Saturday

To Sell Or Not To Sell: A Question of eBay

It has been almost a year since I was asked to be a member of the eBay Parent Panel and what a year it has been. I have endured a literal, not virtual, roller coaster ride of highs and lows that at points caused me to scream with glee and at others filled me with vomit inducing disgust. But the ride wouldn't be exciting without the peaks and valleys, right?

Today is a hot, hot, hot Saturday and on this day I did what I like to call stuff "man stuff around the house" --- swapped out a deadbolt lock for a doorknob, walked the grounds of my house with a property manager and chopped it up about Chicago, spiders, Spider-Man, real estate and duct work. I forgot to go to Comcast to return a modem not once, but 3 times in the same day and only made a solid plan to go after the place was closed for the day. I did my best to play with the pooch but his natural fur coat transformed his normally wild shepherding antics a slow drag, that is me dragging him down the block while drool poured off his tongue. I also cleaned my house and cleaned out my closet. I tore through all the things I cannot wear, no longer wear and had no business wearing. Namely sweaters I like that must've been attacked by moths while they were in storage, if you catch my drift. I also noticed 3 bags of clothes I set aside months ago to sell on eBay.

Decision time.

I'm a little wiser than I was when I first collected the items. I have a sense for what will sell based on what I haven't been able to sell and what I have. There are ties that I know someone could use for a job interview so those are getting donated, just as all the little jeans and shorts are some deserving little girl or girls to help endure this unbearable heat wave. But all the world loves a princess in a pretty dress, and with back-to-school just around the corner in certain regions of the nation all the unworn, outgrown t-shirts and dresses plucked from my daughter's closet along with a jean jacket are sure to go quickly. I managed to snag a dress or two from my wife's to-go-out-the-house pile along with a pair of heels she hardly wore and I guess stopped liking for one reason or another.

In the course of this year I lived the eBay experience without making eBay a way of life like so many outside the walls believe has to happen in order to sell on eBay. I didn't breathe, eat and sleep it (although that's okay for some if they do). For me it's all about how you measure success. Is it becoming a millionaire via eBay? Or having extra cash for a vacation or selling an unused camera lens in 5-day's time to pay for a ticket to attend a professional conference (which will hopefully add to my knowledge base to make me a millionaire) as I did in May?

I'm glad to know that through my posts and activities I have converted two readers/peers into eBay sellers. I am their go-to adviser when they want to know how and what they should post on line. I am especially happy that they are both men, both dads. This means that my role on the panel worked to attract people like me, men who are dads. One way more social media savvy than me, the other way more well-off than I due to his 9-5 profession. And yet and still they both have shared that they are using eBay to fill financial holes with things they feel they'd be foolish to give away.

But here's the beauty about eBay: it's as much about buying as it is selling. My Christmas wouldn't have been the Christmas that it was had I not been able to comparison shop on the spot with the incredibly useful eBay Mobile app that unfortunately has become the bane of the brick and mortar, Best Buy and even it's most similar competitor, Amazon.com. When someone tells me how outrageous something is priced, I use eBay as a measuring stick. Sometimes the price holds across all stores, but when it doesn't more times than not, it's cheaper and of the same new or almost new quality as it is everywhere else. Should you ever happen to visit the site, check out how many big brands have stores on eBay. They know what's up. And now you do too.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July and should you have any eBay related selling/buying questions you can reach me here in the comments section or via the Contact Page Link at the top of the page.

Disclosure: As a member of eBay Parent Panel I must disclose that I am being compensated for this posting. However the opinions and expressions contained within this post are 100% my own.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter at @EPayneTheDad.