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Hello and greetings from Graham, WA, in the metro Tacoma, WA area in western Washington!
We are partners in online selling, Brad selling books on Amazon for about two years, and me on ebay off and on since 1997, and recently jumped in to sell full-time as well.
I discovered selling on ebay and Amazon when I was a full-time homemaker in my first marriage, desperate to find a way to make some extra money while homeschooling. My first sale was a book about collectible Swatch watches and I was hooked.
Within three years, I was making $10K a year, on a very part-time basis, which enabled us to qualify for our first home (husband’s small salary was not enough on its own.) I am very proud of that, and a good reason to report your ebay income on your taxes if you are trying to qualify for a home loan.
When that marriage ended suddenly years later, I tried to continue to maintain my lifestyle by selling online, but many factors were in play at that time, but when my main sourcing supply dried up, I lacked the drive to find a new one, and went to work for Tacoma Goodwill instead, and was soon promoted to Team Leader of their eCommerce Book Department.
From there I took a job as a manufacturer’s representative, selling for ten major publishers, and 40 toy and gift vendors. i was successful in increasing the sales in my large territory, and had a lot of fun traveling and selling great books and toys… but the stress of all those accounts to maintain, vendors to please, and the grinding traffic wore me down, and it took the ending of my second marriage to make the cracks in my veneer crack open, and had what might be called a “mid-life crisis.”
Thankfully, because of residual income from those 4th quarter sales, I was able to live off that income for a good four months while I healed and recovered. I wrote a lot, found some great Meet Up groups, and joined my partner on his bookscouting trips, and started to sell on ebay again at that point. I was able to revive my old ebay account and feedback rating, but had to fight for it, since the email address I used at the time was from a website that had closed. What a great day when I proved I was who I said I was to ebay, and they gave me back my original account!
I tried to work in retail, and found it was not for me. I tried to work in child care, and again, though I so loved the kids, found the other parts of the job were not for me. Because I had been working up my ebay experience for six months, I made the bold decision to quit and go full time.
One month into that decision, I am close to replacing that low income, but still battle fears and doubts!
Our biggest boon is the Brad has tons of construction skills, and worked mostly as an electrician for 30 years. We turned my single family home into a duplex, and have been renting that out since last November, and that income now pays for my mortgage and the electric bill.
Brad and I make a fantastic team, and our plan is to pay off debt, save money and renovate the garage to live in, so we can renovate the other part of my home to become an AirBnB rental. Build up some cash then to buy a four-plex to renovate and rent out. This is our plan for financial freedom, and ebay and Amazon will play a major role in that plan. That, and lots of elbow grease! We love it… but I still get TERRIFIED!!
I am happy to have found this community. I am addicted to the many of the resellers on YouTube, and listen all day as I list. Thanks!
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Welcome guys. It sounds like you guys have a great plan.
Are the basics of eBay the same as when you last sold full time -
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Hi Cristina–I lived in Graham for many years, I now live in Tacoma. Have you been into the new GW next door to the Safeway?
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Hello, and OF COURSE I have been to the GW store in Graham, HAHA! It was a banner day when it opened… I actually waited in line for it to open that opening day! So great to be on the GW map and have an actual FUN store in Graham. Well, Dollar Tree is kinda fun… but I always seem to have my panic attacks in there for some weird reason… Anyway, fun fun.
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