Hey there, eBay friends. Welcome to episode number 61 of eBay the right way. I'm Suzanne a Wells, your hostess. And today's date is May 18 2022. hydron Tobin is my guest in today's podcast. And one thing I want to mention before we dive in is the video I posted yesterday on YouTube. The inspiration for this video came from my own historically, slow sales on eBay. The bad news, I have sold less than 10 items so far this month, and I have over
500 items in my store. In fact, I have already named my eBay sales update video for May that will come out in June, my eBay walk of shame. I'm not sure I'm going to have much for that video. But I will put something else in there that's entertaining and good for the
eBay community. So anyway, I made a video explaining some things going on with the current economy, giving the eBay community some encouragement as a 20 year eBay veteran that this too shall pass, I got to thinking I'm having an unusually slow month. And I can't figure out why. So maybe other sellers are too. So that video is for the eBay community to get everybody to look at the big picture of what's going on. You aren't doing anything wrong. And having been on eBay. Two decades
now. I've seen this before things change, sales go up and down. So this too shall pass. And it's just a matter of getting your head in the right place and not dwelling on this too much. And just keep working on your business. So I have the link to that video below this podcast. Check that out if you haven't seen it yet. Or if you're feeling this too, your sales are slow, or you just need a pep talk because I am here for you. Okay, now for the chat with hydron. Hello, listeners today
we have hydron with us. And she has a very interesting story. In fact, we virtually met in 2017 when I was doing phone calls and consulting on the phone and I remember this conversation. So it's been five years, and your life has really changed. So say hello to the listeners.
Hello, listeners. So I'm hydrophone and I live in a small town in Connecticut.
Okay, now what is it near? What town are you?
I'm between Hartford and the Massachusetts border.
I think you're the third person in Connecticut. We had Patti who talked about the liquor bottles. And then we had Wendy who talked about jewelry. And there may have been more than I'm forgetting because now I think you're my 61st podcast. So things are starting to run together. So anyway, back when we had that phone consultation, you were still working full time and you were looking to transition to eBay when you retired.
Yeah, that's correct. I worked in corporate in big corporate companies for almost 40 years in four different countries. And ended up in this little town in Connecticut, and was beginning to plan ahead for my retirement. And I can't even remember how I came across the possibility of selling on eBay. selling online, but it looked like a good option because I've been thrifting since I was, you know, in Germany, essentially. And then in England and France,
and now here in the US. So it's been, it's been a long journey with thrifting. And now selling online.
Now, I think you're fascinating because you've lived so many places, and you probably speak multiple languages.
Yeah, I speak German, German, obviously, because it's my home country. I speak English as you can hear, and I also speak fluent French.
Okay. Yeah, that anybody who can learn a second language just I just think that's so commendable, because it's not easy. But it, I think the easiest way to learn is just immerse yourself just go live in that country for a little while, and then you're forced to learn it.
Yeah, that's correct. I started learning French, in high school. English. Also, obviously, that was my first foreign language in high school, and then French. And then I actually lived in France twice, once in the late 70s, with my then husband, who was a physicist, and had a big experiment going at the sound laboratory in, in Geneva. So we lived there for about a year and a half. And then I moved to France in was it it was in December 1995, after having lived in London for six years, back
to our phone conversation, because I think I remember you saying you just had all this stuff. And you just like to thrift and buy cool things. And it was just getting to be too much. You were overwhelmed with too many things. And that's what pushed you into eBay.
Yeah, that and something must have, I think, I read an article or maybe a video came up on YouTube, when I started to realize that that was probably an option for a an income stream and retirement that was pretty easy to to get into. So then I started to watch YouTube videos, and just call them up and there weren't as many at the time there were, you know, a handful of you were one of them. I believe I must have found you somehow. And I don't entirely recall it. And then the
scavengers, also. They were one of the first ones.
Yes, the eBay scavengers, which they, they don't do it anymore. They well, they don't do their podcast anymore. I think they still sell but they're more into their Airbnb business and their coffee shop that they opened and they moved in different directions. So they ended their podcast, I think, in the fall of 2021. So because I used to listen to that every week, just to see what they were doing. They had something like 6000 items in
their inventory. And they sold all kinds of interesting things.
Yes, I think they had like, they ended up having about 8000 items. And I really missed the podcast, I think there was a lot of fun. And I picked up a lot of good information through them. And there was somebody else that I can't quite remember now. But there was some of the old timers, you know that that really got me into it. And now it's much more prolific, I think. And also you have to be much more discernible who you listen to.
Yeah, there's definitely so many more channels now. And everybody has their own style, which is great, because, you know, diversity makes the world go round. But yeah, I do see that people who who had done either a podcast or regular videos just moved on to other things. Just, that's the world we live in. So next year will be my 20th year on eBay. And I started blogging in 2007. So I've kinda kind of stuck with it, but it's because I love it.
I don't it's gonna take something really major to distract me out of this world.
That's amazing. Yeah, no, I mean, when I to get back to where we were we, you know, started our conversation. 2017 That's when I first started to look into it. And I was at that time expecting that I would stay in my, the last corporate job I had for another two or three years, you know, really until reaching my full retirement age in in 2020. And then of course, life happens and the job went
away in January 2018. So then I have to essentially turn on a dime and figure out out to make sure that my financial future was secured. Because it's only me I have to look after myself. There's no, you know, million dollar inheritance that's waiting for me somewhere out there, at least not that I know of. And so I looked at that very hard. And that was always there were two things that were important for me. One was my long term financial security. And the other was medical
insurance. And, of course, when I was laid off in January 2018, I was a little over a year and a half away from getting into Medicare. So I did the cobra, which was good. But Cobra ended up about three weeks before I got into Medicare. So that was pretty terrifying, to be honest, right? Especially for somebody like myself, who's lived in countries where we have universal health insurance,
right? Yes. So that's a real culture shock when you come here. Am I remembering that you were in the legal profession?
Well, kind of I, I was in the insurance world, I was an insurance broker and a transfer manager, but mostly in the field of large corporate clients. And I've been on both sides of the fence, I was an insurance broker, servicing a lot of clients. But I've also been a an insurance with manager in the big client company. Give me a second. This is my this is my boy, poor boy. And he I also call him Gallipoli.
So I was an insurance risk manager and insurance broker or always servicing, either from the inside or as an intermediary, large corporate clients, international clients. And that is essentially what took me into the different countries first from Germany to the UK, and then to France, and then into the US.
Okay, so you unexpectedly were, I guess downsized out, laid off, and had to regroup. And this is a common thing. And it? Do you feel like it was because of your age group? Or did the job just go away? Or what happened?
Oh, I think it was mostly at that time office politics. But I've since from former colleagues also found out that there were other factors and in the mix. So which makes it makes me looking back feel a lot better about being laid off? Actually.
Yeah, it wasn't personal. And maybe you got out of something that was going to turn nasty, and you didn't want to be part of anyway.
Yeah. And truth be told, I stayed in that job for, you know, much longer than I would have liked to, in a way because I was after 40 years, I was really burned out in that field. And it wasn't that much fun anymore. So to an extent, they did me a favor. And I think that's a common theme about a lot of, you know, among a lot of people. So it all turned out, turned out fine.
Okay, and then, so you decided to ramp up your eBay, because you already had one foot in the door on that. So talk about that transition. And you know how that worked for you. Because I don't know what year you started eBay. Exactly. But I feel like there going to be a lot of people in your same situation, whether they are downsized, laid off, or actually retire. And then they move into that eBay. And that's a real transition. Because you own your time. You can work when you
want. You don't have to be at the office at a certain time. And not everybody can do that. Some people need that structure and that discipline of having to be somewhere every day. And then they start working at home and there's like no boundaries. It's like, oh, it's noon. I guess I should do something today. So how's that work for you?
Yes, so that was an interesting period, because I got into it a lot slower than I had anticipated. When the corporate job ended, I realized that I needed some kind of cool off time almost. And I realized that it was a lot more burned out than I had anticipated. So everything went very, very slow.
I started to I also did a lot of planning during That time, so I really looked at my numbers to make sure that I was going to be okay, I consulted with my CPA and projecting, you know, some of the income numbers, I had to see what would come out of it, you know, after tax because that's the real important thing.
And I see when I see people in the eBay world sort of jumping into what they call full time reselling, that is very often lacking, I think, I think there's, there's often a lack of understanding just how much money you need to make after tax to be in the same position you were in, when you had a full time job, you know, with all right,
because you maintain that standard of living that you're used to, you know, sometimes it's accidental, or it's because something in your life changed. And so that's the signal that, okay, I'm gonna go make this work. And that's what happened to me, I lost my job and went through a divorce at the same time, and I just had to figure it out. And it worked.
So, but you're exactly right, if you are intentionally making that jump from full time, outside the home work, or inside the home, whatever your full time job, to eBay, there's a lot to consider, because your benefits are going to go away if you have any. But the advantages are, the more you work, the more you make, you own your time you set your schedule. And it's a risk reward situation where you have to weigh out
both sides. Yes, and that turned out, you know, turned out to look pretty good. I was, you know, in a in a good kind of space around that. But at the same time, I was also kind of missing the security of the corporate job. I mean, when you've been in corporate employment for over 40 years, then to be somebody untethered. And relying on your own resources. That's a little scary. So I looked into other alternatives. Also, besides eBay, I started selling online, in tooth in the second half of
2018. I think that's when I finally, you know, made the jump and I made assumptions about how quickly I would ramp up, that really didn't turn out to come true. But we can go into that a little bit later. So I did some somebody introduced me to a small temp agency here in town,
and I signed up with them. And long story short through them, I actually got a small permanent, early part time job, which is about 10 minutes from my house, and I've been working with them for about just over three years now for the pandemic and everything. Little office job. It's, it's easy, it's boring. But it gives me a social outlet, which I also recognized, was something that I missed from the
corporate environment. I'm rattle on, you know, along alone in my in my big house with my seven cats.
Well, and that's that is a very valid point. Because I've been talking to a few different people who have been doing eBay forever. And now they're empty nesters. And maybe they're single. And while eBay has a lot of advantages, that isolation factor is huge. And, you know, they're like, you know, I feel like I should just go work for a coffee shop 10 hours a week, or just do some kind of mindless job that's not
hard and stressful. But were you around people, because especially when COVID hit that was magnified, you know, you're already at home by yourself. And yes, Zoom is great. But it's not the same as interacting with people in the flesh, in real life. And I don't think that's emphasized enough about working at home, in any job. It's just, it is very isolating. And that's not normal for human beings. We're like pack animals, we need to be around people.
Yeah, that's, that's very true. So. So that is one of the elements, in fact, that keep me in this little part time job, because I've scaled it back quite a bit for you know, a number of reasons. But it's so convenient. It gives me a social outlet. We're a small team and I have some very nice colleagues. And then the other thing that came into it, which had also had an unexpected social connection element, then it is in January 2020. And the timing is just, you know, kind of a little
weird. Of course, looking back, I started a vintage booth in a small antique mall, about 25 minutes from my house. And as part of the deal, we have to if you have a full booth in this little antique mall, you have to work two days a month. And I always work on the weekends, because at that point, on Saturdays and Sundays, we have a fellow vendor. So there's two of us in the store rather than one. And apart from being able to sell some stuff, and I'm sure
I'll go into that later. But as my inventory, I also have suddenly am in a group of people who has a similar interest in other people's stuff and sell it online. And, you know, we discuss where we find stuff.
It's like a physical community of resellers that you can bounce ideas off of and learn from their experiences. I think that's great.
Yeah, correct. So so that was, that was an unexpected bonuses of opening the little antique booth. Although from a monetary standpoint, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Because we're not one of the big ones who have amazing traffic, it's pretty small. But I love the interaction also with the customers, because they are coming in to look for stuff. And we have great conversation we've been and our presence is growing, we have a very good presence on on the internet now.
So it's been a lot of fun. And that, of course, is all part of these different income streams that I have developed with at first I thought that eBay or online selling would be my main income stream. And that is that is at this point, not the case. It's just one of my income streams.
Now, did you go ahead and get Social Security? Or did you push that back and wait so that you can get more later?
Yeah. So that's an interesting story also, because of course, I get Social Security from four different countries, not just for me, oh,
wow, look at you.
And of course, it's, you know, proportional. You know, depending on the years, you've you've worked in these different countries. So I applied for Social Security in May 2010 23 months before I was, you know, before my full retirement age, and that here in this country, and I did the same with the help of a of a pension advisor in Germany, because those were the two biggest
elements. I also get a couple of company pensions, one of them very unexpected, in fact, well, both of them actually, were kind of unexpected, and hadn't really figured in my planning. So that's why I'm saying, I ended up being financially a little bit more secure than I thought I would be
that that worked out perfectly.
Yeah, that was amazing. And that's also one of the reasons why Why stick around with them, because they have really, they really helped me out. So I would encourage everybody who looks into this medical insurance stuff to look at it very carefully. Work with a knowledgeable insurance intermediary, a broker or an agent, and look at all the options, rather than trying to do you know, jump off, and, you know, do it yourself. Work with an agent who's knowledgeable.
All right, so let's talk about some of the things that you've sold because you posted a whopper of a sale yesterday.
Yes, that's correct. So I sell anything and everything. And one of the reasons is that I'm interested in a lot of stuff I've kind of tinkered around with what I'm interested in also, there are certain areas that I won't want to really get get, you know, do much which is sort of electronics and, and sneakers and that kind of stuff, right clothing, probably I have a little bit I have a death pile of clothing that I need to list. But a lot of the stuff other than thrift stores and yard
sales, I find for free. So and some of these free fines are pretty big scores. So the find that you are alluding to, that I posted yesterday, that was actually a handbag that I had originally, I think sort of using myself and it was you know, I bought it for a good chunk of money and then never use it just put it away and then at some point I started to think oh, maybe I can sell it on eBay.
I was a little scared because I know that high end handbags are a you know scamorza field day with that, you need to be very careful. And I listed it anyway, I got a bunch of lowball offers. I think I listed it in November 2020. And I finally sold it yet and sold it a couple of weeks ago, I waited a couple of weeks to see whether there was any kind of return request or anything. And it's sold for $500. I had bought it for 400.
And the brand was Marino Orlandi, which I had never heard about when I bought the handbag. I've never come across it since really. But when you look on eBay, you can see that it's a high end brand that sells very well.
That's excellent. Good for you.
And then on the lower end of the scale, I also sold some new old stock pleated milk bottle tops.
Yes. They're kind of like aluminum.
No, they are made from it looks almost like press paper. And they are, you know, I found them in this place where I find a lot of where find a lot of free stuff, you know, my little local local honey Hall, which I won't divulge. And they were
no need to help a competition. Right,
exactly. So I found about, I don't know, maybe 30 of them, maybe three dozen. And I scooped them up. And I thought, well, this is an odd piece. Let me look this up, I did some research. And it turns out, these were bottle tops that came from an old I think now defunct dairy here in Connecticut. And I put them online. For obviously, the you know, some of these fMRI take, you know, you get a lot of money for not this particular one, that's one of the low end ones. I think I posted them for
$7 with 190 $9. Shipping, which of course I can't ship them for 199. But that's, that's what I did. I sold a few. And then suddenly, last week, I have one client, one customer who bought three of them. So plus shipping, wasn't asked to you know, I have I think I have a bulk discount on it. So I threw an extra one in for her I posted them yesterday. But that's the low end. But it's easy, it was multi quantity. The pictures were easy to take, and I thought I'll just
have a stab at it. And, and put them online.
So you saw them as singles for $7 apiece, not the whole
bass, yes. And then I give them 10% discount on 15% discount if they want to buy multiples, which this particular customer did. And then I threw in an extra one for her. But that's the that's the low end of the scale. And I love going to this place where I pick up all
the free stuff. And that's also one of the reasons why I started the antique booth because I pick up a lot of stuff that's either too big or not valuable enough, or may have little little kinks that make these pieces not worth putting online, but I can still sell them locally. And I have now worked out a pretty good stream where it's either it goes online, I use it myself, I put it in my vintage booth or I pass it on to my garden helper who holds regular tech sales, okay?
And sell See he wants everything I don't want anymore. So he doesn't want me to take it back to the place that came from. He wants me to pass it on to him. And then he sells it for a few cents.
So for me, it's just we're all just passing stuff around. It's a real
kind of circular thing. My my best find at that place was also a piece of ephemera. It was a subtle way a catalog that was made by a company that is still in business. I think they're called Visalia or something very similar. It was a small catalog of about 80 pages about a half page size and from 1937. And when I did the research, I found out that there were catalogs from that era that had sold for high price. This particular one was from a year where they where the company was
in transition. So I mentioned that in my listing and I sold it to a collector for $400.
Did that go international? You
know what state it stayed in the country. I think it went to California and I think that's where the where the company is.
Okay where it originated. Right.
Exactly. And then my other big could fund sale goes that goes back a while that was goes back pretty much to the beginning when I first started To to sell on eBay was I got a baggie from one of those baggy walls that save us.
Oh, miscellaneous stuff inside.
Yes, this was office stuff and the only reason I bought the baggy and I was I was there on the day when I go to study President senior discount. It had a box of pencils in it from a company called Faber Castel. Oh, yes,
I remember that. The tobacco
company is their products are very highly prized by artists, especially the pencils. But the reason why I bought the baggie with the box in it was because my first primary teacher in Germany was a Baroness from an impoverished, you know, noble company in Germany, and she married into the farmer Costello family. Okay. So there was a nostalgic connection there. And I thought it was so funny that I would would find this in a small town in Connecticut, you know, the
next time I'll tell it over. And so I had the box in my in my desk for a while and then I started, you know, this habit, or look up everything on eBay, because you never know. Well, this was an eye opener. Because I bought this I sold this box to a collector also. For $400. box of pencils, a box of 12 us pencils.
I mean, that's what keeps us addicted. Yes. I remember that name from being in school. And that name was on a lot of school supplies? Yes,
correct. They do. They do pencils, pens. They do watercolor, you know, palettes that are used in school, you know, for kids, but also very high end stuff for artists. So they're very well known. They're still in business. Yeah, so So those were my probably my most eye popping sales to date.
Because it makes you sort of laugh to yourself when you think I've had a career of 40 years in the corporate world. And I've lived in different countries and I speak different languages. But now I'm just selling pencils on eBay.
So, so that's a lot of fun in it. And also I love I'm, I always became a librarian when I was in Germany. Okay, right. So, so a lot of research is sort of in my blood, I love I love the research, I go down the rabbit hole, that that's part of the fun for me. And to just do the research on some of these older pieces, especially ephemera is is very good. I've also had good luck. And I know that, you know, thrift store prices go up a lot these days, and they pick out the best
stuff. I mean, the two Goodwill's in my area, I can definitely see that they're they've scaled back on giving discounts. And you just don't find the really good stuff anymore. If you find it that the prices have definitely gone up. But they missed it. Right. You do miss stuff and two of my you know the biggest misses for them. One was at savers one was a goodwill. I had I found a poster of the firmament, you know, so the stars and the
Zodiac was on it. Okay. It save us and it was amongst the, you know, the half us rolls of wrapping paper. This was still in its old in its original packaging. And it was a was a poster that was very is still is very highly priced that I bought for on senior day for about $3. And the funny thing about that was I had a friend with me who wanted who wanted me to show her how to thrift stuff on eBay. So we went through it, and I would, you know, I did a running
commentary for her. Why I would pick this piece but not this piece. And the poster was among it. And after I did the research, I called her and I said remember the poster we bought there for three bucks. I said I'm selling it for 400 Ah, so and then the other Miss was at a goodwill. It was a small. It was a small figurine about three inches high and sort of Rococo style. I turned it over. And I discovered that it was a
mason figurine. So my son of course is a very expensive brand, especially the older pieces and you spell that yeah, am I II s s e n Meissen.
Now is that German?
Yes. It's a German German company if you look into Meissen and their mark is very distinctive, so you won't find the word Meissen on the back of the pieces. It's the cross swords. They also affect of course, I don't know how much though, the older pieces, but it was a little figurine for $3. And I had it up on Etsy and on eBay, I believe. And I was contacted by a collector in France who bought it. And I did
research into him. I actually researched him to make sure that he was you know that this was a I, I emailed him. And he wrote back to me at all in French. So I was able to figure out that he was he was legit. When he bought the piece. He was a collector. He said he's scouring the internet. And he paid almost $600 for it.
And it shipped to France. It shipped
to France. Yeah. And it got the Okay, I wrecked the heck out of it. Obviously. How did
you get it through global shipping or just yourself or pirate ship? Or what shipping service?
No, this ended up selling on Etsy and Etsy, okay. And I use pirate ship. Okay, okay, worked out just perfect. So um, so that was the so that was interesting. I also found some my son at a church rummage
sale some years ago. And that's another aspect by the way, you can do a lot of research, but sometimes you miss stuff, especially if it's in a, in a, in an area like, like porcelain, Mycenae, you need to be a real antique expert almost to be able to figure out what it is, if it's rare, when there's so many
hallmarks and stamps and each company, if it's an older company, it changes their mark changes over time. So you can tell this particular mark was made during these years, and then the company changed it. So it's, it's not just like learning logos on clothing, which those change too. But I find that dinnerware and pottery is is very overwhelming to learn all those marks, because a lot of them have no words, no letters, it's
just a symbol. And then it even if you use Google Images, it brings up all this stuff that's not relevant. And you can go on replacements.com and try to find it. But it is a tedious process to figure out all those hallmarks.
Yeah, that's correct. And this particular set of Mycenae that I had bought at this church rummage sale here in a local church for $15, I knew I had something around my hands, I had done all the research I could, and I ended up consulting with an appraiser. So I had an appraiser call. The other day, I, you know, picked out a whole bunch of stuff, booked him for
two hours. And we did a video call and he, you know, sort of confirmed some of the values that I'd figured out myself, he gave me some extra information. So sometimes it's worth, if you think you have a very high end piece on your hands was 1000s of dollars. It, you know, makes sense to maybe consult with somebody who's been in the business for decades, and pay the pay the fee, because it will still leave you with a lot of good margin.
Oh, I couldn't agree more with reaching out to online appraisers. And that industry has grown if you search for online appraisals, there's different companies, some do art, some do collectibles, you know, they all do different things. Some have a you know, one free appraisal, if if this is something you're going to do on an ongoing basis, you can get your first one free, and you just you send photos of all angles, well, they tell you exactly what to do what they
want. So it's not it's not a challenging procedure at all. They tell you exactly what to send. You either upload the photos to their site, or attach them to an email or whatever their system is. And they'll get back to you. Usually in a day or two. Yes, the answer and it really is an investment even if the item turns out to be fake or
not valuable. That's just an investment in your business because you're not going to go to the trouble to list it and then realize it's fake and you have problems with your account or you just know, okay, this isn't valuable, but I've asked an expert so I can just put this aside and move on.
Yes, that's that That's correct. And the good thing about this particular appraiser call was, I got a lot of information about some of the pieces, I had done some research but wasn't entirely sure where to price it. Because he is, he sells himself in the market, you know, mostly locally, in different states, but also online, he has a lot of experience. And he was able to give me some good prices, and most of them were higher than what I thought would be the case. So
that confidence of what to charge for and how to price it. And you can include that appraisal letter or whatever documentation they give you, you can put that in the listing and say, I've had this appraised, here's what this company said, that's totally allowed. So it just gives you more confidence that of the value of the item. So you don't have to guess because you there was no information online
about it. Right. So this was just a, you know, a video call, which I recorded. So I'm now re listening to it. And because he gave me a lot of background information about styles and stuff, certain things. So I can now make notes that I can use in the listings and the Meissen porcelain is probably gonna go up soon, because the it's, although the value is high, and it's a rep, they're rare pieces, they will probably take a while to to be
discovered by collectors. They might be overseas, even and, and so but he gave me he gave me a value that I even thought wasn't attainable, but he said it's absolutely doable. So that's a few $1,000 I'm sitting on,
you remember the fee for having that done?
Yeah, he this particular appraiser is actually I think very, you know, very affordable, I think I paid him about $100 power. We did a we did a two hour call. And it was a lot of fun because I was, you know, able to ask questions. As I said, he gave me background information on some stuff. And styles, you know, because he's so knowledgeable and see so much stuff that he will be able to say no, this is from the 50s. This is from the 60s. Those interests, I
think that's very fair, based on the market value of the items, maybe 10% of what you can sell them for or less
or much less because the my son I had I had a whole pile of stuff I showed him I showed him lamps. I showed him luggage. I showed him artwork, although the Meisen was the was the trigger for it. What else are showing that? Yeah, mostly mostly that several lamps and artwork tilework. But the porcelain was the most the main trigger. And from memory, I think the set that I have that I bought for $15 at the church rummage rummage sale, I should be able to realize about four to
$5,000 out of it. So it was well worth it.
More to five. Yes. Okay. I thought you might have said 45,000. So,
oh, no. 445
is still excellent. Okay, just clarifying that because I feel like a listener is gonna say that she said, 45,000 I need to look into that.
I've also found Facebook groups. Interesting, you know, obviously interesting places for information. So that's, that's also something I think that's very, very valuable to go into different Facebook groups, and ask for just background information on pieces. Because like your group, you don't give pricing advice. But identification advice. And there are lots of Facebook groups out there. I thrifted, a bangle from a consignment store.
And this was several years ago, that one I have kept, although will eventually be sold also. And I went into a jewelry indentification Facebook group and they said, This looks Native American go into this group, which I did. And because it was signed, it was actually authenticated in the Facebook group for me by somebody who knows the artists. It's a very rare piece by a Native American artists, so I was able to get
the information on that. So Facebook is, you know, much as we like to hate it sometimes. It's actually
I think those specific groups are very powerful because you may have hundreds or 1000s of lurkers that don't say anything and but they have specialized knowledge. So when you post what is this item or what is this Hallmark? Or what is the signature? Somebody will pop up and say, Oh, I know what that is. I had one of those or however they know about it, but they do have such specialized knowledge. And if you look around there are Facebook groups for everything identifying dolls, flatware and
silverware patterns. And just, I love that one is this group, it's it almost has 200,000 members, because you'll find this thingy and you don't know what it is like, what does this even do? What what is this thing that somebody will know? Yes. So yeah. And people, people say, Oh, I'm not on Facebook, I don't want to do Facebook, well, you might reconsider that in this day and age, you can just use a fake name, you don't have to put a real picture, you can put picture of a flower or your dog.
And but having access to that kind of knowledge is is priceless. And then also eBay for business is on Facebook. And that is my go to for help. Because calling that one 800 Number, you just get somebody
reading a script. And they sometimes they advise you incorrectly, if it's a convoluted situation, or, you know, they they can't problem solve, they're not trained for that they don't sell on eBay, they're trained to be in a call center and read a script, where eBay for business, those are real people that work for eBay, they answer you on a timely matter, they give you instructions, and you can save that conversation in your
messages. So if something goes wrong, you can do a screenshot and send it say, hey, you know, Mark told me on this day to do this. And now you're telling me something different. Where you don't get that with a phone call, you don't get any physical evidence of you don't get a transcript. So that's why I like encourage people to use Facebook for those features. You don't have to talk to your friend, you don't have to post anything ever. But just to have access to all that kind of stuff is really
valuable. Yeah, that's,
that's a good point, actually, I mean, but to get back to my say, my inventory, the son of two things. Most of it, of course, is bread and butter, but it could be anything, you know, and most of it is probably in the 15 to $35 range that I sell. And it's working very well I have good feedback from my my customers. So I'm happy about that and get some cute messages also occasionally about how happy they are with a piece. And then the the other the other aspect is at this point in my life is
how to fit it all in. I think when we were talking about doing this, I said the title should probably be you know how to fit it all in or not, you know, more more ways than one. Because I have a busy life, I have a large house, I have a very large garden. I have seven cats, I make my own cat food. And of course I have these different activities online selling the vintage booth and also my my part time job. It gets a little crowded during the day sometimes.
Well, but you're not just sitting around and retirement doing nothing. No. And do you mind if I ask what your you were born? In? 1954? Okay. Okay. So you are definitely in the age group where, you know, like sitting is the new smoking. Like if you're not active, and most importantly, mentally engaged, and you know, socially engaged, then I feel like that happens to a lot of people when they retire because they just don't have
anything to do. And they don't create, you have to reinvent yourself for retirement, I think you know, what, what kind of person am I going to be? What's my schedule going to be? What am I going to do that I love doing? And you know, the working years are over. But it doesn't mean you just sit there and do nothing?
Yeah, and that that goes back to what I said at the beginning is when I got out of the corporate job, it took me a lot longer to figure out what to do and how to do it. Then I anticipated because I had already done some mental, you know, planning ahead. But then being in this situation, that was a whole nother story. So now what I'm thinking is and you know, I'm wondering whether I should just set the reset button
on my online business. I'm thinking of doing that part time job maybe for another two or two or so years when I turned 70 I may just ditch that and be done with it and then just concentrate on online selling and maybe the vintage booth. So that's, you know what I'm what I'm thinking right now. But we'll see Oh, that would
be my title this life does not go as planned for me these days example. And you're just you're just like a cat, you just land on your feet and keep going. Yes, you know, I think no matter how well you plan for anything, really, there's always going to be something that does not go as planned. And the best skill in life is to be flexible and just realize, Oh, this isn't what I planned. What's my next step?
And just look at that one next step, don't try to plan out 20 years of your life, because it's never going to be what you planned.
Yeah, that's, that's a very valid point. But I think it's still, I think we still have to plan ahead, though. So we have, yeah, this is how we would like things to go. And then when something comes in, I mean, I have a perfect example here for me. For many years, I had a friend, she became like a sister to me, we were born in the same year. And she was born on the same day as my sister and
my father. Oh, wow. Um, so we always looked at ourselves as the full twins, very different life circumstances, she lived next door. And she helped me in the garden. And with the cats for years, especially when I worked full time, she would come into the house, feed the cats, you know, clean the litter boxes, and then go out and weed the garden. And very sadly, she, she passed away in January 2020. And I was without a garden helper. So my garden went to
pots pretty much. And then I found somebody round the corner. And he's now helping me. So I outsource that part of my life to somebody. Because it makes more sense to me financially and also from an enjoyment point of view, to concentrate on other things like online selling.
So your garden you can or freeze or put things up for later.
No, I mean, when I say garden, we mean garden also just flowers and stuff. So I know most people say yard in this country, but garden is everything, I got rid of all my lawn, so I have no lawn. And I try to plant plants that are either edible, or native or both. Okay, so I get a lot of bees in my garden, bees and birds. So there's a lot of lot of wildlife variety here, which we need, we find the invasives. So that's a that's an important thing for me to have in my life.
Because my grandparents and my parents, both hands, you know, gardens, and we're always happy to garden, my sister always does to steal. So that's, that's an important aspect of my life. But as I say, I have for the most part right now it's outsourced, and my god help desert and I hope he can do it for a few more years, his health is not the greatest. So it's on the whole, I think I have come into a situation now where I have a good balance and a lot of variety in my life. That that is
very helpful. But as I say, I want to, at some point, probably get out of the out of the the part time job working for the man just be the master of my own time altogether.
Well, that makes perfect sense. And I understand what you're saying about having a garden it's we have a need as humans to nurture living things, whether it's children, pets, a garden, plants, whatever it is, I just bought a whole bunch of plants for my deck, which flowers. I just hadn't had anything out there since I moved to this new location. And I bought these beautiful fluffy
petunias. And it's another It's a pink flower, I can't think of the name it starts with a D. It's like a tropical pink flower, and a basil plant. I just love the way that smells even if I don't eat any of it. I just go out there and smell it because they're, like so refreshing and delicious. And that made me very happy. You know, and I have bird feeders and bird baths. So I like nature but I don't want to commit to a
pet an indoor pet right now. I'm just I did that for so many years and I think I'm just burned out it's just too hard when they die. It's just
Yeah. Yeah, because I have my my seven cats are all very close in age. So I can already, you know, say that they will probably all pass within a relatively short period of time, which is going to be tough. But I'm just have to mentally prepare myself. But yeah, and and then maybe you know some of the challenges with eBay when I first got into it. I think the biggest the biggest challenge was the shipping.
And I call it a common Yeah,
yeah, the shipping mysteries. And I remember that. You had a spreadsheet like a little flowchart?
Yeah, it's uploaded our I do I have that in my store. Now it's laminated. So it's just, you know, take it one step at a time. And what's your next step? Don't try to figure out every possibility for every item, you list just, what's the next step?
Yeah. And that's been very helpful. And even even so, I think we all as online sellers, occasionally we get caught and we lose our pants when we do the shipping, because we've underestimated something or we put a typo in the listing, and it's not the correct size. And, and then suddenly, we have to pay a lot more than the customer paid, which I think is also part of reselling, you can't get it right all the time.
Well, and in the worst thing that can happen with shipping is you're going to be out some money. Yes, really. That's that's the worst case scenario, if you're doing calculated, you didn't put the weight in right or something. And if it's returned to you, you can deal with that. If it gets lost, you can deal with that. You just have to build that confidence of whatever happens here. There's a solution. Yes, I just have to figure out what it is. But people are terrified of
not charging enough. And you learn how to do that. If you do calculated it's going to be right. But you know, and we've all lost money on things. So that's not the end of the world. And you're probably only talking five or $10 at the most anyway. So it's just you have to desensitize yourself to what can go wrong, because it's all new. You don't know what can go wrong. But once you learn the strategies for problem solving, then there's nothing to it. Okay, well, can I ask you the last question?
I don't think so.
What kind of advice would you give to someone in your situation transitioning to eBay in retirement about to retire, or finds them suddenly without their real job anymore?
I would say just to jump right in, if you want to start selling online, don't worry about beginners mistakes you might make, because they're usually not going to ruin you financially. But most importantly, I think is what I alluded to, at the beginning of our call was no your numbers. So be very, very clear about your budget. Do a little forecast, know what you need to make? And then and also look at medical insurance. I'm a big advocate for Okay, well,
thanks again for coming on my podcast and sharing all that valuable information. And we will see you on the Facebook group.
Thank you so much, Suzanne. It was great pleasure. And I love your Facebook group.
Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate your participation. Okay. Bye. Bye. That was so much fun. I really enjoy chatting with other sellers, especially for this podcast because I always learned something new. And my listeners learn something new. And every seller has a different experience and a unique eBay journey. So the more we share our stories, the more everybody can learn, and the more successful we can all be. Today's motivational quote is
from Patrick Swayze. I just finished his book, The time of my life. And wow, what a life he led. He reinvented himself so many times because life kept throwing him pretty tough things to deal with. I mean, he was on my radar since the 80s movie, the outsiders. But I had no idea about his personal life and struggles. And he is so much more than the incredibly hot guy in Dirty Dancing and the movie Ghost. And it's just so tragic
that we lost him so young. His quote is, what winning is to me is not giving up, no matter what's thrown at me. I can take it, and I can keep going. Some great words to live by. Okay, well, thank you so much for spending this hour with us. I know your time is valuable. And you could have picked any other number of things to listen to, but you picked my podcast. I really appreciate all of you who listen, and I will talk to you next week. Have a great week on eBay. Keep going and don't be
discouraged. This too shall pass. Bye for now.