With a number of decades (too many) behind me and a half a dozen well-educated fellow employees, we usually can figure out the purpose and history of the plethora of items we receive through the eBay “drop-off” and internal acquisition portion of our business. Usually. On occasion we have been stymied, usually due to our resident packrat - the boss! He has a true knack for finding great items for eBay sales  and, truth be told, is rarely much off the mark. There are, however, items that magically appear in our warehouse that he “claims” he knows nothing about! Most of the time they are easily identified and, though not huge eBay sellers, do just fine. Then there are the exceptions - items that no mortal man has ever seen outside of Roswell, NM - but the man says “sell ‘em!”.

What to do, what to do? I’m not sure what the rest of the universe does, but here we “discuss”! The results of which would make participants in an all night drinking binge proud - and make just as much sense! Wild conjuring of the weirdest of the weird ideas! Some would say that to spend even a second on “bs sessions” at work is frivolous - but I have to strongly disagree! The results of our random, off-the-wall conversations actually do a number of things which include an instant relief of office stress, a tightening of an already strong comradery and, perhaps most important, it stimulates that rarest of modern commodities - imagination!

We can all attest to the fact that not everything we spend our days listing to eBay is incredibly interesting and not just a little boring. After all, even in the best of work environments (which we have) and with a congenial staff (which we also have), it is still, at times, a job. A few minutes or seconds of frivolity is the one thing that makes it seem like so much more. A good laugh and life is good and those next 999 widgets a breeze to list! The point is that we all should enjoy what we do and eBay affords a large group of people just that. A constantly changing daily experience - and getting paid for it! So, if on occasion, we happen to have a “Flux Capacitor” or other nonidentifiable item for sale, first blame the boss and second, know we had a great time doing it. And so what if it sells for 99 cents, the value to the business - and we the staff, is priceless!!! And besides there’s always those 999 widgets to profit from!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180143565005

Summer’s here - time for an eBay safari! We begin with a thorough scouting expedition in our home territory - facing what we know lurks around every corner - the land of forgotten STUFF! It’s true - we all have stuff! Garages, attics and basements (o.k. - no basements in South Florida!) all brimming over with outgrown items, electronics and odds ‘n ends of every description. Sure, a great deal of it is junk - a quick look in my own garage revealed 2 broken picture frames, a vintage oak dresser, side pieces from a water bed long since gone, 2 bicycles that haven’t been ridden in 4 years, boxes of musical electronics and no less than 20 empty cans of spray paint! Granted, the frames, cans and bed pieces might be best thrown away (cringe), but that dresser, bikes and the musical equipment may cover an insurance payment or just an afternoon at the movies - but who cares? You get your space back and change in your pocket - and I am partial to movie popcorn with that pseudo-butter engine oil stuff on it!
One taste of that popcorn bought with “found money” and part two of your safari can’t be far away - the yard sale! Hundreds of folks, who don’t know our eBay “secret”, slaving away, hauling their “stuff” to the end of the driveway - perfect hunting for the eagle-eyed great eBay hunter! Proceed with caution however - there are MANY species that become aggressively territorial  at the sight of a good yard sale - many cleverly disguised as middle-aged men and women. A word of caution - marking your own territory in this situation will end badly  - I’ll NEVER do that again! Better to get there fast, get there early and use quick decisive movements to trap your prey. Then get it home and start shooting - no, no, no - with a camera! A quick trip to the computer and - 2 movies and MORE POPCORN! While the rest of the world struggles with record heatwaves you divide your time between air-conditioned theaters and your own A/C’d computer room - with the occasional early morning, beat the heat, hunting foray. Of course, you may want to find other uses for all that cash or be relugated to premier theaters with larger seats!
Once you have conquered the world of yard sale wildlife hunting you may want to move on to “big game” - storage facilities that auction abandoned storage lockers!!! Only for the brave of heart, this can be a way to hone your skills and bring home the ultimate trophies! Yes, there may be many pesky varmints hidden in that locker, but score one great electronic beast, untamed computer or rogue big screen and you’ve hit the motherload! No remorse for deadbeat tenants - this is survival of the fittest! Nature at it’s most rudimentary. Ah, summertime - I need some popcorn - and a larger pant size!

Just another rainy day at the office! There’s something about rainy days that gets one to thinking - and staring out the window! Today I got to thinking about conversations I had during eBay Live in Boston. As a web designer AND eBay seller, maybe I look at computers differently but a number of sellers I spoke to had the same self-attitude; “I’m not very computer savvy”, which sounds a little odd considering we all rely on our computers to sell on eBay! What most mean by that statement is simple - they can muddle through well enough to get a listing done. Personally, I think many sell themselves, and their abilities, extremely short. My stock answer to this statement is always “If you get stuck ask a kid!” Truth be told, all of us at one time or another have been made to look less than brilliant by our own offspring (don’t tell them that whatever you do!) I myself spent weeks learning to navigate a new photo editing software only to have my 17 year old stop by the office and nail it in less than an hour (one of those “want to smack ‘em upside the head” moments). The root of this wave of adolescent genius is elemental - it is part of their everyday lives and they have no fear! As “grownups” we worry constantly about crashing our computers, losing everything we worked hard to get right by making that one tiny mis-stroke. Kids flat out don’t care! “That’s what restore points are for Dad!” This “adult” attitude of ours can cause many to miss out.
In addition to some “killer” new machines, we sell a fair number of older laptops that work extremely well but may not be up to gaming or high-end graphics and I always try to market them to the very young (who will have them mastered in days) and the senior citizen (who will wonder how they ever got along without email, instant news, weather - and Google maps!) because these are the people who benefit most from those particular purchases. The young will inevitably jump on the tech train and ride it progressively faster for the rest of their lives, while older users find that a computer provides the ability to continue to learn AND it is learning new things that separates the elder from the old, the wise from the wasting. The seemingly inexhaustible supply of information available to everyone via the Internet is not only useful, it’s fun too! I find myself researching virtually everything. As a work tool I can ascertain the value of an item we need to list on eBay, its history, origin and have a fairly good idea of how to best market it. On a personal level, I can identify wildlife I’ve seen, price a new car or plan a vacation - it’s endless! It is the perfect source of continuing personal growth and - I admit - allows me to keep a step ahead of those pesky youngsters who insist on referring to me as “sir”! (It was o.k. at 35 or 40, sort of an ego boost, but now that I’m over 50 it makes me feel like I should grab a cane and shuffle to my next appointment!) Bottom line? Everyone can benefit by learning to tap the Internet and being “tech savvy” has nothing to do with it - if you can do the things that YOU want or need to do then you ARE computer literate. I can’t use a computer to design a NASA satellite or a skyscraper but I can build great websites, design really cool graphics and sell daily on eBay. I’m not losin’ sleep over the NASA thing.

Saferseller on eBay

Back from Boston and another great Ebay Live - and a bit of vacation time as well! As always, I walked away from “Live” with hundreds of useful tidbits of information, many new friends and the obligatory bag of pins, coins, cards and souvenirs! I also walked away with an affirmation of something I have come to learn over the past 4 years - old is good! Being a product of the “baby boom” may have its somewhat dubious milestones - gray hair, AARP notices in the mail, hair growth in places where it’s just not welcome - and none where it would be - along with a host of other changes I just don’t want to talk about! But what we boomers do have is experience and the knowledge that comes with it - a very valuable tool when it comes to Ebay! As I looked around the convention floor I came to realize that my generation was in the majority - all that knowledge just milling around the room!
My “niche” on Ebay includes, among other responsibilities, working as a copywriter for a Titanium Seller that deals with a fair amount of “drop-off” clients as part of our everyday business. Never has the world seen more varied and obscure items than those that come through the door of an Ebay Drop Off! Running the gamut from the very valuable to the completely worthless, one never knows what will come next! Odds are in my favor though - been there, done that, seen it! Just try to talk to a twenty-something about Howdy Dowdy, the Lone Ranger or Buck Rogers, or worse, Bakelite, LP’s or Laserdiscs!!! It could take them hours to find and identify these icons of my youth. On the other hand, I (and other boomers) take a quick look and tell the smiling owner what a wonderful item it is (or not) - and of course we’ll list it (or not)! So what if you have to be the proud owner of an AARP card and a nose hair trimmer to know what it is - there are lots of us out there - and we have cash!
So over the next days, weeks, and months, I plan to share my Ebay adventures, back stories, characters and idiosyncrasies - in between having my back waxed, nose and ears trimmed and laminating my AARP card. Now, which “early bird” should I hit tonight?

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