eBay Chat with Genevieve in Maine: I Can Make Money While I Sleep! 😴

Hello hello resellers, eBay lawyers and wannabe eBay errs who haven't started yet. Yes, I get a lot of emails from those of you out there listening learning, and you haven't started yet so I am on board with that. I know I have a lot of listeners who haven't dipped their toes into the water yet, but don't wait any longer get started. You can do this. This is episode number 82 of eBay the right way. And today's date is

Hello listeners we have Genevieve with us today in such a beautiful name. And thank you I probably spell it wrong but I'm going to make sure that I spell it right. That is Genevieve French.

Very French. The same word is one of your but the French version instead of English.

Ah, okay. Well, my name is actually French. Suzanne. Nice. Yeah. But Spanish. It's susiana Oh, so anyway, yeah, that's interesting. You don't see that name a lot Genevieve.

So I'm lucky for do people call you Jen

or Jenny.

From time to time. I just most of the time I just go by Genevieve, but whatever makes sense. Whatever fit. Yeah,

I mean, yeah, just whatever they say. Yeah,

I know. They're talking to me. Yeah. All right.

Okay, um, so we got that out of the way and what is your location?

I live on. I live in Maine on the coast. I live in a town called Falmouth, which is the biggest city in Maine is Portland and I live literally the next town up.

So right by the ocean. Okay, you don't meet very many people from Maine. I don't.

There's a whole state the population is a little over a million people that live here permanently. But during the summer, the population goes way up. It's literally our statement or a state saying on our license plate is vacation land.

Right? Yeah, it's definitely on my list of places to visit. And Zach was he's in I think bath Maine.

Yeah, yeah. That's worried have been hour 45 minutes up coast from here.

And that is also the hometown of Stephen King. Right.

Stephen King's from Bangor? Okay, okay.

It's another day. There's a lot of people, right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's a beautiful state. Have you ever watched aerial America? It's a documentary. I think it's on the History Channel. But it's, they actually do all this footage from drones. Yeah. And show the different states. There's one for every state and it's just so beautiful the way the I guess cinematography is done the way they film it. But Maine was just

lovely. Yeah, most of the state most of the population situated in the bottom corner, like the little pointy part. But there's, there's hundreds and 1000s of acres of just like just forest for most of the top half of the state. So it's, yeah, it's untouched.

It's a million people in your state total. That's really not very many by population standards.

No, not at all. No, and it's nice. You can uh, one of the things I really enjoy. So I grew up here but one of the things that has kept me here all these years is having the fact that when I wake up in the morning, I can go to the ocean, or I can go to Lake or if I drive west, the White Mountains are right there within so within an hour. I can be all sorts of wonderful outside places want to go hiking or swimming or just a lot to do outside tonight.

Yeah. As the listeners might know, I'm moving from Atlanta to to Greenville and I was doing some research on population. So South Carolina has half the population of Georgia. Wow. And the Atlanta metro area. I think it's 4 million people. Something like that. But the Greenville metro area is 1/10, the size of Atlanta. Wow. That means a lot. In regards to traffic and crowds and events, you go to just, I'm really looking forward to a smaller city. Nice pics, and I

Well, so I've had an account with eBay. Since 2005. I checked make sure I had that info.

So you're, you're kind of a longtime or seasoned seller? Well,

no, no, actually. I've been bought a seasoned buyer. But I started about a little over a year ago, my youngest, Stella had gone clothes shopping with her dad. And about a month later, they outgrew these clothes that they've worn twice. And I started putting together goodwill back as you do. And I realized, as I was doing it, I had this I remember very distinctively this moment that I had this really cute pair of

That was your epiphany. That was my epiphany. Yeah, defining moment of Wait a minute. I should sell this.

Well, and think of all the all the money I could have made through the years doing it. And it's so much fun. Yeah, we're getting. So yeah, I started the first couple items I listed were still as outgrown clothes. And then yeah, and then I started looking around the house like, Okay, if I was gonna, if I was gonna do like a major, like, spring clean, what would I get rid of? What would I put in that bag? So I do source but a lot of what I do sell is just in my house. Like I'll be I

Oh, I'm so glad you like it. Now the 2023 is just about to come out. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. I got a lot of good feedback on that thing. Yeah.

Oh, you're welcome. I look at it every day. And oh. And I remember a few months ago, one of the things you had put was go, you had mentioned to go in your kitchen, and just grab a couple things you don't use. So that's been my, that's been a bunch of my sourcing has been like, we haven't used this. I don't use this pan anymore, or, yeah. And so it's sort of it's evolving that way going through my dishes and stuff. Yeah, so I guess that's how I got started. It's longer.

And how long have you been in that home?

I have been in this house for 15 years.

Okay, so there's some accumulation. There's a

lot there. I also have my I have two children. My eldest child Jack is 20. So they both lived here almost their entire lives. And let's see my, my now husband moved in, seven, eight years ago. So he and it's funny, he was the roommate that had all the stuff like most of the dishes in his apartment or his and that kind of stuff. So when he moved in, we, you know, did a lot of leg weight. which classes are

we keeping and kind, right, we don't need two or three of everything. Right? Like rolling

pins, and, you know, that kind of stuff. So there's some of that. Yeah, so there's, we have a lot of, um, we we collect a lot of things for packrat. So there's that. Okay, so this so, yeah, so it's good for many reasons. But yeah, it's really nice having the extra money. Not that money is ever extra. But, you know,

another way to bring in revenue was to do a lot of work. Just yeah, I don't use that anymore. I'm done with that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

So

can you remember any things just laying around your house that you were inspired to sell and worse surprised by how much they sold for.

I have this. So this pot I had the it's by danske. It's their styleline. And they're gorgeous. And I found COVID

style. That's a good one. Yeah. And

so I had it. And it was, it wasn't in mint condition by any means. But I had it and I was using it. And I was like, No, I really want a new I wanted a new color. Because I decided to switch my, my kitchen, you know, updating it. And yeah, so I wanted blue. And so I sold that I figured, you know, it wasn't it wasn't in perfect condition. It wasn't it was nice, but it wasn't like, new fresh out of box. And yeah, I got it was just a little probably to court. Yeah, and I

yeah. And if you think about it, $45. That doesn't sound like much in and of itself. But what if you have 100 items in your house that you can sell for $45? starts to add up is the consistency of of listing, you know, and you keep going with it. So do you have any area of expertise?

Well, most of my eBay stores actually VHS tapes.

VHS tapes. Yeah. That is interesting. Yeah. Tell us about that.

We, my husband teases me because I, I'm really good at, like, I'll be at work or at my full time job. Or my other part time and just, I'll I'll think of a movie, I haven't seen a long time that I really, really want to see. And inevitably it's not on streaming. So we've started especially beginning of COVID Once things opened up again. It was like okay, this is what I need to make me feel better. Well, aren't good. It's like I you know, I want to I want to

Right now do you test them? Yes.

Yes, that makes sure they're overwhelmed. And sometimes when you find them, they have you see little white stuff on it. It's mold because they've been in a basement and just you know, you make sure they're, they're nice and clean. And yeah, make sure they weren't

Do you watch the whole movie or just kind of spot check if it will play and then fast forward. i What is your process for testing? Um,

I usually I put it on and just make sure it plays for a couple minutes. I also I also make sure that most of the time that there were a wound I don't sit and watch the entire thing. Okay, if it works a couple minutes it's

probably Yeah. Have you have ever had any issues with the tape disintegrating? I know that if they're stored in like an attic where it gets really hot. They the tape can actually melt.

Wow, I haven't seen that. I always open the there's a little button on the side and there's the flap that opens you can look at the actual tape. Now check that to make sure.

Oh, okay. Good idea. Yeah, I remember selling some VHS back in the day. And I did come across them that were melted. Wow. That was just a rare thing. But are there specific ones that you look for? The ones that sell

for the higher prices are our horror VHS? Yes, I have heard about that. Yeah, it looks like a scary 80s slasher movie. There's some teenager run around in bikini on the cover, it's probably worth more than your average. Okay. Another thing I look for, which has been beneficial is I look for I look for the weird ones the odd things like it'll be. I'm trying to think of an example. Oh, like you'll find. A while ago, I found a copy of. I'm trying to make sure I get through Texas

on Yeah, that's a marketing thing. Exactly.

But it was, it was like it was a different box. Because there's the the mass produced, like the one cover that they do. And this one, the box was slightly different. And that one sold for that one sold for like 2025, if I remember correctly, and it was just because the box was was odd. It was different. And so when I'm whatever I'm looking for when I'm out at Goodwill, I yeah, I always look for the things that that I remember. Like I love that movie. But that like oh, wait,

Right right now. What year were you born?

I was born in 76. Okay,

so you're 10 years younger than me. Still a teenager in the 80s? Probably? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Right. So have you heard of this thing called encapsulating VHS tapes?

I think so. Is it where are they? It's where they grade them? Like they would like a comic book?

Well, it's, it's in a I don't know what to call the thing. It's like a plastic maybe it's not glass, but it's, it's actually inside is clear. Protective? Yeah. I guess it's a box. And that has become like currency, though. Some of those are very expensive can sell for 1000s of dollars. Yeah, it's a rare one. And that's that's kind of a thing now that when some of these collectors go to estate sales, garage sales, that's all they look at is EHS tapes. Somebody was talking about that.

That's so funny. I mean, it's just they're just come place things that we just always had around. I mean, I some of my VHS tapes, I'm sure came from my mom's house when I moved out in first place. You know, they're just, they're just there. Yeah, they didn't. They're not. I mean, I obviously love movies, but they're not. Yeah, they're just complete. Everybody has them. You know, that's just sort of a

and I wonder who is the ideal customer who's buying these? Do they just? Is it because the movie isn't available any other way? DVD or streaming? Or is it? Are they collectors? I would be interested to know like, who's buying these?

Well, I've wondered that too. I don't get a lot of I do get a lot of positive feedback. But the feedback is like, Oh, great, great seller. That kind of thing. No one says oh my goodness, I've been looking. I've no one said to me, I've been looking for this movie for a long time. Right? Like, I don't get stories with my feedback. Right? I do but not I haven't watched the VHS anyways. Okay,

so you can't really draw any conclusions, but

I presume I have friends that collect that collect for VHS. So I sort of just presume it's collectors but at the same time I figure I know for me if there's something I like like I'm kind of minorly

Yeah, yeah. You know, and looking back, I should have put that on auction.

But well, but you don't know at the time?

You don't know. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't realize what I had, I guess. Yeah, I was very happy with the $1,000. I got for that. $3 items. So yeah, not gonna complain. But, and speaking of auctions, one thing I did in preparation for my move was put a lot of my bulky, breakable items on auction. Like, I don't want to move that. So I was surprised at how much sold, that's great. They were, you know, I didn't have anything astounding, you know, $100

experience it that in early actually about this time last year, in early fall, for some reason. It seemed like I'd have I there was like a couple of weeks, beginning of the fall, and I had four of them just nobody paid. So I've actually switched almost entirely over to buy it now. And that way have a better sense of, for me, it's easier to do. The way my workflow works best for me is, is every morning and when I when I wake up as I'm making my

Yeah. That's right. Now you mentioned you work a full time job outside the home.

Yes, I work full time at a natural grocery store. It's more of like a retail than like a Food Mart environment. I'm a manager there and I also work one day a week at an antique store in Freeport, Maine, and then I'm right on route one. I have a booth there because there's some stuff that there's some things that are big that I just don't want to ship I don't see myself shipping a chair. It's just not a

Yeah, I know. It's possible but just because it's possible doesn't mean you want to do it.

No, no and I'm I'm surprisingly I quickly actually because actually because of you thank you you gave me the tip of if you don't know how to if you really if you're concerned about shipping something someone else has done it and probably made a YouTube video with some Yeah, but at one point like how to

appreciate about a lot of those shipping videos is the creativity, the materials they're using, you know, Everybody pretty much knows about pool noodles. And if you slit them vertically, and put them around the edges of things, or you can chop them up into circles and use them as like packing peanuts, but they're much cleaner to deal with than packing peanuts. Just all kinds of things you can do with different materials that the average person doesn't know.

And so

it's like, I'll, I'll learn something new. And I'll be like, Oh, I gotta make a video about this. People need to know this. And I just don't get that with shipping videos. And a lot of it's already been covered. So I tried to focus on things that maybe a lot of people don't know. Hmm. Yeah,

I am. I became one of Well, I obviously listen to your podcast. But that Yeah, I do subscribe to the premium library. Yes, you do. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. And some of the things you talk about, like I sell a lot of dishes. I, when I was a little kid, one of my, my my Grammy my mom's mom, we we used to spend a lot of time with her. I mean, she passed many years ago, but I remember being very little. And when I went to Grandma's house, she'd let me open the china

Well, but it's not that I just love selling clothes. It's that was what was most available when I started doing this, Oh, interesting thrift store here 75% of its clothes. So it's kind of bloom where you're planted thing, you know what resources are around me. And I am very picky about what clothes I sell. I choose fabrics I like to work with. And that's our durable, and stand the test of time. Like, you know, linen 100% linen, that's been a thing for 1000s of years,

Well, and that's what the, actually that's how VHS became the first corner of the house I was going to tackle was, well, I mean, I do kitchen things, like I said, but that, while they're in the way, they're not big. They don't take up a lot of room. They're easy to ship. And I just I literally put them in a bubble mailer with my little thank you for, for buying something. And that's it, print the label. And I'm good to

Yeah. And that's listeners might be like, I'm not going to do something for $5. But if you already have it, and they sell well, and they're easy to do, look at the big picture. Right? So it's $5 coming in every day. Yeah, add that up over a year. And that's significant. It is

well, my, my aunt many years ago, I remember she quit smoking, and she got a big jar. And she put a couple bucks in it every day. And I remember after she had quit for like six months, she went on this cruise. Yeah, just because she took the money away every day. And that kind of stayed with me. That was when I was little little but but with that the Yeah, $5 a day adds up. So and that way, and that's how I got my top seller status was so now. Well is because I was so because I've

Yeah, so if you're in it for the long haul. I mean, you're not gonna buy items to sell for $5. But oh, no, I already got it. So leverage what you've already done. And, and I really liked the RE homing process, like this thing has been in my house for 20 years. I don't use it. I haven't even seen it for 10 years. And here it is, and and then you rehome it and the buyer gets to enjoy it. And the item

they have one of the with what you're saying with re homing one of the first it's probably one of the first like five things I sold was this little milk glass vase. I bought it at Goodwill, or maybe I don't remember where I bought it even. But I remember I only paid a couple bucks for it. And just as milk, little white hobnail milk glass base. It's really pretty, but it just it was sitting in a cabinet. And I was like alright, today I'm cleaning out this

this great. Yeah. And so you just never know what somebody's looking for. Oh, exactly. Exactly. And a lot of weddings now, based on what I'm seeing on Facebook and other social media are sort of the farmhouse, yabby chic, kind of not super fancy, more laid back, you know, it's in the barn, and they've got string lights and the clothes pins with the photos and the fun centerpieces with the mason jars and just all kinds of stuff like that, that you don't know what somebody's looking for.

Know. And it's the there's a lot of that up here because it's yeah, if you got more than 10 or 15 minutes out of Portland proper, you're you're in the woods. You're like, it's great. So there's a lot of most people up here tend to do the more rustic thing, even even before it was hip, like, I've been to weddings and barns and stuff. So it's really neat.

Yeah, I mean, that's what they did down here in Georgia 100 years ago. What's the biggest barn? Now, you mentioned your antique booth? Is that actually antiques? Or is it more like the rustic shabby chic looking stuff?

Um, most of the stuff in my booth is it's more Well, it's, it's, it's a lot of its dishes. It is more. It's more rustic. It's, I really liked the mid century stuff. I don't know. It's something I'm working on my knowledge base of that. I do a lot of like I said, we're collectors. So a lot of sets of things. So like the VHS, I do on eBay, but um, for a while I was collecting pulp novels. So I listed a couple of the other day on eBay, but like I've a shelf

You sell on other sites? Besides eBay? Okay.

No, just eBay. And I thought about branching out, but I'm doing so well on eBay. It just seems silly to bother that once Yeah, so I'm feeling like I'm finally like getting established. And yeah,

you get some momentum. And then it's all about how do you want to spend your time because like work a full time job, in addition to doing eBay on the side. So you have to pick your battles there. And while people do sell plenty of things on other sites, Macari and Poshmark and all those other ones, I just think eBay has the most customers, the most buyers congregated in one place to purchase, they're there to buy

Yeah. Well, and I like as a as a seller, there are all those safety nets as well but especially is international shipping. Like I can't imagine even thinking about that otherwise, if I like it's really nice knowing that once I have it packed up that I can just send it an eBay will take takes that extra time to really look at it and make Sure it's gonna work and login and double checking the, the whole process for me. So I don't have to worry about like, Oh, yes, yes.

So I get about one email a week from a student in my school, who hasn't some kind of issue with international through the eBay standard international program, yes. Sometimes it goes missing, eBay steps in and handles it this case, the package was just stuck somewhere, and it had moved in like three weeks. And eBay looked into it for her and said, Oh, the buyer refused to pay customs, oh, it's being returned, or it was being held until they paid it and there was so much time allowed for that.

knock on wood. I haven't really had any trouble so far. But you know, but I know that if I did, I can easily remedy the issue. Yeah. And like, especially what you're saying with customs? That's, that's a big deal, because that's something I know nothing about.

Yeah. And how could you unless you were in that business, because every country has different thresholds and different rules. And we can't be expected to know all of that. No,

there's just not enough hours in the day. No. And so people are

intimidated by international shipping. You're like, oh, it's gonna go into the black hole. And I don't speak the customer's language and oh, I'm just terrified about it. And I mean, we're in a global economy. You're doing business with people in other countries all the time. You just don't realize it. Yeah. Yeah. Like in your daily life. So now, it's so streamlined that there's, there's just no reason not to. Yeah. Do you remember what countries you ship to?

The first country I shipped to internationally was Australia. I have found so llbean is about 15 minutes from my house.

Oh, really? Yeah. I love that brand. Yeah. Oh, it's

great. Yeah, that's where, uh, yeah, we grew up with it. I mean, my children's winter coats are, I've always been from llbean. It's just what we use around here. And they

have a lifetime guarantee, don't they? They do. They do, though. If you've had your coat, 20 years, and all of a sudden it falls apart. You can contact them and go through the process and then do a replacement, don't they? Um, yeah,

if you go into the store, will they examine it for any wear and tear is one thing and then, you know, just to figure it out. But yeah, they take pretty much everything back and I've gone in, I had a pair of boots I bought and it just whoever did the stitching must have just had an off day but like the toe start to come up a little bit, which has never happened to me only happened once so I brought it back to the

Yeah, yeah. Very durable products. Yeah. Anyway, I interrupted you. You you shipped something llbean to Australia.

Yes, I got I found this at this very 90s it was an lb and it was a leather jacket was almost like, like Carhartt coats, very square, purple leather. And then the color was green. It was very it was like 90 Science teach like high school. Will teacher kinda vibe. It was really it was a beautiful color but but it was different. Like I remember them from when I was young, but it's not something you'd see every day.

happens. So and then what a lot of people don't realize is, people in other countries will pay as much or more for shipping than the item cost. Like they don't care. And this is a perfect example of an item that isn't made anymore. Yeah, no, I had that. 90s new way look to it.

Yeah. That color purple.

Like, where are you going to find that? And who knows what they wanted it for? Maybe they had one. Maybe they're doing something with the drama club. Maybe it's for cosplay. Like you don't know, unless you ask me. But that happens all the time. And if you're not used to shipping internationally, you don't believe it? You just absolutely don't believe that somebody's going to pay $50 shipping for $20 item? Yeah, you know, it's just they look at it as this is

Yeah, it was great. So yeah, no, but it's yeah, it's a ship to answer your original question. I shipped to Australia. It sent something to England a couple of weeks ago. Some of them I found this, this really cute little. It was an E T. You know, the movie, et was an E T. It was like a little it was a child's like little like side bag, almost like a messenger bag. But it was from the tag said at one on it. And someone in England messaged me and said thank you for doing

great thing for listeners to know is if you find any tea plush that was made back in the day, or a lunchbox or any of those things. It's just what people collect amazes me and you've referred to that a couple times. So you collect VHS tapes.

Yeah. Record Piggy. Piggy, yeah. VHS tapes, and SP. There are a lot of records we collect and my husband's Well, my husband's a graphic designer his but his side gig is he makes bonds. Which is it's fascinating. But so because of that when I'm outsourcing, he's looking for ephemera. Mm hmm. We have large accidental ephemera collection as well just for like old magazines and just to look at the old lettering for inspiration and

Oh, I love that.

Yeah. So it's so it's fun. I have pretty soon I'm going to start listing some of the ephemera old magazines I've seen online can actually go for quite a lot of money. If you get the right day and year or Yeah, and if

it's something that wasn't mass produced, like you know the Time magazine with JFK on the front like that they made so many of or the moon landings it's it's all these little hobby magazines and out build a canoe out of a log or whatever, you know. Yeah. Stuff like Doomsday Preppers. One, eight things. And so if it's not, wasn't mass produced, it's gonna be worth more. It's just the rule of economics, the less there is something more it's worth. So what kind of magazines

But we have some Life magazines. We've been getting. I like old science magazines. The illustrations are really pretty. So we have a bunch of those. It's pretty random. I like a lot of the older like, like cooking magazines, the recipes out of and some of those I've cut up actually and have been using, so I won't be selling those probably. But yeah, a lot of cookbooks kind of like, I have sold a couple, but I'm going to put together some more. You

Okay. That's good information. Yeah, I think it's just the less common something is, the more it's gonna be worth, that's just a rule for everything. Yeah.

Well as the stuff I've sold, most has been stuff that is, can appear sort of run of the mill, but it's like, like, I'll find like, like a pan and that my mom used to have and be like, Oh, I remember this pan. But the one I find is green. And for some reason, the green ones worth a lot of money. But the other one isn't. So yeah, so like, knock on wood. Lately, I've been getting lucky by finding the green pants. So I always try to look for the the one offs of, of what people are used to.

Well, and the desire changes. So this year, it could be something in a certain color, and then two years from now, it's a different item, like Oh, nobody wants the red one anymore. They want the purple, or whatever it is, especially for things that do come in many variations on go back to plush. Yeah, because it's very specific what people want. And it's not just oh, this brand or you know, this Gund musical lamb or whatever it is, it's like, has to be the pink one that was made

I found that I don't have a lot of flush experience. I looked through it a little bit. I haven't delved into that. Mentally, honestly, but I did find rainbow brights force. Starfire sorry. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah, from the 80s. It was just it was in the bottom of a bin and her horse is white. So it was actually really clean. Which was great, because that's something I've found on digging through the plush. It's not always the best condition. Yeah, it has a definite ick

They treat them like their people. Yeah, they really do. They call it a him or her Okay, any other notable sales you want to share? Oh,

um, something else with VHS is if you get a set a collection of them those send those so a lot faster. I found. It was The Carol Burnett Show on VHS but it was this big box with all kinds of other of like literally all of the shows and it came with a fancy book and stuff. And I thought it was kind of cute, whatever and I looked it up but that I paid 10 for and I sold for 70 Nice. Yeah. So that was that was a good sale. I'm trying to think of the otter things. Oh, wow, when one of the

overnight sale, right.

Those are my favorite. But I remember waking up in the morning and thinking, wow, I can steal stuff when I'm sleeping. And that was really part of that was early on when sales were you know, because it does take a little time to build. But when sales were slow, and I was thinking like, wow, you know, this is taking up some time and space. And yeah, but I sold a fanny pack over sleeping so that so and

Warren Buffett, the billionaire has a quote out there something along the lines of if you can't figure out a way to make money while you're sleeping, you will, you will work yourself to an early grave. Yeah, that's what investing is all about. And this is something that the wheels are turning 24 hours a day. Yeah. And you can you can make money while you're sleeping while you're riding your bike while you're walking

Well, and that's what it is. And you learn, you get a you get an eye for it. Like one of the things I've only sold a couple of them are a Hallmark ornaments. They have to be like the real. My actually one of my favorite selling stories was. So I work until 230. And I come home and my husband works from home. So he said his computer so I come home and you know, start figuring out what's for dinner or whatnot. And but I put on

Yeah, right into that line. It's not like frosty friends or something. Yes,

it's frosty. Eskimo. And I think it had like a little polar bear with it was in the it was in the package. Like, there was I mean, I think it definitely had been open, but it's stellar was in the packet. She's like, this is what she was saying. The whole thing. It was. It's tiny. Like it wasn't like a giant didn't play music. No. Why? It's it was just this little little and had $3 on it. So it was like, Oh, look it up.

Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's like the universe. The timing is perfect sometimes. And yeah. That was fresh in your mind. You just heard out a few minutes before and there it is in front of you. It just appeared it was Do you have known about it? If you hadn't listened to that and had it fresh in your mind? Is that right? So,

I don't think and there's a lot of

EDM, like a ceramic material. Yes. In the shape of an Eskimo? Yes. Yeah. Okay, so I know that line because I found a snowglobe Oh, snow globe with the frosty friends. This probably 2016 I remember things based on where I was living at the time. I remember shipping it from that place. So yeah, and that sold for over $100 And it was the frosty friends with the Eskimos and the maybe a a husky dog or a polar bear or something else with it. Yeah. And yeah, it's sold for over $100 And I'm like

Yeah. Well, and that's

but even the satin covered ornaments that are just like a, maybe they're Styrofoam. I don't know what they're made of. But they look cheap and crappy. And I found one that was babies first Christmas 1979. And it was still in the box in the box was kind of it showed were from age, but I'm like, okay, and I looked it up in the store. And I was like what these little satin ones like I'm always wanting to find Christopher radko And Kurt Adler. And was it Jay strongwater These really

But I mean, that's what it is, like. I went to we also we have a small comic book collection. And a few years ago, I went to Boston ComiCon before COVID had the Pigs in Space Miss Piggy lunchbox of my dream. condition and they wanted a couple $100 for it. And I didn't have a couple $100 at the time. So I came home and I ordered one on eBay. And I paid well I paid like every like 35 Maybe 40 bucks for it. And it's a little dented a little chip. But I use

It is interesting. People who their favorite holiday is Halloween. It's not even really a holiday. It's just a celebration day. But some people love it more than Christmas. And they just I think it's because it's it's fun. You can dress up if you want and there's no gift involved. You know, like Christmas, you don't have to worry about gifts. And then it's no like high pressure

Yeah, yeah, we love Halloween around here. I mean the dressing up and there isn't much more pretty than autumn in Maine.

So Oh, no, that's beautiful. Yeah, we

all wait for it. So. So there's a lot of Halloween stuff. off here, there just says we've, there's a lot of locally, there's also we have a lot of apple orchards. And so yeah, so false false. I mean, all the seasons are big. I mean, the tourists come for vacation in the summer more than that. But we're starting to get, I started to see more and more people come in autumn to just look at the leaves and the. But yeah, my neighborhood goes really big for Halloween. We do. Yeah, the

there's a lot of options. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you have a grasp on this eBay business and which is why I wanted to have you on because I kept seeing your sales posted. And some of them were in my videos. And I probably butchered your last name. But

telephony is not the easiest way just to pronounce all of

Ferroni. Okay, we got that. Now, the last question I want to ask is, what kind of advice do you have for people just getting started or working full time and doing eBay on the side? What kind of advice do you have?

So I thought a lot about what to say for my like, final piece, because I'm very excited. So I wanted to add that, I guess just emphasize, for me, what's working is just stuff around my house and learning how to list things on eBay. So I can successfully sell them there. What I sold first, for the things I know, like my daughter's genes are like I know a lot about that. And just the things around the house that are taking up space that you don't use might be someone else's

Right? Exactly, yeah, yeah. And I think people are, they get too hung up on percentage, like my offer, I'm only going to take an offer up to 75% of my price. And it's it's usually very analytical people that have worked in an industry where, you know, like science, science and math, they are what they are, they don't change. It's always that rule is always true. But this is like, Well, how long have I had it? Sick of looking at it? Finally a

No. And then you never know what's going to sell like I only listed. I only listed a bunch of VHS tapes because they were they literally were in the way. They're the ones that were sitting on top of the shelf, but sideways because they didn't fit in. I just grabbed those handful out. And I sold three of them within four or five days. And I was like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe I should focus on my VHS collection. Right? Yeah, we don't use them. They're just

Yeah, you have to just have to look for it. Exactly. Okay. Well, thank you for taking the time out of your day to come on my podcast and share your knowledge. This has been very informative. I learned a lot talking to you. Oh, thank

you. Yeah, I've learned a lot from you through the years but I'm sure my listeners

have learned a lot because you know, who would have thought VHS would be a thing? Yeah, all these years later. And now people don't have any movies in their house, everything is streaming, or you can buy it and have it on your streaming account. And so it's kind of the opposite of what the mainstream is doing. Yeah,

yeah. Well, I think that's part of why it's, um, there's always that people that on purpose aren't doing the mainstream things. And I figured those people are more of the collectors than the Yeah, and that, that's probably who's fine.

Yeah, those rebellious movie watchers. That one. VHS tape. Okay, well, thanks again, and we will look for you on the Facebook group.

Great. Thanks, Suzanne. I I'm so glad we did that. Genevieve, it was so nice to meet you in person and chat with you about your business and I learned a lot. Okay, on to today's trivia question. Where does gold come from? Yes, we know it is in the ground. But how did it get there? And why is there so little of it? Here are five seconds to think about it. Okay, the answer. While it's hard to believe the gold jewelry we wear every day actually comes