FAIL: eBay

Sorry to post two FAIL entries in a row. My life is going quite well at the moment, so I feel bad being Debbie Downer, but this one really was my own ignorance and I have learned much from the experience. Hopefully, this might help someone else avoid the same experience?

Last October after a stuff purge, I was inspired to try selling some of my things around town to hit the jackpot. Getting rid of stuff & making money off it, it's perfect! Here's that story. So this time around, I decided to try selling two items on eBay.

I listed my items, took pictures, wrote good descriptions, waited in agony for a week until the bidding was over, sold both items, figured out how to link PayPal with my eBay account, scoured my parent's basement for a proper shipping box, wrestled with a question, "Can a flag really fit in a manila envelope?" (which it can!), carefully wrapped each item and shipped them. I probably spent about three hours on this whole process. In the end, both items added together brought in $12.49. Shipping ended up being $9.06 providing me with a grand total profit of $3.43.

What I learned from the adventure:

• Sell small things on eBay
• Sell expensive things on eBay
• Charge lots and lots of $ for shipping on eBay
  
• I would much rather spend hours trying to save money than spend hours trying to make money
• eBay is too much work unless it's your full-time job or you are just really good at it

Until I figure out a better way to make $ off my old stuff, I am just going to give it away!