Selling on ebay to add to emergency fund

**jasper** · 08-21-2010, 09:57 PM

I know alot of people anymore do not like to sell on ebay due to the rule changes and yes I am one of them.
But I have been finding so many cool items for cheap prices that I know will sell on ebay,that I have to risk it.
So this will be a weekly post of how it turns out.Right now I have a Playskool 1985 My Buddy doll I paid 25 cent and he is almost perfect so I am going to list him on ebay and see what my 25 cent investment brings.What ever it bring after ebay fees paypal fees I am going to add to my emergency fund.This is a small test for me this will be a small fund not our regular one just to see if ebay pays off.I have other things that I have picked up at yard sales and salvation army and goodwill for a nickle up too a dollar.I have been thinking about this for sometime.
I have been aseller for years but I stopped when the rules changed and it was harder for the sellers.So lets see what happens.If this is something you would like to try or do please post.

**Momto5RN** · 08-21-2010, 10:07 PM

i use to sell one bay and stopped for a few reasons one the same as you ;- 2 just the oversaturated market for what i sold and some not so great sellers who made it bad for the rest of us and # 3 i was healthy enough to go back to work and the money as a RN was much better

I will be watching with interest !! Good luck !!!

**NikoSan999** · 08-21-2010, 10:26 PM

I've been thinking about going back to it also. Right now listing is free and no charges unless the item sells. So that tells me sales are down. This is going to last about a month.

Need to get my internet problem straightened out first. But seriously considering it.

**Maine Girl** · 08-26-2010, 05:22 PM

Best of luck to you jasper. Hope Buddy brings you a nice deposit for your emergency fund

**ladytoysdream** · 08-26-2010, 08:28 PM

Sounds like a good idea

Do you need a listing buddy ?
I think I am motivated finally. Tomorrow I have to call the computer place and see if they can tell me over the phone what I need to do to get my email to work. I just had this computer down for a week because of a hard drive crash, and got it back this morning. Needless to say the EF fund, needs some serious help.

**mauimagic** · 08-27-2010, 12:57 AM

What's a listing buddy?

Good luck with your experiment - looking forward to seeing the results!!

**rissimo** · 08-27-2010, 07:59 AM

What is a listing buddy? Also, what all is involved in selling on ebay? DH has ALOT of Nascar items that we need to sell to help out with the EF and Debt reduction.

**Russ** · 08-27-2010, 08:05 AM

We do have a for sale or trade forum here at Frugal Village.

For Sale or Trade - Frugal Village Forums

**ladytoysdream** · 08-27-2010, 08:45 AM

Oops...should have explained more....
My definition for a LISTING BUDDY is a person who wants to list some auctions at the same time you do. You basically challenge yourself and the buddy/buddies help keep you motivated. Like you say you are going to put up 10 auctions and do it within the week. The buddy will hopefully be able to pep talk you if you need more motivation. You can have a thread just for this.
Years ago, I met a super nice lady online and we became really good friends. We both liked to list auctions on ebay. We emailed a lot back and forth for ideas and to keep each other motivated. She passed away a few years ago from cancer and I still miss her very much to this day. I had met her in person because we only lived like one hour away from each other.

Ebay still has a current listing promotion. There is a lot of selling information on the site. Tutorials you can read.
Right now the economy is rough, so suggestion would be to make sure your start bid is something you would be happy with if it only got the one bid.

Then when you get the auctions up, you could post here in the FOR SALE OR TRADE forum that you have things up on ebay and give a link to your auctions. That's one of my plans

Or if you know your prices, for example, paperback books...then just put a ad up here and skip the ebay auction. Ask for a money order or use paypal ( which is 3 % of total, plus .35 for the transaction ). Ebay gets 9 % of your final selling price.

**tervsforme** · 08-27-2010, 09:10 AM

I'm listing also! I have lots of clothes ready to go. Already took pictures and measured. I will start listing sunday afternoon and just keep going through the week to see how it goes.

**jasper** · 08-27-2010, 08:51 PM

Well I listed the My Buddy Doll on Monday he does have a $9.99 bid so far.I had some other thing that I had picked up through the summer and also listed them some rpg books some old fisher price little people and furniture.All purchased really cheap.
So far this week I have $72.00 in bids with a investment well under $10.00.So we shall see how it goes.
I have to say what got me to thinking of doing this is my son he had his college books from last year and asked if we could sell them on ebay.I hadnt sold anything on ebay in months but I said why not the college buy back for books was so cheap it was ashame.So we listed them and after his ebay and paypal fees he made $340.00.Which did help him so much with buying his books this year.So after that I kinda got the fever again.
I think ebay listing buddy or buddies would be great a thread what ever.I wish good luck to everyone.

**khaski** · 08-28-2010, 03:46 PM

I have sold off and on using eBay for years...been 'off' for a while, in the last 4-5 months got back on the ball, use the $80-140 I make a month towards my snowball. It will be hard to keep up in the winter, no yard sales here in NH then, but once the yard sales began around may, I got hoppin'. Also have had a LOT of luck turning .10-$1 'vintage' jewelry into profit on etsy.com, usually for $4-15, depending on the piece.

Can be very time consuming, and you have to know the market on ebay BEFORE you buy that item to list, but I have had good luck, in general. The new 'star' rating program has me a bit miffed, though- I have a 4.7 or 4.8 for both communication and shipping- I ship same/next day, and I both 'check off' i shipped the item the day it's done AND email the buyer it's on it's way...can't be much more thorough on either front.....grrrr.....

But the newest promotion, with listing any starting price for free, up to 100 items, until 9/7 (I think) leaves us all NO excuse not to get listing! Now's the time folks!

**Nana2two** · 08-28-2010, 07:27 PM

I sell on ebay. I use to make around $600 a month but these last 6-9 months it's around $100 to $150.

**jasper** · 08-31-2010, 10:09 PM

Well everything ended today still have not add up the paypal and ebay fees but still looks good.
My Buddy sold for $26.00 cant complain.Will check all the fees on Wednesday and post.
I wish everyone good luck.