So let me get this straight...

"So you don't have to sell online as a source of regular income?"

No, I don't. I do it because I love it. I have been a Stay at Home Mom for going on 9 years. I'm educated. I have had a successful career. I know how to sort laundry, cook a mean steak, use online banking to pay my bills, and I can change a diaper in under 45 seconds.

But somehow, I missed working. I missed interaction with people that said more than 23 words. So I went online looking for work I could do from home. And there it was...ebay. I had some toys that my kids didn't play with anymore, (what I didn't know at the time was that they were collectible) so I looked them up. I couldn't believe that someone was willing to pay me for my second-hand items, and willing to pay to have it delivered to their house! The first item I sold was a Fisher Price Cassette player. The brown one with a handle and the big buttons on top. I remember it clearly because when I bought it, I thought "No way, I had one of these in my classroom in elementary school!" I was hooked.

The Birth of Kid-Cra-Zee Toys and More...

It took me 2 years to get where I am today. I tried several marketplaces, at one time I had 4 sites I was selling on all at the same time. Then, one day, I got a very useful peice of information. Somewhere online I read "The best thing you can do as a seller is have one site that you sell on, stock a variety and offer the most inventory you can handle, make it customer-friendly. Make your buyers love your little peice of the online world as much as you do." I took this advice to heart. I put down my roots at eCrater, moved all of my inventory, shut all the others down, and I've been working to provide my customers with great selection, quality items, and affordable prices.

I've spent countless days and hours on marketing my site. I've plugged into Twitter, Facebook, Manta, Sellers Networks, and every search engine I can submit to without incurring costs. This is my life's work, second only to raising my children, they will always be my first love. They are also the reason I sell online. We use the money I make for Birthdays, Holidays, Vacations, and at times, for things they need or want that our budget may not allow for.

The End of my ebay era...

I have been thinking about this for awhile. For years, ebay was the only major marketplace to buy items from a private seller in a "secure" online format. Now, for years, other marketplaces have been available, but ebay was the world's "sweetheart" when it came to buying online. They've always come out on top. But starting in 2008, sweeping changes to both the feedback system and several changes to the fee structure have made it impossible for some sellers to co-exist with the "big box" stores that ebay just happens to be favoring in terms of fee discounts (some don't pay any at all). Under the new fee structure, up to and sometimes beyond, 30% of a sale will be absorbed in fees collected by ebay and paypal. For some smaller sellers, this is a deal-breaker. They cannot even afford ebay part-time anymore.
So what does this have to do with me? As an"online selling addict", I can vouch for the above information, because I was maintaining a store on ebay (InMommiesCloset). I was paying a monthly fee, listing fees per item, final value fees, and paypal fees. For the first two years it was managable part-time. I could list about 75 items, and still make a profit. But sales are not guaranteed on every item, and before long, I found myself upside down when the economy took that fateful dive. I was forced to close my ebay store and figure out what to do from there.