Extra Income...My heart is just bursting...

That's great, Sue! It's always good to see a kid that age with a sense of reality. FWIW, our older two [ages 6 and seven] are considering a tag sale to clear out excess stuff and raise some $$$. That's likely gonna happen next weekend. They'll have to split the take, but it should help considerably with Erik's new bike fund.

I'm just SO proud of him right now. He's like a little madman, running from room to room finding things to sell. Think I'll have to nail down the food in the fridge so he doesn't sell that too! :lol:

He wants new video games, but he also wants a bike. So I guess we'll see which one wins out! I'd much rather see him have a bike.

Oh my goodness, you have every reason to be proud, that is so heart warming. :)

wow way to go subee and your youngest, thats great.

Sue, that's great!! What a neat kid!

My brother sells on EBAY, and has been for a long time. That is his primary income, but he makes a job out of it.

He researched what he enjoyed, which was fishing and started out with old fishing lures. He goes to autions, word of mouth and garage sales, etc. He also does antiques since our grandparents were in that business.

Your son is developing a great work ethic and seeing how much things cost and you have to work for them--way to go!!..karen

Wow,

Amazing.. another new entrepreneur on the rise.

Congrats

I got bumps on my goose :shock: :!:

"Luke, I am your father and I am telling you to go see a doctor if you really have bumps on your goose" :lol: Ha HA just kidding.

Sue, just an idea if your son and you have the time to do it: It is yard sale season, and since you are probably spending a lot of time on ebay you are probably noticing which kind of toys and stuff and selling for more than others. You might suggest for him to take a little of the money that he earns to see if he can't earn himself some more money buy going to yardsales and buying things that you know will sell for more than what you're paying for them. If you do, don't forget to barter. If an item is in a yard sale it's because someone doesn't want it anymore, and more than likely they would be willing to sell it to you for less than what they've listed it for. :D

You definately should be proud of your children for wanting to work for their money. You too Wulf! There are way too many parents out there who will buy there kids anything or just give them money to spend for no reason which could ultimately be setting them up for disaster in the financial aspects to the game of life.

Best of luck to all, especially you Luke... :wink:

thanks for the tip - I've been doing Ebay for years, actually, and yard sales are one of my number one sources of inventory. But right now, having just moved a few months ago, I have enough "inventory" of my own to get rid of! :-)

wow thats such a cute story :)

thanks! :-)

We're actually going to do a listing blitz this weekend, as now BOTH sons have cleaned out their rooms and found a lot more stuff to sell!

I think I've created a monster... :shock: :lol:

Yeah, Sue, but at least it's a good type of monster :lol: I and my brother do the yard sales thing too. He bought this little vase about 5 inches tall that was some type of pottery, had a mark, probably a mold mark.

Anyway, it was put on EBay and sold several days later for $65.00, he paid $15.oo. He usually doesn't pay very much if he doesn't know what it may bring, but it was so unuasual, he took a chance.It turns out it was some particuliar type of pottery that was collectible!..karen

you know you're an Ebay seller when....

-you cruise the dumpsters and parking lots behind the department stores and malls looking for boxes and discarded bubble wrap for packing material

-you flip over the dishes at your favorite restaurant to check for maker's marks

-you see your spouse get that glazed look in his eyes whenever you mention Ebay

-you start to talk in acronyms like NIB, NRFB, BIN, and the dreaded NPB!

-the postal workers in 5 area post offices run screaming in the other direction when they see you coming

-your postal carrier doesn't drop off or pick up packages from your house for 2 days and calls the cops, thinking you're inside the house, dead. (most likely sitting in front of your computer!)

-friends, neighbors and relatives all start giving you things to sell for them - and some even let you keep the profits (yeah!)

:lol:

Hey smckaybiz,

Sorry, I just got a chance to get back to you. Your funny...I love it! I am very excited about this ebay, just need to get a digital camera and get started. Thanks to you suebe and others here for there great advise and knowledge. Lets all EBAY :!: :shock: :lol:

Suebee- how cute, and how true!! My brother can never be reached by phone, he's always in front of his computer, but that's how he makes his living. My oldest who lives with me does the Ebay thing too.

One thing I did want to mention was storage sheds. In our area when people don't pay their storage building cost, they have an auction on about 6-8 at a time. My borthers friend does this. He bid on a shed, payed about 45 dollars for it and when he went through all the boxes, came up with a small box full of gold rings of all types. He took thopse to the Gold store and sold them for over $400.00. He then took some nick knack type of things and sold them on EBay. The only problem with this type of auction is, that you have to buy if without getting to look in the boxes. They open up the doors of the units and you bid-taking a chance there is something or not. He has also gotten units for under twenty bucks. You also have to have a truck or vehicle if you bid on one that may have furniture, because you have to haul it all off. I am going to one this weekend, just to check it out..

thanks, Karen! That's a great tip. My problem is that when those thing come up for auction, I never have the ready cash to buy them. :-( Go figure!

Yeah, I know what you mean! My brother keeps cash set aside, a little at a time to save for auctions.

Also, you can find out which auction places are in your area, and go to their website and sign up. They will email you of upcoming auctions and also alot of the time have pics that you can look at to see if there is anything you want.

I bought an old ink well set for 20.00, didn't know if it was worth anything but I liked it. I had my son put it on Ebay with some other things and it brought 40.00! I usually don't buy things at auction or at sales unless I have a pretty good idea of what it brings. That is why at the auction websites, I can look at pics and description and then research it!!..karen

I plan to start going to auctions once again this summer or next, depending on the cash flow situation. Primitive items are always hot - always will be, I think. Farm estate auctions are usually good for that. People at the one auction I went to looked at me like I was nuts, because I bought items that looked like they were MUCH past their prime - but I was tickled with them, because they were primitve, aged looking items, which are HOT on Ebay. The whole shabby chic thing.

You are right about the primatives, they do go well on EBay! Also, anything that has numbers or marks in the old hand tools, but you have to do research to see what they are going for.

If I am going to a farm auction, I do some research on EBAY to see what various primatives and hand tools have gone for.

If I go to an auction that lets you preview quite a number of hours before it starts, I always take paper and pen and write down what I am looking at. If I have time and it's not far, I will go home and look it upon EBAY-wish I had a laptop!!

My brother and I have been know to call each other if the other one didn't go and ask them to look it up!!

I love auction, just wish they were in the Fall instead of the hot summer :lol:

I am so excited to read all of this, I cant wait till I get my dig camera and get started.

How did this turn out? Did your son sell all the stuff? Did he buy new video games or did he buy a new bike?

Hi regby!

yep, he bought his video game and then some! It's now nearly a year after that original post, and we're still selling. He's sold a LOT of toys, recently sold a large box of toys and his Lite Brite, and I'm working on selling his outgrown clothing. He made at least $200 over the course of the last year, just selling his old toys and books, and one old video game system (a gameboy advance).

We tried selling on another site for a while, but found that Ebay definitely has more traffic and better sales, despite the fees and rules. So we're back to selling there, and it's going really well. I'm going to do a listing marathon this weekend, because I just found out a check that I normally get every month is going to be delayed this month....so I need to try and make some fast cash to make up for the shortfall.