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 Nina, whose first sale was a mug, and Cindy, who sold a sunroom!
My sister was an "old pro" who taught me the ropes of selling on Ebay. I was at her house on her computer when I sold a copper "mug" with Incan-like symbols and the word AZTEC printed around the rim. I still recall my excitement when a buyer whose ID was AZTEC bid on and purchased that mug - you would have thought I had won the lottery! I was happy for "AZTEC," and quickly realized that "title" words are everything. I returned home to begin listing - that was 9 years ago - and today I still find a sale just as rewarding!
Nina Higgins
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To Whom This May Concern,
Our ebay id was boxitupstore. We were a "Packing, Shipping, & Auction Center." Basically we were a shipping store combined with ebay selling. We opened in Park Ridge, NJ in August of 2004. It was not the first item we sold on ebay but was the first large item we sold on ebay early on.
A gentleman came into our retail store and asked us if we sold sun rooms. What type of sunroom I asked him? He said, "you know the ones on the side of your house about 15' x 20' or so. I told him we hadn't and he asked if we were willing to try. He told me he wanted $1500 and the buyer would have to pickup. He provided the photos and we proceeded to list the item for him. This item would be sold Pickup only in Northern New Jersey.
We did a 10 day listing and the winning bidder paid $3500 and came down from Albany, NY to pick it up. The seller was taking down the last piece of the sun room and the buyer pulled up with his truck. They both happily loaded on the truck and away he went. Talk about a win, win, win for all of us. I tell that story to everyone. It still amazes me to this day.
Cindy Rothstein
RareFindsAuctionsUSA
About the author:
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and AuctionBytes.com and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @auctionbytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.
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