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?  

[eunster1313]

@barbiegal 

Happy 25th anniversary on eBay!

[femmefan1946]

Our B&M shop started selling on eBay in 1998. We'd been online since around 1990 - who remembers apanet?

That account is now dormant, since we retired and closed the shop in 2014. My own selling has moved from used paperbacks -specializing in SF/F - to mostly sewing patterns.

In between I was asked to sell a friend's huge collection of science fiction to help finance his husband's move to Canada. It took two loads in our Blazer to bring all his books to our home. I think I still have one or two items from that consignment still actively available.

We've weathered auction only to Stores are not in Search to pictures cost 25c (?) to 12 Free Pictures. From listings 5c each to 100,000 Free Promotional Listings.  From uncashable money orders (domestic USPS mo's can't be cashed in Canada) to BillPoint to Paypal in house payment processing to Paypal as a different business to Managed Payments as an in house  processor.

[jewelbiz]

Ebay even gave me this…

[barbiegal]

Okay I NEED THIS!  LMAO!!! 😂

[barbiegal]

It's been a RIDE selling from the late 90's, no doubt!!  Wow, you sound like me!  Selling all kinds of stuff over the years.  Congrats!!

[barbiegal]

**bleep**, they didn't give me anything!  LOL!  Congrats!!!

[barbiegal]

Oh yes, I was a long user of Turbolister, too!  

[barbiegal]

OMG, I remember the feedback without a transaction days.  When I was selling Halloween decorations and costumes, I had a lady who was "offended" by one of my wigs (the actual name of the wig from the vendor was China doll, and that's how people knew it and searched it).  She left me a ton of krappy feedback and would buy my items and not pay for them as "payback."  It got her removed from eBay.  I also remember the days of people bidding on their own stuff to drive up the prices (which I NEVER did), but it was crazy obvious.  This was before they had the capability to track IP addresses.

[barbiegal]

The funniest thing to me was way back in the day when my son was little, I had all these moms of his friends who "wanted to stay home and sell stuff like you do!"  They acted like it was SOOOO easy and I was eating bonbons most of the day.  I got so tired of people asking me about it, I asked one of my friends if she wanted to have a little cocktail party at her house, and I would do a presentation on how to sell on eBay.  I'm telling you, I didn't get five minutes into it, and it was like ten moms looking at me like a deer in headlights.  I don't think they had any clue that it was actually WORK!  😂 And that was LONG before all the software programs came out that helped with shipping, listing, etc.  

[inhawaii]

CONGRATS!

I just celebrated my 22nd anniversary here October 28.

Boy are we old.   😉

[moondogblues]

I started buying about 20 years ago and selling about 5 years later.  Gave it up though.  I do miss it, but not all the headaches.  I still buy, that part's still fun.  Congrats to all the longtimers.

[forward-motion]

Awesome story! Thank you for sharing! July 2022 will be my 20th anniversary.  

[ckimodog]

Since 1999...Happy Anniversary!!🍸 Cheers!

[weloveourstuff]

I joined in 1998 but my sister joined and started selling even before I did.   Back then, however you used picture hosting it was fairly common for lazy sellers to link to your pictures and use them in their own auctions.  My sister discovered this happening with something she was selling.  Once her auction ended and the person who was using her picture's auction was still going, she swapped out the picture with a picture of a giant plastic snowman that my mother had in her front yard  so that was in the thief's auction.  He didn't even notice.  It was hilarious!

[b86fiero]

Congrats on reaching an epic milestone on eBay!  Maybe eBay will send you a private message acknowledging your longevity.  eBay used to snail mail nice suitable for framing certificates of acknowledgement years ago.  I still have mine stuffed in a file cabinet. 

I first registered on eBay in 1996 under a different user ID.  Started selling in early 1997.  I left for about 1 year and came back in January, 2001 with this ID.  Another seller confiscated my original ID so I had to change it.  A lot has changed over the years.  Good times, bad times, crazy times.