It takes a special sort of person to sell on eBay. I have met the best, I have met the worst, but still, we are sellers on eBay. I started playing on the world wide web more than 7 years ago and what I have found more than 6 years ago was this amazing, sleeping, world changing web site called eBay. I owned several thrift stores and sold at live auctions. I was always on the search to sell my wares. I was told of a new web site called eBay which claimed to be an on-line auction and I like others said "no way that will work". Boy was I wrong. I went to the site and found an abundance of products. The Fenton glass that was bringing top dollar at the live auctions was going cheap on this site, so I started bidding. I found myself spending oodles of money. What I also found is that I was finding unique items to bring to live auctions and I was doing well with it.

Over the years of buying on eBay I had this brainstorm, why not try selling my thrift stores items that sat too long on eBay. Thus, I started selling. My first item I ever sold was a Gor-Tex running suit. I remember giving a lady 3 dollars for it at a yard sale. It took me a while to learn how to list it as I always liked to learn on my own. I started the bidding at 4.99. I watched every few hours. That was the most exciting part, to see if there was a bid. I remember the joy when the 4.99 turned green. I was glued to the screen for the next few days. I watched with a few zillion page refreshes this suit go to an ending bid of 137.55. That was it, I was hooked. I bought a second computer and put it in the store and started selling from one of my stores and I found out a few things. I found out that it was ok to send a check to someone in Norway that I have never met. What has happened is eBay has changed the world I knew and that holds for many sellers.

We learned trust and the feedback system eBay provided was working. We also learned that people as eBay would say were basiclly good and the feedback was the sellers character rating more or less. As more and more people found out about eBay the collectibles over the years were no longer collectibles for everyone was pulling stuff out of their closets and bringing to this market place the hard to find items. The McCoys, the Hull pottery, the Roseville, Fenton, and other sort after items were not bringing the prices as the years went on. I realized what has happened. eBay has devoured itself. The yard sales, the flea market vendors, the thrift stores were all holding the best stuff for eBay selling. Items were getting harder and harder to find.

  I found out of an eBay group in my local area and joined. There were 240 members and I spent many hours learning that I was not alone in my endevours. The group members shared their stories and I was amazed. Amazed that my experiences were not as unique as I thought. We all as sellers have our ways of selling and I was learning fast that eBay had changed the world as I knew it. eBay became my life, and I don't mean I stayed in front of the computer. What I mean is all my business strategies revolved around eBay. How to find stuff to sell, how to market it, and how to describe it. I learned a good description was one were you made believe there were no pictures and you had to tell someone what it was. This concept worked for me as my feedback started growing.

This eBay machine now was the way to go. The way to go for brick and mortar stores, the way to go for the stay at home moms, the way for retired people, and a major blessing I learned for folks who were bed ridden and in wheelchairs, they were all selling. I found more groups and learned more. I found that my experiences that I shared was actually helping other people and I enjoyed the sharing. I found out about eBay stores and joined a group called !!!Store Owners Cafe!!!and opened an eBay store. The Antiques Anonymous group was the best. An array of hard working people, fact filled group who are fun and informative. This eBay machine was filling everyones voids from the business men and women supplementing their business's, to a person who always wanted to run a business. This sounds like a bio, but it's not. My story is the same for thousands if not millions of sellers. Sellers found their niche of selling and the world truely changed and eBay was blazing the trail for on-line selling. I now own Powerseller Auctions eBay drop off stores and found that the world is still learning about eBay. It will grow and grow. Where will it be in 10 years I wonder. Will it be completly retail? Will it still have collectibles? I don't know but I will tell you this, I will be there with it where ever it goes. An elderly man once told me "if you ain't catching fish in that there fishin hole, don't move, just change the bait". How true how true. Follow the trends, see whats in fashion, never give up. Join a group which can be found at the top of every eBay page under Community button. The groups will guide you. The guides will guide you. It is all there. Never ever say I can't find a job. eBay has provided one for you. Start selling and I'll see you there.

Barry