November 20, 2012

• Ebay - Part 2 (when you least expect it...)

  This ends the longest period of Blogging silence I've had.  I have taken breaks from Xanga in the past, but never one quite so long.  It's been nearly 6 weeks now since I last wrote, and before that another 4, so literally one a month since September.  But I can justify it, I've been very busy.

  13 years ago I started on Ebay.  At the time it was nothing I "Planned" to do, it was honestly the response to a prayer.  At the time I was working 4 different jobs trying to make ends meet after a very unwelcome and unwanted divorce.  (At this stage in my life it suffices me to say that it was the best thing for all parties... but I didn't see that then.)  I was left with nothing, had to start from scratch, and was struggling under having bought a used car (with payments) that turned sour and a 30 year old mobile home that had it's own needs... and loans.

  Another car repair drove me to my knees in anger, frustration and desperation.  I was mad when I said "God, what am I supposed to do now!".  4 Jobs left very little time for anything else.  And the car was crucial to my getting to my jobs in order to pay the loans and child support and bills and living expenses.  I honestly wasn't expecting to hear back ===>  "Try Ebay".  2 words that changed my life.

  I've written about this before, so I'll skip all the details, save one.  After the first box of Christian tapes was done, the box given to me by an Atheist Goth Lesbian friend of mine... go figure... something amazing happened that I didn't see coming.  Something that kept me on Ebay for the next 8 straight years.

  God moved someone's heart.

  A guy in Florida emailed me.  He wanted to "GIVE" me his collection.  He told me that he'd been praying about what to do with his music and after reading a few of my (naive, simplistic, amateur and very basic with many "first timer" mistakes) auctions he felt that God was leading him to "GIVE" me his collection.

  My first thought --- "Oh Lord, here comes every Southern Gospel LP ever known to man.  I'm gonna have more Bill Gaither than any man should ever have... and I am never gonna get rid of them."

  I said "Ok?" gave him my address and..... wow.  3 weeks later Fed-Ex shows up at my door with not one, not two, not even three or four --- but SEVEN HUGE Boxes.  Postage alone cost this guy over $300.  And it all came to me free.  I was stunned.  I was even more stunned when I dug into what he sent.  It was some of the rarest, hardest to find Christian Music known, and only someone like myself or a few other collectors would have even recognized that.

  I was honestly humbled.

  That collection turned out nearly $10,000 in sales.  Enough that I was able to quit 2 jobs, pay for car repairs and have enough money to start looking around for more stuff to sell.  Life became relaxing and fun and blessings followed.

  God --- put me on Ebay.  And for 8 straight years I was the top selling dealer in Christian Music on Ebay, uncontested.  There are many Xanga blogs from 2005 -2008 which attend to various aspects of my Ebay dealings as a seller.  You can even review my countdown to leaving for the mission field of Taiwan through my Xanga posts about Ebay sales.....  and the amazing way that God covered $26,000 in Credit Card debt in 6 months time in ways totally unimaginable to me and Kai.

  That's a story for another time, though.

  God --- put me on Ebay.  And then, in 2008, I left.  I sold everything I had to another person who wanted a shot at becoming an Ebay dealer and I moved to Taiwan, just as I believed God wanted me to.  (Still believe that)  Simple faith brought blessing.

  It's been 4 years now.  I've been crying out in prayer to God as to what to do for work.  I don't like teaching English as Second Language classes --- I find them painful as a teacher and question my honest effectiveness.  I know how to USE English --- but I question my ability to TEACH English.  But people here seem to appreciate my self-depreciating humor and ways of teaching and so I have students.... some for as long as 3 years now.

  Still... my prayer has gone up because I really find teaching tedious and exhausting.

  Then, in February, I noticed someone selling an entire collection of Larry Norman CD's.  38 of them to be exact.  The price was right, I had a friend in Texas ---- That Xangan will be blessed greatly when God gets to her Eternal blessing, let me tell you ---- willing to unpack them from their CD cases, package them well and ship them (freely... you really are a gem!!!!) to me here in Taiwan.  I figured --- Ok... it's one collection, I bought it cheap, I can sell it around Christmas and at least make some money to help us with our missionary work over here as well as recover the cost of what we paid.  (This cost came out of our savings account.)

  Then, in May, another collection on Ebay came to my attention.  345 CD's.... $600+.  Roughly $2 a CD and many of them rare and worth re-selling.  I prayed.  I struggled.  And in the end, without an answer from God, I simply bought the collection.  (This time.... the cost was applied to the credit card.... with much concern.)

  Then the miracles started....

  The seller lived 30 miles from my former church in Chicago.  He drove the CD's there --- no postage costs.  Then, a very dear friend who I've blogged about many times and who's been more of a blessing to me than words could express --- and you too, Marissa... don't think I don't know you helped --- unpacked the CD's from their cases and shipped them to me.  Shipping was $120, I paid it... but it could have been a lot worse had the guy lived in another state, or tried shipping them directly to me, cases and all.  (I shudder to consider that....)

  I got them late in September (Ben, to his credit, has many brands in the fire and so I understand that it took him 3 months to tackle 300+ CD's) and immediately started processing them.

  Then.... a friend in Australia asked if I could help him sell his collection.  He had actually asked me 3 years ago.... but dragged his feet on getting them to me.  In any case, he finally sent them... and they arrived in the middle of October, just in time for the Christmas rush.

  Side Note: This friend wanted to sell his stuff primarily because he walked away from Christ and no longer has interest in Christian music.  6 years ago he came under the influence of a psychologist who convinced him that his "Faith" was merely the byproduct of strict parenting, with no real substance to it's foundation.  My friend bought the lie and started questioning if there really was a God and why it all matters.

  What brought him to finally send the collection, after 3 years of huffing and hemming and hawing.... was that his 5 year old son was just diagnosed with Leukemia and he now needs the money for medical bills and such.

  So now you have 2 prayer requests --- pray.  Phil is my friends name, and his son's name is Patrick.  Phil's wife is named Liz.... she's a strong Christian who is grieves over what's become of her husband.  Keep her in your prayers as well.

  CD's started getting posted in late September, starting with the Larry Norman stuff I already had.  I had to cover shipping costs from Ben, so it seemed that it was time to start.

  By the time the Larry Norman stuff closed, Ben's box arrived to be alphabetized, photographed and then posted to Ebay.  By the time I'd posted through all of that collection, Phil's stuff arrived from Australia and so I found myself starting the process over.

  Now.... I have another friend, a long time collector, who's been watching all this happen.  He's actually bought some of it from me..... only now he tells me "Keep it, just rip it to MP3 for me and re-sell it."  He's bought and paid for it... and yet, he's telling me simply to re-sell it... to my bonus.

  Then.... He comes back a week later and says to me --- "Wayne, I want to give you my CD collection.... send me your address."  I've talked with him now for a few weeks, trying hard to make sure he really wants to do this, and he's committed to it.

  This guy is a major collector.  I know, I helped him along the way.

  And now it would seem.... God has put me back on Ebay.... from Taiwan.... where there is no used CD shops, no resale stores, no thrift stores.... I am not kidding, Taiwan knows nothing about selling things used -- this is not a disposable culture like America.  THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE GARAGE / YARD SALES!!!!!!!  Even Ebay over here is barely used.  It's a economical culture through and through  --- They buy what they want, and they keep what they buy, simple as that.

  But, again, to stress.... God has put me back on Ebay... when I didn't expect to be.  The two collections I bought were simply going to be something to sell at Christmas so as to gain some support for the work we do over here.  We are not traditional missionaries in that we don't have an organization backing us.  We don't have the support of a major church or denomination.  We simply have God providing when we have a need.  And thus far --- He's provided.  I say that as fact.

  Thus, come Christmas, the only time of the year when I do a "missions support" push --- I offer something back in return rather than ask people to give me something for nothing.  I sell CD's... and the money goes back into what we do over here.

  And this year.... I'm humbled and amazed at what God has done.  This has been the second best Christmas season I've had on Ebay since I started 13 years back.  That's saying a lot.  And I've still yet to receive my other friends collection.... of which I can't say what will happen at that point.

  I didn't plan all this, I honestly couldn't have.  Someone decides to sell their collection on Ebay... and I took a chance at winning it.  And no one else out there bid against me.  I took another chance at winning something --- set my maximum bid at $650 --- and the bidding ended at $645, I kid you not.  Another $5 and it would have been someone else's collection.  The logistics of getting things to me cheaply and effectively.  The ability to spend time necessary to photograph and post all things.  Even the knowledge of when best to do it. ---- God worked all things out.

  These last 8 weeks have been stunning, crazy, hectic, busy, --- so busy that I haven't been to school once in the last 4 weeks --- and ... again.... humbling.

  When we allow God to work things out... when we take steps of simple trust... He will.

  Amen.

  • 8:32 pm
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