eBay Power Couple III Snow Angels Rural Vistas and Good advice

eBay allows Sharon and John Ware the luxury of living in the country while they operate their successful eBay business. What do you suppose they find time to do once business for the day is tucked away?

They enjoy the view with the changing seasons.


Sharon said, "the beauty of eBay is its portability. We thought perhaps our business would suffer with the move (from Florida to Kentucky). But, interestingly, since moving here, our (eBay) consulting business has grown many times over and now includes several worldwide clients. How exciting! And of course, we continue to sell our fire trucks, rubber stamps and crafts in our own eBay stores."

They smell the flowers on the front porch when they aren't Treasure Picking.

"We enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the even bigger thrill when we discover ‘the find’! After all these years, my heart still races as we watch our auction items end. Especially when there are a lot of ‘watchers’. We are always hopeful that this one item will be ‘the’ big winner. But if not this one, there’s always the next, or the next or perhaps the one after that!"


And they make snow angels when winter snow sets in.

Sharon and John love the rural lifestyle that eBay allows them to enjoy but they have earned it with diligent attention to the detail and planning of a solid business



"I first became an Education Specialist Trained by eBay in 2005 and the following year, John joined the program as well and became an Education Specialist. We think team teaching is a blast and we enjoy bringing real life stories and experience to our classes."

"I very methodically worked my business, moving up through eBay's Education Specialist program. On March 15, 2007, I became eBay’s 19th Certified Business Consultant (there are only 30 of us worldwide today!)."

"After becoming Certified, John and I launched our current company, Dandelion Consulting, formed to better serve our worldwide corporate and business clients."

For our eBay Power Couple country living in Kentucky is the best of all worlds. Sharon and John offer up their advice for building and maintaining a successful eBay business in eBay Power Couple II. We hope they are still eBaying for their 50th anniversary.

Contact information DandelionConsulting
Telephone: 606-379-0000
email: myauctionteacher@aol.com today!

eBay Treasure Picking Power Couple John and Sharon Ware Part I

When it comes to power couples John and Sharon Ware are the best example of what eBay can offer as a business. They have made several moves in the past few years and their eBay business went with them. They both worked 30 years for a St Louis Fortune 500 company, where Sharon was in customer service and a computer analyst and John was in Corporate Marketing. When John’s father became ill and needed their assistance, they retired from their jobs and moved to Florida to take care of him.

The move left them looking for alternative income and eBay was it. Sharon tells the story of how it came about, “It was that set of 1970's Coca Cola glasses that did it. After I listed the glasses and the days ticked down I got a few bids. It was pretty exciting! In the last half hour of the auction, I was glued to my computer as I sat and cheered on the bidders. BID! Come on, BID again! My heart raced as I anxiously watched the item bid up and up in the last few seconds and then finally it was over. Boy! What a rush! Oh my gosh, it SOLD...IT SOLD! And I actually made money! Okay...so now what ELSE can I sell?”

“John and I started selling a few things on eBay after moving to Florida, John is a retired volunteer Fire Chief and collects replica collectible model fire trucks. He now sells them and the rest is history.”
John’s user name is ssfdretiredchief and store is Station 4 Collectibles. His sell through rate is about 40% with 100% Feedback (Statistics by Terapeak)

Sharon is an eBay Top Rated seller who sells rubber stamps and crafts on eBay and explains, “I have been an avid crafter all my life and fell in love with a rubber stamping store in Orlando. When I found out they were closing up shop, we bought out the entire store. And now, I am the ‘Rubber Stamp Lady’, LOL!” Sharon's user name is wareskscrapbooks and her store is: Dandy Rubber Stamps and Crafts. Sharon's sell through rate is approximately 35% (Terapeak may vary from day to day) with 100% Feedback and DSRs 4.9/5.0.

Being organized is essential to a smooth eBay business

Sharon and John just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June and are looking forward to the fun and excitement the next 25 will bring. Life is definitely an adventure and they embrace it together every day!

"We enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the even bigger thrill when we discover ‘the find’! After all these years, my heart still races as we watch our auction items end. Especially when there are a lot of ‘watchers’. We are always hopeful that this one item will be ‘the’ big winner. But if not this one, there’s always the next, or the next or perhaps the one after that!"

Sharon and John have taken their eBay career to the top level. Sharon is a world acclaimed professional eBay Store designer and an eBay Certified Business Consultant. In Part II she will talk about their lifestyle and her move into design work and education

But for now she is hard at work slaving over a hot computer in a rural setting that makes life beautiful.

Contact information DandelionConsulting
Telephone: 606-379-0000
email: myauctionteacher@aol.com today!

Meet Tokyodays eBay Store Owner with a Passion for Comics Part I

We never know where a true passion will take us, maybe relaxing in the bathtub with a good comic book?

"I’ve loved comics and read comics since I was a kid and around 1966 I truly turned the corner to become the fan I still am some 44 years later."

He has a lot of experience in treasure picking in the comic book field. He has, "worked as a comic book dealer; written and drawn his own published mini-comics; worked for Viz Comics as sales manager in the early 90s; became a prolific LOCer (Letter of Comment) having had over 70 letters published in various DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1970s; continued writing as a letter-writing fool in the pages of Oh, So; Comics Buyers Guide—something like over 50 letters published there!"

Tokyo Days Comics Garage

Chris sells his comics on eBay in his eBay Store: Store name TokyoDays Comics-user name tokoyodays, He currently has a sell through rate of 98% , with 100% feedback,nearly 10,000 transactions since 1999. (Statistics from Terapeak may vary from day to day)

"Every year my sales increased by double-digits except for 2009 where they dropped about 15%--still not too bad considering everything. About three years ago I expanded to selling through an Amazon store where now might account for about 20% of my total sales each year. One thing about Amazon, though— I only sell books there—and I’ll sell any book. If I get an opportunity to buy books on the lowdown cheap, I’ll do so happily regardless of subject matter. It’s always a roll of the dice buying books—some are worthless at your typical 1¢ plus shipping model, but if the book is potentially worth anywhere from $5 or more, I’ll go ahead and list it. They’re not moneymakers by a longshot, but occasionally one will come across some odd book that is worth $30...40...$50 in these piles and that makes it all worthwhile...on some level."

Chris maintains eBay is part-time, "Originally, TokyoDays comics was a part-time gig (still is) which currently is the wellspring of cash and financing to keep our son in college down in Santa Monica, CA. After that I’ll probably turn that income toward more mundane things like strengthening the inventory (hard to do these days), paying down our mortgage and enjoying life a bit more."

He believes in doing what you love and doing it well, "I sell comics because I know them well, I’m familiar with the marketplace, and I can’t imagine trading in this business to sell something that I really don’t have a care or feeling about. If I were into gardening, I’d sell gardening items, etc. But it’s comics, so here we are."

Stay tuned for Part II of TokyoDays when Chris shares his some of his treasure picking sources, plans for the future and tips on selling on eBay and other places.

(A quick check on eBay's completed listings shows a Spider-man comic book selling for as much as $14,5000 on an eBay auction!!!) Wow!!! Maybe it's time we checked out comics at the next yard sale, auction or thrift shop.

eBay - Meet granny74 Master Treasure Picker

Let's take a look at this family operated business by starting with two of their completed auctions. This is treasure picking at its best. Both of these auctions reaped big rewards.

Black Terri Lee Benji $3059.86
Black Terri Lee doll in cowgirl outfit $2550

Meet master Treasure Pickers Pam and Carol Ferguson aka granny74 on eBay.
The story began with Pam and Carol's mother who loved real time auctions and eventually opened an antique store in LaCross, KS (pop 1300) and later moved to Alexander, KS (pop 64). In 1999, when their mother was 74, they discovered eBay and the eBay seller 'granny74' was born. (Note: their mother passed away in 2008 but the family legend lives on in her family)

Inside the new store location in Wilson KS

This family operated business is currently a Top Rated Seller on eBay. Granny74 has over 51,000 transactions to date, 100% Feedback, high Detailed Seller Ratings (4.9) They use only the eBay auction style listings with a starting bid of under $.95!!!

Not just customer service but customer service extraordinaire
When asked how they managed to be so successful Pam explained, "Mother loved auctions" and so all their treasures are found at local auctions, thrift shops and garage/estate sales. They live and buy in rural Kansas. Here is a some of their exceptional business philosophy.

Pam said, "we allow our customers to combine shipping up to thirty days and it's nice to see the money come in from big combined orders."

How do they pick treasures: "We look for things that are easy to pack and ship."

Repeat customers. "We have a core of customers that buy from us on a regular basis and they account for the major income from eBay.

Where do they sell
"We only sell on eBay online."

They recently moved their retail store from Alexander, KS to Wilson, KS (pop 864): Granny's Junktiques - 427 27th (hwy 40) St, Wilson, KS
Hours 10am - 7pm on Friday's only.
The store merchandise allows them to sell memories, treasures and keepsakes that are better designed for a local market.

More of the inside of Granny74 Store, items that do not make it to eBay