My first Ebay buy came in the mail today!

On Dec 2, I found a pair of shoes for Victoria, the size I was looking for, the brand, and the exact same finish and style as I was hoping to find, ones that are like her current too-small dress shoes.

It was a new listing that day, and the shoes had a “buy it now” price that made the shoes more than worth it, no sweating out the auction, and the price was contained in a good area. Other shoes I HAD been looking at had a “buy it now” price on them first, which was more than I paid for this pair including shipping. So, I got a good deal viewing it that way. The other thing is, the other shoes if I had gone into the auction would have cost the same, or MORE, as they ended with a snipe bid winning, so whatever her max bid was, it would have made my snipe bid go to a higher amount, based on her max bid; if my max bid was higher than hers, or if hers higher than mine, different ending prices would have shown, but all in all, it ended well, with me happy with a new pair of shoes for Victoria.

Indeed, a good buy, as they are in our home already. Bought in the AM on Dec 2 as a “buy it now” feature, shipped from CA priority mail and in our home by Dec 4. That is QUICK!

These are Elefanten shoes, the only normally findable thing that truly fits our childrens feet correctly. They are pricey, of course, so finding Ebay shoes, from someone who wore them once or twice, wow. They are practically-speaking, brand new. For way less than half-price brand-new-full-price-speaking.

Nordstrom Rack has Elefantens on deep discount at their “Nordstrom Rack” stores. Well, you have to know the exact second they are delivered … we’ve found a few there in the past few years, but usually only the odd things. We’ve paid full for good shoes most often. Not shirking that at all, as we get every penny out of them. Sometimes it’s just that penny-pinching is THE-only-way. Sometimes it’s a choice.

I’ve always known the value of garage sales, thrift stores, etc. My dear husband is a bit, quite a bit, more hesitant to even want to look at something like that, let alone consider even buying it.

He trusts my judgement when looking at things, and he knows that I say yeah or nay based on quality, not on price. When speaking of brand new items, always my choice is a middle or top of the line object. Show me things without prices, and I’ll pick the one I like, honestly, the best. It comes out it’s in mid or high range of price every time. Comparing Apples to Apples. or even Oranges to Apples.

So now he’s seen my first online used buy. He’s impressed. Well ebay is built on trust. Trust to bid and come through with pay. Trust that what the seller says is true. There is a feedback system that keeps this in check. It’s better than a thrift store or garage sale. I can see an item and see it’s quality in real life, and on ebay, it’s the pictures and words of the worthy seller.

My objective then is to be a seller. That will be my #1 thing, selling. My buying is to replace things in our wardrobe, and find books, and gadgets we need, within right price-ranges. Selling, is to sell re-sell-able wardrobe items, and toys, and such, and anything else I find that’s sell-able. My eye has had that roving desire for doing such for a long time. So now that I feel alright about letting go of baby clothes and such, I will be able to fund my for-selling-purchased-locally stuff.

At any rate, I really like using Ebay so far, partially due to, I am sure, AuctionTamer, which I hope I’ll be able to continue using, but that relies on … $

My sister has been Ebay-ing for a long time. I finally got serious and did something this past weekend.

I watched a few auctions for a bit, got AuctionTamer, and started using that to track auctions, and found a few things I wanted.

Did I then bid on anything?

No. I am a sniper.

I won my first auction, a coat for Victoria.

My second auction I lost, due to using the same method as the first time, but something messed up with my ID not being recognized, and my Autobid didn’t go through. Had it gone through, I’d have won the pair of shoes for Victoria that we need. I didn’t have enough time to manually make the bid work, so the auction was over a split second before my bid finally tried to submit.

So, my second auction isn’t credited towards me as anything, it is not one I participated in, officially.

The third auction, I won. Hands down, no other interest in it. A pair of boots for me. It was a good find, exactly the thing I look for in stores, display shoes on sale. Display shoes are usually my exact size –6 american.

Sometime I’ll start selling, something. Right now, it’s nice to find stuff we need, and spend less getting it via ebay even with the shipping, than looking in used stores, consignment shops, garage sales, etc. AND the best part is, it’s FUN!

It’s a really good thing we have very limited money. I’m limiting myself to looking at only what we truly need, and have wanted or planned on getting when affordable.

So I’m looking at some skirts and dresses for me and Victoria as well. It’s interesting to see the same names over and over, other bidders lead me to other auctions. I basically don’t lead anyone anywhere, except for to see what I’ve bid on and won or lost, no current bids generally would be found for me. I’m only a buyer right now, so I’m not going to spill out my ID.