My eBay Room

Someone the other day asked how I store my inventory…Oh my!  I don’t usually show people my “eBay” room….it’s just jam packed with boxes of items.  I do know where things are (most of the time LOL), but I really could use a better system. 

This is a shot of one wall in my room…it is organized by type of books: the cookbooks are on the top shelves, the craft books on the second shelf, etc.  I also have boxes of books on the floor that really need to be on the shelves (but I’m not showing you pictures of those!) and I have most of my mugs stacked on a table.   But, did you see the mugs on the bookshelves, too?  I have over 30 mugs listed--they’re all over the place, even in the living room!  And, then of course, there’s the stuff in the basement….

May-be I ought to set aside an hour a day to get the room organized….That might be a workable goal.  Then I would be able to show you the entire room! 

The History of eBay

Last night's eBay class was a huge success.  I'm really looking forward to the next 3 weeks.  It's great to have awsome students!

Part of my "intro" to the basic eBay class is to tell about the history of eBay--so I thought I'd put it here, too.

eBay was founded 15 years ago by Pierre Omidyar, who worked in Silicone Valley (near San Francisco, CA), home to many of the world's largest technology companies.  He was 28 when he sat down over a long holiday weekend to write the original computer code for what eventually became eBay. The site was launched on Labor Day, Monday, September 4, 1995, as "Auction Web"; it was hosted on a site Omidyar had created for information on the ebola virus.

The word 'eBay' was made up on the fly by Omidyar when he was told that his first choice for his web site, 'echobay,' had already been registered. Not wanting to make a second trip to Sacramento to register the name, he came up with 'eBay.'  The service was free at first, but started charging in order to cover internet service provider costs.

In March 1998, Meg Whitman (who just yesterday lost her bid for governor of California) was brought in as President and CEO and continued to run the company until January 2008 when she announced her retirement.

The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media.

Millions of eBay members now sell on the site with their own eBay business. eBay has made it easy for people to start a small eBay business in their homes, and has lead to the creation of many large businesses as well. Thousands of people in the U.S. work in their own small eBay business, selling items on eBay full time. Over 700,000 people in the U.S. now rely on their eBay sales as part of their income.

The Statue of Liberty Goes to Australia!

I am sending the Statue of Liberty to Australia today—by Priority mail!

It’s so much fun to get up in the morning and have a new sale (and payment!) waiting in your email.  But, I was a little surprised to see the sale was the Build Your Own Statue of Liberty Kit with an address in Australia! 

There was another payment in my email this morning, too (but it was an item that sold yesterday).  And ironically, it is going to Australia, too!  This birthday mug is so cute, I just have to show you….

Hippo Birdie Two Ewe, Hippo Birdie Two Ewe

Ok, time to stop talking and get to packing these two things up for their trip south!

Help!

Ok friends—it’s your turn to help ME!

I love books (that’s no secret!)…and yesterday I had an extra hour (how’d that happen??) so I found myself at my favorite used book store.  I found some interesting (read: I hope they sell well on eBay!) ones:  a cookbook with recipes for meatloaf, history of the Shriners, a Mary Engelbreit (she always sells well) Christmas book, and a book about the history of shady ladies in the early 1900s. 

But, there’s one that really has me stumped—published in 1931, it is titled simply Nebraska. The title page tells me nothing either—it says it’s a Special Limited Supplement and it was printed by The Lewis Publishing Company (based in Chicago and New York). 

The book is full of biographies of prominent men in Nebraska, along with their official photograph and a copy of their signature. The men were from the middle 1800s through the early 1900s.  Most of the men were lawyers, judges, and legislators. Most of the men came to Nebraska from another part of the United States in the early days of the state. Most of the men had affiliations with social groups of the time.  Some were affiliated with the University of Nebraska in some way. The men represented different political views and a variety of religious groups. 

Each photo is protected with a ricepaper insert (which I folded back for this shot)

You probably noticed that I said “most” in my description—I was looking through the biographies for a common thread—but found none.  There is even a couple of women listed, and one church listed.  (Why a church is included is beyond me!)

The biographies are not in alphabetical order, nor are they in chronological order. The index lists the 77 entries in alphabetical order.  Another interesting note: there is one item in the index that is a reference to the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company (they made & sold windmills in the southeast area of Nebraska). The Dempster Milling Company does not have its own page, it is merely mentioned in D. B. Dampster’s biography.

I was showing the book to a couple of history-buff friends last night and one jokingly commented that the only common thread she could see was that none were members of the KKK (which was big in the 20s and ‘30s).

So, help me out here!  What do you think this book might be?  Do you think it might be one of a series of books on prominent men in the individual states?   

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas?  Oh, really?  I can just hear you saying, “but, Halloween isn’t even here!” 

That’s right—but Christmas items on eBay have been appearing since September.  Just today I listed a couple of men’s ties with Santa on them.  I picked them up at one of my favorite thrift shops yesterday and listed them right away this morning.  Somewhere out there a businessman will be needing a cute holiday tie and I want mine to be already out there when he (or his wife) starts looking! 

Men’s ties are easy to send (if you recall, I don’t like to spend a lot of time on elaborate packing) because they are lightweight and will fit into a small manila envelope that can be sent by 1^st Class mail. 

I also like ties because they are easy to photograph.  Actually, I put most of my ties in the scanner!  This Santa Golfing tie had to be photographed because the main design was longer than my scanner’s screen.  So, I just put a cloth over the back of my sofa, and took a quick shot of the tie that way. 

Whenever you find a unique tie (at a reasonable price—approximately $1 or less is my personal rule) grab it up and list it.  One of the more outstanding ones I ever sold was a Beatle tie.  There was a whole series of ties produced that pictured some of the songs by the Beatles.  The one I had was “Fool on the Hill” and in my opinion kind of ugly, but being a Beatle tie, it sold well! 

So, go ahead and check out how I sell ties. (Here’s the page in my store) Look through the various listings and get an idea of how to do it yourself!  Now I’m off to list more Christmas items….I have a Christmas tree platter, a baby’s “First Christmas” pajamas, and a glass Nativity.  I’m sure there’s more things tucked away, too…gotta get busy!

Another Question from Gwen

Gwen liked my answer yesterday so much that she wrote back again today! 

She asks: I was wondering what the best way is to ship books and movies, DVDs, etc? I know the post office has the flat rate envelopes and boxes for priority mail, but I've seen so many send theirs media mail and I didn't see any boxes for that on the USPS site.

Well, Gwen, it just so happens that I sell more books than anything else—and yes, Media Mail is the best way to ship those.  The post office does not supply packaging for Media Mail, so you have to be creative here (go green!).

 My usual choice for wrapping books is the good old brown grocery bag (turned inside out and cut to size, of course).  I also re-use the plastic grocery bags by wrapping the book in that first to protect it from the elements (you never know what kind of weather your package might go through) and then wrap it in the brown paper.  Media mail is ideal because it is less expensive to send your books.  I can mail a 2 pound book across the country for $2.77—standard parcel post would cost over $7, and Priority would cost between $5 and $8 depending on the size of the package.

But, keep 1^st Class in mind anytime your book weighs under 13 ounces (craft booklet or small soft cover publications that might fit in a manila envelope) because it might be more cost effective to use that rate.  And, with 1^st Class your item will get to your customer faster—Media Mail is estimated to take 5-10 days for delivery.  But, I’ve found that to be true only in the busy Christmas season—still it’s something to keep in mind. 

But, keep in mind that the book rate (that’s an old term, but lots of us still use it) has some restrictions:  magazines (because of the advertising inside), combining a 1^st Class item (letter) with your book, etc.  The Post Office also reserves the right to open any Media Mail item for inspection.  I think I was once told our local office randomly opens two packages a day for inspection. 

Thanks for your questions, Gwen!  I really appreciate my readers interaction!

Question of the Day

Gwen sent me a question yesterday:

Hey, Rae. How are you today? I just had a quick question:

Well, first a scenario. I ordered a pizza peel from a guy on eBay. I know a lot of folks use drop-ship resources and he does say he's a "distributor" but when I tried using a drop-shipper years ago, I used one that would send my customer an invoice in my name only, not using the dropship company's name. This guy uses Sam's Club as his drop-shipper (at least for this kind of item).


When I got my peel, it had a packing slip in there for the guy that sold it to me. I figured I could have ordered it through Sam's club if I'd looked to see that they had these. Granted, I probably got it cheaper through him, because of his reseller ability. But I wanted to get your thoughts on this. Do you think it's ok what he's doing or should I privately contact him and tell him that this turned me off?  I left good feedback already--it did arrive in a good time, it's in new condition, etc. but I thought about private messaging him, or something.

A Pizza Peel (I always used to call it a paddle, but I guess I'll use the right term from now on!)

And, I wrote back to her:

How odd!  I always look at the seller's feedback numbers to determine how long (approximately) he's been selling on eBay.  If he's a newbie (anything under 200 in my estimation), I'd just chalk it up to inexperience on his part.   Still, it seems to me that perhaps he ordered it direct and neglected to remove the invoice... You're right--it is tacky, but I probably wouldn't mention it; just keep it in mind whenever you sell something :).