I Did It eBay!

About four weeks ago, I got the bug to start hitting garage sales with the intent on finding items to resell, hopefully for more, on eBay. I wanted to start making some money to support my Nikon habit... not the least important piece of which was paying for part of the camera itselt. I was running out of things of my own so I thought I'd go find someone else's junk to sell. It also turns out that a small town just South of here was having their annual city-wide garage sale that first weekend.

I had managed to pick up some figurines for dirt cheap and a doll with display case (that I ended up making a gift of to my wife) and Kevin and I were winding things down for the day. We stopped at a few last sales on our way out of town and at one of them, I strayed upon a magnifying glass. This was a 4" glass in a brass ring, attached to a brass stand. The stand had two perpendicular "posts" that allowed the magnifier to move up and down and side to side. I thought it might fetch a few dollars and asked how much it was. "25 cents" was the reply so I gladly fished a quarter out of my pocket. If it didn't sell, I wouldn't be out much.

It ended up selling for over $13.00... not including shipping.

In addition, one of the figurines, that I had only ventured a mere dime on, was an Enesco from the Kalico Kittens collection and it ended up fetching about $8.50. I was on a roll. I'm hooked, and I've been hitting the garage sales every saturday.

It's interesting because sometimes something will catch my eye and I will think (hope) it will fetch a few dollars and it completely tanks. Who knew teacups weren't popular right now? Plus, I picked up this curiosity in a set of manual hair clippers (imagine the blades of electric clippers with squeeze handles) but they didn't generate any interest either.

In the midst of all of this, I started selling my celebrity photo discs again. I have a DVD full of photos I've taken at SciFi conventions that's been selling reasonably well for the past 6 months or so (if you're interested, email me). One of my buyers suggested a different marketing strategy - from a general title to a title that includes a celebrity name - and boy did that take off! I listed the first one under Connor Trinneer from Enterprise. Then, I modified the ad and title for Michael Shanks (I've got over 100 pictures of each of them) and posted it. As I was working on a third listing, about ten minutes later, Michael Shanks had sold with a Buy It Now... so I relisted it. Thirty minutes later, Michael Shanks sells again. Again, I relist. When I get up in the morning, Michael came through again about four hours after I went to bed! Not bad for a day's work.

Problem is, now this fun little adventure has started to become work. I get up very early on Saturdays to hit the garage sales. I enjoy it but it is kind-of hit and miss (I did manage to buy a Sony bookshelf stereo with 5-disc CD changer for $5 last Saturday - I'm keeping that) and can wear you down. Once I have the items, I have to photograph them, describe them and list them. I still have some things I bought on that original excursion that I haven't listed yet. I spend most any evening in front of the screen checking my sales and getting items ready to ship or listing them or whatever. I get up in the morning and print out packing slips and get envelopes and packages ready before I go to work. Thank God there's a post office on campus.

But, I'm making pretty decent money, some friends are having me sell some of their stuff - which I get a cut of - and I'm still enjoying it for the most part. So I got that goin' for me... which is nice.

Last Thursday was pick on unclebubby's auctions day. I had one person complaining - big time - about a laptop I sold for a friend (I'm still working that out), another guy emailed me looking for the pictures of Amanda Tapping on my DVD (try searching the disc for the keyword "tapping," genius), and still another asking where the software was for a PDA. I guess when you ramp up quickly like that you can expect to hit a little turbulence. I just wish they wouldn't demand refunds right off the bat. I mean, geez, give me a shot at working it out before you start demanding your money back.

All is good, though.

G'nite.