My Ebay Experience - Shared

Come on, you must of heard about these amazing people with the business sense of Alan Sugar and Richard Branson who woke up one day, registered on ebay and within a year were sunning themselves in the Bahamas! They exist apparently!

Well this is a story about me and my efforts to make a few quid. Which I did! You know how they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?, well depending upon what side of the fence you sit, you may disagree with my definition of fortune!

It all started with 'real used las vegas casino playing cards', i like to dabble in magic, and my card supplier was flogging a dozen vegas card decksfor 10. HANG ON! i've seen them going for 3,4 and even 5 each!!, surely i could make a few quid here! If i sell them dead cheap, undercutting everyone else then i'll get more business, sell in bulk eh? The whole point of ebay is to bring ebayers the best deal isn't it? NO, apparently not! 3 postage on an item that cost 96p to send. I can beat that! So off i went, bright eyed and bushy tailed to make my fortune!

Next came the spelling mistakes! If you search for popular items and pick them up cheap (because everyone else is searching on the correct spelling), you can resell correctly and make money. So off i went again, concentrating on Subbuteo (easy to spell wrong). The thing is ive just turned 30 and remember subbuteo from my youth. So i ended up playing with it! I sold it in the end and made a few quid again!

This kind of thing continued and I carried on making a few quid. But do you know what, it's bloody hard trying to do a day job, look after your family, be sociable, do a degree and ebay your life away! So as time went on my expectations changed. People expect perfection from your junk! Your entire ebay history can be ruined by one idiot who leaves neg feedback because the Royal Mail broke his item! Thats not me mind you, my feedback still sits at 100%. Looking after your customers on ebay is a bit like nursing children! Some are as good as gold and treat you like a fellow human, others! well others just like complaining and whingeing!

How many trips did you make to the Post Office before you started selling on ebay? Car Tax? the odd stamp? well, sell on ebay and you'll be on first name terms with your local Post Office workers! You start getting good ebay history from buying jiffy bags and boxes!!! What has become of me?

Amateur ebaying is exhaustive and inefficient, and i don't care what Ebays Protege's tell you. If you're a business it's a good outlet. If you're a buyer then ebay's great because you can find Kylie Minogues 'i should be so lucky' on 7 inch! or that spongebob squarepants tobacco tin that you've always wanted!

So, what about finding my fortune? Well yes i made enough quid to avoid spending my own money to buy myself my all singing and dancing Poker set from Texas that comes in at 400 over here. I now own most of the bits and bobs i've wanted for ages, but couldn't justify buying out of my wages. BUT if i was to work it out at an hourly rate, i reckon i'd do better picking tea leaves in India or making NIKE trainers in Taiwan!

Despite this though, as corny as it sounds i did find my fortune. I realised that i actually have a pretty good life and a damn good family when i eventually wrenched myself off the computer and away from ebay!

If your gonna have a go at making a few quid, then do it properly, don't play at it!

So if i had one piece of advice to give to anyone thinking about making their fortune on ebay it would be to have a good look at your lot in life, and ask yourself if you really need to supplement it in this way.

Good luck and Happy Bidding

(don't forget to check my listings, hahahahahahahahahaha!!!)

Update 12/8/2007

Well, it's been a while since I wrote this and I still remain gobsmacked at the amount of comments i've had re this article. I'm glad it brings a smile to some peoples faces. Over a 2000 people have read it now...amazing!

I'm still dabbling in ebay to get some bargains, my theory still stands.

Thanks for your kind messages, and if you do read this article feel free to rate it, leave a message, whatever, it's always nice to hear from fellow ebayers about their experiences.

Good Luck