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The kids are sleeping, let's make some cash

Michelle Palm sells items on eBay, financing her daughter's preschool.

By MINDY RUBENSTEIN
Published September 18, 2006

	[Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes]
	Michelle Palm posts items for sale on eBay as her daughters, Emily, 3, and Hailey, 5, play on the couch behind her at their home in Meadow Pointe. Palm makes enough money to contribute to the household without leaving home.

For Michelle Palm, what started as a hobby has turned into a way to pay for her daughter's preschool and still be a stay-at-home mom.

"I've always loved garage sales," she said.

At a garage sale a couple of years ago, Palm saw name-brand items selling for less than $1.

She got an idea.

"I said to my husband, 'I think there's money to be made on eBay with me staying home,' " she said.

Palm, 32, bought some items, then resold them on eBay. After her first sale, she was hooked. She had bought two outfits for about 50 cents each. On eBay, one sold for $14, the other for $11.

"You can easily make $1,000 a month without that much effort going into it," said Palm, who lives in Wesley Chapel and has two daughters, ages 3 and 5.

Palm and some other moms who want to stay home with their children and keep a day job are crafting businesses out of Internet sales. While their kids nap, they oversee bids for kids' toys, clothes and booties.

Alison Bailey lives in Seven Oaks and has two children, ages 2½ and 5. She's been an eBay mom for five years, and uses the extra money to pay for preschool and sometimes a car payment.

"I sell clothes when the kids grow out them," she said. "It's just a good way to get rid of the clutter in your house and make a little extra money."

Bailey, 35, said there is a growing number of stay-at-home moms who do this, in part because of the flexibility. "I like being able to do it during naptime or when the kids are in bed."

It's also a way to use your brain and some creativity, taking pictures of the items and writing the descriptions.

"I feel like it's entertainment for me as well because I like to watch the bidding wars," Bailey said.

So far, she said, she has about 1,000 positive feedbacks from eBay buyers. "You have to follow up with them when items ship," Bailey said.

She has sold to people in all 50 states, as well as countries like Finland, Australia and Italy, Bailey said.

She also sells items for her neighbors and collects a flat fee for her time. She sometimes helps friends start their own businesses.

A word of advice she gives to entrepreneurs: "If you've never done it before, pick some items you don't have an attachment for, so if they sell poorly you won't feel bad."

Palm had some tips of her own. Her mother owned a children's consignment store when Palm was growing up in north Miami, so Palm learned about selling used goods.

"Pick something you know, so you don't lose your shirt," she said.

For example, if you have young children, sell name-brand baby clothing and toys. She also recommends spending time watching similar items to see how quickly they sell and for how much.

Picking a title for items is most important, Palm said. When potential buyers enter their search criteria, at least one of the words has to be included in your item's description in order for it to pop up. "A lot of people miss that very important clue."

If you're selling a boy's size 4T shirt, for example, make sure to include the words "clothing" and "Gymboree" or "Gap" if it's from one of those stores. People don't search for descriptive words like "cute."

Another tip: It's important to know when to end your bid.

"I sell a lot of stuff to stay-at-home moms," she said.

Naptime, in the afternoon, is a good time to end the bidding session for kids' clothes, Palm said, because moms are able to go online and make their final bids.

She is into selling Halloween costumes, which she says can be big moneymakers. One year she bought discontinued JoJo clown outfits for $14 at a Disney store, and sold them for $150 each. She earned $4,000 just in the month of September.

"Some parents are crazy," she said. "I would no sooner pay $150 for a costume than cut off my right arm."

These entrepreneurs work at their own pace. "The main thing is if I know I have a busy week, I don't list a lot."

Palm ships everything from her home, and prints labels on her computer so she doesn't have to go to the post office. "The postman and I are really good friends," she said. "Click and ship is heaven for a stay-at-home mom."

In addition to using the extra money to pay for her younger daughter's preschool, Palm said she typically has enough left over for vacations. In June she and her husband went on a cruise, "so in May I sold the heck out of eBay and paid for the cruise."

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 07:02:01]