Deaf and on eBay

I have always wondered how many Deaf people sell on eBay. I bet there are more Deaf who buy than sell on eBay. Just my opinion but I could be wrong. I have nothing to back up that opinion. I think eBay is a perfect job for a deaf person who is self motivated enough to work from home and keep busy enough to bring in a good income.

I have been a seller on eBay for 7 years now. Being deaf has nothing to do with that for the most part but one reason I got started with it was because I was frustrated working in the hearing world. I wanted to be my own boss... work my own hours... and not have to deal with communication with the hearing world and co-workers who ignore me.

I had 3 young children when I got started. I had been working outside the home but I did not like my last job. I felt left out. I didn't like seeing my co-workers laughing and having a good time and in my eyes... wasting time.. while I had no idea what they were talking about. They did not include me. I was the company's hardest worker as I focused 100% on my job but I was also very lonely. I had no friends at work. No one ate meals with me. I worked third shift so there were only a few of us. Even then I was mostly ignored. Finally one day I just called and said I was not coming back. I am not a quitter but I did quit that job as it was just making me miserable and that is not worth it to me. My husband was very supportive and we both knew the Lord would provide for our needs.

Since graduating from college, I did do freelance graphic art jobs now and then but it was not steady work. My neighbor and friend Paula introduced me to eBay. I had gotten a new computer with the goal of making it pay for itself. Slowly she taught me how to do this and soon I was on my own. In the beginning, I just sold my children's outgrown clothing and things around the house. Maybe some yard sale finds. It was not a full time job but enough to bring in a little bit of petty cash.

Over the years, this busness has continued to grow but it still has its flow of ups and downs. I don't do much over the summer but concentrate on the other 3 seasons.

Ebay is a good job for a deaf person to try. Its give you equal footing in communication with the majority of the other sellers since its all on the computer and via email. I have done a lot of research on how to do this job to the best of my ability. It is not my goal to be a powerseller as I don't want this to overtake my life - although sometimes it looks that way to my husband! My goal is just to provide excellent customer service and nice products. I now find my products from yard sales, Goodwill stores and other retail stores. I seek out clearance racks. I seek out stores going out of business and buy their reduced items. They have to be 75% off or lower for me to buy them. I have to be able to make a profit as ebay is time consuming. I almost never spend more than $5.00 per item. Thats one of my rules. I have a wide variety of different items in my eBay store.

One of the best deals I ever came across was a Hancock Fabric store that was going out of business. I had been keeping my eye on this store for weeks. I would go in to check their stocks and watch their prices fall. I did not buy anything until the final day when everything was 90% off. I bought bolts of fleece for 50cents a yard. I easily sold these for over $10.00 a yard on ebay. That was a tremendous profit. I still have some of that fleece selling in my eBay store but predict it to sell out very soon as they make wonderful blankets and that is a popular gift item.

My blog is not going to be how to do eBay but now and then I might post an idea or product that can help you in that area.

My ME page on eBay does mention that I am deaf. Several people have contacted me about that and shared stories about deaf people they know in their families, etc. For awhile I was keeping in touch with two deaf friends I met on eBay. We have since fallen out of touch. I would love to find them again.

Two years ago, I opened up my second eBay site. This is for my church. The purpose of that site is to raise money for our building fund. The building we currently meet at is too small for our purposes so we are raising funds to one day buy our own building or rent a larger space. I have given up my time to sell things that members and friends donate for the church's ebay site. So far we have earned over $2000. from items sold on eBay.

Here are the links to the two sites.

My own site is called bienleindesign. The link is: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbienleindesign

My church is Lighthouse Chapel of the Deaf. The site ID is Lighthousechapeldeaf. The link is: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlighthousechapeldeaf

Come by soon and see what I have! Introduce yourself and tell me you found my eBay store from my blog! I would love to meet you and get to know more deaf people around the world.

If you are also deaf and sell on ebay. Let me know!