eBay Mania!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been working on decluttering my home. That has meant throwing some things out, starting a pile for Goodwill, and listing items for sale on eBay and half.com. I’ve been a half.com seller for quite some time (great way to get rid of textbooks, even those you think are out of date).

I had four auctions finish this week, and all four items sold! I’m very pleased about that. Two sold at the list price, which isn’t great, but hey, if they hadn’t sold, I was just going to donate them or toss them, so I’m happy to have a few extra dollars in my pocket after all fees are paid and items are shipped. Two sold for more than I had hoped, which definitely brightens my day. I still haven’t received payment for one, and I’m a little apprehensive about that, as it sold for $50 to an eBay member without much history, but I’m going to do everything I can to protect myself on that sale.

The downside to selling on eBay and half.com for me means that I have to visit eBay and half.com and see all the things they have for sale. Movies that are on my wishlist being sold for under $2, great books, etc. I just remind myself that I can’t buy anything right now. This month’s budget is finished, and until I have saved up for my upcoming vacations and various bills, there will be no fun spending.

A lot of people say that selling on eBay isn’t worth it because you don’t get a good value for the item. But in my opinion, if I’m not using the item, it’s not worth anything to me. Something shoved in a box in the back of a closet has no value, no matter what I paid for it. Sure, I’m not going to sell something I bought for $100 for 99 cents, but if I can get $50 for it, I’ll be very happy.

I’ve decided to keep a spreadsheet of what I sell and don’t sell and all the various fees associated with the sale to see a true representation of how much money I’m making (or rather, recouping) by these sales. So far, even if the open auctions don’t sell, I’m still ahead a decent chunk of money. Every cent helps!

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.