Thankfully, this is just a hobby.
Tomorrow marks 200 days since I first started doing "the eBay thing" and I seem to have my spreadsheet of transactions constantly open with calculated fields all in a row. I have learned quite a bit -- made a few mistakes here and there -- but overall, the experience has been positive. For what it's worth, I'm netting a "profit" (if I do not factor in mileage, gas and my time).
I can't really count August and September of this year since I didn't do anything, so I wonder how cyclical this process really is. I had thought that this upcoming holiday season might see a slight boost in sales, and they have -- I'm overjoyed that finally, some of those silly "Faithful Fuzzies" bear figurines I had purchased are starting to sell. They would make for good gifts to military folks but I was starting to wonder about them since they had been sitting quietly in boxes for the past few months waiting for their moment to shine. I have yet to "break even" on that purchase, but at least it's not a complete wash like the comic books.
Now, to be fair, I have yet to list said comic books. I'm just a bit skittish about doing so since I know that comic book collectors are a rare breed of bird and I'm not quite up on how to "grade" them (like I can with records). The other thing I'm concerned about is that after looking them all up (there's over 250 of them), if I'm lucky -- again, break even.
The internet is a fickle mistress. I really have no idea what will sell and what won't. Things that seem to be a dead ringer for me (Beatles, The Who, Duran Duran) take longer than usual, whereas Strawberry Shortcake's Country Jambouree LP went pretty quick. Well, strike that -- it takes a certain kind of person to be interested in a Japanese EP of Duran^2's "Girls On Film". I shouldn't put personal preferences in place on these types of things, though I suspect I'd rather meet yon New Waver for a pint first -- more to talk about.
Everyone has their own perception of worth and in some cases, they care to share. I received a note that a book sold because it had to do with a specific period of Cambodian history that someone lived through. Another person took the blank reel-to-reel tapes off my hands -- what will they end up recording, I wonder? Someone in Puerto Rico will soon be jamming out to Michael Jackson's "You Rock My World" while on the other coast, someone will be enjoying a white label 45 of Elvis' "Viva Las Vegas".
I, too, succumbed to the urge to spend this holiday weekend and now have a re-issue of the Swans' first EP on pink vinyl. Santa comes early to my house.
Of course, this was a purchase at the local record shop. The "I Need To Only Visit With Just X Amount Of Cash On Hand And Leave My Wallet Behind" Store . A stupid mistake on my part concerning packing a copy of Led Zeppelin II resulting in discounting the final sale led me to invest in some new sleeves for those pricey records. It's a small price to pay to maintain my positive ratings and I really do feel for the fellow who was expecting an EX- but got a VG+ because I didn't think.
So, the holidays are truly on us. I need to relist a few items that I think, by rights, should sell and a few that, by rights, probably shouldn't. I'm hoping that estate sales are not like garage sales and keep popping up (as yard sales are now all but finished until spring, judging by the frequency of listings on CraigsList) for I'd like to keep the upward trend going. We shall see.
