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 Nanalulu who was born to be an entrepreneur.

AuctionBytes asked the question, "Do you remember the first item you ever sold online?" Mine will be pretty hard to forget. After owning my own retail stores beginning at age 19 for fifteen years, I was in the year 2000 working for another retail establishment. I really missed working for myself, but didn't feel I was in the financial position to open another brick and mortar store. My nephew commented to me that I was the "perfect" person to sell on EBay. Considering that I barely knew how to turn a computer on and had never even looked at EBay, I wasn't too sure about that.

I registered with EBay on April 7, 2000 originally using my email address as my screen name. That lasted only a short time before I realized that might not be a good idea. I quickly switched my screen name to Nanalulu, which is what my grandchildren call me. I spent hours researching what people were buying, and made a few purchases myself to build a little positive feedback. I also started going to garage sales and estate sales with the specific purpose of looking for items to sell on EBay. At the very first sale I went to, among other things, I purchased a handful of vintage handkerchiefs. I listed my first items on June 20th of 2000, one of which was a Victorian child's handkerchief. I had paid 25 cents for each of the hankies I had purchased.

Looking back now I have to really laugh at my original listing title. It read: Vintage hanky Victorian - children & snowman. Notice the words hankie or handkerchiefs weren't even used! I listed the auction under Antiques & Art - textiles, linens, general, even though there is a handkerchief category. My sister even did the actual typing of the auction details due to my lack of computer skills. Despite my naivety the hankie, to my surprise, immediately received a bid. For those ten days the auction was quite the talk at the retail store where I worked as well as among my friends and relatives. Fifteen bids later the handkerchief sold for $212.50. This hooked me fairly quickly into the online selling community.

It didn't take me too long to attain the power seller status on EBay. Back then you had to have $2,000 in sales per month as opposed to the $1,000 they now require. Vintage handkerchiefs became one of my staple items. I eventually started selling some new hankies as well which I now import from overseas.

I began to notice in the second half of 2006 that things seem to be slowing down some on EBay and their fees continued to rise. On the 27th of October 2006 I finally launched my own website. The name rather says it all..... Nanalulus Linens and Handkerchiefs. My first online sale gratefully led to my own business, which I continue to run from my home. I am currently still listing a few auctions, but not nearly the amounts I once did. I believe my webstore features one of the nicest selections of vintage and new ladies handkerchiefs that you will find anywhere. All this because of a small stack of vintage handkerchiefs that attracted my attention that spring day in 2000 along with that desire to work for myself rather than someone else.

Luanne Reilly Oda
Aka Nanalulu
http://www.nanaluluslinensandhandkerchiefs.com