posted on February 7, 2010 10:31:42 AM
I came across old printouts of my first listings on eBay. This month marks my 10th Anniversary!
One of the first things I sold on eBay were some old Hot Wheel cars I found still in their original blister packs from the 1970's. One went for over $75 back then.
Oh, the memories of listing 200-300 items per week, raking in the money... how those days are gone now.
I remember unloading my car with tons and tons of items just to list on ebay. Now, I am lucky to get more than 5 items up in a week.
posted on February 7, 2010 11:36:02 AM
Congrats, shag! I'm coming up on my 11th year selling...and I, too, remember the "good old days". I started out selling some of my old video tapes! Good luck on the next 10 years!
[ edited by blueyes29 on Feb 7, 2010 11:36 AM ]
posted on February 7, 2010 11:52:55 AM
I'm coming up on my 12th year. I, too, remember the good old days before everyone had discovered cash in their closets.
I never was a yard sale person, my mom was a collector of many things and I just needed to go to her closets to find treasure after treasure to sell for my father.I look up some of the prices on items I sold years ago and think, WOW!! glad I am not selling that now.
posted on February 7, 2010 12:45:09 PM
This is a very timely thread for me. I have been clearing out my files while we are moving and I just finished with my eBay files. Found a print out of the listing for the first thing I bought on eBay, an advertising salt and pepper. It was the day and the reason I jointed eBay, November 8, 1997. I also looked at my folder of eBay sales from the period about ten years ago when I was actively selling. Although there were some surprisingly high amounts there were a lot of very nice items that sold quite low. I tend to think about the "good old days" as rosier than they were.
Well as Eugen Sandow said "Life is Movement".
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on February 7, 2010 01:56:08 PM
Its my 10th year also and I to remember filling the family mini-van up to the roof for $150 at a estate auction and having just enough room for me to drive my finds home and then selling some cheap plastic Hallmark ornament for $125. Ah the Good Ole Days. I swear you could have put a piece of dog dodo on then and fetch five bucks out of it AND after fees still have $4.50. Now you sell something for 5 bucks you get to keep .50 sigh
posted on February 7, 2010 03:40:02 PM
I can remember filling my Astro van so that my friend and I could hardly move with so much stuff. We had bot a Tickle Me Elmo Doll and every time I turned a corner the the doll would giggle or laugh and we would too. Fun times.
posted on February 7, 2010 05:59:35 PM
I've been on for 11 years as well.
I remember my 1st sale - it was a $2.50 post card. I didn't even have a camera then - used a scanner.
I was so proud of myself.
I've come a long way - baby!!!!
posted on February 7, 2010 07:00:10 PM
oh man, I had my 35mm Rebel when I 1st moved to Portland. I would take several photos, drive to Walgreens and drop the film off. Go see a movie or shop at the grocery store, then go home and scan them with my Canon scanner.
It took forever. Then I bought a cheap Fuji digital camera. Ugh! It has a cheap plastic lens that always showed rings.
Funny how those memories are fond until you start digging way back and realize what a pain in the butt it was by today's standards.
posted on February 7, 2010 08:32:41 PM
I fondly remember the fun watching the "bidding" (not stores, not fixed) back in the day.
I was selling items from my mother's collections for my father. One of the first items I sold was a teddy bear, ltd. ed. I had no idea of its worth at the time, didn't do any research, let the bidding determine the price. I remember it was over Thanksgiving because we kept checking the bids and they kept doing up and up. It sold for $450!! Person sent a MO, left FB, all was well. That same item today, even though it is 12 years older is selling on Ebay for about $19.
posted on February 8, 2010 04:07:16 AM
I am in my 11th year also. I remember those days of taking photographs and then scanning them. Then we found a friend who had a digital camera, and he would come and do a "photo session" for us. I had a free picture service then, and then came to Vendio when it was Auctionwatch, and free. It seems as if everything sold in those days. I mostly sell in the crafts category, and there were not many listing then. Now it is very different, and I see a lot of my previous buyers and now sellers.
posted on February 8, 2010 04:10:08 AM
I bought an obscure small antique car 95-96 time frame. Went searching on the web for info about it and ran into eBay by accident. This began a hobby of buying and selling auto literature, old car magazines, parts and other stuff. Also looked through eBay bought and resold stuff.
I also took 35mm photos had them developed and scanned them into my computer. Worked with storing them on free space provided by an IP server finally found Auction Watch and bought a digital camera. Very labor intensive process until I found AW and bought the camera, but it was some what profitable and a lot of fun.
posted on February 8, 2010 06:50:48 AM
Similar story to you folks, been 11 years now. My first digital Kodak camera (still works) cost me $500. Bought a new Canon one recently for under $200, which will do amazing things. My first sale was a John Deere light jacket, went for $8 and I was hooked. But kind of winding down now, sales are rather weak, but it is a tough economy.
Still been a fun ride as a hobby. Never came close to being a real job unfortunately.
posted on February 8, 2010 11:53:47 AM
Congratulations shagmidmod. February 1st marked 11 years on eBay for me.
I can recall using AW to list my items in 2001. At that time, I had auctions on both eBay and Yahoo.
Things sure have changed for all of us. Yahoo no longer has auctions, and eBay is trying desperately to revive a mature marketplace.
My eBay store now sits empty, and soon my Vendio Store will be closed.
IMHO the days of pay to sell are numbered. The future just might be with Google product listings, and if necessary, Google pay for search, plus 3rd party store providers that do not charge the seller listing fees or FVFs.
The inevitable is only being temporarily slowed by present economic conditions.
posted on February 11, 2010 09:19:22 AM
11 years for me on Jan. 13th and they didn't even send a card! Just kidding - why should they care about a reliable seller?
posted on February 11, 2010 05:26:15 PM
12 years in April. Still meeting neat folks and having fun for the most part. Have expanded into posters, paper products, clothing and decorative tiles which feature vintage ads (thanks to my daughter). Mostly in hotels, boutiques, tourist traps, etc. Still have a sweet spot for eBay myself.
Beth
posted on February 12, 2010 01:21:39 AM
11 years for me. The first item I sold was a #3 Stanley plane for $127.00 I pulled all my inventory out of the flea market and antique shop the next day and just did eBay for 4 years.
Now that #3 plane brings under $25.00
posted on February 12, 2010 05:40:02 PM
The memory that I take away from the "good old days" when everything would sell........
.
.
I decided one day to list a YO-YO that was broken. Just to play with the idea that anything could sell. It was a cheap Made in China vintage 1995 plastic light-up yo-yo. Needed batteries. Except this one didn't work, even with batteries. It also didn't work as a yo-yo. As I said in my description..."It goes down, but doesn't go back up". I described all the defects. The title was "Broken Yo-Yo". It still sold for $7.62 plus $3.95 S/H with 12 bids.
[ edited by watchguy on Feb 12, 2010 05:43 PM ]
posted on February 14, 2010 08:10:59 PM
ggardenour......
You joked that back in the early days on eBay, you could sell dog doo on eBay and get bids.
Years ago, I was searching the "Weird" category on eBay, and someone actually had a listing which was titled, "Fresh Dog Sh*t".....except they spelled out that last word! Their auction had multiple bids, and Fido's business was up to about $4.00 when I found the auction. Don't know what it finally sold for, but those were the days!
I listed my first auction, by the way, on December 4, 1998. It was a 1950 book, with dust jacket, of science fiction stories.
I couldn't believe the high prices stuff sold for on eBay in those early years. Magazine ads, recent books, etc., often went to dizzying heights. Ah, the good 'ole days.
posted on February 15, 2010 04:35:06 AM
One think I remember in the "good old days" was the piles of packages waiting for the money orders and checks to arrive. Now, there is an odd one or two who don't pay with Paypal. I don't miss finding a place for those piles.
posted on February 16, 2010 08:33:31 AM
The bright spot about things not selling for as much on Ebay as they did in the beginning is that I can clean out my closets and throw things away or donate them without fear that they are a valuable nostalgic piece that people will pay handsomely for.
I can do a little research and believe me there are very few things that are not listed on Ebay no matter how rare, unique, precious, etc. you may think they are. Others have discovered the same "junique" in the back of their or their parent's or grandparent's closets.
I also blame Antique Roadshow for the belief that so many "treasures" are valuable.
[ edited by merrie on Feb 16, 2010 08:34 AM ]
