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 Marilyn who used savvy estate-sale strategy to outsmart the big dealers.

All the big dealers, heavy hitters, as I call them were at estate sales early that Saturday morning. Using the uncrowded strategy, I went to a small garage sale in the neighborhood before I headed out farther.

There were a few things for sale, and I asked the lady if there was anything else she was going to put out. She started to look through a box that she had just brought out from the garage. I don't remember what else was in there or what I bought but I do remember the Roseville Vase. Figural forest design - you would think I would remember the pattern but don't without researching again.

She said her grandmother had lived in Ohio, and she had inherited a few things that had been shipped to her in California. It was my first and a big sale for me on ebay in 1999. The irony was that it went back to Ohio. That is where the lady lived who bought it.
marilyn hartl
ebay id: monah