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Nearly everyone on the planet knows that eBay and similar auction sites are the perfect forum for selling unwanted household items. Such sites have also become some of America's best "work-from-home" income streams. And as time passes, auction sites are also being credited with making some serious money for folks that have good product resources and are willing to put in the time and effort.
But there's another side to online auctioning. One where the need for house cleaning for financial profit is paired with the equally important need for emotional purging.
Anyone that has lost a family member - be it parent, spouse or child, knows that except for visitation and final services, the hardest thing to face is going through personal belongings and deciding what to do with all that's left behind. It's particularly difficult when the passing is sudden and no arrangements for distribution or donation have been discussed.
In most cases there are some "family" items and other pieces that are clearly earmarked for one relative or another. But there are also always dozens if not hundreds or even thousands of things that no one really wants or has room for. These usually include inexpensive things like clothes, accessories, some jewelry, books, CDs, DVDs and other personal items. In the past such things were often donated en masse or sadly just discarded.
Many times even expensive belongings or valuable collections were let go for little or no return to the deceased's family simply because there was no good way to find interested buyers quickly. And at such times, no one wants the ordeal to drag on for weeks, months or longer as is often necessary to broker a successful sale of inherited goods.
Auction sites take away the stress of searching for buyers and allow possessions to be dealt with in the time frame that best suits the heirs involved.
A case in point - an Indiana native with a sizable collection of James Dean items passed away suddenly leaving hundreds of books, magazines, T-shirts, stamps and collectibles to be disposed of by his widow.
Her first thought was that the easiest thing would be to sell everything to a single buyer. She advertised in fan magazines and newsletters and did receive several offers. But none came close to what she felt the items were worth. And all but one were from dealers that simply wanted to buy things cheap, mark them up and resell them for a profit. And although there's nothing wrong with that, she decided if anyone was going to profit from selling the things her husband had lovingly collected, it wouldn't be a stranger.
So she gave eBay a try. She listed two items just to see how they'd do. A canvas tote bag (bought for $15) sold for $12 and went to a bidder in California who said she was "thrilled beyond belief" to win it. A T-shirt brought $31.06 (it only cost $18 when it was new). It sold to a lady in Great Britain who planned to surprise her husband with it for his birthday because "he'd love it and would never expect it which would be a first since he always seemed to know what he was getting."
Auctioning allowed her to clear the items out of her home and make some much-needed money at the same time. But beyond that, knowing that the things that meant so much to her husband were all finding good homes with other James Dean fans allowed her to let them go without guilt, which was truly a blessing.
Coming up in part two in "Good Friends can be Godsends," you'll read how not to let guilt tie you to a house filled with things you don't want to keep but just can't let go of.
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http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/2/1203203368.html
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