Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Retirees Turn to eBay for an Income
Selling items on eBay's online auction site is a pastime for some people, but for Ellen Lee it's a matter of paying for some of life's necessities. Ellen, 59, and her husband, Peter, 57, worked as a nurse practitioner and family physician, respectively, until they retired in the late 1990s, with the goal of slowing their hectic lives. But when they needed health insurance, Ellen's pre-existing medical condition prevented her from getting affordable coverage. Small Business Insurance
The couple was already selling some books on eBay when their accountant asked if there was some type of business they could start to qualify for affordable health insurance offered to small-business owners. They set up a business in June 2001 to more formally sell items on eBay. The Lees are part of a contingent of eBay sellers 55 and older who retired or were laid off from traditional full-time jobs and now sell online for income. The company doesn't have statistics about the number of sellers who fit that description, but spokesman Hani Durzy said eBay is seeing more of them attend classes the company sponsors on how to sell items. The group's involvement in eBay is surprising, given that they didn't grow up using the Internet , much less buying and selling on eBay.
"Generally the Internet crowd is thought of as those under 40," Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a recent interview. "Yet these retirees have the time to do this, and it's given them something new in their lives. They have a pension, they had a career and they have friends, and now they have a business." The Lees now help libraries sell books on eBay and sell things for others on consignment. "We started off wanting to be successful in selling, and then it went to wanting to cover insurance costs, and then it went to making a profit," Peter said last month while attending eBay's annual gathering of buyers and sellers here. "Then we wanted to be PowerSellers, and now I've got in my head the next goal of wanting to get to the Silver Level, which is $3,000 a month in sales, and we're right on the edge of that."
People qualify to be PowerSellers by having monthly gross sales of at least $1,000, and having positive feedback from 98 percent or more of their sales. The status gives certain perks from eBay. Marcia Cooper, 69, bought items on eBay while she was still working in marketing. Still, she didn't know much about the Internet or eBay when she was a casualty of downsizing in 2000. That changed after her son told her how much profit he made on concert tickets he sold on eBay.
She and her fiance, Harvey Levine, soon began selling concert and sporting tickets, antiques and collectibles on eBay. The Fort Lee, N.J., couple are now PowerSellers, selling items for themselves and others, as well as teaching people how to sell and buy items on eBay. "We're taking our skills from our previous occupations and using them today for our own business," Cooper said in an interview on the sidelines of the eBay annual meeting.
The pair haven't replaced their former incomes, but "it's a tradeoff," Cooper said. She and Levine, 66, who also was forced into early retirement, cite the time flexibility, lack of a commute and more freedom as reasons they enjoy making a living on eBay.
Joyce Banbury, a retiree from Russell, Kan., who would only say she's over 65, sold her first Beanie Baby on eBay in June 1998. She became one of the company's first PowerSellers by selling Beanie Babies to supplement her family's income while staying home and raising her granddaughter. Although no longer a PowerSeller, Banbury teaches others how to buy and sell. She's also involved in using eBay to improve the economic development of rural communities. She visits towns, some with as few as 200 people, and explains how selling items on eBay can improve their communities and their lives. "[EBay] is a way people can stay in a small town, and it supplements their income or is their income," she said. "EBay connects you to a world market, and that makes it exciting to a rural market." Although some people look forward to the day they leave work for good, the Lees aren't exactly counting down the days until they "retire" from their second careers. They need their eBay business to be successful until they're 65, when they're eligible for Medicare. But the couple is having such a good time that they might do it longer, Ellen said.
"It's a great way to meet people from other walks of life," she said. "It's really fun."
For more information, please visit Guardian eCommerce.
The couple was already selling some books on eBay when their accountant asked if there was some type of business they could start to qualify for affordable health insurance offered to small-business owners. They set up a business in June 2001 to more formally sell items on eBay. The Lees are part of a contingent of eBay sellers 55 and older who retired or were laid off from traditional full-time jobs and now sell online for income. The company doesn't have statistics about the number of sellers who fit that description, but spokesman Hani Durzy said eBay is seeing more of them attend classes the company sponsors on how to sell items. The group's involvement in eBay is surprising, given that they didn't grow up using the Internet , much less buying and selling on eBay.
"Generally the Internet crowd is thought of as those under 40," Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a recent interview. "Yet these retirees have the time to do this, and it's given them something new in their lives. They have a pension, they had a career and they have friends, and now they have a business." The Lees now help libraries sell books on eBay and sell things for others on consignment. "We started off wanting to be successful in selling, and then it went to wanting to cover insurance costs, and then it went to making a profit," Peter said last month while attending eBay's annual gathering of buyers and sellers here. "Then we wanted to be PowerSellers, and now I've got in my head the next goal of wanting to get to the Silver Level, which is $3,000 a month in sales, and we're right on the edge of that."
People qualify to be PowerSellers by having monthly gross sales of at least $1,000, and having positive feedback from 98 percent or more of their sales. The status gives certain perks from eBay. Marcia Cooper, 69, bought items on eBay while she was still working in marketing. Still, she didn't know much about the Internet or eBay when she was a casualty of downsizing in 2000. That changed after her son told her how much profit he made on concert tickets he sold on eBay.
She and her fiance, Harvey Levine, soon began selling concert and sporting tickets, antiques and collectibles on eBay. The Fort Lee, N.J., couple are now PowerSellers, selling items for themselves and others, as well as teaching people how to sell and buy items on eBay. "We're taking our skills from our previous occupations and using them today for our own business," Cooper said in an interview on the sidelines of the eBay annual meeting.
The pair haven't replaced their former incomes, but "it's a tradeoff," Cooper said. She and Levine, 66, who also was forced into early retirement, cite the time flexibility, lack of a commute and more freedom as reasons they enjoy making a living on eBay.
Joyce Banbury, a retiree from Russell, Kan., who would only say she's over 65, sold her first Beanie Baby on eBay in June 1998. She became one of the company's first PowerSellers by selling Beanie Babies to supplement her family's income while staying home and raising her granddaughter. Although no longer a PowerSeller, Banbury teaches others how to buy and sell. She's also involved in using eBay to improve the economic development of rural communities. She visits towns, some with as few as 200 people, and explains how selling items on eBay can improve their communities and their lives. "[EBay] is a way people can stay in a small town, and it supplements their income or is their income," she said. "EBay connects you to a world market, and that makes it exciting to a rural market." Although some people look forward to the day they leave work for good, the Lees aren't exactly counting down the days until they "retire" from their second careers. They need their eBay business to be successful until they're 65, when they're eligible for Medicare. But the couple is having such a good time that they might do it longer, Ellen said.
"It's a great way to meet people from other walks of life," she said. "It's really fun."
For more information, please visit Guardian eCommerce.
