I’ve bought lots of stuff on eBay, but this is the first time that I’ve sold something.

I did everything wrong.

I did not describe the item very well. I figured that "4 Fantasy PB Books by Christopher Stasheff" would be sufficient. Erica told me to jazz up the title and description, but did I listen? No.

I charged for the exact shipping costs with no handling fee. Erica told me to over estimate and add a little extra to cover fees, but did I listen? No.

I started with a very low bid, 79�. Erica told me that I might not get more than one bid so start a little higher.

Erica told me that I should schedule the auctions to go off on Sunday evening, but I thought that it wouldn’t matter

I forgot to put in some extra for Delivery Confirmation.

I found three more books and threw them in the box, because there was room.

The only good thing was that I used the bathroom scale to estimate the weight and it came out more than a pound high so I accidentally had some extra room to cover the fees and extra weight.

I wound up losing just 10� on my first eBay sale. My goal was to get rid of books that I will never read, and in that sense the auction was a success. I have several watchers on the rest of my auctions, so I am not disheartened. I have about 50 more books lined up to go on auction, but I was too tired and lazy to put them out last night.

Another good thing is that the buyer is an avid reader, who like me, has to resort to eBay to feed his addiction. The books went to a good home.

Here are some more of my auctions:

7 Thieves World Books � Robert Lynn Asprin $1.49 (one bid, 2 watchers)

18 Marion Zimmer Bradley Books $1.99 (3 watchers, but no bids)

7 Books by Stephen R. Donaldson $1.99 (two bids so it is up to $2.24 with 2 watchers)

3 Stock Photo Books with CDs Comstock PhotoDisc Age $4.99 (2 watchers)

Coming up are a dozen books by Larry Niven. I have enjoyed some Niven stories, but I recently listened to the audio version of Disk World and I thought that it was an interesting idea, but told in such a flat stretched out narrative that I didn’t enjoy it. I prefer the Niven/Pournelle collaborations. I really enjoyed A Mote in God’s Eye and may read the sequel (which I now have). I will sell a Dozen Asimov books, but I want to go through and make sure that I’ve read them all. I may reread some of the better ones before I put them out. I also have a ton of Heinlein, Dick and Bradbury duplicates that I might put out.

I am currently reading a Brunner book. It is very dense, very dark and very good. More on that when I finish it.