E is for:
eBay
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I have been selling my clutter on eBay to bring in some extra cash and while I was doing it I noticed that I joined eBay in 2000. Eleven years ago – I was a bit taken aback by this as I still remember the very first thing I bought and was looking at it just the other day.
The first thing I bought on eBay was a set of commemorative prints, featuring Cecil Beaton’s sketches of Audrey Hepburn’s costumes for My Fair Lady. I bought it from a lady in America (paying IN CASH) and I loved it.
I’d only just started working in my first ‘proper’ job and was shown eBay by someone I worked with and I was amazed that the types of things I liked from movies and TV were available to buy without me having to go anywhere – I’d only ever been to Forbidden Planet and memorabilia fairs before and they were generally expensive and a bit too ‘sci-fi’ for my tastes.
Back in those days (so long ago…) I primarily dealt with people in the USA and as I said, it was totally safe to send cash – I’d never heard of PayPal at the point and I’m not sure whether it existed or not. I used to go down to Thomas Cook and change up the correct amount into US Dollars and send them off. I never got ripped off and my items always duly arrived. I also dabbled in selling things back then, mostly movie posters and postcards and, again, accepted cash for them – I trundled back to Thomas Cook and was changing piles of about $50 at a time back into sterling, although towards the end of my first bout of selling it did become noticeable that people were less willing to trade in cash.
I didn’t sell anything else until recently, but I did continue to buy things (hence some of my trouble with clutter!). My main areas of interest are James Bond stuff and the obscure movies I like that no-one else had heard of, like The Slipper and the Rose, The Cutting Edge or Dancin’ thru the Dark, and only today I received a Japanese cinema flyer for Dancin thru the Dark in absolute mint condition – I am unreasonably happy about this!
I have recently though started looking at eBay for things for my home like art and furniture – trying to get into the Kirstie Allsopp spirit a bit – and I’ve been helped by a site I saw mentioned on the Frugal Family blog, called Local Bargain Finder. The site lets you search eBay for items that are near to your postcode and that have a ‘pick up only’ specification on them. I’ve not explored it in all categories, but have got some bargains in the art category and have a couple of bids in on some other things.
I know eBay does get a lot of stick for how it treats sellers sometimes, but I like it and have – so far – been lucky as both a buyer and a seller, but I’m not generally selling or looking for high value, technical items, but rather the quirky little things that generally have no purpose, except if I win the lottery and can start a museum (that only I would visit cos the items in it would be too obscure!).
If you’ve never had a go at eBay, either as a seller or a buyer then you should – it’s very easy to get started getting rid of any old clutter you have and something you have and think is worth little might be worth a lot. Obviously though seller fees do apply. I’ll leave you with this: I was helping my Nan do some clearing out as she said I could sell some things on eBay for her. She set aside an old cosmetics compact on the ‘chuck out’ pile, but I saved it and listed it for 99p. It sold for £31.
£31?? Wow, I’d never have thought to list something like that. I ‘ve used eBay as a buyer for years and love it (although tend to try and give it a wide berth unless there’s something I specifically need – it’s far too addictive!) and only recently dabbled as a seller. I still tend to charity bag a fair number of things because I’ve assumed they won’t sell, but after reading this I think I’ll try it and only bag them if they don’t sell.
Oh and btw, I *love* the Cutting Edge!
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I saw Cutting Edge in the movies at least 4 times, awesome movie and as for Slipper and the Rose, Richard Chamberlain, Annete Crosbie and Gemma Craven were the best, I love putting that on and singing along to it.
Makes me want to go on Amazon and purchase both of them now!
Oh they’re fab! For the Slipper and the Rose you might have better luck with eBay – it was given away with the Daily Mail a while ago, so loads there for 99p…