Ebay-PayPal-Craigslist & things like that

[Bandit]

I just won an item on Ebay. Something real nice to me, that I have always wanted. The Trustee will probably try to take it from me, but I will break it before he gets it. (not joking either) It is a Franklin Mint piece that retails for $400.00. The least expensive I have ever seen the item anywhere was on Craigslist for 200.00 & I could have probably got that for 170.00. BUT! I won this piece for 60.00 on Ebay. I don't know if the person selling it really knew what they had because they were new to selling & I was their 4th buyer.

I have become very good at bargain shopping & bidding properly on Ebay also finding quality items through Craigslist. Anyone else good at it? Let's talk!

1) My first question is, does anyone wonder if Ebay & Craigslist, things like that is a real good way to make an extra income?

Why do I ask? I am kind of thinking that is where some of the money is now days if you have the things to sell. For example someone was trying to sell an open package of vintage paper napkins & I thought that was kind of dumb, but they will sell it & ship it eventually.
OTH- I see what I call junk all over the place but I guess people buy anything. I don't know why we do this but we do.

I sold two things this year for my cousin on Craigslist & he was suprized that I got as much for him as I did. I also sold my old beater car & it went within 24 hours. People were ringa dinga linging the phone off the hook!

2)Question 2. This is BK related but I don't really want the thread to be about BK, if possible, more of an upbeat thought.

Does anyone know what happens with PayPal accounts after a BK?
Can you still use the Buyers Credit on PayPal after the other cards are shut down?
Do we register a bank card instead of a CC?
Or are we just screwed there as well, & PayPal cuts us off?

Anyone know what happens there?


& then...back to our good deals, sales, bargains & bids!

[CindyLou]

Bandit,
I don't think the trustee will even need to know about your franklin mint purchase. You only purchased it for 60 so that's all they need to know. I wouldn't even worry about it

[Bandit]

Bandit,
I don't think the trustee will even need to know about your franklin mint purchase. You only purchased it for 60 so that's all they need to know. I wouldn't even worry about it

I hope not & Thanks for the confidence, cindylynnsmith. Since this is my personal journal for later I may as well be honest. I also got the other one from Franklin Mint for 80.00.
I will smash them both if they ask about it, or give them to my mother or aunt. retail value is crazy because that would be almost 600.00. But only cost me 140.00 for both. Pretty good eh??

I really don't have much to put in my personal exemption, so I may as well use it.

Any way,
Here is what I won on Ebay. I know it is dumb to some people but I thought they were really cool & have liked them for a long time. These are not the actual auctions I won but it is the same exact Franklin Mint.

http://www.franklinmint.com/images/B11RV31l.jpg

http://www.franklinmint.com/images/B20UK31l.jpg

The second one I got looks like this one & has etchings in the glass with black sand.

http://images.andale.com/f2/114/103/10669963/1076528722207_HUR1.jpg

The last one I would like is the glass from OZ. that one costs about 600 to 2,000 (but that will never happen) & I only know one person who is making an exact replica of the glass in Dorothys final hour & it is not FranklinMint. It has to be special ordered.

http://www.franklinmint.com/images/B11XH04l.jpg

I dont want/need the whole thing, just the gargoyle glass with sand.

[Peevee]

I buy and sell on ebay all the time. I had a paypal account when I filed chapter 13 it was never mentioned and it had a zero balance. I have never sold anything of great value just odd and end things I pick up cheap at yard sales. I sold a motorcycle once that brought $700 and it was salvage material.

[BKOnce]

Beware of faked items or look-alike, brand-name imitation, etc.. all over the Internet.... including eBay too.. China loves to second market things... on luxury and antique items..

[Bandit]

I buy and sell on ebay all the time. I had a paypal account when I filed chapter 13 it was never mentioned and it had a zero balance. I have never sold anything of great value just odd and end things I pick up cheap at yard sales. I sold a motorcycle once that brought $700 and it was salvage material.

Yah. I am thinking it is a little different from regular credit because of the buy/sell going on.
So what you are saying is, you were still able to sell & make purchases after the Ch 13??

I know there are at least two ways
1) Buyers Credit & then you make payments.
2) Paypal simply charges to an existing CC. (this option will cease though)
3) ? I also believe it can be attached to a checking account. Not sure & I have never done that.

I don't know, just trying to see the future a little better.

[Bandit]

Beware of faked items or look-alike, brand-name imitation, etc.. all over the Internet.... including eBay too.. China loves to second market things... on luxury and antique items..

This is a very good point & there is a lot of that on Ebay. It is difficult though to copy something from something Franklin Mint because it is a very detailed item. I suppose it is not impossible.

I do watch closely.
1) I wont purchase from a seller who has no communication without expecting something- something el cheapo from China.
2) I double check the feedback, AND watch closely to wether or not they are selling multiple identical items or heirlooms, estate sales etc.

One must be very careful with this.
I divided it up into 3 categories:
A. China Junk

B. Middle of the road- You might get a good bargain & you might pay too much. This is important to know the high end & the low end of what an item is going for so we don't over bid.
1) I have seen the same exact item go one day for $150. The next day it goes for 75.00. The third time it sells for 35.00. I wait & watch everything being sold at a certain time then wait for the best time to jump in.
I also avoid the pitfall of bidding when there are too many people squabbling & bidding at the same time. The price goes up too fast. Patience is better than anxious gambling.

C. Good quality for a good price. Good quality for an expensive price.

I lean toward b & C, a fair price to a great bargain. I am also intrigued by the different forms of bidding and selling.



I have been on ebay since it first started but only bought about 15 items over the years. Lately I have not been able to do much so I have been spending a little more time studying & evaluating what is really happening there. I have never sold through Ebay, only a couple of things to Craigslist.

If I ever sold on Ebay, I would never try to rip someone off or charge more than what it really costs to ship & insure an item-THIS is also important to watch because some sellers ARE ripping people off that way but most of them are not.

[jennordhavn]

I have been selling stuff on Ebay off an on for years now. I will only sell stuff that will get a decent price, otherwise I think it's a waste of my time. Basically I will sell my kids' used brand name clothes or shoes and electronics. I sold both my DF's and my used Razr phones when we upgraded and got new ones. I sold them for more than we paid for them......lol. I NEVER charge too much for shipping. I am always very fair with my pricing and shipping. I also buy things from Ebay occasionally. I have purchased clothes, books, DVDs, toys, etc. On principle, I will never bid on something where the shipping is inflated, even if the item would still be cheap. I also never pay more than about 1/2 of what I could buy the item for new (if it is used) or about 3/4 of what I could get it for it it's new.

I also LOVE Craigslist. I use this for bigger items where shipping is not practical. I have sold used kids clothes, a broken but working laptop, a doll house, scooter, Gas BBQ, bookcase, all my old VHS tapes, Dell printer and other items on Craigslist. I have also purchased items. My latest purchase was a rug that matches my baby's room decor. I got it for $15. The only thing I don't like about Craiglist is there are so many flakes that call and then never show up.

As for the Paypal card, since it is a debit card, I don't think I would list it if the balance was $0. It's kinda like a bank account so if it's zero I don't see the point. I don't know about the Buyers Credit though, I've never used that.

[kl030505]

There is a SAHM on another forum I belong to who sells on Ebay as a "part time job". She can clear a couple hundred dollars a month sometimes. She goes to local thrift shops on their $0.39 days and scrounges for the name brand, quality baby and child clothing. Then, she takes good photos, groups items by size, season, style, whatever and sells on ebay. She bought one little dress for $0.39 and ended up selling it over over $60 I think.

If you have the time, patience, and organizational skills then I think it can make a decent supplemental income (some extra "fun" money). She does have to pay income tax if she makes over a certain amount in a given year.

As a full time work out of the house mom with a long commute, this is simply not possible for me. I would however be happy to drop off a bunch of items I have that I need to get rid of for someone else to deal with and just take like 10-20% of whatever the profit is. But I can't find anyone in my area willing to take a lot of what I have (I have a ton of new, instructor edition textbooks to get rid of that should be sold on half.com), so I will likely end up donating to a library if I can get them to take it. I simply do not have the time for that stuff.

ETA: I have a paypal account and currently have no working credit cards. I used my checking account. It's called an electronic check... I haven't actually purchased something from ebay with it yet, but have successfully received $$ and given it away through paypal that way and it worked fine. (on my Mommy message board I sold a bunch of my daughter's old clothes to another member and she paid me through paypal. I also purchased something from another member that way). So, we didn't actually go through ebay, but we used paypal and using my checking account has worked just fine thus far.

[chpxiii]

Yah. I am thinking it is a little different from regular credit because of the buy/sell going on.
So what you are saying is, you were still able to sell & make purchases after the Ch 13??

Yes. I did.

I know there are at least two ways
1) Buyers Credit & then you make payments.
2) Paypal simply charges to an existing CC. (this option will cease though)
3) ? I also believe it can be attached to a checking account. Not sure & I have never done that.

I don't know, just trying to see the future a little better.

Since I do not have a credit card, when I signed on to PayPal I linked a checking account to PayPal. That way I am able to withdraw funds for free (do a "withdrawal to bank account") and I get the funds in anywhere from 2 to 5 days.

I can also add funds to my PayPal account from my checking account by having a checking account linked to my PayPal account. When you set that up, PayPal will make two wee deposits into your checking account. When you see them, you then log back into PayPal and confirm the amounts. Then you're all set.

You can use your PayPal account to buy things as well. Using PayPal has some certain advantages as a buyer and seller.

As a seller, be forewarned in that PayPal is more on the buyer's side if there is some sort of a dispute. A buyer can do a charge back and it is up to the seller to prove they actually sent the item.

However, that proof is easy in that you can send your items to the buyer with some sort of delivery confirmation proof.

There are some seller protections on PayPal if you followed the rules and sent the package accordingly. (i.e. buyer must be verified, you send to the address the buyer has on paypal, a few other things.) It's not difficult.

I believe you can also have a credit card set up with PayPal. I have my debit/check card that I use like a credit card set up on PayPal from which I may withdraw funds as well. (But that just comes out of the same checking account I have set up. )

PayPal is relatively easy. They have some things about it I don't like, but so far it's ok since there isn't really anything else out there.

Oh, and eBay owns PayPal. So if you sell stuff on eBay and want the ability to let someone pay via credit card, you HAVE TO USE PayPal and you HAVE TO ALLOW PayPal payments. I guess that's what you get when you have a virtual monopoly.

[chpxiii]

As a full time work out of the house mom with a long commute, this is simply not possible for me.

I don't know where you live, nor am I really asking, but when I read your post I thought of several places here that I've seen called, "I sold it on eBay!" or something like that - there are several such companies. An ebay "store" if you will.

Essentially, you take your stuff there, they evaluate it and if they accept it, they'll sell it for you on eBay. So it's sold under their username on eBay, they do shipping, handle payment, etc. And they take a cut of how much it sold for. More likely, they give you a cut. But it's one way to take stuff you want to sell but don't have time to do it.

[tinroofrusted]

Be careful when it comes to PayPal!
I have an account and a credit account, but many, many people have been seriously financialy harmed by PayPal.

[kl030505]

I don't know where you live, nor am I really asking, but when I read your post I thought of several places here that I've seen called, "I sold it on eBay!" or something like that - there are several such companies. An ebay "store" if you will.

Essentially, you take your stuff there, they evaluate it and if they accept it, they'll sell it for you on eBay. So it's sold under their username on eBay, they do shipping, handle payment, etc. And they take a cut of how much it sold for. More likely, they give you a cut. But it's one way to take stuff you want to sell but don't have time to do it.

I looked into that, but they don't do books, and textbooks are the biggest things I need to get rid of (I went to graduate school and then taught several semesters and I have probably 10 different intro textbooks that publishers send me gor free to get me to use their book in my classes). I don't want to throw them away - what a waste, but don't have time to deal with half.com, and I *really* don't want to have them clogging up the bookshelves anymore. As my daughter gets older, her book collection expands and I need more room for her stuff and to get rid of all those other books.

[kl030505]

Be careful when it comes to PayPal!
I have an account and a credit account, but many, many people have been seriously financialy harmed by PayPal.

How? From the phising email scams? That's not paypal's fault...

[BKOnce]

Books are now considered over-rated, over-abundance, over-producing, and unwanted as generations of e-books/speaking novels produced for CD/DDV starting replacing/competing with them for home shelves, limited space, constrainted librray footage/warehouse, over-population, etc... I already tried many times unsuccesfully to get rid by donating my ever-growing collections to local library technical/computer/school/text books, but they said "No".... so I left them on sidewalks for intruding/curious by-walkers to look/pick on... well, it turns out... some picked, some left wet by the rain, some thrown against the curb by the kids, and ...the rest.. you guessed it right... follow the noble footsteps of county trash/refuse trucks... into either the recycle bins and/or organic wastes... What a waste of valuable, indispensible knowledge nowadays for busy-oriented professional always working full time and have no time to read, enjoy, packing, selling, auction, ect.... !!??.. After all, they are just another spent newspaper to be recycled!!??