Our eBay Adventure Update

So, as previously posted, this summer David and I ventured into the seller's side of eBay. We started slow with a couple old iPods to test the waters. We wanted to see if we could make some money on items we weren't using at home - things that were just collecting dust or taking up space.

It took about two months for us to really get the swing of it - how to handle international buyers, how to save the most money on shipping, what to do when you don't get paid, which number on the USPS receipt is your tracking number, what to do when your buyer won't pay, what to do when you have an international buyer not pay, and the most important question of all ... Is the time and effort worth it? Are we actually making a profit??

I treated this endeavor as a business from the beginning - so I've kept every receipt and logged every expense into a spreadsheet my dad would be very proud of. When I got September's eBay invoice today and was able to plug in my final numbers for the transactions during the past 30 days and calculate our profit, I was blown away! I was honestly just hoping to be in the green. (One month this summer we only made a grand total of $6 because I'd gone negative on two items after shipping.) September was a success! We were in the green this month! And, we'd turned a pretty significant profit considering we'd only sold things that we weren't using / didn't need anymore / hadn't touched in years.

So, what are we doing with our extra cash? Right now, we're putting most of it into a travel fund. It feels like putting pennies into a piggy bank. But if eventually some unused articles of clothing and last semester's textbooks can turn into a plane ticket, we could be looking at the best version of up-cycling yet.

If you have any eBaying tips! I'd love to hear them!