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! 

YARDSELLR--A NEW KID ON THE EBAY AUCTION BLOCK

Dutch Boy and Dog
Cover Art by Carl J. Becker
WOMAN'S HOME COMPANION--August, 1908
(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)

One of the greatest phenomena of the 20th century--and globally sprawling into the 21st century--is eBay!

Yet one of the most remarkable characteristics of our American heritage and, more specifically, our capitalist system, is this notion of competition.

That said, it's time for the juggernaut auction site, eBay, to move over--just a bit--as the newbies pull up with their slightly different variations and less expensive fee-based programs to continually attract more and more sellers.  

What's my personal take on it?

Honestly, I will always be an eBayer.  While I was a hobbyist with this giant venue in the 1990's, my wife and I officially opened up the LORDS OF THE FLY eBay store on January 1, 2000.  It's an easy day for me to remember, and it's thus equally simple for me to quickly figure out that we are finishing up our twelfth year.  

So while it's Semper Fi for us when it comes to eBay, I'm definitely interested at this point in time--as alluded to in recent blog posts--in expanding our business.  Just this morning, before my better half left for work, we had a quick brainstorming session in which I laid out to her my business plan for the coming month.  She gave me the green light, and I was jazzed!  It involves a substantial increase in inventory from our primary fly tying supplier, and the capital investment stretches our budget.  The potential financial return, however, given our business sales trend that I've been tracking for the last couple of months, certainly justifies the risk.

The balance between my wife--Ms. Caution--and me--Mr. Impulsive--is a sweet marriage. 

It behooves me, then, to strategize how to stretch our market.  It will involve a few major moves such as:

• Negotiating with our supplier to give us a huge discount if we make a HUGE purchase of materials
• Tweaking our existing eBay ads and prices to optimize our sales and profit margins
• Utilizing to a greater degree the marvelous free advertising that social media provides us (Congratulations, dear reader!  You're participating in that very thing just by reading this blog post!  Thank you so much!)

and

• Making good use of the new kids on the eBay auction block!

A little bit of serendipity here...I just realize, after 29 years of marriage, that I'm turning into my wife. I mean, I'm almost at the end of my post, and I'm only now coming to the theme of it.  LOL!  At my expense...

My point is:  THANK GOD FOR YARDSELLR!

The name itself is a brilliant marketing gem.  It is purposely misspelled, and it consequently implores the reader to take a second look.  That's more than enough to lure someone to visit the website.  And once you're there...well, I'll let you find out for yourself.

I love entrepreneurship.  In fact, I'm passionate about it.  Not the corporate level stuff.  The current protests on Wall Street remind us all about our inherent distaste for corporate gone bad.

No, it's the grass roots level of entrepreneurship that I love.  In subsequent posts, I am going to give you real life examples that we've experienced this past month that exemplify the basic joy of buying and selling at the common man's level.

Oh, alright.  I'll give you an example right now.  See that photo above?  Here's the story behind it.  

One of the things I silently pledged to myself a while ago is that I would never go to yard sales with my wife.  I don't know why...maybe it's because a small part of me hangs on to this macho notion that men don't do that sort of thing.  

Truth is, I think it's more about me being stupid.

Last week, you see, I went to several yard sales and one estate sale with my lovely wife.

And guess what?  I AM HOOKED!

My wife found three old magazines dated 1905, 1906, and 1908.  She picked it up for a dollar apiece.  

One of the magazines still had a cover on it...just barely.  Something about it intrigued me.  

For one thing, the windmills accentuate the picturesque tension between that which is common and that which is magnificent.  I'm looking at a scene that figuratively pulls at my deep desire for nostalgia.  And then I realize that the artist, Carl J. Becker, may himself have sensed the same pull for vintage Holland.

The little Dutch boy appears to be both relaxed and yet impatient about having to hold the pose for the unseen artist.  It is the universal conflict of young boys.  

Finally, look at the little dog.  He displays the honesty of the moment, dejectedly looking at the ground as if silently imploring his master to engage in more interesting fun and games.  One can't grasp the true essence of this brilliant masterpiece without considering the canine's body language.

But check me out--clumsily attempting to pass as an art connoisseur.

Long story short, I detached the cover and...wait a sec!  Looky here...on the flip side is another masterpiece.

Delivering the Mail

N. C. Wyeth, Artist

Inside Front Cover, WOMAN'S HOME COMPANION, August 1908

(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)

Again, we have the nostalgic pull of the Pony Express and the mailbox made from a wooden Cream of Wheat crate.  

One has to wonder:  How long did that cowboy sit on that horse?

And, yes, don't forget...there's that reminiscent theme of an animal telling the true story with its accentuated sad and weary body language.

Captivated by these scenes, I did what any enterprising Hawaiian Odysseus would do.

I listed it on yardsellr.com.  

And, because I'm stupid, I plucked a random figure out of the air and affixed its value to something I truly believe is priceless.

In a nutshell, I'm having fun with this.

I never forget, you see, that just a few short weeks ago, I would animatedly balk at any invitation to frequent thrift stores and yard sales.

Nowadays, I'm the one asking my wife.