Ebay ....

I'm glad you asked because I've been curious, too. I've never bought or sold on e-bay, but am contemplating whether selling stuff there is less work/hassle than a garage sale. Is the shipping a pain? I'm thinking of it particularly for some antique items I have that wouldn't go well at a garage sale. I'm also curious about how hard it is; I see community ed classes and infomercials on how to seel on e-bay, and wonder if they're helpful. Sorry, I'm giving more questions and no answers!

GopherGirl is a discussion follower. She lives in the West Valley with her husband and two boys, ages 4 and 2.

I don't think it's hard at all and if you're looking to sell antiques I think you'd be pretty successful. You have to find a niche some what with eBay, you have to find things to sell that not every other person on eBay are selling. Children's clothing does well, collectibles, rare items, gift cards, etc. Shipping isn't too difficult. I always add in a handling fee for my time, cost of my packing materials, etc. to ship and I usually estimate how much the shipping will be. Once you get used to estimating you can pretty much be a judge of how much something is going to cost. However, you can also puchase a postal scale pretty inexpensively. I think with antiques you'd most definitely get more for them than you would if selling at a garage sale. On eBay you'll come across people who are looking for what you have in regards to antiques!! You also have the ability to put reserve prices on things, which I might strongly recommend with antiques so that you can state that you won't sell the item for less than a certain amount of money ... say for example you can start a listing at $9.99, but you can put a reserve on the auction that wouldn't let your item sell unless you had a high bidder for $50 or more, which allows you to not let yourself get ripped off.

As for the training video's, books, etc. they sell on line and through informercials and things like that ... I'm not familiar with them ... they may be worthy of what they present if your planning on becoming a hardcore eBayer and making it your main source of income and you're going to try and survive off what you sell through eBay alone. If you're just planning on selling things to get rid of some odds and ends that are collecting dust I don't think hardcore training is necessary.

Hope that info. helps a little bit!!

I LOVE to buy on e-bay. I buy almost all of DD's clothes there in like new/gently used "lots", a lot of them name brand. Since she's in daycare there's no point in buying brand new. The funny thing is I always get compliments on what she's wearing...it's like my little secret ;-) I buy other items too, just bought some mineral makeup, and Mary Kay skin products for super cheap. I also bought DD's homemade cart cover there, and some home made toddler pillows as well.

Selling is not worth it anymore to me. There's the ridiculous selling fees, Paypal fees, shipping costs, etc, which sometimes leaves you with no profit. There's also the occasional buyer who can't be made happy, and that's really frustrating, too.

I've bought off of Ebay for years. I find awesome stuff for themed birthday parties, since we usually pick a theme somewhere in the world.

I recently started selling my custom birthday invitations and I can hardly keep up with demand!

It's fun!

"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein

A long time ago, when Ebay first started I trolled it a lot and bought a few things...primarily because it was such a novelty and everyone talked about it.

As the facination/new-ness of it wore off, so did my interest.

1-2 times/year, I'll look for something random that is too hard to find anywhere else....but that's it.

Happy2BMommy, is a stay-at-home mom who just turned 40 (argh!) with a 6 yr. old daughter and a 5 yr. old son, and is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com living in Scottsdale.

I have looked at ebay a few times and bought some stuff from there too. I am not a big fan. Why? shipping process, items received, etc. I recall buying a lot of clothing for my daughter and the post said size 6 but when I received them, most had shrunk. Yes, there were a size 6, but not anymore. Total waste of my money.

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one!

We have bought games and electronic items for the kids on eBay. I have sold a number of items on eBay, too, and I think that once you start selling, you become a smarter buyer. I used to despise eBay because I didn't know how to "work" the system.

For instance, certain items that close on certain days of the week sell for higher than others (i.e., so if you are selling, close on those days; if you are buying, buy on LOW sales days).

I had to "ground" myself from eBay a while back because I was buying all kinds of things for the kids. It really started to rack up - the kids were happy, though! ;-) And, we had many peaceful car trips because each (older) kid was equipped with a game of some sort.

I have not done much buying/selling on eBay lately because of the fee increase.

Mouse_tales is a discussion leader in the East Valley for arizonamoms.com. She spends most of her days juggling her duties as a mom, wife, and business owner. Her three little kittens range in age from 4 to 13.