Update on how eBay is going for me!

Hi everyone.  I haven't been back to MTStars in many months.  I see so many who are depressed and broke (and understandably so).

Back last year, I wrote several posts about how I had started selling on eBay.  I got the idea from here, the Gab board, after seeing a woman post that she sold $800 on eBay in her first month.  EBay is continuing for me, and now I've added selling books on Amazon too.  After a lot of trying different things and making a lot of mistakes, I do believe I now have things distilled down to a science.

I wanted to post my sales since the beginning of the month to show you that, even very part-time, it's possible to accomplish financial goals such as paying your rent/mortgage and utilities for the month.

Through June 4th, my gross sales:

eBay:  $94.96

Amazon:  $24.99

I didn't have any sales yesterday on either platform, and so far none today.

Keep in mind I do work 40 hours a week at a hospital, plus commute time, and try to keep a clean house and exercise and sort of have a bit of a life; I am doing the e-commerce thing very part-time.

After testing the waters and trying all sorts of different things to sell, I do believe the best are plush ("stuffed animals") and clothing and shoes -- men and women's in particular, not really children -- and as high end as your area will allow you to find.  I am getting these things at garage sales, thrift stores, and estate sales.

You don't need fancy equipment or money to get started.  You can take your photos outside, in lieu of special photography lighting.  (The pictures come out better anyway.)  I still just use my phone's camera.  You can start by selling your family's clothes and things around your house -- no need to go out and start spending money to buy some.  You will need a postal scale ($20), but I just used my Weight Watchers scale in the beginning, and it worked just fine.

It's A LOT of hard work, but selling on both eBay and Amazon is a viable way to make extra money.  There is A LOT of free help on both YouTube and Facebook. 

The hardest part was learning the shipping, but once you've got it, you've got it.  Another reason to narrow the focus down to clothing, rather than selling all sorts of junk: it simplifies shipping.

I dilly-dallied about and tried my hand in a lot of areas I really had no business trying to resell in, but there is a nurse in my Facebook reseller's group who started around the same time I did and stuck with selling used designer clothing and shoes and didn't waver.  She has now built her business up over time so that she had $5000 in gross sales for May.  Fees are 13.5% off of that, and her costs of goods sold need to be deducted as well.  And taxes.  But keep in mind, she works full-time as a nurse and is doing this on the side.

Thanks to Epic, my job will be going away next year.  At that time, I will begin reselling on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, CraigsList, and Facebook full-time.  Until then, I continue to hone my craft and build my base.  It's quite prudently realistic to believe I'll be making more money than I was at the hospital.

I am sharing all this in hopes that it will give some of you hope and a way out of the death spiral that is MT.