What has happened since I last blogged ... Well, I turned 35 over the weekend and had a great celebration. It had all the ingredients of a perfect birthday - massage, kid-free time with the hubby, and friends over for dinner (pizza). I'm not even going to brood over my age. So there.
We've had a really sick winter in our household, due, no doubt, to my daughter being in preschool and bringing us home all sorts of ooglie booglies from the other kids. It has been a constant stream of colds, sinus infections and coughing. I'm expecting an engraved Thank You note from the Kleenex company any moment now.
Ebay's been taking a lot of my free time, though I don't begrudge it a bit. I've gotten really good at spotting a bargain and being able to turn it into a good profit. Like the .50 SPCA-sale shoes now on eBay for for $42.50 and still going. By the way, if you have an ugly-as-heck big-headed Blythe doll from the 70's lying around, you know the one where you pull the cord on her back and her eyes change color ... you might want to ship her out in exchange for a nice wad of cash (alas, not my auction). Plus then your recurring nightmares might end.
EBay is a hobby for me, kind of a game, maybe even a little like gambling. I try to do my eBaying "in the cracks" of my day so I don't take away from family time, photographing and listing while the kids are napping, checking auctions and emailing buyers after the kids are in bed, wrapping and packing while the children are eating breakfast and hubby is in the shower.
I love eBay, not only the selling but the buying too. I am a saver and environmentalist at heart, and I love the idea of re-use. And then there's my well-documented obsession with vintage Fisher Price toys. I find a set from time to time at a garage sale or (even rarer) thrift shop, but eBay is the vintage toy store collectors only dreamt of in the pre-internet days.
If you love old stuff of any kind, you've got to love eBay. Antique glassware and china, vintage board games and dolls, '80s Izod Lacoste shirts, '20s bakelite jewelry ... you could spend a lifetime haunting antique and resale shops for that certain something or get it on eBay in a few clicks. You can get brand new designer clothes if you can't get to a mall or if they're not sold near you. You can buy used, indestructible plastic toys for a fraction of what they cost new. My kids don't mind used toys, if it's new to them, it's new, and a toy is a toy is a toy.
Besides being an convenient place to buy and sell, it's a fascinating window to the world. There's always something fun ("Addicted to Ebay Barbie"), appalling (a halted auction for 3 Vietnamese girls), controversial (Girl Scout cookies) or downright amazing being bought or sold.
Sure, you have to pay shipping. Sure, you have to look out for scammers. Yes, you can't turn an item over and examine it from every side. Still, it's truly a worldwide marketplace and with a savvy eye and good communication between yourself and a seller, you can avoid the pitfalls. I have been eBaying since 1998, and I have had one bad purchase, which I ended up settling with the seller for a partial refund. As a seller, I always recommend that a buyer purchase insurance if the item is over $15. If they don't buy it, I usually will, to cover my own behind. This paid off recently when I shipped an electronic toy that supposedly was working, but not working properly, when it reached the buyer. I had insured it at my expense and for $1.30 saved myself having to reimburse the buyer $35. Also, I purchase Delivery Confirmation for items I sell for over $25, or if I have a "gut feeling" about a buyer, to save me from the buyer claiming they didn't receive it.
I don't understand the anti-eBay sentiment I so often see. Is it viewed as a bunch of opportunists selling overpriced junk to idiots? Idiots unbeknowingly selling valuable attic treasures to opportunists? I don't talk much about my eBaying to my friends, which is probably why I write so much about it here - it's my outlet. I've brought it up a few times here and there in conversations - "hey, did you know the XYZ you are going to throw away sells well on eBay" or "Where did I get my Little People collection? Mostly on eBay" - and almost always get a little snort of disgust. When I mentioned to the owner of a failing antiques shop in our little town that she might try selling on eBay to capture a larger market, she gave eBay the blame for her still, dusty shelves. Not one person I have personally spoken to has been interested in hearing any more about it, and I'm baffled. If you hate eBay, let me know why.
