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 Cliff Aliperti, who also recalls his first sniping incident.
Hi Ina,
Had to write when I saw this because I remember in great detail - well, the circumstances not so much the item. I was computer ignorant and had just started my first "real" job in Manhattan in April 2000. My boss was on vacation the second week I was there and so after bluffing my way through the interview regarding computer experience I spent the week that she was gone teaching myself how to get around the internet.
I used to do baseball card shows w/my Uncle and the previous Christmas he had brought me into his home office and showed me eBay, which I had really only barely heard of at the time. I was hooked as quickly as he showed me and so that April when I was learning how to get around online eBay was one of my primary stops.
I first remember my first near-buy - I had high-bid at a bargain bin price on some Jack Kerouac rarity for a few days and then felt my heart drop in the last 30 seconds of the auction as the price jumped quicker than I could get in a bid. My intro to sniping!
After a couple of purchases though I figured it was time to try out selling something, and so while at work I walked to the antique shop around the block on lunch, spent $2 or $3 on a World War II period book about Hitler which looked interesting and was in nice shape and then looking over my shoulder (not to mention around the edge of my cubicle!) I composed my first eBay listing!
The way I remember it now it was during lunch hour, but who knows
Again, memory is foggy, so I'm not sure if it sold that first time around, but the book is long gone and my area of specialty has changed quite a few times since then. I still use that original things-and-other-stuff eBay ID as my primary selling ID today and have since had stops on Ruby Lane, TIAS, used Marketworks for awhile (when it was Auctionworks), and have recently (finally!) opened my own online shop (www.old-magazines-for-sale.com) that will hopefully keep some extra fees in my own pocket.
Well, that was fun, not sure if the lack of specifics makes this something you'd want, but it was fun sharing all the same!
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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