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I am super excited that I finally got around to becoming a member of the forum. Have been a big fan of the Scavenger Life podcasts since I first found you on Youtube over 2 years ago. It is my Monday must-do to download the new podcast every Monday. Thank you Jay and Ray for being entertaining, so informative, and creating this positive community.
I have been a hobby EBayer for about 2 years. I know you prefer the term part-time, but when I get so much enjoyment out of something I have to call it a hobby 🙂 I have been on Ebay for about 4 years, mainly started out buying some Marvel comic books for my own collection, but then I decided to try my hand at selling and was hooked. I listed some clothing from a local thrift shop and my first sale was a Polo spell out t-shirt. It was a quick sale and got me started.
I soon realized that clothes were not my niche, and found other items such as hard goods and collectibles to be easier for me to source and of more interest to me. About six months ago I started a basic store subscription and just passed 100 items listed. I am working to max out my 250 listing limit.
Some of my favorite sales have been:
-a vintage matchbox size AM transitor radio in it original case that I got at a flea market for one dollar and sold to an electronics museum. Not a huge sale but its nice to think you found something that will be appreciated in a museum.
– A Star Trek Deep Space Nine station model kit with fiber optics. I always wanted to build it as a teenager. Bought an open but complete kit on an online auction for $8. Realized I would never have the patience to build it myself, and sold it for $90.
– I had a Beatles vintage metal serving tray that I bought about 20 years ago at a flea market because I thought it was a good collectible. I priced it high and did list and forget. I sold it to a fan in Brazil for around $100. The buyer kept messaging me to purchase it and I kept saying that at this point I dont ship outside Canada other than US (we dont have Global Shipping program here yet). But she wore me down, even sending me photo of her and her friends at a Beatles fan event. The shipment did make it to her in Brazil finally.
So I have been really enjoying my EBay journey, and the small extra income has been helping pay my cell phone bills and help with some vacation costs. My wife and I have always been working toward FIRE (financial independence retire early) and I am now looking at EBay as a means to move that date a little closer.
Thanks to everyone in this community
Lawrence -
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My wife and I are eBay sellers in Canada (Niagara/Ontario) and it is a fun hobby for us – but we’ve leaned on it when we’ve lost jobs or are in other financial situations. It has put us in the FIRE situation as well – my current employer would allow me to collect pension in my early 50’s – which isn’t that far away.
Being a Canadian seller has it’s benefits and drawbacks – on a positive side, we find if we are the only Canadian seller with an item, we can ask more than American sellers and get a buyer in Canada who doesn’t want the customs hassle. We also have unique items that we can source (lots of success over the years with Canadian icon items such as Hudsons Bay, Tim Hortons, Lululemon, Steam Whistle bottle openers, or even stupid promotional packaging like Canadian Star Wars Pepsi Cans that most people throw out.
The drawbacks are the small population, shipping costs outside of the province, and dealing with international returns and competition. Over the years I’ve had some great success though.
Look forward to your comments on the boards!
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Hi Inglewood. Thanks for the welcome. I was wondering if there were any other Canucks here on the forum. I have been doing ok on the Canadian EBay but it has its challenges. I have always been jealous of the low cost mail rate our American neighbour’s have with the USPS. If I want to ship anything with tracking no matter how small the cost starts at about $15, crazy. But recently I found out about Chits Chats express, a shipping company that couriers my packages across the border to utilize USPS. What a game changer.I can now offer much more competive rates for my US customers. Wish I had discovered the service much ealier.
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Hi Nova Scotia! Canadian Ebayer here in Montreal. I was wondering about ChitChats but I’m not a shipping pro by any means. To use ChitChat do you need to only use flat rate shipping and estimate cost? Or do they have an online calculator where you input dimensions and it shows you how much to charge?
Visited Nova Scotia last fall for the first time and loved it. Was stuck in Halifax though, so a Cape Breton trip is warranted.
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