posted on February 23, 2001 02:59:03 AM
good question --
Yes, I sell on eBay full time. However, insurance and other income comes from my wife.
It is a wavy up and down business, I sell collectibles and antiques (pre-1900).
Been doing it for years with booths in malls (gave those up), and as an ancillary to a horse business (hunter jumper & track)
While other businesses produced more income, this can be fun - sometimes.
One great benifit: In the engineering field you have to live where the job is. Generally the good jobs are in High Cost/High Tax areas. So now with the ebay business I can live ANYWHERE. Wow what freedom. I'm most likely going to move to a low cost/no tax area. Primary motivation will be no state income tax on my ebay profits.
posted on February 23, 2001 02:44:32 PM
I work my ebay business full time although it is not our only source of income; my husband has a full time corporate job. My ebay income is our insurance in many ways...against another corporate layoff or forced early retirement, etc. It is good to know that we could ratchet it up even more if need be, and with both of us working on it.
posted on March 12, 2001 03:59:42 PM
My eBay earnings go towards some extras - vacations, my digital camera, etc. I don't have the energy to do this full time LOL.
Also, I have to keep my day job because of the insurance - DH is self-employed and insurance would be out of sight (he never had medical ins. until we got married, he only had disability coverage).
posted on March 12, 2001 04:21:15 PM
Ebay is and has been our only source of
income for 2 years.Though in the last few months I have gone back into commission sales.
But that has not picked up yet,I have bought and obtained a mortgage based on ebaY income only.
It pays the mortgage,car payments,insurance the works so it can be done.
posted on March 12, 2001 04:28:09 PMHow many people use ebay as their only source of income
That's a good question, but what would be more interesting is to see how many people make a comfortable wage or above using ebay as income. Just because people use ebay as their only source of income, doesn't mean that they're making it. Shopping at thrifts because it's all you can afford and feeding a family of 3, beans and/or rice doesn't make things comfortable. Not being able to afford to pay your gas or electric *but keeping you phone or ISP active* doesn't cut it. Many people, I've talked to, over the last 3 years attempt to give the impression that they can make it with ebay being their only source of income...... but they fail to tell you the little hardships they endure. Who knows why they don't, but you don't find the stories easy to come by.
Sorry, I just think the question asked in this thread deserves to have the other question asked and answered as well. You never know who is reading and may consider giving up their 9-5 job that pays $50+K a year, all to follow a pipe dream that was fueled by other people's pipe dreams and zero reality.
(This post was not to imply that anyone here was giving anything but accurate information. Please do not interpret it that way)
posted on March 12, 2001 05:04:34 PM
Well............yes and no.........if I was trying to support my whole family.......we would be eating beans.[br]
Ebay is our second income ~ my husband brings home the first. It has never paid for me to work because of childcare cost and misc cost such as picking up a pizza because you are too tired to cook etc ~ but now I am at home with my own kids and bringing in the bacon and it works well for our household.
It is a great job for a stay at home mom or dad ~ and it allows us lots of extras such as a trip to Disney World last year ~ but I would think twice or more before giving up a good job if I did not want to be a stay home mom.
posted on March 12, 2001 06:13:02 PM
Ebay is ideal for the second income. Living in a rural area , my wife does most of the ebay work, she makes what she would work an outside job
posted on March 12, 2001 06:56:18 PM
eBay has been my main source of income for over a year now. When I do it full-time (200-300 auctions per week) I make $2000-$3000 a month.
I got married a few months ago and have been doing eBay part-time ever since. I'm about to go back to doing it full-time, though, since my husband (computer tech/programmer) has decided to stay home and help me with the business instead of doing tech jobs.
The money we make from eBay will cover all of our expenses with a little left over. It's not as much as we'd like to be making, but right now, it's more than enough for us (two twentysomething adults, two cats, no kids yet) to get by on.
And the best part is that I get to decide when I'm going to work!
posted on March 12, 2001 07:00:17 PM
I moved to Nova Scotia in Canada from England almost 3 years ago, its where my husband was born and I finally got a job I loved last year only to get laid off 3 months later! I started selling off my collection of fisher price toys just after Christmas to try and help supplement my husbands income and got hooked. I don't make very much but with weekly visits to the flea market I make enough to get us through the winter a little more comfortably than we were doing. Oil heating costs have really given us a beating this year, but I'm hoping with Summer and its guaranteed yard sales I can earn a little more to get my kids and husband the extras they deserve! I have to admit though I feel like such a total amateur.
posted on March 12, 2001 07:00:49 PM
Nice to see that others do what I do and feel the same way. I make more than I would working outside the home with young children to care for and the added expenses. However, I work harder to earn it. This is not easy work, but I get to decide for the most part when the work is done. My husband does bring home the bulk of our family income, but eBay has helped support my MIL and pays for extras we might not otherwise choose to afford.
I like to think this is something that will continue to give me some independence, my family some extra income for the "fun" things and lead to a hobby/income source at retirement.(this is quite a few years away...LOL)
Because my children are my main priority I would not attempt to spend the time it would take to support a family on my eBay income. I'm sure it can be done, though.
posted on March 13, 2001 02:59:28 AM
Last month I quit my FT job and took one for very part-time hours so I can be a SAH mom. My Internet sales [not just ebay] bring me about the same amount as one of my former bi-weekly paychecks, but remember that I don't pay taxes on it until my quarterly payment, so that will take a bite.
I think another useful question to ask on a thread like this is: if you are making significant regular income, where do you get your inventory? I don't mean specifics, but rather: do you do the "scrounging" thing by buying at local sales and thrifts to sell on ebay? Or have you developed a product line based on buying wholesale?
I think this is a key point for anyone to consider who may have "made a killing on ebay" from the occasional item they already own or found at a yard sale. Keeping up a steady, reliable, and worthwhile inventory is called HARD WORK.
I also found that in order to maintain a higher output, I had to break down and buy shipping supplies, which cost $$. I know, I know - supposedly boxes and popcorn are free for the hauling at all kinds of local stores. I found that unless you have a regular "in" somewhere, you are spending a ton of time driving and asking around, and then you still don't have the right size box when you need to get something into the mail.
Also, you need to get real about business licenses, taxes, etc. Not to mention all the time spent on the back end dealing with customers, trying to stay ahead of every nickel and dime fee that comes along [I just LOVE ebay's new fees for photos now that AW is charging!].
I do think it's totally worthwhile, and still often times a lot of fun. But it's a job, too.
posted on March 13, 2001 05:31:50 AM
I was doing Ebay as a hobby until other people started asking me to sell things for them, then I was offered a job across the country to run a business for a group of investors. I am the only employee and I get benefits. The company is branching out many different directions so Ebay will only be a small part of my income. I love my job most days. It is flexiable and I do it from anywhere.
I am currently a student, so, ebay pays all my bills! I don't think I could ever have a real job. It requires a set schedule, and I love the freedom too much. I am still going to finish my computer engineering degree because ebay might not be around forever, and education will last a lifetime.
-Trey
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"If your mind can concieve it, and you believe it, then you probably can achieve it."
