eBay Thrills

Yes I realize I have not been posting as many craft ideas as I had originally planned to this month. Most of my online time in the past few weeks has been dedicated to eBay. Yes eBay, the lovely online marketplace where just about anything and everything is for sale. One of my family’s first eBay purchases was in the mid-90’s: A lot of 100 Beanie Babies to start my Moms collection. Back then it was all so new, the seller didn’t specify/we didn’t think to ask is the products were from a smoke free home… OOPS… thank goodness FABREEZE was invented a few years later.

Upon watching an episode of CLEAN SWEEP my parents decided it was time to de-clutter the house. Like many Americans, my family just has so much stuff we don’t really need but can’t bear to get rid off. “Sure I’ll never fit into those pants from Jr High again, but they are practically brand new.” Multiply that mentality by about 1,00,000 and you get a house full of clothes, toys, wallets, cell phones, graphing calculators, prom dresses, computer parts, etc that could be cluttering up SOMEONE ELSES home. Our house is not in the greatest location for a successful garage sale, so the “Sell it on eBay” mentality has set in.

I honestly think eBay has taken away any excuse NOT to sell you random junk treasure online. What is the first thing EVERYONE says when asked why they do not sell on eBay? The hassle! You have to buy boxes and make all those trips to the post office and what not. Well, that is no longer the case, my friends. Yes it still required shipping the item 😉 BUT the Post Office will ship you any size Priority Mail box for FREE! Even ones that have the eBay logo on the side. I thought this was too good to be true, so I tried it. At no cost to me, I got a big box full of Priority Mail boxes shipped to my doorstep in 10 days (yes requires a little of advance planning). You can also go to a Post Office and they’ll give you all you want for free.

eBay is so smart, they made it so with a button click, you can print a shipping label WITH POSTAGE and your address/the buyers address already filled in. You pay for the postage with PayPal. And when you print the label online, you get FREE delivery conformation. THEN the Postman will pick up your Priority Mail for FREE! You just schedule the pickup online and tell where the package will be (I think you must pick a spot within like 100 yards of your mail box i.e. your porch). USPS has some pretty funny commercials about this free service, where the Boxes are talking to other inanimate objects (ok maybe I am easily amused).

So, with those problems solved, all you really need to be a successful seller on eBay is something to sell, a digital camera, a small scale (any female who has attempted a diet pry has a food scale, maybe in a closet somewhere) and a small amount of computer knowledge. If you are reading this blog right now, you have enough computer knowledge to handle it. A PayPal account and access to web storage space like PhotoBucket is also recommended. PayPay lets you receive quick payments, and PhotoBucket lets you store images for free so you can put a tag in your item description (instead of paying extra eBay fees to upload photos).

eBay has an easy to follow template to set up an auction listing. At the very beginning they ask you what you are selling, and recommend what category to sell it in based on the percentage of similar sales of that item. The best advice I can give is to tell you to DO SOME RESEARCH before you set up your auction. eBay lets you search “completed listings” to see if your product has sold at all recently, and for how much. You can also research what the most “searched for” items/key terms are, broken down by category. A Google search is helpful too, just to get some background on the product and possible some interesting facts you can include in your item descriptions.

There are other resources available to the computer savvy/nerdy individuals out there… like me. I can create special eBay banner ads that feature my auctions only or a specific topic (ohh ahh)… and use other eBay logos and what not… good for blogs, but MySpace tends to freak out when I try to upload them there. I use Auctiva which generates an official looking STORE for all of my items, free of charge. The marketer in me decided to create a logo for my family eBay identity too… so all my communications with Byers are branded.

So far I have had luck with old cell phones… still in good condition, my family just left 5 individual plans on 5 carriers and now have 1 family plan (where Kristi uses 99% of the minutes :oP). I’ve also gotten rid of old/good clothes from High School… because even though they may fit, I shouldn’t be dressing like a teenager anymore :o/ I’m trying to work my way up to 10 positive comments so I can get a Star! That way, when my mom starts selling her Rubber Stamp inventory, she will be a respected seller. If you love RUBBER STAMPS and SCRAP BOOKING get excited! We have a huge inventory of new, high quality stamps that will be for sale soon. Most, if not all, have been RETIRED and are no longer available in stores.

So this is the start of my eBay adventure. I haven’t been this involved in the eBay machine since our crazy times Sophomore year of college when we bought flags, mugs, and GORBY dolls (it was only $1). If you have any eBay advice, please share! Happy Bidding!