad will appear online, so please be patient. Please also be aware that it can take longer for photos to appear in your ad than the text. After you submit your ad, you’ll be sent a confirmation email which will contain your reference number and password. Just make sure you keep this email, because you can use these details later to edit, report or delete your ad.

Never provide your personal or banking information (e.g. credit card number) to others over the Internet. And when buying or selling and you are to meet in-person to see the item and exchange money, for personal ease and safety, always ensure you take someone with you.

9. GOLD TRADERS (www.gold-traders.co.uk)
If you have a rummage in your jewellery box, you may find broken gold chains, unfashionable rings and single earrings. Why not turn them into cash online?

Selling your broken gold it is easier than ever, the first thing to do is get a valuation. Gold is sold by weight, so make sure you carefully weigh your item and find out how many carats it is before you start getting prices. But beware, most of these traders pay far less than the bullion price.

There are plenty of websites like this on the market today, but the trick with these sites is finding one that will give you a quote in advance – this is where Gold Traders stands out from many competitors.

But remember to send your package by Royal Mail special delivery when sending your gold, and make sure you use a good quality, padded ‘Jiffy’ style envelope. Not only is it traceable, but your property is also insured against loss or damage whilst in transit.

10. PLAYTRADE (www.play.com)
PlayTrade is the new way to make money selling your DVDs, CDs, Books, Games and more to the millions of customers who shop at Play.com. As a PlayTrade seller, your products will appear for sale on the Play.com website.

The site charges 10pc commission plus 50p per completed sale. Plus, if you decide to transfer your cash to your bank account there is a 5pc transfer fee on the balance you choose to transfer. However, if you spend the money at Play.com there is no charge.

For all the continual media frenzy over Facebook and Twitter, the most remarkable social networking story of all may well be LinkedIn, the global social network for business professionals founded by serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur Reid Hoffman in December 2002. Last week, a bullish LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner announced its 50 millionth member, stressing that while it took sixteen months for the social network to get its first million members, the most recent million only took 12 days.

While the LinkedIn 50 million may pale in comparison with the Facebook 300 million army, its achievement is quite remarkable when one considers that there are only around 360 million white collar professional people in the entire world (at least according to the latest International Department of Labor numbers). So over 10% of the world’s professionals are already on LinkedIn. And with the social network now signing up a new member every second of every hour of every day, it shouldn’t be too long before the other 90% of the world’s business professionals eventually wind up in the LinkedIn universe.

So can 50 million professionals really be wrong? And what, exactly, is it about LinkedIn that has made it such a hit around the world, attracting business professionals from 200 countries?

According to Kevin Eyres, the London based Managing Director of LinkedIn’s European operation, it’s all about professionals now “taking more responsibility for their own careers.” In the current recession, he explained to me when we spoke on the telephone yesterday, everyone is “thinking like an entrepreneur.” Getting onto LinkedIn allows us to be “proactive” in building our own networks, finding new staff, rebuilding one’s career, “showcasing” skills and, above all perhaps, organizing one’s “reputation”.

Thinking like an entrepreneur is clearly something that the LinkedIn team is doing very impressively. According to Eyres, the business – which in June last year raised a $53 million round of venture capital – has been profitable for the last two years. And unlike the advertising dependant Facebook, LinkedIn has three “roughly equal streams” of revenue: Premium subscriptions, software as a service and advertising.

According to Eyres, some cultures are better than others at thinking like collaborative entrepreneurs. Holland, for example, is “off the charts” – something that Eyres explains in terms of networking being historically “part of the Dutch DNA.” The Danes too excel in this. While for other less advantaged groups in more conservative, inward-looking cultures – such as Italian women – LinkedIn has actually enabled the levelling of the socio-economic playing field.

It’s no coincidence, of course, that major LinkedIn success stories like Holland, Denmark and even India are all cultures in which English is widely spoken. But in European countries in which English is less prevalent, LinkedIn has had less success.

And this is why Eyres has launched German (January 2009), French (November 2008) and Spanish (August 2008) language sites over the last fourteen months.

Even in the United Kingdom, certainly not a culture as rooted in the collaborative network as much as Holland or Denmark, Eyres is excited by LinkedIn’s progress. Over the last six months, he told me, the UK membership had reached a “tipping point” in which the traditionally reticent locals have become more and more comfortable with both promoting themselves and with giving professional recommendations to others.

So why should one be on LinkedIn? I asked Eyres. What would he say to entice the roughly 310 million professionals who still haven’t signed up for the service?

“You aren’t doing your job correctly if you aren’t on it,” Eyres responded. LinkedIn is going to get you ahead by allowing you to get more knowledge, by enabling you to reach out to a network of like-minded professionals, by giving you access to a uniquely collaborative business environment.

Eyres may well be right. The LinkedIn mantra that “relationships matter” has become the central dogma of our social media age. And over the next year – as LinkedIn adds third party applications to its platform and adds an iPhone app and grows its markets in Latin American and Asia – relationships will matter more and more.

In spite of its sometimes clunky interface and cumbersome networking tools, credible business people can no longer afford to avoid LinkedIn. As Eyres reminded me, even Richard Branson and Alan Sugar are on it. Could there be a better reason to get linked in?