A way for Lyme patients to earn money

So I said to WalkingByFaith a long time ago that I would post this. I finally got around to selling stuff on ebay.

FYI-- I live in the US, so selling on ebay from a different country may be a different process.

If you have rare, valuable or antique items, or old stuff like mini tape camcorders, or toys in good condition, ebay is a good place to sell.

I had a hiccup with the payments because I got confused and used the wrong bank account number, but now things are going well. The only problem is, people come by and offer you $75 for a $30 item, and then they never send the payment, which takes down your listing for two weeks. And also, people try to get you to text them, which is not allowed.

You need a printer to print labels, a post office near by, and a good supply of packing materials.

I did have to cancel an order, because when I was packing something, I realized it was broken. The process was very easy, especially because the item hadn't "sold" yet (which is a benefit of auction listings).

You have the option to list something as auction, or "buy it now." Buy it now is a lot easier, but the process moves a lot more quickly and it might be harder to cancel the order if you decide not to sell.

It is also helpful to have a separate email address. Make sure you check it every 24 hours at least, or you may miss out on someone sending you an offer. You have 3 days to ship an item, which helps if someone buys something on a day you can't get to the post office.

Clothes don't seem to sell well, in my experience, nor do junky tag sale items. I sold a few things that I didn't believe anyone else would want, and they actually sold pretty quick (like an old typewriter). I guess the right price helps, which is impossible to find sometimes because a lot of people on ebay list a "rare" item for $2,000 that actually is only worth $5.

Taking pictures of items, listing them and shipping them out is a lot of work, but if you do them one at a time, it's not too bad. I think it might be a good way for someone with Lyme to make a few extra $$$. I also don't think the fees ebay charges are unreasonable.

People have also recommended Facebook Marketplace to me, as a good place to sell, but I don't do it because I'm not on Facebook.

Thx! This is great. Glad you are able to do this. I have lots of stuff I would love to sell, but it came out of a moldy environment, and I cannot expose myself to it.

They are expensive. I'm looking into using Offerup instead. It was very confusing trying to figure out how much the fees were on ebay. Ebay is a good place to sell antiques though.

Post Edited (Notime4lyme) : 8/9/2021 4:20:55 PM (GMT-6)