Success Stories
Seller Success Stories
Back to newsletter
We'd love to hear your story:
Get inspired & inspire others
More success stories
Selling on eBay creates home after sweet home
As she looks forward to retirement, Florida business and property owner Alex Saylor (user ID: palmbeachcollectors) relies on eBay to create her dream home and keep her vacation rentals appealing and up to date.
Alex Saylor counts herself fortunate to call West Palm Beach home. It's a land of plenty and a great source for high-quality, sought-after antiques and collectibles. As an eBay veteran with 11 years of selling under her belt, she knows exactly how to take advantage of that. "Even my sister, who lives in Manhattan, says we have the best thrift shops, consignment stores, and estate sales. It's the perfect area to pick up really beautiful things, cheap, so I tend to be able to make money on my stuff." Alex started out selling vintage American pottery, something she'd been collecting. As her interests changed, so did the items she sold on eBay—from costume jewelry, to artwork, to lamps and unique home décor items.
Furnishing with style and value
Her eBay hobby soon became a practical and economical way for Alex to decorate—and redecorate—the vacation rental properties she owns with her husband. "I did a lot of eBay shopping for a property that I wanted to decorate completely 50s—or mid-century—style." Now Alex is ready to change up the mid-century theme of that riverside home to what she calls "fish camp motif," so she's listing the mid-century items on eBay. When listing collectibles like this, she always makes sure to include the time period it came from, the category of the item, brand or maker name, and condition. For example: "Mint Condition Mid-century Art Pottery by Sasha." She hopes to use the money from the sale of those items to fund the redecorating project—and plans to shop for the décor on eBay.
Building her dream home from floor to ceiling with eBay
Alex's eBay resourcefulness doesn't stop there. She and her husband just bought a house in central Florida with the plan to make it their retirement home in four or five years. Alex calls it "The House That eBay Built" because throughout the remodeling process, eBay has been her source for everything "from light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and tile, to building equipment, building supplies, and appliances." Says Alex, "I got the most for my money on eBay."
With all her eBay selling experience, Alex has some great tips to share with other sellers:
- Taking good pictures is important. Alex explains it's crucial to "Get the right photographic equipment, stage your items for the photo, and take a lot of photos. Some people put things on their dinner table and take a picture, but then you've got all this busyness in the background. I prefer to drape a tablecloth or a blanket over a box. I photograph all sides of the item, any areas of interest, all markings and labels. I include as few as 3 or as many as 10 photos in my listings—it depends how much detail the item has. We're all good judges of what looks nice, you just have to be patient and do enough tests to figure it out."
- Price it right. "When I'm trying to price an item that I don't know the value of, I'll do some research. I'll even check eBay's completed listings. If I have something that I know is common, or that someone else would find on eBay, I check the pricing and try and be competitive with the other things listed."
- There are easy ways to ship. "Using free USPS Flat Rate boxes make any shipping worries go away. A first-time seller might even want to start backwards and think about what items they could sell that would fit in flat rate boxes to make shipping easy." When selling fragile or collectible items, Alex strongly recommends double boxing and insuring the items, just to be safe.
- Minimize shipping costs to your buyers. "I don't charge a handling fee. I try to minimize the shipping costs as much as I can for buyers because, as someone who is often buying stuff, I do look at the shipping cost—you're really not buying anything at a bargain if you have to pay through the nose for shipping. After a while you just sort of know how much shipping will cost." In the meantime, the free eBay shipping calculator can help a lot, and printing shipping labels for free through eBay ensures you get tracking information uploaded automatically.
Making room for eBay selling
Once her retirement property is finished, Alex is looking forward to having a dedicated space for all of her eBay selling activities. "The new house will have an eBay room for me! Having everything—the computer and lots of shelves—in one central location will make it easier for me. I love to shop, but you can't just shop endlessly. At some point you've got to shed and then shop, and then shed and then shop. eBay provides me that opportunity."