My 25th anniversary on eBay!

[barbiegal]

WOW.  I just realized that October 1, 2021 was my 25th anniversary of being a seller/buyer on eBay!  I joined 10/1/96.  Oh the things I have seen!  LOL!  I have sold everything from Beanie Babies to antiques to vintage cars!  I have bought some crazy stuff, too.  I started originally because I was collecting Barbie dolls back in 1996.  Does anyone remember the Barbie craze back then?  I wanted to see if I could find the ones I was having trouble locating at toy stores for my collection.  That's when I realized how much money I could make if I could find those dolls myself and sell them on eBay.  I could finance my OWN collection!

I used to take my son, who was a toddler at the time, and hit up the Toys-R-Us and KB toy stores.  I made friends with the managers who would clue me when certain dolls were going to hit the shelves.  I'd buy two to sell and one for myself.  Then there were SPICE GIRLS dolls!  I had no interest in collecting those, but I found out I could make a pretty penny if I could find them to sell.  After a lot of moving and shaking, I ended up with an entire set and pulled in about $400!  I started every auction at the price I paid for the dolls, but they would always get bid up higher.  And from that year on - I was hooked!  I moved on to Beanie Babies, then vintage and rare VHS tapes, Halloween merch - I was able to quit my job as a medical transcriptionist and go to selling online full time.  It changed my life and allowed me to stay home with my son - who turns 29 in January.

So that's the Reader's Digest version of my 25 years on eBay!  I don't sell as much anymore, though I'm looking to pick back up again.  Are there any other OG's here who have been selling/buying since WAYYYYY back?  

[iart]

We only have about 22 years.

But in 3 years we'll catch up to you, right?

Congrats!

[allstar-comics]

started buying first then began to sell in 1997  Crazy how different it is  Back then you would refresh over and over to see one or two new items in a particular category  I would run 25-40 auctions ending Sunday evening and it was like Christmas when they took off at the end   I sold comic books w no pics and just a description as I had no clue on hosting images  Didnt matter, everything sold

[katzrul15]

@barbiegal 

Congrats on 25 Years!  (WOW!)

[dirk12955]

Tagging on:

I'll soon have 22 years.    25 is pretty amazing.

Remember when eBAy turned itself off for a few hours one night a week?   Thursday?  

Another thing.    I'd end my auctions of Saturday night.    It seemed like the site would go down 

always during the last hour of my auctions so the bidders couldn't bid.

And waiting for the buyers to mail their check or MO?   And waiting.   And waiting.   And waiting.

[bearswatching]

I’ve lost track. I think next week is either 23 or 24 years for me. I do remember it was around Thanksgiving. That went by fast😄

[katzrul15]

@dirk12955 

We started buying in 2002, selling in 2004.  Our ID looks like "19 years", but we were a Buyer first.  lol

I do remember listing everything at Auction 2 times before I would make it FP in my store and that was considered almost a "defeat" if it did not sell at Auction after 2 tries!  LOL

We ended our listings on Sundays at 8:30 pm (EST) for years.  (and I hated money orders, lol - we could at least cash the postal ones when we went to the PO to ship).  Used Turbolister for years and Auctiva and Ink Frog for my templates, etc.  (seems like a really long time ago??)  

[katzrul15]

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@bearswatching wrote:

I’ve lost track. I think next week is either 23 or 24 years for me. I do remember it was around Thanksgiving. That went by fast😄

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Congrats to you as well!  Impressive timelines for both you and the OP!

[postcardcountry]

Maybe I have been thinking the wrong year I started (on a different ID).

I sold my first item without pictures.

Paypal gave me $10 to sign up and the buyer who recommended me to the site got $10 too.

My husband gave me 'internet' for Christmas and I started adding to my collection of Homer Laughlin china on eBay (between eBay, flea markets and auctions I accumulated 100 copier boxes).  As we began to discuss moving, he decided we needed to sell, rather than buy, and start collecting green paper.

So I started selling....and buying inventory to sell....did mostly auctions.   I stuck with collectibles of any kind, favoring china.

I remember you could leave feedback for someone without a transaction. 

Listings were entertaining, sometimes telling a story in depth about the item.

Prozac Barbie....eBay Barbie.....we had fun with those.

[barbiegal]

22 years is AMAZING!!!  Definitely an OG!!  Congrats!

[barbiegal]

An OG for sure!!  Oh yes, I remember hosting my first image, and if I recall, you could only have one in the very early days.  Plus it wasn't like we had cell phones to snap pics of everything either.  A much bigger deal to include a picture!  

[barbiegal]

THANKS!  I feel really old...LOL!

[barbiegal]

Congrats on 22!!  OMG, yes!  The checks and MO's!  Then there was packing everything up, hand writing the address on the package and carrying it to the post office.  I used to have a file cabinet full of all my printed invoices that had the addresses.  I remember when the software programs finally started to come out where you could print a label.  It felt like I was in the BIG leagues then.  🤣

[a_c_green]

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@barbiegal wrote:

WOW.  I just realized that October 1, 2021 was my 25th anniversary of being a seller/buyer on eBay!  I joined 10/1/96.

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Congratulations... 🙂 I must be the youngster in the group, as I joined in 2004. April Fool's Day, in fact... which seems kind of appropriate somehow...

[jewelbiz]

Me a seller here 23 years…hard to believe!