Addicted To Ebay! (Ebay Addiction)

Member Name: andyoz

Product:	Ebay Addiction
Date:	23/07/09 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Money, Fun, Nostalgia

Disadvantages: Time Waster

Well I just spotted a review on ebay addiction and thought, how have I not already done a review on this! So here it is, well overdue I'm sure!

My name is Andy, and I'm an ebay addict! I first used ebay about five years ago. A friend was hooked and convinced me to take a look. Within an hour I knew this was going to take over my life for the considerable future.

I was amazed at the amount of stuff you can buy on there. Just about anything you can imagine, ebay has it! So I bought all kinds of crazy guff that I really didn't need. But before long I realised I was spending all my money on this site and getting nothing back, except junk I didn't really need.

Enter the business man in me. He hides in my left butt cheek waiting for his opportunity to pounce! And pounce he did!

Since I was a kid I have hoarded stuff. In our attick there is so much junk from my childhood, things I could not bring myself to throw away. So I thought, could my trash really be someone's treasure? So up into the dark mysterious depths of my attick I crept.

Several hours and 253 spider attacks later, I had a wee pile of junk I was all to happy to part with, providing it was going to make me some quick cash that is! I love my childhood memories, but like a Portuguese winger, I'm a bit of a sell out! And cold hard cash would convince me to part with my memories.

So I dragged down things like my collection of mini boglins, my scalextric, football cards and a few other bits and bobs I thought might be worth something. Then I set to doing my research. Logged onto ebay and had a look if anyone else was selling things similar to mine.

Well the boglins were worth a bit, but not enough for me to get rid of them. The Scalextric was worth more, but postage would be a nightmare and not worth the hassle. However there were masses of football cards for sale on ebay. Including some of the ones I had!

So I promply set myself up an account. I must mention ebay are very evil in this regard. They make it so easy for your first time, just kind of lul you into that false sense of security, and then when you have sold a few items nice and easy, BANG! Your hooked!

And this is just what happened, I sold my cards and stickers for a nice little amount. Made about £100 all together. So would I pocket my money with glee and run off to the sweet shop? Or would my left butt check spring into action.

Well am afraid ebay had me hooked. Before long I was buying trading cards. And then trying to sell them on for a profit. It was trial and error for the first few months as I learned how the market worked. I made some losses and I made some profit, and all in all broke even.

But I was learning all the time. I learnt how much things were worth and how much I should be paying. How to get more bids on my items, how to make them appeal to a wider audience.

So that was it, a small business was born! Over the next few years I became a dealer in collectables. Mainly bubblegum and cigarette cards. A few other things here and there as well. I started keeping accounts and did everything very professionally.

While this business is not enough to live off, it is a nice bit of extra money for me, and I do enjoy it. Yesterday I bought a big batch of cards worth £250, was willing to pay £350 so it was very exciting as the bidding closed.

I usually tend to sell things on a Sunday evening, and I enjoy watching all the bids come in at the last minute, hopefully seeing my profits so sky high. I have had a few big success stories over the years, the most noticable was a few years back. I bought a Panini Mexico 70 sticker album, with just six stickers missing. It cost me £256. A bargain I thought, thinking I might get £350 for it when I sold it. However some rich bloke from Austria got himself in a bidding war with some southern fool. Think they must both have been on the booze at the time. Anyway with 1 minute to go on my auction the bidding was a £380. Already a tidy profit. However it went crazy and my album sold for £1015! Wow! I made nearly £750 profit on that one item alone!

Now I admit that was a one off, and have never had anthing like that since, but do occasionally hit it big with something. And the excitement of this really keeps me hooked.

Then of course I do still buy crazy stuff I have no real need for. When my paypal account is looking healthy I do tend to splurge on things I want rather than need, but I suppose its all just giving the money back to where it came from in the first place.

So yes, I love ebay and am addicted! It has made me lots of money over the years, brought me hours of enjoyment and it found a home for my 'trash'.

So is it a bad thing to be an ebay addict? Well will have to let you decide that one. But for me personally, this is not a habbit I will be looking to kick anytime soon!

Summary: Addicted and proud