I know that Ada, Cleve, and Rhoda have bought and sold on eBay. Do any of the rest of you?I like to sell books online, especially when I can get good deals on vintage children's books or curriculum. I don't make much, just enough to have some in my Paypal account to do my own fun bidding on books or other things I want.
My best experience: A lady who obviously didn't know what she had sold two Sue Barton books (nurse stories from the 1940s), not ex-library, with dust jackets in excellent condition, for $7 for the pair as a buy-it-now. I could easily flip each of those now for probably $100 apiece. That is totally atypical of most book buys. Most deals are more like - buy it for $1, sell it for $3. So that deal was good for my ego.
What have been your best, worst, and/or weirdest experiences with eBay?
11 comments:
Ebaying is fun. It is an easy thing to do and the website is well-organized and pretty easy to get used to. Just this weekend, I sold an arrowhead I bought for $25 for $67. I'm up to 138 items bought/sold over about 5 years...sold everything from Kathleen's childhood toys to my own unwanted junk. Try it!
I've bought most of my Hull Pottery collection on Ebay - I have a collector's book so I could check and see if I was getting a good deal or not. My most recent purchase was several vintage wooden puzzles for Nathan to play with at our house. We used to have many of these puzzles, but I sold them at garage sales for $.50 - now bought somebody else's throw-aways for about $3-4 each!!
I've sold everything from clothes to cleaning-out-the-cupboard junk. Also sold some of my bags. I must get at it again as I have had 126 transactions (100% positive feedback) and I mustn't let Cleve get too far ahead of me!
Sounds like fun, and ya'll say it's easy. Guess I should try it. I surely have some things I could sell. What usually stops me is thinking of the packing process.
I have bought quite a few things on e-bay. Everything from kids toys and Halloween costumes to appliance manuals and maternity clothes. I have not been brave enough to sell yet. I agree with Mom - the packing and shipping aspect seems a little overwhelming.
Probably my most unusual buy on e-bay would be a replacement piece for a slingshot we have.
We almost bought our van on e-bay but the one we wanted sold. The listing company had their website on there so we looked them up and ended up just buying directly from them... in South Carolina. We had the van shipped to our house for a reasonable fee. It was MUCH easier than buying from a car dealer.
Michelle does a lot of buying on eBay for her jewelry business. I'm currently selling a hard top for a 2001 Jeep Wrangler on eBay if you know anybody who needs one. We've had success buying and selling over the years. Same with craigslist.
We've been ebay shoppers and sellers for a few years now. When I "want" something I usually poke around on ebay to see if we can get it for a steal. That way I don't feel like I spent a bunch of money on myself. I really like hunting for odd or old church history books. Some of my favorite time killer searches are: Klopfenstein, Knobloch, JCI, HCJB, Baptist, FFA. It's amazing the strange things you will find. A few months ago one of Uncle Perry's "Marching to Zion" was listed. There's a book store in Kansas who has the book Grandpa Nick Knobloch wrote listed. Even a signed copy if you are interested.
EDK
When I was new at it, I bought a Jimmy Buffett table tent for $20. I didn't know what a table tent was, but I figured it was some kind of umbrella or awning for a table. A steal at $20, right? Well, when it came, it was a piece of cardboard that folds into a triangle to set on a table.
Mike has both bought and sold cars on eBay - he bought a jeep, then later sold that jeep and another one on eBay. (The second jeep has been "translated" into our back porch.) One thing we regretted - a man in New Hampshire bought the second jeep. He of course had to pay extra for shipping. Mike said later that we could have taken that shipping money, bought a trailer, and delivered the jeep ourselves. That way we would have had a nice trip to the northwest - paid for - and had the trailer at the end. But we didn't think about it until the jeep was gone.
Cleve - why don't you relate your story of buying a car on Ebay. As I recall, that was a very funny episode!
I almost forgot - I had one real disaster on Ebay. I bought a timeshare in Gatlinburg - one week a year for $99 and a $50 (or some low figure) annual upkeep. While the paperwork was being completed and we were still waiting for the deed, we stopped there on the way home from Florida, saw the facility which was a little old, but good for our purposes. We were supposed to have the unit for one week every October - and of course it could be traded if we wanted.
Anyway, when we got home, the deed finally arrived but it said that the unit was in Branson - right county, but wrong state! It took a lot of telephone calls, a little help from Ben Roth, and perseverence on my part to get the deed cancelled and my money back. The seller had to admit that he had listed the property incorrectly, but that we could have the unit in Missouri. It was all resolved eventually and I'll probably stay away from real estate ventures on Ebay in the future..
OK, Mary. My car experience on E-bay was successful and funny (in some ways). I made a low offer on an antique car, thinking I'd never get it. But, I did!! I had to confess to Kathleen, "Honey, I bought a car, but.....it's in Bismarck, North Dakota! After 3 weeks, we finally had time to go get it..rented an Avis car one-way. Got to Bismarck (940 miles from Peoria) and the car looked nicer than we'd expected. Drove it all the way home non-stop --- expecting vibration, smoke, or a red light to come on at any time. But, it "ran like a Buick" and it has given me ZERO problems ever since (this was April of 2006). It is a 1964 Buick LeSabre convertible which looks and drives LIKE NEW. Halfway home from Bismarck, Kathleen looked at me and said, "This car rides smoother and quieter than the new Avis Pontiac that we drove to get it".
So you were right, Mary...it was an ebay purchase but not funny to me -- the joke was on the seller!!
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