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 Jim, whose first sale was literally Goofy, and Sheila, whose Russian Lipton tea tin gave her a taste for selling online.

Hello Ina,
I was newly widowed and rattled around in a big house, so decided to sell and move to a condo. It meant solving a lot of stuff around from living there for years and having a basement full.

I had a friend who works at a flea market come in and help decide what to put in my garage sales and what would be worth selling on ebay.

Accordingly there was a Disney riding Goofy toy that my wee ones used for years. I had bought it for $2 with no handle and had forced a piece of round hardwood through the head and which worked fine.

I sold it on ebay for $85. The worst thing was the packing. I had to buy buckets of foam pellets, and got a large rectangular box, put the riding toy in, and filled to the top with the pellets. When it arrived at the purchasers they were delighted and sent me a nice note.

I was delighted that the toy went where it was wanted and helped solve the move to the condo.
Jim

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Hi Ina,
A few years after my mom passed away, I decided to join eBay in 1999 and sell an item that had been in my parents' house. My dad was still living there, but he let me have a few things that didn't have any sentimental value. I decided to get my feet wet with a Lipton tea tin - the old red trunk. But it was in Russian! I don't know how my American-born mom came into possession of it, but there were actually two of them.

It must have taken me at least five hours to write the listing. I don't even know if digital cameras were around then, but I certainly didn't have one. Instead, I had pictures printed and scanned them. (I wasn't very computer literate, but it has been a learning experience.) It was a great joy to sell the tin for $5.00, and I was hooked!

It's really too bad the fun that was eBay - and the ability to sell items like these and even earn some cash - has disappeared and been swallowed up by corporate greed. I hope the other online auction sites, such as OnlineAuctions.com, will grow to fill the void.

Thanks for a wonderful newsletter!
Sheila