Me and my assistant

I created a new eBay account, on the eve of my 10th anniversary on eBay.

Seems like a bit of a strange thing to do, but everything else I have ever done on this site has been for business reasons, rather than for personal reasons. Thus my current attempt to simplify my life needs to have separate bookkeeping from my businesses.

After all, who wants to pay taxes (or do the accounting to explain to the IRS that the old shoes sold in May have nothing to so with "profit-and-loss") on selling their personal items? So this is just a "for fun" selling account.

If you want "references" while this account still has very little feedback, look up my alter-egos "scandinavian-stampguy" and "north-beach-treasures."

Anyway, here's the short version: I started downsizing my life almost a decade ago, in preparation for a major lifestyle change, as well as a cross-country move from Texas to Washington state. In the process of doing so, it felt like I got rid of a LOT of the content of my life. And yet... "the stuff" still ended up filling a tractor trailer. As I unpacked, here in my new surroundings, I realized that I still had about four times as much stuff as I needed. I had moved a bunch of things I essentially will never use. AND, I moved at least 30 boxes of stuff-- all meticulously sorted-- with the express purpose of "selling it later." Well, the time is NOW. I will NOT move all that stuff one more time. So it all has to get sold. Enter eBay.

Reducing the amount of stuff in my life is a daunting task. It was actually my sister and I who made the move across the country, from Texas to western Washington. A huge amount of the excess stuff is actually hers, not mine-- and I have somewhat mixed feelings about being the person in charge of getting rid of HER stuff, on her behalf. She thinks I am "better at eBay" than she is, and whereas that may be true, I am not sure I "know" her stuff well enough to tell people everything about it when I list it for sale-- but we'll see. Among other things, she has an exceptional collection of "Silver Age" comic books... which is way beyond my expertise.

In recent months, I have been coming to terms with the idea that I will probably be "giving away" some of the stuff I am selling. And I feel like I have become OK with that. I realize that I can't apply the same "profit motive" I use for my other eBay sales to selling my personal stuff. And frankly, the end objective here is to "get rid of" things, not to "make a profit." So, some people may end up with something "valuable" for the opening bid of a few dollars, or even 99 cents. And I feel OK with that.

My philosophy about selling on eBay:

I have a fairly simple approach, when it comes to selling on eBay. I basically plan to start everything at less than 10% of its "market value," and no reserve, with VERY few exceptions. Those "exceptions" apply to very valuable collectible items that are "thinly traded." There are certain things "of value" in my life that may be interesting to only a handful of collectors... and I know I can't count on those three collectors to be looking at eBay on any given day. In those cases, I will probably place a modest reserve on items.

I will charge shipping at pretty close to my cost-- however, I am not willing to offer "bargain basement prices" AND to underwrite part of the expense of sending something to a buyer. If I have to go buy a special box and a bag of packing peanuts for something, I will charge the cost of a special box and a bag of peanuts as part of the shipping expense. I like to use the "calculated shipping" option on eBay listings-- that way you can check your shipping cost directly on any given listing. In 90% of cases, anything that weighs over 2lbs will be shipped in a Priority Mail "flat rate box" (I love those-- what a great idea!). I ship everything within the USA with Delivery Confirmation-- NO exceptions, so when you see something that looks like a "handling charge," that's typically the fee for this service. WHY do I do that? It complies with PayPal/eBay's rules to make sure both YOU-- and I-- are covered by the buyer/seller protection program.

I use Priority Mail, not Parcel Post, except for very heavy items. Why? In most cases, the cost difference is minimal for packages less than 5-6 lbs, and with Priority Mail, I get FREE boxes, labels and tape delivered to my front door, with Parcel Post I have to go BUY my own boxes and supplies, which means my use of TIME as well as a 10-mile drive with $3.00 gas... and I WILL pass the cost of those along to you.

I do ship to foreign destinations, albeit somewhat reluctantly on anything but very small and light items. Here's why: With the latest USPS revisions, there is no longer such a thing as "economy parcels" to destinations outside the USA. In many cases, the cheapest option for anything but something CD/DVD size/weight is going to be an International Flat Rate box, and that can run you $37.00/$50.00, depending on the size of the item. And no, there will not be a "cheaper way" I can send something, and no I will not engage in a discussion about "reduced shipping costs" on international shipments.

A couple of afterthoughts

So why am I writing all this? I suppose because when I am shopping on eBay, I like to "know the seller" a bit. And I don't just mean those annoying five-page long "essays" about "policy" people write in their descriptions, but the actual person BEHIND the listing. If (for whatever reason) you want to know more about my ongoing quest for "voluntary simplicity" and "simplifying myself," I periodically add a few words to my eBay blog.

Thank you for reading, and for your interest! I have enjoyed "borrowing" all this stuff for a while... and I hope you'll enjoy having it as much (or more!) than I did!

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