Happy New Year and eBay Baby Steps

Happy New Year! I know, I'm a *few* (ahem) days late...actually, the month of January is just about over, but better late than never, right?  With the New Year, just like you, I've made a couple New Year's Resolutions. And if I had to pick a phrase for my resolutions, it would be Baby Steps. Does that sound a little strange? Well, I've got several ideas swimming around in my head--from losing weight to starting a garden to how I could  add funds to our family's income as a stay-at-home mom and so much more--that, with each idea, I just need to take one baby step forward at a time to make progress. 

Starting late last year, one of my first baby steps was to renew my eBay account and begin to list things I have around the house to declutter (oh, so needed) and use any $$ towards things we've had crop up lately. To be honest, I really didn't expect eBaying to be such a positive experience, but it really has been a good new thing--I'm hoping to be much more intentional about it in 2013. 

I've been able to eBay extra things we have around our home and turn those things into extra cash that's helped with unexpected expenses--what a blessing! Perhaps you are like me and have some extra stuff around that you could list on eBay to help fund something your family needs or wants to do...here are just a few of the items we've had around our home that I've recently listed and sold on eBay:

• used homeschool curriculum, math manipulatives, hands-on learning tools, books, DVDs, toys my kids have outgrown, stuffed animals, cowboy hat, neckties...stuff!

Over the last couple of months, I've learned a few helpful tips that I thought I would post here for anyone else thinking about eBaying items around the house for extra $$: 

**You'll need an eBay account and a Paypal account if you do not already have them. Both are easy to set up and, I think, user-friendly. Plus eBay offers 50 FREE auction listings per month--it doesn't cost anything to list. Once your item sells, both eBay and Paypal have reasonable fees--just remember to take these fees into consideration as you price your items to help cover the costs. Most eBay buyers pay through Paypal and shipping labels can be paid from Paypal, too. Click these links for more information: eBay and Paypal. 

**Okay, once you have your accounts set up, you're ready to find  some extra things around your home that you could part with--you could consider things I mentioned above as a place to start: homeschool curriculum you're not using anymore, math manipulatives and hands-on learning tools (phonics cards, learning games, etc), books, toys, stuffed animals, DVDs, etc.

Now take a moment to look on eBay to get an idea of pricing your items. Here's a tip I just recently learned that has made such a big difference for me--look at sold/completed sales. It's been such a huge help, I figured out a way to capture screen shots on my computer (I'm not very techie) so I can share it with you--hope it helps you, too!

Go to eBay.com and the top of your screen will look like this:

  
Next, type in a few keywords for the item you would like to list.  I recently listed and sold an Apologia science book we were finished with so I'll use that as an example. I typed "Apologia science" in the search box and clicked on search:

Do you see below the search box "active listings | sold listings | completed listings"? Click on "sold listings" and you'll see a screen like this:

Next you can refine your search. On the left side of the screen, you'll see boxes you can checkmark for things that apply to your item, e.g., new/used, format, etc. Check a few of the ones that apply and see what results you get. From there,  you could sort the sold listings--top of the screen "End Date: recent first" will give you an idea of most recent sales and how to price your item. Scroll through the listings to get an idea of how to price your listing and shipping costs. Go ahead and click on active listings, too, as a comparision and to see how many similar listings there are. Looking at sold and active listings gives you a good picture of how to price your item.

**Now you're ready to create your listings! If possible, take at least one picture of each item (with a digital camera or camera phone--personally I use my camera phone) and then just follow the prompts from eBay Sell an Item. 

I hope you find these few tips helpful--if I can eBay items around my home to convert to extra $$, anyone can! As you go, you'll discover things by trial and error--eBay takes a little time, but it sure has been worth my recent efforts.   

For anyone that might want additional insight into eBay selling, here's a great FREEBIE from a stay-at-home mom with years of eBay selling experience: Stay-at-Home Mom's Guide to Successful eBay Selling. Click on "free recently updated eBook."

Happy New Year!
Laura

PS--Are you curious about eBay selling or have additional questions? Leave a comment and I'll be happy to reply--I don't have all the answers since I'm learning by trial and error, too, but I'm glad to share about my recent eBay lessons learned! :)