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 Beth, who sold an empty Singer Featherweight case, and Marilyn, whose sale of a bread machine was a "bruising" experience.
Wow, It was march 1998 and I had just found Ebay. At first, I thought of it as a resource only to help identify my treasures. But one of the things I had picked up along the way was an empty Singer Featherweight case. I knew there was someone out there somewhere who needed this. But how would I ever find them? I live in Vermont and I knew they probably didn't. So, it struck me that maybe by listing on Ebay, I'd find that person. I was trying to get rid of it and hoping to help someone out. Little did I expect that I would sell my 25 cent garage sale purchase for $112.50! I was hooked!
Beth Flood
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Hi Ina,
I saw you looking for "first item" stories. The first item I ever sold on ebay was a bread machine, shortly after my husband & I got married. It sold for a nice chunk, I packed and sent it - and the buyer was horrified when it arrived, because it was banged up! I was so green, I didn't understand about how to pack a heavy item well - groan!
Fortunately, the man was VERY nice (this was in the very very early days of ebay, 1998 or so) and we worked it out - and I learned an early and valuable lesson about shipping. I went on to sell many odds and ends in those early days, using ebay to pay for non-covered medical treatment (IVF), back in the days when everything sold with multiple bids (ah, those were the glory days).
Now we have our grownup online business, on 12 different venues, but I still remember the thrill of that very first sale. Selling online is a very different animal now than it was 10 years ago. Thanks for letting me walk down memory lane.
Marilyn www.marilynsattic.net, your source for books, music and more
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
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