Battling Bullying the DIY Way

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Serena Makofsky

At a recent screening of Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said, “You can’t be against bullying without actually doing something about it.”  Recent tragedies have pushed stories of bullying into the national spotlight, and organizations and individuals have responded with tactics for recognizing, confronting and opposing bullying.

Schools have implemented anti-violence curriculums and conflict resolution programs to address bullying.  One common approach is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, developed in Norway, which trains people to identify bullying in the early stages.

For younger children, the PBS Kids website contains accessible content to help children understand what bullying looks like, and also offers a “Beat the Bully” video game in which the player travels to the future to attend Britney Spears Memorial Junior High and answer trivia questions about conflicts.

Other organizations take a creative approach to address this issue.  X OUT is behind a new campaign to prevent bullying.  Arianna, the writer of the popular blog Runway DIY, explains the project:

“X OUT enlisted the help of DIY bloggers to make dresses that will be part of an auction with all proceeds going to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center. I truly hope that we can change the behavior of bullies by changing people’s attitudes and changing the rules in schools and offices, making this a zero tolerance hate crime.”

Her design, fashioned from an American Apparel bandeau dress and then artfully shredded and embellished, is one of several creations for benefit auctions hosted on eBay.  Check out this punked-out yet pretty X Out dress, designed by RunwayDIY.com! (one of a kind!)

Another DIY fashion blog, Glitter ‘N Glue goes the red carpet route with a full-length black gown, the X Out dress, designed by GlitterNGlue.com!

This blogger channeled her “inner Banksy and became a graffitist in the name of fashion” by spray-painting metallic X’s on her dress and embellishing them with glitter and glue.

Courtesy of The Frugalista Diaries we have another X Out dress.

The intrepid DIY-designer rallied through failed dyeing attempts and resisted the temptation to go the glue-gun-and-feathers route, resulting in a more minimalist “black high-low mini with a (leather) peter pan esque collar, and an extreme low back trimmed with leather.”

By now you might have noticed a pattern.  X marks a spot on every dress, an allusion to the X OUT campaign.  All funds raised by this series of auctions benefit PACER.org, a national nonprofit that provides anti-violence educational materials for children, teenagers and adults and spearheads bullying awareness campaigns.  The organization’s motto: “The End of Bullying Begins With You.”

Designing and wearing these dresses will not bring an end to bullying, but the campaign sends a message that we recognize bullying as a problem and are committed to doing what we can to stop it in its tracks.  In the words of Laura, a 15-year-old from Minnesota who wrote on the PACER.org website, “In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope.”

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What works for the working mom

Posted on April 28, 2012 by eBay-Stories.com

This Mother’s Day, it’s inspiring to think about the creative ways mothers support their families.  Case in point: Jill Bender, single Mom to three boys (17, 16 and 8 years old).  She reflects on the day-to-day challenges she encounters while raising her family.  “Throw in a budget, an ex, 20 extra pounds and voila it just got 15,231 times more difficult.  I have many mistakes under my belt but have figured out how to make it work….  Many people ask me how I manage it all.”  To share her experiences and lessons learned, Jill writes a blog called “Single Mom on a Budget.”  She delivers practical, money-wise tips in a straightforward, caring and humorous way, garnering her blog a good-sized following.  In short, she extends her motherly advice to her readers.

One of these bits of advice is that people can easily earn a little extra cash selling items from around the house on eBay.  “One of my sons plays high school baseball, and it’s expensive,” says Jill.  “I’m going to sell a bunch of stuff on eBay to finance that.  My goal is to try to help people save and also make extra money in ways that aren’t time-consuming.  Last year, I got motivated around Christmas, and I sold a lot on eBay to give my kids a better holiday.”

Jill earned quick cash selling her sons’ used Wii games.  While the boys have moved on to Xbox, Wii items still sell well on eBay.  As her boys grow, she resells any of their clothes that remain in good condition.  Jill also leverages her scrap-booking hobby into eBay sales, reselling her extra supplies, and she helps friends clean out their homes so they can turn their own treasures into cash.

Shipping Made Simple

Shipping was the one aspect of eBay selling Jill thought would be challenging.  “When I first started I had no idea you could click on a few links, enter the information and boom — you’re done.  eBay creates the labels, and you print them.” It only took one successful and stress-free shipment to make Jill an enthusiastic seller. “I started looking around the house,” she recalls. “It’s kind of a gold mine!”

Jill offers her buyers free shipping and one-day handling when she can because it helps attract bidders—and because that’s what she herself looks for as a buyer.  “Anytime anybody sees ‘free,’ it entices them.”  She offers one-day handling because buyers appreciate it.  She has struck the perfect balance, selling enough items that allow her to quickly ship them in one day and not impact her commitments to her kids.

For convenience in listing, Jill depends on the eBay for iPhone app.  She uses the app for items in the eBay catalog because product information and professional images upload automatically.  “For those items,” Jill says, “listing couldn’t be faster.”

Selling with Friends

Soon after she started selling on eBay, Jill got involved with the eBay Parent Panel.  This is a group of parents who buy and sell on eBay and write blogs.  Their experience, sales volume, and selling categories vary widely, but what they have in common is that they post blog entries that encourage eBay newcomers.  Some of the other Parent Panel bloggers are Josh Becker at DadStreet; Malise Terrell, the Carolina Mama; and MochaDad Frederick Goodall, along with several more moms and dads who make eBay part of their busy lives.

Jill credits being a part of the seller community for helping her gain valuable insight and advice. “We post issues or questions to each other,” Jill says.  “If we need advice we can reach out and literally have answers in seconds.”

With Mother’s Day approaching, Jill hopes one of her friends will win the jackpot in eBay’s April List to Win Sweepstakes. “Winning the $5,000—wouldn’t that be cool?” Through the month of April, sellers  earn an entry into the sweepstakes for each item they list, for up to 50 items total. In addition to the grand prize, there are 100 first prizes of $50 each. Jill notes, “Being able to list 50 items for free each month is a win—even if I can’t win the grand prize.”

Jill enjoys the simplicity of selling on eBay, and she’s glad to help others sell household items for cash.  Her advice: “Just try it.  Go through the whole process.  List it, sell it, ship it.  And know that there is a buyer for everything.”

You can watch a video where Jill explains how to easily list an item on eBay here.

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Try selling today!  3 easy ways to earn money on eBay:

  1.  Sell it yourself
  2. Get an immediate offer via eBay’s Instant SaleTM
  3. Have a Trading Assistant sell it for you

Need some tips before you get started? Find video tutorials, guides & more in the Seller Information Center

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When one dollar is worth $75,000+

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Joe MacFarland

Coins often make it into our most watched items list, and very often wind up on our list of high-value items for sale on eBay.  This is not much of surprise, since these days the prices of silver and gold seem to go in only one direction – up!  If you are like many people, you head over to eBay’s Gold and Silver Bullion center to keep track of the latest coins, bullion, bars, and other items up for sale on eBay.  With the price of silver and gold fluctuating day to day, intrepid collectors can often find bargains.

It is relatively easy to calculate the value of a coin that is .999 pure silver, but how do you estimate the value of coins that are part silver and part another metal?  For example, the US-minted Morgan Dollar is comprised of 90% silver and 10% copper, so figuring out the “melt value” of the coin can be tricky.  Luckily, you can turn to our eBay guides, such as this one entitled “Morgan Dollars – How Much Is The Silver In Them Worth” to help with your questions.  Using the calculation listed in the guide, and the current price of silver [($31.19 × .0321507466 × 26.73 × .90)  =  $24.1239204722], you’ll find the value of the silver in your coin to be about $24.  For a $1 coin, that is quite an appreciation in value!

But before you go melting down your Morgan dollars, consider today’s remarkable listing, an 1893-S $1 PCGS MS60 Morgan Dollar:

Yes, the coin is beautiful, and definitely a collectible.  But you may be surprised by the current high bid?  Over $75,000, and the reserve price has not even been met!

Collectible coins often outstrip the value of the metal the coins were minted on, instead of vice-verse.  Just what makes this coin so valuable?

The listing description gives us a hint:

“A beautiful mint state example of this very famous numismatic rarity. The key to the Morgan dollar date set in grades Good-MS65 with the exception of perhaps the Proof-only 1895. While scarce overall, in mint state, this particular issue is downright rare in mint state. In MS60, PCGS has graded just two examples in over 26 years.

The example we offer here is very clean of marks and quite lustrous with a lot of eye appeal. The coin has light golden toning overall with a very sharp strike and even has very light prooflike surfaces. Really a beautiful coin for the grade and not a compromise in any way. It will look great in an MS63-64 collection.”

The designation “MS65” means the coin is in mint state, with a grade of 65 from the uncirculated coin ratings that range from 60 to 70.  As the seller notes, only two examples have been graded with a 60 in the last 26 years, making this a truly remarkable find.

But if this coin is out of your price range, or you’d rather use your $75K to buy something else (like a car, or an apartment) never fear: there are other Morgan dollar coins up for auction by the same seller for much more accessible prices.  You can look at the list of them here.

The Morgan dollar has quite an interesting history, so if you’d like more information about them, skim the Morgan Dollar Wikipedia page.

 

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A 1959 and a 1963 Daimler SP250

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Joe MacFarland

There is something about cars from 1959 that attracts eBay shoppers, buyers and sellers alike.  Last year we told you about two remarkable finds from 1959, the Peerless GT2 and the Fiat Abarth 750 Allemano Spider.  Both cars were in pretty good shape, and wound up selling for quite a lot of money.  This week, another car built in 1959 landed atop our internal “most watched” auctions, this 1959 Daimler SP250 “Dart”:

Unlike the Peerless and the Abarth, this car needs some work to get it road-worthy.  According to the listing, the car was driven consistently until 1968, when the owner stored it.  The car was driven only in Texas and Oklahoma, implying that rust will not be an issue.  But buyers should take note that this car, famed for its innovative use of fiberglass, is known to have hidden rust spots in the metal chassis.  An inspection is always a good idea when buying a car on eBay Motors.  That being said, it is a project car, so you’ll get what you pay for.

The listing describes the car further:

“The Daimler SP250 was a British Built Luxury Sports car built to compete with the Jaguar XK140, Austin Healey & Aston Martin. It was not only ahead of its time with a Fiberglass body, Alloy head 16 Valve Hemi Head V8 and front disc brakes, but it was also a luxury car capable of 125 mph. with a full hand-stitched leather interior and built by hand to exacting standards.”

The description also notes that the car has some rare options, such as hubcaps with spinners and a factory hardtop.  The only thing missing is the front bumper and radiator grille, but a quick search on eBay shows many SP250 parts, including a replacement radiator grille.  Interestingly, even though the seller says that scrappers stole these two items, bumpers were an optional extra on the first generation of Daimler SP250s.

As the description mentions, the SP250 was built to compete with other British sports cars that were selling well in the USA, such as the Triumph, Austin Healy, and MG.  The Daimler, equipped with a powerful V8 engine, was fast off the blocks and achieved a top speed of 120mph, a rare feat at the time.  From this report, it appears the early cars were rushed to market, and some suffered from bad body flex, with the doors reportedly flying open when cornering.  In 1960, Jaguar acquired the company, and made some changes to the chassis to stabilize the car.

In case you are not interested in a project car, we found a later model up for sale on eBay.  This 1963 Daimler SP250 is a beauty:

With a Buy it Now price of $56,000, it is for serious collectors who have money to spend.  But this one-owner car has had numerous recent improvements, making it quite the find.  The listing details all the improvements:

This is a one owner car, driven 1963 to 1976 and stored till 1997 when a frame up restoration was performed. The car has since been extensively improved and maintained for over 15 years.

Other improvements to the car include: Stainless Steel Exhaust Headers, 1 ¾” SS Mufflers & Pipes to Rear, Analog Air Fuel Ratio Gauge with Oxygen Sensor in exhaust system, Alternator Conversion, Spin On Oil Filter Adapter, Luminition Optical Trigger Ignition, Five Core Aluminum Radiator, Dual Radiator Fans with Thermostat On/Off, GM Spade Fuse Blocks, MP3 DVD USB Stereo/Radio, 5 ½” TR 4 Wheels With 185/65 15” Tires, Intermittent Wiper Switch, Stainless Steel Brake Lines, Front Oil Seal instead of baffle, Oil Pan Baffle, Stainless Steel Valves, allow unleaded gas to be used.

In addition, you get a spare engine and numerous parts to keep the car running smoothly.  So, while this is not a project car, it comes with enough parts to keep even the most avid car enthusiast satisfied for years.

So whether you’re interested in a project or the finished product, as the slogan says: When it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay!

Happy bidding!

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