Ebay!

6/26/2012

Ebay!

I have a confession to make.  In actuality, I probably have many confessions to make; but, for today, I'm going to stick to this one - Ebay.    I love Ebay and have ever since I had the winning bid on a piece of glass in January of 2001.  With my frequent and generous support over the past eleven years I really can't believe that I haven't been invited to some kind of company picnic or party.  

I have been a loyal, and I do mean loyal supporter since January of 2001.  I am a buyer with a feedback of 962 - all 100%.  To break that down, it means that I have won 962 auctions and the seller's have each rated me at 100%.  I am the buyer that sellers dream about.  My goal (silly I know) is to reach 1000 buys because then my little star by my name will change colors again. And, we all know it's good to have goals - so only 38 more auctions to go.  Oh wait, I have several auctions that I've just won and the seller hasn't given me feedback yet - so it's likely I'm down to 36 or so.  I'll check as soon as I'm done here.

If I'm bidding on something, I watch it like a hawk for any last minute shift in the bidding.  You can see your competitors feedback numbers and you will then known if you are dealing with a long-term buyer or a newbie.  I actually think I should call myself a pro but that sounds a little uppity even to me!

To be fair, in the beginning I was a little timid.  I know you will find that hard to believe; but there is so much out there that you can search on and buy it can be overwhelming.  So for weeks I watched from the sidelines to see if I could get a better understanding of how this always opened "store" worked.  While in my checking it out mode I looked at the seller's numbers to see what their feedback looked like.  The last thing you, as a buyer, want is to win an auction and then find out that the seller is not a sterling example of good business.  Even today, I ALWAYS check on the seller's feedback before I put my money down.

Even while still just watching and gathering "research", I knew that I needed to pick one kind of something to watch.  So was it going to be oil paintings, some kind of clothes, kitchen ware or glass?  Ah yes glass - love it, love it and have lots of it.  Since I have had a long love affair with all things glass I decided that watching auctions for glass pieces (dust collectors to those of you unknowing) would be a good place to start.  I was given a Murano clown in 1971 and thought it was still beautiful, so I decided to concentrate on Murano glass.  So in the search area of Ebay - you type in Murano glass and/or you can be more specific - such as Murano glass clowns and voila a whole beautiful world appears before you.  And you don't have to go to the mall, find a parking place and deal with rude sales people. Or, at least at the moment, pay sales tax unless you are buying from a seller in Maryland.

 

One day I decided to stop watching and jump in to the action.  I knew that I wanted to start small just to test the waters so to speak.  By the way that is still my advice to someone trying to get started with Ebay buying - don't make your first auction something large and expensive like a car.  Start small, there is plenty of time and lots of auctions if you want to go big.  But back to my first auction.  It was for a beautiful green and white striped Murano vase.  The dimensions were given, and I vaguely remember something about two inches or such, but I’m a woman so what do I know about size?  Apparently nothing because when the vase arrived it was so little, but beautiful.  Reminder, ladies, keep a ruler by your computer!

That first winning auction set me off on a path that I have never looked back on.  I search for things for myself, for family and for coworkers.  Need something?  Tell me and I'll be on it immediately.  When I'm on Ebay I'm not screwing around - I win an auction, I pay within minutes.  Why?  Other than my sterling feedback of which I am very proud - the sooner I pay the sooner you'll send me what I've won. 

Since my winning bid so many years ago, I have been fortunate to acquire many (and I do mean many) Murano clowns.  I have bought other things of course - gifts for lots of people, clothes, toys, shoes, books, movies, glass (duh - lots of that), sheets - well you get the idea - the list of what you can buy is endless. 

The strangest auction I entered was for a really lovely clown that the seller (and this may have all been hype; but it worked) said that if somebody didn’t buy this stupid clown that he had been forced to buy at a  White Elephant Sale he was going to take the clown and throw him in Lake Michigan.  Well I was outraged - why would anybody throw a beautiful clown away.  So I decided that I wasn't going to let that happen.   I put in a bid – a generous bid (and as it turns out the only bid the seller received)  – I was going to have that clown at any cost.  Would the seller really have thrown away the clown?  Likely not but his item description certainly grabbed my attention as well as my dollars.  The clown is very happy here with all my other treasures and he adds  color to my ever-growing collection of clowns.

It has been suggested to me by members of my family (sons) that I should have some kind of value indication on the bottom of all my treasures.  The boys are thinking ahead when some day they will have to unload all this stuff on to somebody(s) else.  I believe that my collection(s) are priceless; but, know that someday the boys will have to deal with the shear volume of my glass treasures.  I'm pretty sure that when that day comes I won't be around to offer up much of an opinion.  Best I can hope for is that they don't decide on a whim to take my clowns down to the Potomac River to see if they can swim!