How did you come to eBay?

[tyler@ebay]

The internet was new, and I was much, much younger when I heard about eBay - a fabled place where all the Star Trek action figures I'd wanted for my young life came together in a very, very slow-loading portal of opportunity (seriously, do you remember how slow the internet was back then? The time it took to load photos...ugh!). 

Even with no photos and a slow internet I was hooked. I saved allowance and birthday money, did odd jobs here and there to get my parents involved in auctions - going to bed hoping and waking up the next morning ecstatic at winning. 

This month I'm curious about how you found your way to eBay - did you come to buy, sell or both? Did you start as a collector, or have you always been a merchant?

[femmefan1946]

DH computerized his customer base around 1990.

He started online auctions around 1993. Yes, before eBay.

We would get bids via apanet(?) and other scientist based networks.  There are a lot of scientists in Ottawa with NRC, Agriculture Canada, Energy Mines and Resources.

Also the diplomatic corps, both Canadian and foreign.  Sent a lot of parcels to various Box 500, Ottawa  addresses.

He often says he should have patented the auction software his staff (mostly his sister the systems analyst) developed instead of staying in the stamp business.

He found eBay around 1998 and I added my own account in 2001.

[strange*highways]

A Librarian suggested it.

I was looking for a specific audio book in cassette format for my Mother "The Street Lawyer by John Grisham."  The library didn't have it but the Librarian suggested I try eBay. 

[cumos55]

Had been going to local auction sales, both in the city of Winnipeg  and then in the region of Brandon in western Manitoba…. Starting in the early 1980’s  .  These auctions were visited on an almost weekly based during the summer….

The house was eventually filled with lots of interesting and unique furniture  and also  artwork….  Also some quality glassware, and dinnerware…  Still have a lot of the purchases today…

Then it was in the 1990’s that garage sales became a reality every Saturday during the summer…. Found lots of good furniture …..  refinished the furniture,  if necessary,  and then sold the furniture at auctions in western Manitoba… Did very well.

Kept finding toys, glassware and more….  Was finding a lot of quality small stuff…..  

Then came eBay in January 2003  … listed 6 items at the first auction time  and I was selling on eBay… In that first sale  there was a silverplate tray marked with “CPR”, the Canadian Pacific Railway, which sold for $90 US..  My inventory came from garage sales, estate sales, and local auctions… and I was selling on eBay… fulltime as of January 2004.

My primary focus was Canada and Canadian… but there were items added that were a part of my everyday life, and ancestry… as well as my life from many years previous.

In the first few years on eBay  everything except books was sold on eBay….  Then gradually books were added to the mix…

It was in the fall of 2008 that I moved from eBay.com to eBay.ca and continued to sell in US dollars…..  Sold everything that was Canada  and Canadian… books, glassware pottery as well as artwork… The way to sell on eBay was learned  … and then ultimately  I was only selling books, books and more books..

It was many, many years ago ….. Sold a lot of model train equipment,  slot cars,  toys, Lego, model airplanes, dinnerware, Blue Mountain Pottery, Chalet glass, Altaglass,  lots of unique collectibles, some artwork,   and more…. With the focus usually  on everything Canada and Canadian….

Everything that was learned from the 1980’s and 1990’s became a part of my understanding of selling on eBay

[rcrawford34]

In 2000 I got my first computer. Had very rarely ever used one before that  Sort of hunt and peck  and kept hoping the puter would not blow up while using it

*chuckle 19 years later I still hunt and peck on them and still hope I don't blow them up. I'm happy if mine turns on in the morning and am super happy when it turns off properly at night. Still not great on them.  

I teach ( primarily  Kindergarten to grade 3 or 4 right now ) and it's always humbling when a child 4 to 9 years of age can beat the pants off me with the knowledge they have of these dang things  

I started watching ebay soon after I got one and about a month later thought why not? I joined thinking I would buy at first and gradually get into selling here

I've been selling Antiques and Nostalgia since 1983 saw lots of items here I knew I could buy and make a profit on in my offline business. As I got more comfortable using a puter  thought a whole new venue to sell my items on and I'll be danged it worked!

The night I decided to sign up for ebay  I had spotted a listing offering a great selection of old postcards I knew I could do something with.  A few were very difficult to find. Very little time left for the listing I signed up and got a message it could take 24 hours to be put on the system. Talk about disappointment but that soon turned to Joy  got another email  about 10 minutes later saying I was good to go. With about 1 minute left on the listing put in a bid and got them

WOW!!!! Got hooked!

Started selling primarily old postcards here about 3 weeks later.  Friday was the night I came home from work and would list one auction at a time At first listed 175 to 250 cards in one evening.  The sell through rate was usually 60 to 75% 

Have absolutely no idea how I did so many in one evening  now if I get 20 or 25 done  in one sitting I'm lucky

[ypdc_dennis]

I had eBay recommended to me by a friend (and store owner) whenever I brought in stuff to sell...

So 15 years ago I took the ebay plunge -- primarily buying at first (computer parts and supplies, and some dvds). Paying with cash, cheques, money orders, credit card and PayPal.

My first sales appear to be stuff (computer software, OS/2 Warp4) for a friend and stuff (board games) from another friend's estate.

-..-

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Tl;dr. (Too long; didn't remember.)

I know I came here to buy things since my oldest feedbacks were all as a buyer. They were some sort of really vintage Japanese animation goods. Started selling my own drawings and crafts, then started selling books that I don't want to keep.

[femmefan1946]

@ypdc_dennis 

Oh gosh! The annoyance of cheques and money orders!

Yeah, yeah, no fees, but US customers could not understand that cheques had to clear two banking systems before I got the money and the money order people persisted in sending the cheaper to them US Domestic postal money orders that I could not cash at all!

Then the Western Union email problem--- not WU fault, but that was pretty much the end of cheques and money orders, and all their problems.

Billpoint was a godsend, later replaced by Paypal.  Woot!

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I started out as a buyer back in 2002.  First thing my husband bought was a charging cradle for a Palm pda.  Then we bought a lot of non-working electronics such as pda's, pocket pcs, mp3 players & cameras etc.  My husband is very handy & repaired a lot of them.  Some we kept for our own use but we resold most of them for quite a bit of money.  Remember that was way before smart phones were around. So people had to buy seperate items to do things such as record & play music, store data, take pictures etc. Now those items are considered vintage electronics.  I also sold my old Disney VHS tapes as I had replaced mine with dvds.  Then started buying & selling vintage jewelry.  So it slowly evolved from one thing to another.

[msmaggie060]

I took a early retirement buyout pkg. Then hubby heard about eBay and kept after me to check it out. Last thing I wanted at that time was to look at another computer! Anyway, I finally went and checked out eBay. I read and read the boards for about 6 months and then bought items, mostly Christmas gifts. One day decided to try selling and everything sold back then so I was hooked! Eventually ended up with two stores and still selling. But it takes a lot more time now to list and keep track of everything.