My youngest daughter and I first started selling on eBay with the rest of our family under the username of ‘t438era’.  We must admit that we knew very little about eBay, to be honest didn’t really want to learn about it – we would hear our friends talking about how they’d placed a bid on something and were waiting for the ‘auction’ to end, and think, ‘What on earth is all that about?  It all sounds too confusing for me!’

But my eldest daughter registered us on eBay and started selling things related to weddings – like certificate holders, ring cushions, etc.  It was while she was listing some of these items that my youngest daughter actually sat down next to her and watched.  It was only then that it dawned on her just how eBay works.  She was soon eager to do some listing herself, so when I had a few items to sell she offered to list them on eBay for me.  It did take her a while to list just one item at a time in the beginning (she says that on her first attempt it took half-an-hour!), but she soon got used to it and really enjoyed it.  It never really struck me that she and I could run our own business on eBay until a couple of years later.  But it did, and we are now a mother/daughter-run business selling cross-stitch and sewing supplies.

Some of our friends sell on eBay as businesses and find it very rewarding, due to the fact that they are now really flexible with their time and aren’t held back by their work from doing other things.