BACK TO 9 to 5

I’m back in business. No, I’m not writing another book or creating Conceptual Art, neither of which I was successful enough at to “put bread on the table.”  I’ve decided to become an EBay Seller. I’ve been looking for a way to make a few extra bucks on the side and when I went to Wal-Mart and applied to become a “Greeter” I failed the interview process.

        I’m fairly knowledgeable around a computer and a camera and I can write an ad as well as the next guy. I have a lot of “junk” that I saved when I closed my gallery/studio including about 100 Victorian Photo albums (which unfortunately have declined in value directly in proportion to the decline in the price of our home.)

     I started off with two Indian Mannequins that I had used in one of my installations.* Here’s one of them:

which I sold for $260; other went for $200. The buyer pays the postage but I screwed up and got stuck for $40 by underestimating the cost. Deduct 9% for EBay and $30 for the boxes and it was a good day’s work, except that it took me two trips to the box store and a few hours to get the hang of it, but still not bad for a start on my new adventure.

   I then sold a picture locket for $50 and two Mathew Brady’s photos for $179.  The only downer has been the hours of work required to photograph and fill in the listing forms for EBay. I was a little upset when my last sale of three small Victorian photo/cards went for a paltry for $. 99, but Amazon wasn’t built in a day.

          I now have 11 other listings up for sale and I’ll keep you posted. 

* I created the vignette below in my studio. It was accompanied by a narrative that dealt with my make-believe version of how Las Vegas was founded and Pokerhontas’s role therein.

 

In case you are wondering what happened to the other two mannequins, “Pokerhontas” and “One Armed Bandit” wonder no more. They have found a good home in our Family Room.