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5/8/2008
CUMBERLAND - Ten folks who'd never sold an item on e-Bay arrived at the Cumberland Public Library early Saturday morning with things they wanted to list for sale on the online auction site.
Six hours later, they emerged newly-minted entrepreneurs.
All kinds of possessions were brought to the library, including costume jewelry, a Hummel figurine, a German beer stein, custom-made cards, a Santon de Provence porcelain and clothed figurine, a fur hat, a silk shirt, two Gorham music boxes, a book of recipes and a stash of NASCAR magazines.
Halfway through the program, the 10 stopped to eat a bagged lunch and chat with each other and with the instructor, Lynne Daigneault, a Cumberland resident who works as an assistant reference librarian at the town library.
For the last year, she's been selling a variety of things on e-Bay, ever since a family member died and left behind an assortment of household items.
Daigneault didn't know what to do with them at first, but didn't want to just box the things up and put them away. With all the talk about the online auction, she decided to give it a try.
"It's a lot of fun," she said, adding that she held the class to help other folks get started, too.
Class size was limited to 10 because that's how many laptop computers the library has.
Daigneault walked the participants through the process, from getting set up to actually listing an item.
Participants learned how to set up accounts and finalize a sale, register with the online auction, search for similar items to come up with a comparable price, stage and photograph their items, upload their pictures onto the auction site and list their items. Of course, they also learned how to finalize a sale and ship the sold items.
In the process, they had fun, too.
Participants scribbled notes on pads so they could refer back to the notes they took in class.
"I think I can do this at home now that I have the know-how," said AndraKadisevskis, of Attleboro, as she maneuvered the mouse on the computer screen.
"There's a buyer for everything," said Jerry Morelle. The Cumberland resident is hoping to find a buyer for the NASCAR magazines he listed. Morelle said he'd been collecting them for a while. "I figured I'd get rid of them," he said. "They're in good condition."
Cathy Czajkowski of Lincoln learned that it would be better to sell her Gorham music boxes as separate items. "I've never bought or sold anything on e-Bay," she said. "I have four similar music boxes at home."
Her sister, Linda Cicerchia, arrived with a Hummel that was given to her a long time ago. Only recently has she thought about letting it go. The North Providence resident said she was told to put a front and back picture on the auction site.
"I always wanted to buy and sell but was afraid to," she acknowledged, adding that she now has the confidence to do both.
Jo Ann Reilly of Cumberland hoped to sell the German beer stein. At home, she has a collection of big and small spinning wheels which she might sell some day.
"This is a whole new experience for me," she said.
