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Every Day is Precious: Gifted son's Web skills become gift
By ROB PAYNE
For Williamson A.M.
Several weeks ago my 24-year-old son Troy had the bright idea for us to sell items on eBay. He had been selling off a few things lately and found it was fun and easy to do. Truth is, I had that bright idea myself a couple of months earlier. Who doesn't, with all the eBay commercials on TV? And who doesn't have things sitting around the house that aren't being used? I actually started to do it. I spent about an hour setting up for and photographing one of the items we wanted to sell and wrote a description. When it came to setting the starting price for the auction, I thought it best to try to research on the Internet what the best value might be: What did it cost new? Are there similar items already on the 'net that might be ''competition?'' So I went to eBay.com to find similar items. I quickly found some. They make it very easy to shop and find things, but when I started looking at actually selling something, I hit a wall. They have quite a few options different plans and different ways to sell. I don't think of myself as easily confused, but it was going to take some time to determine the best way to maximize our dollar. They don't put that part in the commercials. I didn't have time to do the part I had already done for 10 or 20 items, much less try to do everything else needed. I usually don't give up on good ideas, but I did table this one until I could create the time to do it right. Back to Troy. He said he remembered having seen our basement and how there must be a couple of things down there that could be sold for cash. I told him my time story. He said he had a break from college coming up and he would be happy to make the drive from Indianapolis to help out. He came, but he didn't help he did it all! He fought through the basement, inventorying items that were sellable. He researched on the Web new and comparable prices for each item and presented all the information to Marcy for price-setting decisions. He brought with him his laptop computer and desktop photo studio (complete with lights) and shot each item with one hand while petting and keeping our curious cats at bay. He wrote descriptive copy for each item. He suggested the type of account to establish and set up our eBay and PayPal accounts. After working on it for a few days and seeing how I spend my time caring for Marcy he realized it would be difficult for me to ship the items that sold, so he offered to squeeze everything into his car and take them to his place. He would package and ship the items as they sold. He would store the ones that didn't sell and re-post at a later time to try again. Once he was home, he and his fianceé polished the copy. Troy then cropped all the photos and posted the items on eBay. The items are available for bids for only 7 days, so check it out today. Go to eBay.com, click ''smart search,'' then the ''by seller'' tab, and key ''everydayisprecious'' in the single seller box. Or just go to EveryDayIsPrecious.com and click on the link on our home page. Even if you don't need anything we are selling, you can see his work. While here, Troy was a joy and a help in other ways. As a by-product of the eBay project, he got me started on cleaning the basement. He ran errands for us to Wal-Mart, to the grocery store, dropping the kids here and there. He took the van in for an oil change, changed about a dozen burned out light bulbs, and took out the trash and washed dishes. I even got the chance to share a little about how God has helped Marcy and me during this part of our journey. If God has given you a talent, if there is something you easily do that others say is difficult, consider doing that for a family in need. Even if it doesn't involve a high-speed connection, it could become a higher- power connection.
Every Day Is Precious is a column to remind us to treat everyone we see today as if it could be the last time we see them. It is written by Rob Payne, whose wife, Marcy, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in August 2000. Now 41 years old, she has gone from winning 5 and 10K races to being quadriplegic and on a ventilator at home. Visit www.EveryDayIsPrecious.com. If you have helped someone without being asked, or know of someone who has, share it with others. Send to rob@everydayisprecious.com or to Every Day Is Precious, 2051 Harvington Drive, Franklin, TN 37069.
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