January 24, 2005

eBay Nation

Cloudscape near Hilo

I am not a huge eBay-er. I have whiled away an afternoon looking at stuff that interests me and have bought a few things, some whimsical, like a bar of pretty soap that smells divine that was originally brought home by a lady in Chicago as a souvenir from Windsor castle. There is crazier stuff out there. I found this site courtesy of the "soul of the web" I guess you could call it a web ring but its a tad more complicated than that. This site called "Who Would Buy That" has some of the wackiest stuff you can imagine spotlighted (like deer in headlights)for the world to ponder. Im crazy and have bought some oddball things but....

Woody is more daring than myself having been house hunting for us on line and it has been very usefull to do a bit of comparison shopping long distance. We have found all sorts of homes all over that would suit, at least on a computer screen, but I really dont want to buy a home on line... However people are doing it here on the Big Island like crazy as it is nearly impossible to wait to take the time to fly out and look, there are too many people just waiiting to snap things up.

For your perusal here are some of the homes that we have been seriously looking at

North Little Rock, Arkansas

Cherokee Village Arkansas


Since most of the listings that we were shopping were deleated last night by Woody the midnight eBayer....here are a few more on Realator.com, which is, undeniably, about as wacky as buying a house off eBay.As I said in previous posts, all of our houses get a nick name so we can tell them apart...

Conroe Texas 10 acre House no photo of the house but I LOVE the back yard

Conroe Texas~ Family House I like this house its bigger than I thought Id like but it has all the stuff I want and I like the pond in the back

Conroe Texas~Mystery House Notice the huge sign on the front gate? We dont know what that is, or have any idea what is inside. The huge back deck is a plus

Conroe Texas~ The "Please give my Kitchen an Extreme Makeover" House Woody really likes this one...It is a great deal but huge and the Bubble Gum Pink Kitchen walls must go before I spend a night in the place...I will be ill if I have to cook in there!

Conroe Texas~ Casa GrandeHuge but Woody likes it. I want to see the inside first

Conroe Texas~ Blind Date I think I am in love but Ive not seen this yet...

Eureka Springs Arkansas~ River View Bluff House and the "Lake View Bluff Home"

I would leave Hawaii and never look back... The views are killer...Now... about work in the area???

On the negative side of internet shopping you can buy a pig in a poke... the darling home on Camanche street in Montgomery TX.that we have been looking at.. the deal may be fatally flawed legally so we are closing the door on that for the time being. There are too many issues to work out long distance, and all would impeed a loan going through so we need to leave it alone for now...Had we not kept asking questions we might have been stuck with a huge tax liability as well as having to redig the septic system... Ugh!


My biggest eBay purchases have been of the jewelry line. eBay is the way the worlds jewelers get rid of their "dogs". Jewelry that has sat in the case more than a few seasons and needs to turn, and the other alternative is selling it to a smelter,to be melted down, which most of us can't stand the thought of... The super salesman in our business, Shane Decker, says of "dogs"..."There are no dogs, after all someone thought enough of the piece to have made it, then a manufacturer thought enough of it to produce it and your store buyer thought enough of it to buy it for your store so who are you the salesman to knock it with such a term...Get out there and sell the heck out of those none movers." Nice try Shane, and he is the best sales trainer I've seen yet in any biz (the article I linked for this is on another important topic, why jewelers are losing their shirts on their margins, and not able to keep their doors open... There are many more reasons than what he is stating and its a very complex issue, but for those of you in sales he's got great tips on closing...)

But I digress, eBay allowed me to find some real gems, literally, and was very good for my business. One was this adorable line called Twinflies. The company is family run in Hong Kong and is very high on craftsmanship and low on price, and we sold a ton of their things. We were the only retail store perhaps in the world to carry them as a full line product and it really gave them a lift to see that their product was well received. I am hoping that Phoenix Rising, perhaps the only jewelry/gift store that will be left on Waianuenue as of the end of next month...along with Azure Seas, Puakenikeni Passions, a shop run by a friend of mine, is closing and the venerable Hawaii e Ohana Gallery is considering it...to take their business fully on line, you guessed it, on eBay where they are making a profit on their Hawaiiana antiques and local art. Randy and Gordon, the proprietors are also thinking about becoming a eBay dealer like the people that are selling my stock for me. Its sad to think that all of us that had hopes of really revitalizing Downtown Hilo have just run out of money and energy... I dont feel so badly as its not just me...

Mya and Lucas of Teknoranger/Island Auction Pros now have a bunch of my things from the store on line, and we have already had a purchase of my "lot" of sterio equipment. My huge Sony rack system that I didnt feel would bear another trip across the ocean blue was bought by one of the young people that works with Mya. I was glad to sell it. I have about 100 items with them and we shall see how things go. I am very hopeful that these things which are nice but were overlooked by people shopping at my store will get picked up on auction.

There are up sides and down sides to all of this. I know that the up side for many people is the selling of usefull things that one just doesnt have a need for anymore. Take my friend and fellow blogger John Bailey of "Journal of a Writing Man" He has gotten rid of scores of items that he doesnt use...

I took the plunge and bought something that should be a big help to us in the comming days, from a lady that bought it and found to her dismay that the thing didnt work for her...Yes I am entering into the more advanced information age and bought a diary that also works as a electronic leash Its my hope that I will be able to get both the phone and the wireless internet up and going prior to losing acess to my computers sometime in early march, when they are packed up for shipment to Houston. I feel I still have much to learn about the whole wireless internet thing...Gads, I barely understand the wired up Internet World. I will keep you informed as to how I get along with my new electronic companion. If it works hald as well as my digital camera than I shall be pleased!