The eBay Way

When I first started eBaying in March, I quickly became addicted to buying. I was timid at first, so worried I would get taken advantage of. But then I started putting bids on items, watching them throughout the day, and the end of the auction, I would either feel the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

My first purchase was a Wii Fit balance board plus the Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus games which I got for well under the $100 asking price at the store. And I've definitely gotten a lot of use out of it, although I've been slacking lately. After that purchase, I would search for things I "needed" constantly and end up with DVDs and other items in my mailbox every few days or so. Then I got the itch to sell.

I decided some of the things I would normally give to Goodwill could actually earn some money in a yard sale, but I didn't want to bother with that: getting up before the crack of dawn, pricing everything with little stickers, haggling with people who want to talk you down from a quarter to a dime. No thanks. So I put 12 items up for bid the first day and expected great things. Then I got worried I hadn't judged the shipping correctly and my bids would be so low that I would be paying people to take these things off my hands. So I took off some the heavier items that hadn't yet received bids and put them on craigslist because there's no shipping involved there. None of the craigslist goods have sold yet, but at least I won't have to ship them if they do. I got a bite on my camera but the woman's never emailed me back.

Now that I've successfully sold a few items on eBay, heavy and light, I prefer to ship on the lighter side so I don't lose my shirt. No pun intended. My friend has been blogging about her Dave Ramsey experience and the "snowflakes" she's been collecting from selling coupons on eBay, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's pretty simple shipping. Stuff them in an envelope and slap a stamp on. So far, I've sold 3 sets of coupons and a gift card I've had for several years that still has the full amount of money on it. I couldn't believe how much I got for that.

I didn't really know how to go about this, so I just did what made sense to me. I grouped the coupons into similar categories and tried to rack up the money count. Like, $45 in coupons for Dole, Yoplait, Totino's, etc. $50 in coupons for Bounty, Windex, Scott, Charmin, etc. I've even got $95 worth of coupons for some health and beauty products. Coupons are back. I mean, they've never really went away, but I think they're trending right now. It's cool to coupon again. Kind of like the breastfeeding comeback. Talking 'bout my generation...

Anyway, the eBay thing is a daily adventure and I'm making a little bit of dough on the side so I'm happy. I get a brand new batch of coupons every Sunday and sometimes through the week. I still clip my own but there are so many I have no need for. I could swap them but if there's someone out there willing to pay a buck fifty for me to ship them out, I'll take it. I have had to relist many of them because they didn't sell. And if it gets too close to the expiration date, I'll just toss them in the trash. No harm done.

I'm also considering putting some books and jewelry up for bid on eBay. I went online and sent some books to a few entities that will pay me a few bucks for them. But some books they just won't take. So I'll see how this goes, could be heavy to ship. And I have a lot of jewelry I never wear. It would be interesting to see if anyone wants it. I can't make a living out of this but every little bit helps. And I love to declutter!