How to Sell on Ebay

I retired from the position of Information Systems Manager at Montgomery College in March 2000 at the age of 55. With many early retirees, certainly I included, money becomes an issue since Social Security doesn’t kick in until at least 62. I was enjoying not working 8:30 to 5:00 too much to get another full time job reporting to a boss who never seemed satisfied. I did my 31 years mostly in the stressful field of Information Technology Management and now was the time to enjoy myself, pursue my avocations, sleep late and just plain relax.

One thing a person tends to do over their lifetime is accumulate things. I had many modern first edition books, a coin collection from when I was younger, a skeleton key collection used as decorations on various key holders in my kitchen, and numerous miscellaneous items cluttering up my house. I sold my coin collection for a very fair price to a local coin store. The book dealer I sold some of them to took only a small fraction of my books and paid a small fraction of their list price. However, I banked the money and added the interest income to my monthly income.

As you may expect of a worker in the computer field, I have my own PC at home and have Internet access. I have a digital camera and a printer as well. I noticed that my daughter, Alyson, was selling some of her books on Ebay using my computer and getting good money for them. One beat up paperback book she found for $1 in a used bookstore sold for $82. Not a bad profit. She set up an Ebay account on my PC under the user name “sweetdeath” which came from some Rock song she liked. It occurred to me that Ebay might be a good way to rid myself of my remaining accumulation of stuff. I could surely use the money and a less cluttered home.

First Things First