BLOGAHOMA

Behind the door, under the next rock, on the next Google search, and sitting across the table from me is a story. Sometimes the story is so wrapped in boring detail and cliche (and being that there are so many stories I have to yet to encounter) I must leave the boring ones behind.  My favorite Oscar Wilde quote…. “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” So in fact I have no time nor patience for the tedious.  I realize my interesting may be someone else’s boring. Not to say that I, myself, might be considered tedious but no one is stopping you from walking away as I describe the person that invented the last stapler I bought, my dog’s antics or how to make the perfect batch of ginger tea gelatin.

Occasionally I am bombarded by so many stories and minutia that I have to crawl into a cave. I absorb and observe so much it makes me dizzy. And yet, it seems, I can’t stop all the zillion ideas, all the lists, from bombarding my every thinking moment. Notice, I didn’t say waking moment for in fact night time brings a crazy quilt of dreams with their own problems to solved.  Three nights ago I had to stop the RV we were in from crashing into the river below. We were on our way down and it was up to me to some how save us all. I did (dont’ ask) and was standing knee deep in water when a team of reporters showed up and interviewed my on the rescue. Sleep can be exhausting. It is amazing to me that others don’t have crazy dreams or don’t remember their dreams at all. My sister, Cathy, a school teacher, dreams that she goes to school or the library. WHAT! Please could I have that dream.

Now back to the cave part. My cave sometimes is a nap. I don’t usually dream during or even move my nap so it is restful. Other escapes include Sudoku, origami, computer Scrabble and now, polishing staplers. Once refreshed I can then face the stories and actually seek them out… cache emptied and memory rebooted.

June 3, 1997 began my stint at ebay. It was very early in the game actually before Meg Whitman started! I’m not sure how I found the site but it was quite intriguing. I remembering someone selling a bar of soap with Jesus’ face on it. It sold but not to me. My first purchase was a Rubber Baby Buddha designed by Rose O’Neill of Kewpie fame. A squeaky toy that I learned later was named “Happy Ho Ho” created in 1940.  I payed the starting price of $9 (I was the only bidder) its now worth around $60. Pretty happy with my purchase I decided to sell. We had an old Camel cigarette can from the 30’s that someone had left in our first home, a 1906 late Victorian. We kept pennies in it for years but I photographed it, scanned in the photo (before digitals were affordable) and put it up starting at a penny for the fun of it. It ended at $51. Amazed I asked the guy he would pay that much and he said he would have payed $80. I knew then that this was my game. Part time of course. It also allowed me to buy things, as I haunted the antique shops, that I did not collect but liked enough to sell.

I am not, by the traditional sense of the word, a gambler but ebay is gambling and not for the faint of heart. It’s more than just chance however. To do it right it takes an eye, knowledge and research, decent photographic skills, marketing and follow-up (my husband handles the after sales including shipping). Selling at first was a whim and then it became an income when I was laid off my job. It helped buy the house I live in, helped pay for my daughter’s education, and buy the groceries for a while. Now after thousands of transactions I don’t need to sell but I am back for the fun of it trading out collections for the fun of it. We’ve sold estates and remainders of a closed pawn shop auctioning only antiques, collectibles and art. Hankies, guitars, Kiowa paintings, pottery, furniture and vintage cars have left from here to points where they are appreciated most the time in the US and Canada but also to Europe as well.

So when I buy a photo album for $35 and sell one of the pictures for $400, buy a hanky for $50 and sell it for $140, a tin pail for $70 and sell it for $400 it’s all worth it. Sometimes is not the high price that it goes for it is the thrill of someone receiving it on the other end who’s been looking for IT for a long time.  Oh, our rating, well it’s 100%.

Times Up on Ebay