Ebay Treasures and Trash

I started buying things off Ebay in the mid- to late nineties. At the time, I had an obsession with doll collecting...fashion dolls, mostly, but a few other types as well. I got over the doll fetish in the early 2000s, but still had one bedroom entirely devoted to them! Most people probably think 'Barbie' when they think of fashion dolls and I did have many of that genre, but I had a deeper passion for the higher end fashion dolls put out by Robert Tonner (Tyler Wentworth, Kitty Collier, and the Tonner Models), Madame Alexander (Alexandra Fairchild Ford dolls) and the Mel Odom 'Gene Marshalls' distributed by Ashton Drake. They were soooo gorgeous! I found great dolls on Ebay at wonderful prices. Fortunately, my passion for these beauties waned and the doll collecting trend petered out in the mid- to late part of that decade, due to the economy.

Premier Gene Doll circa 1995
via Karlakollectibles on Ebay

I forgot about Ebay for the most part, till after we hit the road in 2011. When we set out that year, I'd brought all my jewelry and beadmaking gear and supplies with us. And till about a year or so ago, I turned out handmade jewelry like it was my job! And though I had a generous amount of supplies on hand, I was always on the hunt for more. (I blame my inherited instinct to hoard goodies for this.) But, we frequently found ourselves in places that were not always conducive to this proclivity of mine to stockpile. Being 70 miles away from the nearest anything does not lend itself to finding treasures! Thus entereth Ebay.

I discovered you can obtain some wonderful stone cabochons and beads from China and other points east. Some people draw a line at purchasing from non-U.S. sellers and I totally get that. I do, too, when it comes to certain things. I'm an advocate for buying local whenever possible. However, the overseas prices for jewelry making supplies cannot be beat. Plus I had a little system that worked for me; i.e. only purchasing from the highest rated sellers who offer free shipping. Also, I dislike getting into bidding wars. After twice setting my alarm to wake me at two or three a.m. in order to put in a final bid on something that ended up going to another buyer anyway, I decided I would not even look at items for bid. Bidding stresses me out. I now filter my Ebay shopping to show only 'Buy It Now', 'Free Shipping' and dependent on the type of item, 'U.S. Only'.

Some assorted Ebay bargains.

I know some will argue that the shipping is built into the price, but if I can pay next to nothing for a beautiful piece of polished agate, carved jasper or beautiful amazonite and the shipping is included? Well, you just cannot find a U.S. seller offering deals like that. At any rate, I bought quite a few cabochons, et al from Ebay and made a lot of fabulous jewelry (at least I thought it was pretty good) with it. I can only think of one time I was rooked. This was a stunning mermaid pendant touted at being genuine carved turquoise that turned out to be molded acrylic. Though disappointed at the duplicity of that seller (whom I never purchased from again and gave a poor rating), it was still a very pretty pendant and I didn't pay much for it. I just cannot sell or claim it as genuine. But I was suspicious of it when I bought it--the price was too good to be true. 'Ya can't win 'em all...' 

Sadly, I reached a point of saturation with jewelry-making in 2015. My motivation and inspiration dried up. This has happened to me before but after taking a month or two hiatus, the urge to create always returned in full force and my inventory of handmade pieces continued to proliferate. But it has been a full year now and the thought of dragging out all the gear and supplies just puts a big dampener on my urge to make. I believe it will eventually return; at least I hope so.

Now we turn to my Ebay cosmetic purchasing experiences. As anyone who has read here more than once knows, I'm a lifelong makeup addict and collector. And much of what I like to use leans to the expensive side. Being on a fixed income tends to curtail mindless cosmetic buying sprees. So regular Laura Geller QVC purchases and other things of that ilk became out of the question. But I'm obsessed with Laura Geller! I have a zillion of her blushes and since I use a lot of the Balance n' Brighten foundation, I keep 'backups' as I hate the thought of running out. Ebay to the rescue again! When it comes to cosmetics, I purchase only from U.S. sellers.

I suspect a lot of people are leery of buying such things off Ebay but I found one high-rated seller (Bassfish71) who vends a lot of Laura Geller stuff. It appears one of this seller's habits is to buy multiples of the various LG kits, break them down and sell the products individually. For me, this is fantastic because often there are only one or two items in a given kit that I'm interested in anyway. I don't really want the whole kit; just the powder, eyeshadow or blush. In my opinion, this seller has exceptionally reasonable prices to boot, so I have been able to get a powder foundation that normally sells for $33 retail for $23 or often even less.

The Laura Geller blushes are an even better buy as I've gotten them for anywhere from $8 to $14. These retail from $26 to $29, dependent on the type. Eyeshadows have run $6 to $12, whereas the retail price is $24. It's quite a coup to get a limited edition item at a deal price without having to purchase the entire shooting match for $50 up and end up only liking or using 2 of the items. I've been very happy with these deals.

Some Christmas additions to the Laura Geller stash...

There has been much scuttlebutt about fake products being sold on Ebay and I'm sure that's very true. These are nearly always the overly hyped-up goodies, such as the Urban Decay Naked palettes, or whatever is the must-have cosmetic du jour. You know, the ones that get a ton of press and YouTube videos, then sell out the day they're released, like the latest Two-Faced Peach palette.

There are even videos on how to tell fake from genuine. But, really...a Lorac Mega Pro palette for $30? You know that's gotta be fake. If I feel I just cannot live without something like that, I'll go ahead and get it at full price at a reputable retailer, rather than risk an Ebay fake. But am happy to report that I've been able to resist most of that stuff just by going to the store and dipping my fingers into the testers and talking myself out of it, reminding myself I already have fifteen things just like it. I am doing much better about mindless impulse makeup buying! Really, I am! Really!

Ebay is a great place to find a myriad of treasures, like the ultra-cheap mesh brush guards that I got for around $1.25, or the great contour brush for less than $5 that is as soft and well-made as any RealTechniques brush, or great collectible jewelry gotten at bargain basement prices.

Of course, this is all relative. After all, one man's trash is another's treasure, right?

Till next time,

"The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated." ~ B.C. Forbes

"The best way to look stylish on a budget is to try second-hand, bargain hunting, and vintage." ~ Orlando Bloom