When I sold my first item on Ebay, I was no nervous that I might compromise my feedback. My first feedback as a seller came back and I was hooked! All it takes is just a little extra touch here and there to make the package special. A short note is great and I also feel that either the printed invoice should be included or the seller's own business card with note. One time I bought the same item from several different sellers and got mixed up about who had shipped what when I left feedback because I received packages with no information inside! The smell of smoke when I open a box is a turnoff, but I leave positive feedback if all else is well because I wash everything anyway.

One of my favorite searches on Ebay is clothing. I had abandoned the retail stores and gone to catalogue shopping to find clothing that suited my taste. Since shopping is a chore to me and not much fun, I loved ordering and having my item delivered right to my door. The shipping costs were, and still are, worth the price for my time, energy, and gas prices. After I discovered I could buy name brand clothing, sometimes brand new, for just a few bucks, I was hooked. Now the catalogues come and I look at the prices and go YIKES!

All my kid's closets were cleaned out after they left for college and I made money to buy myself things. Not just clothing, but hard to find items. Before I buy anything retail, I check Ebay to see if I can find what I need at a comparable price. It saves me so much time!

The greatest thing is the people I've met from all over the United States. Some have become email buddies. Out of over 700 transactions, only 2 people were problems, one a buyer and one a seller. Not bad odds. I've exchanged some heartwarming emails with others which show me that all of us basically have the same struggles. My Christian friends have lifted me up and encouraged me.

Now that my kids are out on their own, I work part time at Curves for Women and love it. My attorney husband and I are enjoying a 23 year marriage and I also run a farm that's been in my family over 100 years, plus maintaining several historical rural cemeteries where some of my ancestors lie. A true Southener, I enjoy geneology, gardening, reading, and Ebaying! I've always lived a rural life and all three of our kids were raised in the same home where we still live. We love our church and are early to bed, early to rise, and thrive on a healthy diet. We're big pet lovers too with a menagerie.

I love my antiques and have plenty but still love to look! My interests are in primitive items, though I inherited Victorian, and I continue to collect ruby glass, pottery, Gorham Chantilly, Francis 1, Lenox Rutledge, on and on. But I'm also a frog freak and collect them for everything from the garden to the home, including jewelry!

Ebay has also helped me back to my joy of reading. The prices in bookstores are staggering, but I can buy books on Ebay at a nominal price, read them, and resell them. I also buy my perfumes, CD's, DVD's, and some granola I'm addicted to from Amish Valley.

Ebay has given my Scots-Irish blood a perfect place to shop!