eBay the Right Way 3rd Anniversary Special Celebrating the eBay Community 🙌

was time to jump in. And I really just threw myself to the wolves and started recording stuff to see what would happen. And you can really tell how the show evolved. The first few episodes, I sound pretty flat, and monotone, and topics were all over the place. Then, I decided to start having guests on the show, and that's where things really took off. So the show evolved to what it is today only having guests. In fact, 136 episodes have guests. Some are

repeat offenders. There are 159 episodes about an hour long each, which translates to about six and a half straight days of listening. If someone listened without stopping. I want to say that I appreciate my audience so much. There are many, many things you could be listening to. But you choose to come back week after week to listen to this podcast. And eBay The right way is in the top 5% of business podcasts on Spotify. That is a huge accomplishment and says something about the content and

the guests. I love that everyone comes from different walks of life has a different eBay journey, different life experiences, and contributes something valuable that others can learn from. I wish podcasts had a commenting feature. But unfortunately, they don't at this time. I am so proud of this podcast and how it reaches new people all the time, and provides education to help sellers build a home business they love and make more money. So here we go with messages and stories from the reselling

community. First up is Jane Brown in New Jersey, who was on episode 107 In April of 2023

international shipping. I've also shipped to Canada, which were just some plush toys toys are always a great garbage fine. I also sold a hat and I sold a pillow that I pulled from the Marshalls dumpster for over $100 Garbage $100 churching don't be afraid to use the abundance size around us. Don't be afraid to stop when you see something on the curbside. You never know what treasure awaits. Of course it's fun to still go thrifting and go to a state sales. But garbage is my favorite.

things I ever sold on eBay. I think this is pre pandemic so it was either 2018 I think it was back in 2018 I sold a Tesla Model three and it was actually my husband's idea to sell the car so we were early on the waitlist and we got the car and my husband got on the waitlist with the idea that we would get the car and sell it right away. And I think at the time, there was a 14 month waitlist. So he wanted to flip it so that we could get a tax credit. And I believe the tax credit would be

7500. So he didn't actually want to, he did not want to make that much money on the car, he just wanted the tax credits. Anyway, we listed the car, I think it was 54,000, we listed the car for 55,000. So we would make 1000 on that. And we did a one week auction on the car with a Buy It Now price. I think at the time, it had to be a certain percentage higher. So the buy it

now was 72,800. And the listing that I wrote, I remember when I wrote the listing, it was kind of a cheesy listing where I said be one of the first owners of the new Tesla Model three, blah, blah, blah, anyway, and when we actually when we got the car, my I had a flu and my husband's like, we need to take it and take pictures of it right away. So we got it up right away. And anyway, in overnight, we had so many watchers, and then when we went to bed that night, we It

sold overnight. And on our listing, we wrote local pickup preferred. And anyway, we were the person who bought it actually lived in Kazakhstan. And so I posted about this on a resellers forum, and everyone encouraged me to cancel the transaction. But anyway, the buyer was very anxious to get the car. And we were, I was communicating with them. And they said that they knew someone, they had a cousin or something that lived local who

could come and get the car. We were very anxious about this, because it just seemed like it had scam written all over it. But they wanted our bank wire information. And my husband called the bank and actually spoke to the manager. And they said they were going to do a swift wire transfer. So my husband spoke to the manager at the bank who said there's no way that they could hack it like in reverse. So we gave him the numbers. And, and overnight that night, we had the we have the

72,800. And sorry, that's my dog growling in the back. Anyway, the transaction went through, and the person came to pick it up. And then they had it put on, we thought that they were going to put it on a boat to go to Kazakhstan. And we were very nervous about the car's battery, having battery issues. But they flew it they air flew. They flew it by air to Germany, and I think they then either fluid from Germany to Kazakhstan or

drove it, which was insane. And we actually tried to Google a little bit about the buyer, and we couldn't really find out much. But that was one of the craziest things that I ever sold on eBay. And after I sold it, I had nightmares about people coming and holding a gun to our head. And I it was the most nerve wracking transaction I've ever had. But, you know, it was interesting, because people warned me that it was a scam. And it actually wasn't a scam.

We sold it. And we had even called Tesla and Tesla told us not to do it. Because they said it wouldn't be covered on their network. And but we did it anyway. And it went really well. So anyway, that's a really positive story about something crazy. I sold on eBay. All right, thanks a lot and great job on the podcast and congratulations on a

buying mannequins. And I said, Well, let's go over there and see if they might want to sell us some. She was a little apprehensive, but I'm like, let's just go for it. And we went in and they sold us a man and a woman mannequin for $10 Each, which was an absolutely wonderful return. We got so much use out of those. The kicker was that these kids We're so embarrassed carrying arms and stands while Alicia and I were

each holding a torso. And of course we had a walk through halfway through the mall to get to our cars. And you should have seen the looks. Our kids were trying to pretend they didn't know us. I guess Revenge is sweet at that age, right. Happy anniversary.

my eBay store. And you might recall that my husband I will be married 50 years next year. And we retired to our ranch here in southern Oklahoma. Back in the early 2000s. We left Atlanta and when we left Atlanta, we brought with us many many years of treasures. I am the person that takes a lot of the family items and keeps them for whatever reason. So I brought my stuff, my husband stuff and a lot of his family and my family stuff

with us. So each day I open up a trunk when I'm ready to work on eBay and never know exactly what I might uncover. And I ran out of time during our podcast last year to share with you a pretty neat story. And that is my husband I met in the panhandle of Florida. And we were teenage sweethearts. And he was one of the very first original Surfers on the East Coast. And he served at Navarre Beach. And that is a beach that is east of Pensacola Beach that a lot of people know.

So he was one of the original surfers back in the 60s. And when I opened the trunk, and 2022 I believe it was in the June timeframe. I found his hang 10 Surfing trunks vintage for sure. And they have the hand embroidery little feet on the leg. And they have a straw string waist and they're made out of material that's rather water resistance kind of nylon II filling. Anyways, I thought well, I might just list the so he gave me permission to do so.

They had traveled with us through many moves as we've progressed through our life together. So I knew it wasn't something that I could sell without talking to him about it first. So I put them for sale. And within two weeks of listing them, I had sold them for full, full asking price plus shipping. I sold them for $60 to a surfer and California. So I just thought that was the neatest

thing that time goes on. And people would like to have things that come from classic lines, like the hang 10 line because it is so different today than it was back then. So I just wanted to share that story with you. And again, we appreciate you and I appreciate you and I wish you well. And thank you for all you have done to help with my eBay store. Thanks Suzanne. Have a wonderful day. Bye bye.

One of the aspects of the business I love the most is the rescue aspect, keeping books alive, keeping things out of the landfill, and reuniting people with cherished memories. My advice to newer sellers is to sell what you enjoy assuming you can find it and it's profitable. If you sell things only based on the money, it's going to become a chore. As time goes on. Don't be afraid to try new things and change up how you do business. But remember, it's your business and it's not going to look the

same as anyone elses. There are as many ways to sell on eBay as there are sellers and that's what makes it a great opportunity for so many people.

put them in my cart. I'm not even remotely an expert in the area vintage cans, so wasn't confident judging their condition or value. I just saw that they didn't have any major rust or dents and figured I'd try selling something new. I started an auction at $99 for one of the cans when I got home. And within an hour I had received bids. And by the end of the day, there were 17 watchers. The watch count progressively increased throughout the week. And eventually the bids stalled

around $300. And I was thrilled. By the time the auction ended on Thursday night it had reached $536 And I was a very happy bear. Thank you Suzanne for providing us sellers this incredibly valuable resource. Without that podcast I would likely wouldn't have given to old cans another glance. I am so thankful for you and the eBay community that you've built. Everyone is so willing to share knowledge and experiences one with one another. And that is so

rare. I hope the second can does half as well as the first one did.

You know, there's other groups out there that just have brutal comments. And I don't want any part of that I love that we have positive content only and that we cheer each other on. That's what it's all about. So thank you for that. And thank you for everybody that that post your your wins and your losses, and your questions and your answers. Because I really do learn a lot from it. Everyone here. So I

appreciate that. And also, I just wanted to say if anyone's discouraged, just hang in there, remember, you know, things change, everything is a cycle. And I'll just point out, I've been selling kind of in between part time and full time, since 2015, I think, and even for years before that just sort of part time. And I'm really grateful and lucky that my sales had been pretty consistent from the beginning, or at least once

I really got going. But I gotta say, December of last year, and January and February of this year, have been the worst month I've ever had. And then the the, certainly the worst consecutive three months. But I realized that, you know, I think I figured out you, you really get back what you put in. And I know when December I was really busy with holidays, and family and all the things. And then I thought January wasn't much better. And then February was terrible. And so I really took a

look at my attitude. And I know I was complaining a lot about the increased prices at Goodwill and other thrift stores. And you know, people I'd see, talking about the algorithm and how they're not selling. And it's really easy to get into a bit of a funk when you're in a slump. And that's where I was. And so I really started focusing on the more positive aspects of this life. Because there really are if you if you get out of the trees, you can see the forest,

right. You know, who else what other employer lets you treasure hunt, and then just alchemize your treasure into money. And you can list whenever you want. You can shop wherever you can. And basically, you can you have your own hours. And it's it's really a good gig. So if anyone else is out there struggling like I was, sorry, I'm in my car. I don't have a great signal at my house. So I was worried this wouldn't send. So I just wanted to offer some encouragement to anybody who's

in a slump. Know that it's a cycle know that you can look at it in a different way. And maybe it'll change. At least that's my hope for you. Thank you guys so much, and I can't wait to hear it.

Some of the things that I may have never thought to look for would be items like plush. I've picked up vintage plush and baby lobbies. And those things are usually around $1 Maybe $2 I've found a scroungy dog plush for $1 sold for $42 I've found a

baby ugh lovey for 75 cents. And that sold for $22 other categories that have been really fun for me to keep an eye out for include that in I have found the granny square quilts which I know Suzanne talks about, and I think I paid about $4 for one of those and sold it for 20 To even the vintage blankets that are kind of like a fleecy felt and have a satin trim. I've sold a couple of those pay three to $4 apiece and have sold those for

40 to $50 each. A couple of other standouts are Franklin Covey items, I always keep an eye out for those. I've had lots of luck with that. Every time I pick up a Franklin Covey notebook or binder cover, usually no more than two to $4 and have sold them for up to $50 depending on their style and the material they're made and the size needle point items, something she's talked many times about. Looking out for.

I've picked up a handful of those from finished pieces like a fisherman needlepoint, two dimension stockings that were not complete at all. Stalking I pick up from an estate sell for around $4 And it brought $46 And then the needle point for the fisherman was a goodwill pick up

for three bucks. And it also brought about $40 of other categories would be to look out for brand name items such as radon pick a rarer radon Santa canister for $5 that savers thrift store sold for 35 The Peruvian connection, I've picked up a couple pieces from that design label. I paid $6 for a dress sold for $75 I've also found a sweater. I paid $2.50 and sold it for $95 a great one to look out for. I know the older Lisa Frank items have been a topic of conversation as well.

I picked up a little pencil case 50 cents at a state sale and sold it for $25 Not a bad return on investment. In addition to those items. Pottery Barn items I know have done well for me I've had at least one pair of curtains from Pottery Barn Kids picked it up for around $4 and sold it for 42. Mackenzie child is another great designer to look out for her items. I've sold a rug for over $100 snowglobe for $40 a tissue box

cover for around 50 hours. And all these items picked up for around $5 I think the rug was maybe $14. A couple items that maybe aren't on Suzanne's radar, or maybe they are and I just found out about them in a roundabout way. But that would be Nora Fleming bakeware her items are usually white and they have a little hole in a handle to put a little charm. And I've sold a couple of those recently.

One larger piece I paid $13 for and it's sold for over $100 Another fun Baker brand is Emil Henry and I picked up a pizza stone of theirs for $4 and sold it for $40. Both of these designers are available on Amazon but they're retired pieces still go for a good amount. Those are just a handful of things that I've sold in my first year of eBay again. I've only been at it part time I work full time outside the home and

have three wonderful boys. And in this part time adventure my first year I've made around $5,000 Extra net profit. I couldn't be happier with my experience. And I've really loved learning about everything. And Suzanne has just been such a wonderful, wonderful help. Congrats on your podcast, Suzanne, keep up all the wonderful things you do. Wow,

day. Speaking of Illinois residents, our superhero of reselling George Kelly in Chicago, is up next.

know what to do. And so they decided to somehow trying to sell it themselves. And one little trick that I've been doing that I'd like to share is that I look on, for instance, Craigslist. And I look for estate sales, ones that look like they're run by the by the family. And there's a little you could click on a link and and they and their ad. And you could send them a message, you could

send them an email. And sometimes if they put their phone number you could send them you can call them or you can send them a text or whatever doing is clicking on it and sending them a text. For instance, there was one not too long ago, where it just said it was a state sale house full of things that they wanted to sell, but there was no date or no time when they're going to have the sale. So I sent a text and I said, I noticed you were on

Craigslist. And I'd like to come over and see what they have for sale. And the person wrote me back and said, What are you looking for? So I texted a picture of my business card. And I made card has a whole list of things that I'm looking for. And it's got my name and my phone number. And then they they texted back and said, Well, here's the ad was come on over. So I went over there and I didn't really find a lot of stuff. But I got in the house.

And the woman said that was the first person that responded to the ad. So unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of good stuff for me. But there was I did buy a few things. And I got in the house. And I had another sale where I saw it was a state sale. It started Friday and Saturday. And on Thursday morning, I saw the end at the at the bottom of the ad it said if you're interested or something ahead of time, you know, let us know. So

again, I texted the guy. And I said I saw you and I'd like to come over today and he texted back and he said yeah, come on over. Here's my address. So I went over there and I found I spent over 400 hours and again, I was the first one that was in there. And I did buy and also losing I bought a lot of clothing at the sale. And there was a lot of golf shirts, Greg Norman golf shirts that were brand new, and the Packers was like 40 of those. There's a lot

of other women's clothes. And I have a I have a guy I know that owns a resale shop down in the city. He sells vintage clothing and I've been I've been selling the cold knew that I find directly to him and he's been telling me exactly what kind of clothes that he's looking for that he could sell that is sharp. And most of it is is petite, women's clothes, really stylish clothes kind of sexy

clothes. And I would find it at estate sales on a regular basis because I went to another sale last weekend and there was a lot of clothing there. And I was there the second day of the estate sale it was a private sale. And I said that Oh man, I'm surprised this is such nice clothes to sell the day before and she said well, it's all petite sizes and most women can fit in. Well that's exactly what

my friend was looking for. He's looking for because his clientele his style in the city of Chicago when a lot of The women are ill, they're very young or very small. They like go out, clubbing on the weekends. And I told him, I'm a woman. And she said, Well, that was 25 years ago is when I was. So that's what she was doing. So I ended up buying, like 65 pieces of clothing, and I paid $3 apiece. And then I sold it all to him for 400 hours. And he came over the next day and

bought it all. And I've been having a lot of luck finding clothing that state sales, I'm very surprised that the state's sales. There's a lot of clothing there. So if anyone's looking for clothing, Allison just go into a state sales and even conduct sales. And I don't go there early, and they find stuff later in the day. And they also find stuff the next day. And it's definitely a place to go. So anyways, that's my little bit

of advice. If you're looking, if you're looking for a lot of stuff and try to get early in those states sales, because a lot of these people, they just want to get that stuff out of there. They don't want to deal with it. And they're looking for someone like me to buy a whole bunch of other ones. So well good luck out there. And following Suzanne's group and our Facebook page, because I learned a lot of stuff there every day. So keep up the good work.

easily. Anyway, back to George, you are always willing to share information and help others. And we are so fortunate to have you in our group as our mentor. I have a lot of respect for George because of the knowledge he brings to the group. And he's just always willing to help people. So thank you for your contributions. George, we really appreciate you. Now we will hear from ginger in Texas, who was on episode 35 back in 2021. And was also part of the estate sale episode in August of 2023.

At first I picked up just about anything I could find and make a few dollars on and I've kind of changed now and I look for more high value items and try not that it always happens but I try to find things that I can profit about $30 or more on in the last three four years, I've had to take care of my parents more so I haven't been able to do quite as much with eBay as I did originally. But I still love doing it and I am addicted to

the touching for sure. eBay fits me really well because I do I can be flexible and with my parents while my mom now my dad's passed away but my mom I need a flexible job and if we travel I can just click on time away and I can even still sell while I'm gone and just ship it out when I get home which is great. And I love to thrift shop I love garage sales. I love estate sales. It's that's nearly everything I have is pre owned. So it it fits me really well.

And it's fun. It's like a treasure hunt which is which is a lot of fun. Some of the coolest treasures are the Louis Vuitton the set of three Luba times that I found actually at a garage sale as I was on my way home that I didn't even see in a

paper or anything. I just saw the sign on the way home and I bought a bunch of really good things from them and the son walked out with a lube Taan bumbag and had all their garage sale money in it and I just said you don't want to sell that to you and they're like Yeah, we'll sell it. How about $200? Not bought? Yeah. So I bought three pieces of louver time for $200. And I think I made about 4000 sellin the three pieces, which

was fabulous. I also found wooden sculpture of for Cola, which is some part of a Viet Venetian boat anyway, and I picked it up for two or $3 at the thrift store just because it looked weird. And sure enough, I sold it on auction for 400. And didn't even know what it was. And I started researching it. And then I noticed a signature on it. And there we go. And next thing I know I have a really valuable atom. And those are the things I love. The funniest one, I guess I ever found was at the

thrift store, and it was $10. It was some natural gas thingy. I don't know what it was, I call it that because I have no idea what you actually do with it. But I looked it up and saw that there was there were a couple on eBay for 20 508. So I thought, well, it's worth a try. And I didn't know how to test it. So I just pressed it at like 1200 and got an offer of nine or 950 and sold it. So that was fabulous.

And the funniest part was my husband just thought I was a nut case for brief and bringing it home because he said nobody would ever want it. And sure enough, they did. And not only that, I actually get somebody ratted me on eBay and asked if I had another one availables which I wish I did, because it was certainly a high profit item. I would say over the years depending on how much time and effort I put into it, I've made as much as $3,000 a month profit and as little as five to 600.

That was more when I first started. And I would say right now I probably average about $1,200 a month. Which is not a whole lot. But it's not bad for the amount of time that I'm able to put into it and it gives me some travel money and you know, just some, if I want to buy something that's not really in our budget. It's just some fun money. And I've gone to Paris and Jerome OMA eBay money and so that's been a real blessing. before I retired, I paid off my

car with eBay money. And then I started really working hard and paid off our house almost with eBay money and with with some extra. And so that's been a lot of fun. I volunteer at our local thrift store and we clean up and re redo price and everything our Christmas stuff and we call it our thrifty Christmas store and we make a lot of money. In one month, we make 40 to $50,000 I think we made $54,000 This last year in one month on our Christmas sale, which goes to all the different community

service organizations. So that's been a real blessing. And my job of course is to see what things are worth, because I know how to look it up. So that's been a lot of fun. I don't really plan on retiring anytime in the near future because I just enjoy it so much even though I have scaled back a little just because of my situation in life right now. But I appreciate all that Suzanne's done and teaching me how to be a good eBay seller. And of course I could I could learn even more but but it is it

is a blessing. It's been a lot of fun in and I do really really really love it. So thanks for the opportunity to share my story.

found recently. So here in Maine, we have a lot of old lighthouses and a lot of old life saving stations where they would take these guys and send them out in tiny robots to try to rescue people when there was a hurricane. And it must have seen like a suicide mission. So they had a saying, You don't have to come back, but you have to go out. So in terms of eBay, I've been thinking of it like, you know, you don't have to sell anything, but you have to list

that's it. We're like farmers, the farmer can actually grow a plant, all he can do is plant seeds in the ground, hoe the weeds, and then harvest when it grows. That's all he can do. The growing part is up to nature. And the selling part for us is up to you know, cast your fate to the wind, I guess, all we can do is list and then ship it out. So my philosophy right now is fine, cool stuff and lists 10 items a week. That's it. I don't have to sell anything. I just

have to list 10 items a week. So there's your philosophy minute from the garbage man. Alright, sales, I went into the little building of the dump where people put stuff they don't want anymore. And I saw this big stack of four huge CD and DVD player things they held like, they hold like 400 discs apiece. I took them home, there was a CD player and a DVD player that didn't work. So I threw those away. But there was a DVD player that I listed and sold for $178. And there was a 400 disc blu ray

player that sold for $540. So over 700 bucks for the pair that was awesome. There was a cat picture, a guy pulled in where I was working at the transfer station. He threw some stuff in the dumpster, including some really old furniture. But I saw some frames and I pulled out this picture of a cat. And when I had time to look it up, I discovered it was an old Japanese woodblock print from bout 1920. And from what the cops I saw online, I thought it might sell for like $250 I was

excited. So I put it on eBay. There was a bidding war at the end. And it sold to a guy in Japan for $960. So, to this day, I think that's still the best individual item I found in the trash. I found a box of ephemera. It was all from Michigan. And this drives me nuts. I'm in Maine and I collect local stuff. And every time I find a box of old stuff, it's always from New York or Michigan or Florida or someplace. I don't know why. But this stuff was all

from Michigan. This was during the time that Michigan was about to go win the national championship game and football and in this stuff with some old Michigan University things including two football programs, one from 1921, one from 1916. And those sold for $500. And there were some other stuff in the box I sold for about $250. So that was pretty awesome. Last weekend, I had some old die cut cardboard signs that were from stores in the 1920s old Westinghouse ones, cigar one.

Lots of great stuff. And this stuff sold for $632. As far as cool stuff I found lately. Just last night, I found a framed photo signed by Tony Frizelle. This was a famous Vogue photographer. She was the first woman ever to take a picture of a woman in a bikini. And she was John F. Kennedy's wedding photographer too. So this could be worth a lot of money we'll find out. Last month I drove up to Bangor and dropped $1,200 on to complete next station

computers. This is the computer company that Steve Jobs created after he was fired from Apple. And in 10 years they only sold 50,000 computers they're rare as hen's teeth. So if I ever get up the nerve to ship them out, I think I'll do well with those. And the weirdest thing I found lately was about 250 pairs of plaster teeth that a dentist threw away from his patients. Looks like they're worth a little bit of money if I want to go through the process of wrapping them all up. So anyway.

Very strange. So anyway, my five minutes is up. Suzanne, I don't know how you find time for eBay with all the podcasting and book writing and lessons and all the other things you do but congratulations on everything. Hope it keeps going for you.

You'll you'll understand why that's ingrained on my brain. And at the time, I remember I carried my daughter around on my hip. She was like eight months old. It was hot. It was summer. But I was like I live in Wyoming. There are vintage cowgirl boots everywhere. So I would just go to every thrift store every pawn shop. And I did I found tons of vintage cowgirl boots. I did great. I probably sold most of them for 50 to I don't know $80 A pair. But I was always looking for that pair.

And I went to a pawn shop and Cody Wyoming. And it was this old, you know, gross grumpy cowboy that had this dirty pawn shop. And I asked him a question and he said, Well, I've got a storage shed out back. I said, Well, can I go look? So I go, you opens up. It's like it hasn't been opened. I'm not kidding. He parks the door and the light shines upon this shelf in perfect condition. Like never been worn a woman size 10 is a brand new pair of those 1970s Butterfly inlay cowgirl boots.

Did you hear the angel says that the clouds had parted? I couldn't believe it. And of course you had to play it cool. And I feel maybe yes. Like oh, by the way, what do you want for that? And he said $60. And at the time that really was a lot for me. I said would you take 35? And he said yes. So I took them home? listed them. Do you remember what eBay pulse was? I don't think it's still a thing is eBay where you can see what the hot sellers are. Yeah, like they don't like to have it

anymore. Okay, well, back then. They were the number one watched item on eBay. Oh, I boots. And they sold for started at 99 cents. And they sold for $780 to a man in the Netherlands. Oh, what

Memo app on smartphones. So a very easy way to contribute if you want to be part of the podcast, but can't commit to an hour long zoom call. I completely understand that time is everyone's most valuable resource. So if you like that idea, which just popped into my head and want to participate, let me know. My contact information is below the podcast. And again, I want to thank the reselling community for listening and contributing

to this podcast. Here's to another year of great content that helps you grow your business and ultimately make more money so that you can have a life that you love. Happy Selling everybody. I'll talk to you next week. Bye for now.