I would like to give a big praise to Ebay founders. I know they are getting rewarded well for their invention but considering how they made life easy for sellers and buyers they deserve praise on the top of their fat checkbooks. I am regular seller and buyer and main thing I respect on Ebay is the exposure. If you need to sell, you want your item to be viewed by as many potential customers as possible. Buyers want the biggest choice as possible too. Ebay stores with new items are my favourite place to shop. I hate shopping malls but I will happily browse for wanted items usually on Ebay. I love the choice, prices, members rating, Paypal and reasonable security of shopping and payments.

Today I wanted mainly to share some of my Ebay sales. I usually sell on Ebay to get rid off stuff in the house I don’t need any more. But sometimes it is little money maker to pay for some of my pleasures as sports or hitech equipment. When there is local council clean up and I spot some interesting item, I put it in the storage and list it on Ebay. Zero costs make my potential margin often interesting. Second source of cheap items is sometimes second hand store which I might casually visit couple times a month to check if there is anything portable and saleable. Plus I love the bargain books there.

Some of my great Ebay hits and misses

Fashion bag

Flatmate once left in my house some bag. Year later I did some research on internet and it looked like genuine Louis Vuitton. I have listed it offering full refund in case of not full satisfaction. Someone from Melbourne paid shipping for $240 which I thought was OK.

TV stand

Once we had 120 cm wide black old TV stand. It was very heavy and it did not fit into my new house. I was quite worried how to get rid off it. I wanted to give away for free or put it on the street. I tried 10 day listing for 9.90 on Ebay. Some guy ring next day and asked if he could pick it up same day that he cannot wait until the auction expires and offered me $100. Couple hours later he picked it up, paid and I did not have to even help him. If I put it for free on the street I could risk council fine and suddenly I was standing in the middle of the room with $100 in my hand. That was quite lucky. Especially better fitting new glass TV stand have cost me only $180!

Home cinema

I picked full 5.1 set of second hand Stone speakers for $30. It is some chinese brand but looks very good (teak), I have tested and they sounded great. I put it on Ebay and they went for $150.

Jamo speakers

I have picked for $15 set of 4 identical 70w JAMO CL 10a speakers. Someone used them as surrounds but these are great as main speakers especially for music (as opposed to movies). So I have listed them and it sold for $99 each pair. $200 for $15 seemed like a good deal.

Brick wall

We were fixing brick wall around the garden which was falling down. We made it couple of rows lower and about 90 concrete blocks/bricks remained. I did not know what to do with it. I have listed it, someone came and picked them up and left me alone in the garden with $150 in my hand. Not bad too otherwise I would have to drive about 5 times with my hatchback to the tip!

New mattress

One day neighbor knocked on my door that next day in council clean up he will be throwing out their 2 months old queen size bed including mattress (worth more than $1000 new). Their daughter decided that it is too soft for her so they asked us if we or our family needed one. I did not know about anyone but I thought that someone on Ebay might need bed. One week and $150 later I was happy I have accepted the gift. On the top of $150 I was very happy that this huge bed did not end in the tip and someone can use it.

I had mower for my small lawn but one day I have hit a rock with it and it started vibrate so it seemed unsafe to use it anymore. I had it for 3 years and bought it second hand anyway for $25 so money wasn’t issue. But I did not wand to throw it away as I would have to drive 10km to the tip. So I have listed the mower as not working -for spare parts and someone came to pick it up and paid me $25. Great. Saved me trip to the tip.

Now the BAD Ebay experience:

Fridge

I bought second hand 250l Fischer & Paykel fridge at St Vincent store for about $120. I knew I can sell it easily for more, I have posted it on Ebay and it went soon for $270. Great. Previously I have tested it and it looked cold, lights were working and it was quietly humming. Someone picked it up week later and … and brought it back after another week that everything works perfectly including freezer and lights just fridge doesn’t cool. By that time I have missed a week when I could bring it back to store and I had to push hard for them to take it back and give me at least voucher.

Unfortunately I had only a month to spend it. After month when I couldn’t discover anything “saleable” I have bought some coffee tables hoping I can flog it off on Ebay. It showed up that coffee tables (though new and discounted by 50%) are not really in demand and after another month somehow I managed to sell them for what I have paid for them. So my net cash flow from the “fridge deal” was zero. I don’t know how you but I am not big fan of moving around fridge and coffee tables for free and spending months on Ebay. Next time I will test product properly.

Cartier sunglasses

Somehow I found on street Cartier female sunglasses. After proper checks on Google I have concluded they seem genuine as they were in perfect condition I have listed them. There was bit of bidding and it sold for $250. Cool. I have sent them to the highest bidder to Melbourne. People vary and I have suspicion that this buyer wasn’t the most honest man (though it is hard to prove). Basically buyer claimed he has received the sunnies with broken off and missing arm.

Till today I will not understand how sunglasses can get broken when sent in hard case and if they broke, how the arm can be missing from that case. I with great doubts have refunded the payment and claimed insurance from the Post office. Post office said this kind of accident could not happen and refused to pay up. So net cash flow from designer sunglasses deal was negative -$10 for postage. But I have learnt. And the bad guy – karma will find him…

Lucky us to have Ebay!

Still Ebay is great and I think all of us are lucky to have it. I am often using it as massive department store (using the e-stores) for many purchases getting great prices. Especially living in Australia and forgotten by our government we have to make most of the purchases overseas (mostly USA and UK, but often China and Hongkong) as in the stores here we pay about 30-40% for the privilege to shop. That includes cars and though these can be bought on Ebay, import is an issue…

Why there is software downloads (like from Microsoft, Apple or Adobe) with 20% to 100% mark up on US prices. It must cost same to upload it for Ozzies or Americans… So I will be stingy with my hard earned $$$ and spend them wisely for the best prices which are rarely home based. If I can import it, I will as it is bad enough to have to pay $5 a kilo for apples, $18/kg for bananas (when our government kept the consumers hostage and after hurricane damaged banana harvest in Queensland, they banned imports) or $8 for 200g Camembert which cost in Europe $2-3. Did I mention that we have here basically only 3 supermarket chains with about 95% market share (and 2 bigger ones hold 80%). Government still thinks that we are getting good deal. What about $50/kg for basic small fresh chillies!