Retirement Hobby: Ebay Selling!
by Regina w
(Washington)
A few years ago, after I retired from my job, I started to sell off some of the items collected over the years on Ebay.
There were the video games that my sons, now grown, left at our house, there were old electronics such as the original Apple Ipods, there were books and CDs that I never used anymore, there were handbags and shoes that I hardly wore. After I sold the first few items, I was hooked.
I then started to tell friends and relatives of this new hobby of mine and they started to give me things to sell for them.
One friend had an extensive Matchbox cars collection. Over 30 years, he had collected over 300 cars. I patiently researched and listed each one for him and made him hundreds of dollars. He kept wanting to pay me for my efforts, but I realized that I truly enjoyed doing it, and refused any monetary compensation.
I would watch each auction as it neared it’s finish and get so excited as the auction price rose during the last few minutes.
Another friend had lived in Germany for many years and collected hundreds of Elastolin cowboy and Indian figures. He was now ready to sell them and I helped him list them on Ebay. After 3 months, he made over $3,000 selling the figures. It turns out there were many avid collectors out there!
Over the last few years, I have helped several friends and business colleagues sell items on the Internet and have become quite savy on the whole process.
One of my proudest moments was when I received a “Top Rated Seller” ranking from Ebay. It meant that I had sold enough to be listed with the elite sellers.
