Hey Artpants,
First I can totally understand where you are coming from. To be honest I also drove up some major debt trying to purchase products to sell on ebay, and I did make some good sales but after items that didn't sell and combination with ebay's fees I ended with a major lose then making profits. Im also considering going back to find some $9 hour job to pay off some of my debt while. But I can recommend a program to you but this is only because im using it and one of our sellers on here PLANES is offering a dropshipping program and the products that I have been selling are pretty good sellers. The only reason im recommending this is because you at least don't have to buy anything upfront and all the products have free shipping so you just pay the cost of the item plus a smaller membership fee after 30 day free trial. Again im not trying to build up BS im just suggesting because im also in the same boat as you and working this program to try and pay down some of my debt while trying to search for a part time job.
I think userexists pointed out some good points if you have the money to start investing in product upfront, but I would be very careful of those ebooks that are out there, they can be alot of smoke but nothing else.
Alot of dropshippers don't do well on ebay these days but planes program has some positive benefits but to be honest there are some Pros and Cons about the program but if your persistant like im trying to be then its a pretty good way to go.
Hope this helps!