Do you remember the first item you ever sold online? Let us know by sending an email to ina@auctionbytes.com and we may publish your story. Today we hear from Patricia Ann Rizzo, who uncovered an unfulfilled demand for tatting on eBay with her first item.
Hi Ina,
I've been selling on Ebay since 1998. When I first signed up I bought a tatting pattern book. Tatting is a craft that makes lace with a tatting shuttle. It was an almost extinct art that I picked up about 30 years ago. Anyway, I was delighted to see old tatting pattern books on Ebay and bought some of them. At the time, old pieces of tatting were also being sold and fetching good prices.
So, I decided to put up some of my tatted pieces to see if anyone would be interested. I believe I was the first person to sell brand new tatting on Ebay, and the reception they got was simply unbelievable! I couldn't tat items fast enough to appease the buyers who wanted them.
Later, I put together tatting kits with instructions to teach the craft to others and sold them in dutch auctions on Ebay and still later sold my own tatting pattern booklets in dutch auctions and shuttles too. It lasted for several years before tatting began to fizzle out once more, but it sure was exciting while it lasted.
An example of my tatting. This is a little teacup and saucer are only a little larger than a quarter.
These days I sell my artwork on Ebay. It's an opportunity most artists cannot get anywhere else.
Patricia Ann Rizzo
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and AuctionBytes.com and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @auctionbytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.
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