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 Donald who heard of eBay in a consignment shop in 1998 and turned that information into dollars right away!
Here's my story...........
It was in Summer, 1998 and at the time, I had never heard of Ebay. While visiting a consignment shop in Rochester, NY, I overheard a conversation with the owner about selling things via the computer. The venue was Ebay. I interrupted and asked......"what's Ebay?" After hearing enough, I went home and looked it up online. I still had no idea as to what to sell.
My sister had been operating an estate sale company here in Rochester from many years and from time-to-time I would help her. Usually on the second day of the sale, prices would be half. There was a nice Playboy calendar from the 1950's in it's original sleeve being kicked around the floor and I wondered...Hmmm?
My sister gave it to me and I took it home and signed up to Ebay. Since I had no clue how to get a picture in the listing, I listed it anyway. It sold for $90.00 sight unseen. I was hooked and went on from there.
Regards,
Donald aka mintshape
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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