A Day in the Life of an eBay Seller

The alarm goes off at 7:00 AM.  It feels much too early!   I get up, walk the dogs, and sit down to breakfast.  Over breakfast I check in at work-related social media sites:  my business page on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.   Then I come here to blog.  (This is one of my favorite parts of the day!)

I pack anything that sold and drop it off, usually in the neighborhood "blue box."  (Most of my packages are small, and I always print postage on eBay, so they can be mailed in any USPS mailbox.)   If I have any bigger packages, they need to go to the Post Office, which is thankfully only 2 miles away.

Then it is time to list items in my eBay store.  Over summer I'm listing just a few new items a day (5 most days).   I look into one of my "treasure boxes" of unlisted inventory.  (You'll find a peek into one of the boxes above.)  These are items I found at local yard sales, estate sales, or thrift stores.  I try to list similar items on any given day in order to expedite listings.  It is much faster to list 5 motel postcards, 5 cookbooks, or 5 children's books at the same time.

At this point the pups will want to walk again.   This is a nice break!

By now it is probably lunch time, so I make something fast -- usually a sandwich with fruit or yogurt.

Then I settle in for the long afternoon.  This is tedious, so I make sure to have something fun to listen to (usually XM Radio - oh how I love XM!).  Each afternoon I open up Turbolister, my listing program, and pull out my inventory cards.  I am going through items A - Z and checking titles and item specifics.  I am pulling some lower value items to donate.  I am also saving photos to my computer if the listing was created before 2013.   In early 2013 I had a major hard drive crash and lost all my photos.   I had backed up most of my personal pictures but have very few of the eBay pics here.  (I know - not smart!  I learned!)  My goal is to complete this process by Labor Day.  This work fills the afternoon, broken only by a late afternoon dog walk. 

By the time dinner rolls around (6:00 PM) I am delighted to turn the computer off and take a break.  I find I am spending much less time on the computer outside of work hours these days.  I do enjoy my personal Facebook page, and I usually pop in there most often (via iPad or phone).  

This schedule will change in September.  I am excited about Fall, and look forward to spending time on Etsy.  I am trying to freshen up my eBay listings and save photos this Summer, so I can put some real energy into Etsy this Fall.  I will have to post another day in the life then.