“Make tons of money on your blog effortlessly”
“Drive massive traffic to your website to boost income”
“Earn passive income on auto-pilot”
“Have fun answering surveys and making money”
“Fire your boss, work at home online”
Who hasn't received such earth-shattering, life-changing, one-in-a-lifetime offer of untold wealth and opportunities the internet has to offer? Now I'm not saying becoming a millionaire online is not impossible but it's for the most persevering and doggedly determined cyber souls.
Just when I was about to throw in the towel on how to make money in the internet than another of those cyber opportunity presents itself before me in the form of eBay. Now I've known this auction site for quite some time already and had in fact bought a book from it a few months back, but selling something there? Nope. But I had this used phone, a Nokia 9300i, a to-die-for gizmo only one year old. Toting this beauty in Starbuck Cafe is as cool as you can get, you savour the pleasure of looking at the swooning yuppies crowd from the corner of your eyes as they "oooh" and "aaah" when you whip it out from your briefcase and set it up next to your cappuccino and start typing away and with a serious look on your face as your furrows grow deeper and deeper.
Alas, this thingy had seen better days as I fondled its keypads and its smooth exterior. For in the course of a conversation, a friend suggested disposing it off in eBay. It was like a bolt of lightning, (to exaggerate a bit). Yeah, why not, I told myself. And thus began another chapter in my journey to make money on the internet.
As a newbie seller, I had no experience at all in cyber selling. Hence I enlisted the help of my good friend, Jourdan, an up-and-coming eBay seller with an impeccable record of 100% positive feedback, to piggyback on his place for the sale. After the necessary photo shoots and write-up, it was posted in eBay. And know what? In less than 24 hours there was a bidder. To a newbie like me, that's a pretty big milestone! $699.00! Wow, that was better than selling it off as scrap iron or ending up as an antique for my great-great grandson.
The next few days saw me hitting the eBay sites almost every hour to check on the status, expecting an avalanche of bidders. Alas, bidder #1 stood alone in the field for several days. Maybe some bidders only move in for the kill at the last minutes, I consoled myself. Suddenly one afternoon Jourdan called excitedly and told me there is another bidder and it's upped to $800!!! A jump of $100! Cool! I knew I could sell this phone easily. Now thing's going to get interesting, as I hunkered down for more action as the clock started ticking.....24 hours.....12 hours.....c'mon, some more bidding, please...6 hours, now for some fireworks.....3 hours.....2 hours....1 hour...pffffffttttttt.
No counter bid from #1 either!!! Oh well, at least I got a good price, trying to mitigate the gloomy atmosphere, I called up Jourdan to solicit some sympathy. Turn out he was disappointed too. Anyway, he had to get down to work. First thing is to email the winning bidder and set up an initial contact. And know what? She was all the way form California! Cool! Maybe she's a black R&B singer, or a foxy career lady, or a hot babe form UCLA...gosh, what was I thinking!
Soon enough, she replied! She was an American working in England and she wanted to buy it for her son living in Nigeria. Super cool!!! My first eBay sales have taken me to the realm of international trade. Who says international trade is for the big boys only? Jourdan was excited too. But much works need to be done: Call up the courier people on the tariff, polish up the phone, get the accessories ready and get the original box if possible, the packing, etc etc. We want to look professional! After all, Jourdan had a reputation to keep. More emails ensued.
Now we came to the nitty gritty. How to arrange payment and also to ensure protection of the buyer. Madam America told us that she'd bank-in London's Standard Chartered Bank and the bank will forward an email to me informing us of the successful bank-in. And the bank will release the money to our bank account once our documents from the courier company are faxed to her. Hmmm... Fair enough. After all, it's Standard Chartered Bank, not Bakulistan Farmers' Bank.
