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Post by midtnmama on Aug 19, 2022 8:02:10 GMT -6
As a buyer, I've had good experiences buying duck shoes, and parts to appliances that needed fixing. I always look on ebay before Amazon. I also buy seeds on ebay, but do my due diligence to have them be from USA. Some sellers are tricky and say they are US based, but then the seeds come from China.
Do any of you sell plants or seeds?
As a seller, I've been amazed at what sells. I started out just selling things around the house, things my kids left here. Then I took apart a sewing machine and a pasta machine and sold the parts--that surprised me. People are dedicated to a particular machine and want to stay with it. I have a cousin who has a 40 year old vacuum cleaner that she loves. She buys broken ones just for parts!
So far, I've only been approached with two scam artists, though not hurt by them. I figure it's the price of doing business if I am scammed. I have 100 percent approval rating, but I know that someday there will be someone who is unhappy and give less than 100 approval.
I save all packaging to repurpose in sending so there is no cost there. As I get more approval ratings, I find I sell more. I try to list something daily as that improves the algorithm for your things being seen.
One reason why I didn't do this before, is that I didn't want the hassle of keeping up with sales tax. Ebay does all that now and I'll get a 1099 for tax purposes. Better to be above-board.
Edited to add: I wanted to sell fertilized eggs (chicken, not human, haha) but I see that there are a lot of complaints about them not hatching. There are so many things that can go wrong in incubating that I'd be asking for poor feedback.
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Post by feather on Aug 20, 2022 20:22:47 GMT -6
I usually check ebay prices if I'm looking on amazon.
It's true, when you find a machine you like, fixing it over replacing it makes a lot of sense.
I hope you can sell lots of parts. It seems like it would be a lot to list them and then answer purchasers and send it off and keep track of it.
When I was pricing gator board, I saw a lot of companies, walmart, amazon, ebay, art stores, hardware stores. When I was looking for a specific thickness of chip board, ebay had enough selection and the best price.
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Post by Michigan Gal on Aug 20, 2022 21:59:43 GMT -6
I am glad you are doing well with eBay. I have bought some things on it and I've not been unhappy, except with one seller who did not properly package a 201 Singer. I had one seller threaten to complain about me because I refused to give a rating before the item arrived. I'm glad they put down where the item is shipping from. China takes a long time to deliver to me.
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Post by midtnmama on Aug 21, 2022 13:30:46 GMT -6
feather, Michigan Gal, I'm glad you were also able to find things there. Last time dd was here she found a box under her bed of things that were special to her when she was younger. She sold them within two weeks and bought a bike!
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Post by susannah on Aug 21, 2022 17:12:08 GMT -6
I never sold on eBay although years ago I did sell books on Half.com which I think is now part of eBay, since it now has eBay in the address. I never had a bad experience with selling through Half.
I bought a few things on eBay - again, years ago - so long ago I only remember what one item was, and strangely enough it ended up that I knew the seller from another site we both belonged to. Weird. However, I DID buy an item on eBay this past April after a many year absence from buying there. When we were in Tennessee with friends four years ago, we were at a military store and they had baseball type caps with the names of Navy ships on them. I didn't see dh's ship but the guy there said they had patches and if I could find the patch he'd make up the hat. He did, and dh wore that hat a lot for the past four years. Then - when we were in the Badlands in April - the winds were 60 mph one day and the hat blew off dh's head and over a cliff. I joked that one of the gazillion bighorn sheep we'd seen was probably wearing a new hat but we were both kind of bummed about the loss.
Back at the cabin that night, I went online looking for another hat like that - I didn't hold out a lot of hope because the ship was decommissioned a long time ago. But I found some guy's eBay store that had baseball caps with military insignias, and darned if they didn't have the cap with the identical patch. I mean, it IS like the same cap, just newer. Great transaction, fast and professional. So while I doubt I'll do much eBay shopping, I might do it again in the future if the need arises.
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Post by midtnmama on Aug 23, 2022 6:30:57 GMT -6
susannah, How lucky you are to connect with that friend on ebay! And to find the perfect hat! What kind of a ship or boat was DH on? I find ships very interesting. I belong to a FB group related to ships and boats on Lake Michigan. I want to make a quilt of the older ones. Weird, no? A friend of mine is an editor. When she moved, she was throwing out a box of books she had edited. They are of regional interest. If you had lived in that area, it would possibly interest you. I have sold maybe 20 books on ebay and still have a couple more. I take her out to lunch every time I am in her city. A friend gave me a box of quilting fabric. I sold a panel of dolls that were from a museum. Free to me, but someone wanted them. I hope to cut some of the fabric I don't want and sell on ebay. It's like gambling--but in reverse.
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Post by susannah on Aug 23, 2022 10:40:51 GMT -6
midtnmama , the ship was a destroyer. After reading your post, I decided to google the ship. I found it interesting as well. I asked my husband if he'd ever googled his former ship and he hadn't - so I shared a few paragraphs with him. That hat - I guess I should say hats, plural - have generated a lot of interesting conversations from strangers. From all the "thank you for your service" comments he's received (he served in the mid 70's when being military was not popular to say the least so I think he was very surprised by that reaction). From a young girl on the rez (who we had never met) who softly asked "may I shake your hand, Grandfather?" to another guy who came up to him and talked for awhile because it turned out he'd been on the same ship ten years later. It's been kind of fun and unexpected. Honestly, I think my husband only agreed when I said "If I can find a hat with the name of your ship, will you wear it?" because he figured there was no way I'd find one. I did get the one and only patch at the store when I had it sewn on, but as I've since learned - things are pretty darn easy to find on eBay!
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Post by midtnmama on Aug 24, 2022 10:10:05 GMT -6
susannah, softly asked "may I shake your hand, Grandfather?" That made me cry.
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