Buying And Selling On Ebay And Etsy

I have decided in the last couple of weeks to start selling on ebay again. I have mixed feelings about ebay but it does give me a really nice extra income. The problem is the fees are very high now and also the percentage of items that sell has really dropped over the years. When I started selling in 1999 about 90% of the items I put on sold now over a month only about 25% of items sell. The other problem is the "ebay community". The sections I sell in for vintage and toys are not too bad just the occasional very strange encounter but when I sold some designer sunglasses for my eldest daughter I strayed into a whole different world! Some of the rudest and frankly most stupid people you could imagine emailed me constantly. It was a soul destroying experience.
   So as well as re opening my ebay shop I have started an Etsy one to try this out and stock it with a few extra vintage items. So far the few people I have sold to have been very nice and the fees are not so high. I shall give them both a go and have opened them up with stock I had left over from selling before. I wonder if anyone else has had experience selling with Etsy?
  As Tom was working today I thought I would go on a walk around the local area checking out all the charity shops. There is a brilliant one opened near us which is an overspill of small items from our local charity saleroom which I thought I would visit first and I wasn't disappointed. The first thing I found was a tatty little book filled with poems, paintings and pressed wildflowers compiled by a young girl called Marjorie who received the book as a birthday present in 1913.

   There are messages from First World War soldiers and lines from songs at the time. Her full name and address is recorded on the first page and I can't wait to find out more about her. I know by the time I have researched her I won't be able to sell this as I will feel like she is an old friend!  For £5 it was my find of the day even though it is quite tatty I am thrilled.

    I found other little items which I will put straight up for sale like this silver plated children's rabbit mug.

   A box of four charming 1930s or 40s table mats. I love the roses on these and I'm going to have to be very firm with myself part with them. 

    I also found a selection of soft toys around the other charity shops which always sell over time. I spend ages photographing them to try and make them look as cute as possible. Like this ...

Or this .....

to try and get the best chance of them being bought. With an estimated 40% of toys ending up in landfill within three months of purchase I hope I'm playing a small part in encouraging reusing and recycling. These toys have been barely played with. It seems such a shame.