Ebay Buying and Selling

Ebay is one of my favorite ways to purchase gifts at a discounted rate from your regular retail stores.  For example, I purchased a Webkinz brand stuffed kitty for my little girl as a Christmas present.  In stores around here, the kitty would have cost about $25 brand new, but I got it for $2.50, plus $2.50 in shipping, for a total of $5! 

Because the kitty came with sealed code tags (Webkins has a huge online community where you can play with your animal and your friend's animals in a virtual world) I decided to resell those on Ebay.  My daughter is far too young to care about any online games, and just enjoys snuggling with this kitty!  I managed to sell the sealed tags, with no plush, for $5.50!  I used $0.98 to mail the tags to the buyer, and paid $0.40 in selling fees on Ebay.

In the end, I paid basically $1 for my daughter's Christmas present, and got a quality toy that will last for years.  It was brand new, and I was thrilled to find such a deal! 

I have purchased and sold many things on Ebay, and have learned a few things.

1. Look out for Shipping fees when purchasing items!
2. Think carefully about the customs and duty fees when purchasing an item.
3. When selling, make sure you take good clear pictures.
4. You can even sell broken electronics for a good price!  Someone out there just might want it.

I sold a broken laptop without a hard drive, for $100 USD on Ebay.  I also recently sold an old computer program for more than I originally purchased it for, and made $20 on the deal!  (I originally bought it on Ebay.)  In the last month, I sold a broken digital camera (broken lens mechanism) for $20!  You never know who might be looking for a specific part in your broken electronics.  It's always worth a try!

I have also had some poor luck with Ebay... selling a pair of $100 women's formal shoes for $0.90.  Ouch.  Oh well, the laptop and other things have made up for that one.  Sometimes you just can't win them all, but if you keep trying, you never know what will happen.

Take advantage of local buy-sell boards online, such as Kijiji (my other favorite online shopping/selling place!) where the buyers won't have to pay shipping fees.  These deals are usually done in cash, and usually the buyer meets directly with the seller to close the deal and make the purchase.



My advice to you... look through your house, find things to sell!  Broken stuff, old stuff, new stuff, you never know when there's someone out there who is looking for that very thing.