I've Closed My eBay Store

I can't believe that I haven't written anything since the middle of August but I have been so incredibly busy!

I started the eBay store and tried it for 2 months and decided I wasn't making enough money from it to justify the time I put in. If I added it up I think I probably made about 50 cents an hour. So exactly 2 months later I closed it.

I had this bright idea to open up an online bookstore through the eBay Store. I bought out a yard sale that had approximately 5,000 books and for 3 weeks I did nothing but research, type, list, wrap, and pack.

The only problem with opening a eBay Book Store is I didn't do enough research on my competition. The competition for a used bookstore is fierce on eBay. There are several book peddlers, and many books are going for next to nothing. If you want to compete you have to sell your books for next to nothing. By the time I figured this out I was exhausted from all the work I had been doing.

I sorted all the books by categories, I had books in my garage (still do), I had books in my kitchen, in my dinning room, in my living room, in my family room, in my office, in the spare bedroom and in our utility trailer. They were sitting in piles on the pool table and around the inside perimeter of the basement.

I researched each book because one of the books I sold was a 1st edition Ray Bradbury book, it sold for $214 so I felt I had to check out each book before I decided what to do with it. After researching each book, I took boxes to my flea market booths, I gave some to a local thrift store, I packed them in lots and sold them on eBay. I've gotten rid of most of them, I probably have about 300 left and hopefully next week will have a new home for them as well.

I did make some money but I sure earned it with my time. I will continue to sell on eBay through the regular auctions but the eBay store is gone! I'm already starting something new, well, a couple of new flea market booths. One is in a brand new flea market and the other is in a well established flea market. I have been yard sailing, and attending more auctions lately to get enough inventory to spread between all the booths. I have to overstock to get through the winter months as the yard sale season is about over.

I've been seriously considering buying another building and opening another flea market / antique store. I sold a very successful business because I was so burnt out on it but I can't seem to get it out of my system! I think everybody that buys and sells knows what I'm talking about.