Setting My Odyssean Sails for eBay Waters

1893 World's Fair--Chicago's Great Telescope

Hawaiian Odysseus Photo

My odyssey takes me on the most interesting twists, turns, and detours. 

I had sworn to never attend yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, church bazaars, and the like. 

Perhaps the core of my disdain for these haunts was my perception that this was part and parcel of a feminine mystique, not a hangout for men. I'm not machismo by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that I had no interest whatsoever in going to these places because--in my early adult years, at least--I only saw women frequenting these places. 

Plus, I learned a long time ago that shopping with a woman is like getting my teeth pulled without the balm of local anesthesia. You know...the torture of dealing with a pain that tears at the tiniest yet most vulnerable of nerves...coping in vain to deal with it by arching my back and slowly realizing that my butt is two feet off of the chair.

In any event, 9 parts because of the major economic stall of the last two years and 1 part out of sheer desperation to jump start my anemic eBay business, I went looking for new adventures.  

And so it was, one fateful Sunday morning, that I set my Odyssean sails against the wind, the figurative ocean spray (more like spit) of old tapes in my head filling me with skepticism and every excuse in the book to stay home: Don't do it! You'll regret it! You'll be the only man in the place!

Long story short (because this post is truly about something other than my advent as a thrift store pirate), I was hooked! Like a bonito attacking the tantalizing leg of an octopus attached to a huge curved object, I was HOOKED!

Funny thing is, so were a lot of other men. My preconceived notions melted like the arctic glaciers succumbing to global warming.

At this thrift store sponsored by the College Place Seventh-Day Adventist church, I happened to find this old antiquarian book that had been published in 1894. The book was a collection of black and white photographs from the 1893 Columbian Exposition, more familiarly known as the Chicago World's Fair.

In the hopes of taking my eBay store to a new level, I had been selling vintage ads for a couple of months with some success. I had at least a novice's perception, then, that vintage items appealed to a great number of people globally. I also had been besieged with spam mail advertising the collectible prints niche, some of which I had actually been reading.

The combination of these two activities, plus my predisposition towards impulsivity, prompted me to act quickly. 

Against my better judgment, I forked over a hard-earned fifty cents to the portly woman sitting at the sales desk.

 1893 World's Fair--Thomas Coke Ordaining Francis Asbury

(Hawaiian Odysseus Photo)

The next day, I did what every kindergarten boy wishes he could do...I literally tore that book apart, carefully removing the black and white prints in the process. I also had the wherewithal--don't ask me where that came from--to take photographs of the cover page and a small paragraph. These would help me authenticate the age and source of these prints.

It took me a few hours to process the pages and list at least a dozen prints. Once I felt comfortable with the basic template, things moved a little more quickly.

My cursory review of collectible art prints revealed that people were charging relatively high prices for these prints. Being a newbie, I mustered enough courage to push the ante just a bit while remaining on the borderline of my comfort zone.  I set my price at $25 a print.

As of this writing--and it's roughly been about two months--I have been blessed with three sales, and several more prints have watchers (which doesn't necessarily mean I have a sale but at least unveils the possibility). 

1893 World's Fair--Dom Pedro's Carriage

(Hawaiian Odysseus Photo)

Granted, I'm only on the ground floor of this exciting niche. But the nice thing about that is: Unless you're looking for the parking garage, the only way left is up!

And if there's anyone out there in blog reader land who learned something new or was at any level inspired to get out of his or her comfort zone and risk something new, maybe even strange, I welcome you to comment on, tweet, and share this post with others.

Now go and set your own Odyssean sails! And God bless you all! 

HOW I'M USING VINTAGE TO CREATE AN INCOME TODAY

Heinz Baked Beans Advertisement 

Woman's Home Companion

August, 1908

(These and subsequent images are Hawaiian Odysseus photos.)

103 years ago, the people who labored long hours to bring a certain edition of Woman's Home Companion together in time to make the publication deadline had no idea how their creation would help a certain backpacking Hawaiian wayfarer earn an honest income over a century later. 

With the magic that only science and technology can concoct, sprinkled with supernatural blessings from the Author of all good things, here I am-- smack dab in the ethereal Internet cloud--resurrecting, if  you will, yellowing pieces of paper and selling them on the eBay juggernaut.

And, wow!  Am I ever enjoying it!

For those of you who've been following Hawaiian Odysseus, you're aware of the journey...and all the changes along the way.  Thanks again for loyally being a part of this trek through life.  

For newbies to this spirited blog, HELE MAI!  Welcome!  You've hopped on this oft-derailed train at an exciting time.

Why?  Well, because I'm exuberant that-- 

• I have no idea where it's going!
• I'm excited about the possibilities!
• It's kinda scary, and...well...I've always been a sucker for scary movies!

Guess you could say I'm an adrenaline junkie.  Which aptly goes hand in hand with my OCD fascination with coffee shops.  Caffeine only enhances its partner in crime.

On the threshold of senior citizenship...in the autumn of my life...I am the proverbial Huckleberry Finn, setting out on a raft (crafted from bamboo and koa...just had to give a shout out to my Asian/Pacific Islander ethnic groups!) and traveling to who knows where?

What is this guy talking about?  Doesn't he have family and financial obligations?  What must his wife think about  him?  Is he just a loser rationalizing his imaginary successes?  Is he a nut case?

Actually, dear friends, the way I envision it, it's like being Clark Kent and Superman.  So, okay, nut case would be the closest fit.  : )

The primary identity is that of a guy who got very tired about a year ago of working an unrewarding job as a bagel baker on a graveyard shift and who intensely hungered for a freedom so very few in American society have.  In the present, Clark works obsessively--sometimes 12 hours a day--to get his eBay business to the next level.  The work ethic is disciplined and very grounded.

And then there's the alter ego--the Superman identity called Hawaiian Odysseus--whose mission in life is to be a blessing to his community, be it locally, regionally, nationally, or even globally.

I'm all about being a champion of the underdog...and, sadly, the underdog of today is the average middle class individual who grew up in a home espousing the American Dream only to find himself/herself stuck in the current economic hell of waning incomes, increasing taxes, foreclosures or the threats thereof, and never knowing with any certainty when the ax will fall in our paycheck to paycheck existence.


So, for the next year or so, my Clark goal is to build my internet business while Superman champions the cause of the quickly disappearing middle class man by way of this blog.  Simply put, for the time being, I will be posting a lot about how I'm developing my eBay store--LORDS OF THE FLY--taking it to newer, higher, and more challenging levels until I attain the ever-elusive financial freedom.


Or not...


And therein lies the paradox of risk.  


Risk is life's pair of dice.  You win or you lose by the same toss of those dice.  What makes the difference, I've discovered, is one's attitude towards risk.  If we run from it, always playing it safe, it's almost as if we'd never lived at all.  If we embrace it, respect it, tolerate it, and harness its awesome power, we liberate our God-given imagination, creativity, and talents.  And then, dear friend, our universe knows no limits.


The real question is:  What involves more risk?  To continue, in this Great Recession, to struggle from paycheck to paycheck  working for someone or something else?

or...

To think outside the box and embrace risk.

Sometimes, the greatest first step in shedding the inhibiting fear  is to walk right into it.

Now, I can just imagine my Christian friends wagging their puritanical fingers at me and, with furrowed brows, expressing disdain over what might sound like New Age hocus pocus.

My response?  Tell that to a hundred thousand Israelites walking on the Red Sea mud, clay, and sand, hurrying with great trepidation and anxiety to get to the other side, extremely concerned about the possibility of the towering and massive walls of water on both their left and their right swallowing them up.  Certainly, on that fateful day thirty-three hundred years ago, they knew RISK intimately.


They shed their inhibiting fear by walking smack dab into that tumultuous and turbulent sea.


And the rest is history.


What is this guy talking about?  Isn't he just rambling?  I'm not sure I'm following him.  Who does he think he is?  Clark Kent?  Superman?  What in the world is he talking about?


About these asides...on Thanksgiving evening, over at my sister-in-law's home in Stanwood, Washington, a town about 45 miles north of Seattle, my son, brother-in-law, and I watched this comedian who utilizes asides from the audience's point of view to poke fun at himself.  I thought his hour-long monologue was hilarious!  So I thought I'd use the device myself.


See...it's all part of what I'm talking about.  Taking risks...trying new things...thinking outside the box...learning to be flexible with life.


Which brings me full circle to what this post was intended to convey.


I'm forging new niches in my eBay store.  New niches utilizing old articles.  


Old as in vintage...more specifically, vintage ads, articles, prints...and sometimes, the entire vintage magazines.


Where do I find them?  At yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, and thrift stores.


Yes, indeed, the old adage of One man's trash is another man's treasure is certainly tried and true.

Armour's Veribest Meats Advertisement

Woman's Home Companion

August, 1908

Take these ads from a 103-year-old American periodical, for example.  Quite literally, they're dirty pieces of paper--scuffed up, yellowed by the process of oxidation, and sometimes pockmarked with water stains--and yet bearing  value, both monetary and intrinsic.

Progress has been slow, but I've proven to myself that I can sell items like these on eBay.  I've figuratively walked into my fear, as it were, and by doing so, done extensive damage to my acquired inhibitions.

I've also learned some things in the process.  As part of my Superman (aka Hawaiian Odysseus) mission, then, I incorporate little things I learn into my actual listings.  

For example, I now put the following text into my descriptions for the vintage items I'm selling:

Why Collect Vintage Ads?

• To preserve Americana
• To understand our heritage
• To appreciate our social, cultural, political, and economic roots
• To enhance our grasp of history
• To compare and contrast the past with the present
• To leave as a legacy for future generations
• To own as antique collectibles
• To acknowledge the art and artists of yesteryear
• To frame and craft into attractive gifts
• To utilize as decorative household pieces
• To buy, sell, and trade
• To enjoy a good return on investment

By no means am I suddenly a connoisseur of vintage ephemera, but it's certainly a pleasant and serendipitous experience to learn new things as I unearth these nostalgic mementoes.

As I carefully remove these items from their respective magazines, I also recall the circumstances by which I came across the periodicals in the first place. 

For example, the three ads presented here came from the same magazine, a 1908 issue of WOMAN'S HOME COMPANION.

Several posts ago, I wrote about how I preferred having my wife drop me off at a coffee shop while she and our daughter went thrift store shopping.  I was pretty clear about my disdain for shopping.

So, life being a learning curve, several Sundays later, in my quest to find new and different things to sell on eBay, my wife took me to this estate sale in Walla Walla.  I was still in my You're not gonna catch me going to yard sales! mode, so I bravely stayed in the car and gave my wife instructions to look for old magazines.

Several minutes later, she called me on my cellphone and told me that she'd found three old magazines.  I was so excited I almost left the car...but I rationalized that she had the keys, and I didn't want to leave the car unlocked.  So I just waited for her return.

To my dismay, the three periodicals she'd bought were without covers and had liberally been dissected.  A kidney here, a liver there, another organ missing on page 23.  I jest, of course, but seriously--someone had removed ads and/or articles from these ancient issues, rendering the magazines practically worthless and impossible to sell.

I've had them sitting around for the last couple of months or so and was about to toss them out the other day when I stopped and thought, Hey, wait a sec!  I might not be able to sell these magazines, but I can certainly try to sell the ads...

And so there you have it.  I cut these three ads out, did some research on eBay, worked on the descriptions and overall presentation strategy, and posted the items this morning.  By the time you read this, the ads may no longer be available for viewing on eBay.  The reason for this is that expired listings are only retrievable for 90 days.

Suffice it to say that I'm having a wonderful time doing the ultimate recycling...making treasure from another man's trash.

Hey, even if the owners of that country estate thought they were making an easy three bucks selling those magazines to my wife, I'll make multiple times our investment by--yes, you're getting it!--taking risks.  Small-scale risks, you might say, but small or big, risk-taking of any magnitude is one and the same.

A recent big risk for me was to eventually overcome my preconceived notions and finally get out of the car at the next estate sale...and the next...and the one after that...

Okay, so I've set the stage for you.  I'll occasionally be posting about my adventures on eBay, Etsy, yardsellr, Craigslist, and so forth in the weeks to come.  

I'm really looking forward to 2012.  Some say that the Mayan prediction about the world coming to an end in the new year is the absolute gospel.  What little I know about that prediction indicates that they misinterpreted the Mayans' true intent.

But then again, what works for me is that the world as I've known it will essentially come to an end for me.  Why?  Because broader horizons are opening up.  This time next year, to offer a preview of two of my desired goals, I will have my own off-eBay store and will be actively trading with China and other distant ports of call.

You are more than welcome to monitor my progress.  The personal ministry of Hawaiian Odysseus is to encourage the struggling common man all over the globe to persevere by taking risks.

If I can do it--and I will!--then by all means, so can you! 

Ivory Soap Advertisement

Woman's Home Companion

August, 1908

CAUSE CELEBRE AT WALLA WALLA'S COFFEE CONNECTION--SUCCESS WITH A NEW EBAY NICHE

Browsing eBay at the Coffee Connection Cafe

Main Street, Walla Walla

(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)

I am stoked!

True, the bottomless cup of Joe and the delicious mid-morning edibles are fantastic at the Coffee Connection Cafe in downtown Walla Walla.  The A-1 service I'm receiving from the waiter and waitress is superior to anything I've experienced thus far in southeast Washington.  And-oh!--the homemade biscuits are as big as bagels with a taste to absolutely die for!

What's amping up my excitement this very moment is that I sold something on eBay.  Something I paid a dime for and turned it around on the world's greatest online auction site for a 2,820% profit.  

(Bringing that staggering differential down to earth, in terms of dollars and cents, I made $2.82 for the magazine sale.)

Here's the breakdown.  

I found the magazine at St. Vincent de Paul, a noteworthy thrift store about a block west of the Valley Transit Center on Main Street.  It cost me a measly 10 cents, an absolute steal considering the near mint quality of the National Geographic issue.  

The Buy it Now fixed price listing fee on eBay was 20 cents.

After the issue sold, the final value fee was $1.29.

When the buyer made his payment, I was charged a PayPal fee of 59 cents.

Utilizing free USPS priority mail padded envelopes helps keep my shipping costs down.  Still, the service costs $4.95 per parcel.

Labor?  I work hard on my eBay business, but let's just say it's all a labor of love as I diligently attempt to make a living that is far more meaningful to me than slaving away on a graveyard shift baking 10,000 bagels a night for a boss who was just plain constipated about giving out well-deserved kudos, never mind a decent wage compensatory for the effort.  

But I digress.  Whew!  Did I have all that in me?

So, labor aside, my total overhead was $7.13.  

I charged my customer $9.95.

My profit, then, was $2.82, or--just as I mentioned earlier--a 2,820% net increase!

Do you think I'll keep looking for National Geographic (and other) magazines to sell?  

You bet I will!

You see, the thrill of it all was proving to myself that I could actually step out of my comfort zone and develop a new niche for my eBay business.  

For eleven years now, I've been selling fly tying materials and supplies.  With the cost of hooks rising, it was getting difficult to sustain a profit margin that made sense after all the numbers were crunched.  So, especially in the last three months when I moved back home to College Place from my sojourn in the Seattle area, I have been diligently trying to find new and maybe even multiple streams of income in an overall dry creek bed of an economy.

So every seemingly little move forward is, in my deeply appreciative soul, a HUGE accomplishment.

Any progress has been slow and clumsy.  In the spirit of open disclosure, as embarrassing as it is to me, I'd like to share with you the eBay item number so you can look it up and see for yourself just how clumsy.

Here, I'll make it easy for you.  Click on this link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160654483828?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D160654483828%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_1387wt_952

In the second paragraph, I completely forgot to include other articles that the magazine contained.

Ah, the foibles of an eBay entrepreneur!  But, you know, I'm thankful for the mistakes because I learn more from them than anything a hundred online mentors could ever teach me.

Today was a good day.  Today, I reaped the rewards of thinking outside the box.

And I am totally stoked!

Excellent Decor at the Coffee Connection Cafe

(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)