By Hilary Anderson
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Cindy Arredia loves garage sales. She often can be found rummaging for treasures through others’ white elephants or selling some of her own. That passion took a unique turn when Arredia discovered she could achieve the same results through Internet auction websites. Now she’s doing it almost daily and has even found a way to use her hobby as a moneymaker for her parish school, St. Maria Goretti in Schiller Park.

“My family and I always loved going to garage sales,” said Arredia. “Then my brother began selling some comic books on the eBay website. He was so successful my aunt, mother and I tried. It was like shopping at the world’s largest garage sale. Things blossomed from there.”

Arredia joined St. Maria Goretti’s school board last September. Fund-raising was on that month’s agenda. When it was brought up for discussion, she immediately thought about her family’s success with auctioning items through the eBay website.

“It seemed like a no-brainer to me,” she said.

“We needed funds for the school and didn’t want to continually ask our parishioners [for money]. The eBay auctions were something different that could reach a larger audience.”

St. Maria Goretti’s school board members gave their thumbs up to the idea. Since it was Arredia’s brainchild, she got the task of making it happen.

She first registered the school with the eBay auction website. Arredia verified that the church’s Visa and Master Card account were up-to-date at a local bank for those who preferred paying that way instead of by check or money order. Then the school printed fliers about the auction and distributed them to parish families. Notices went into the church bulletin as well. They asked for donations of kitchen items like Tupperware, Corningware, Pyrex dishes and china. Also on the list of wanted donations were sports memorabilia, theme items like Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges and collectibles such as those from the Franklin Mint.

“We asked for items that primarily were small enough to carry, but not necessarily new ones,” Arredia said. “We decided against offering clothing but will consider most anything someone is willing to part with.”

Since its inception in September, the eBay auction has earned approximately $700 for St. Maria Goretti School. Arredia says the figure can be a little misleading because two of the donated items were bought by eBay bidders for amounts larger than expected. One was a Health-Rider that sold for $150. The other surprise was a pair of Leann Rimes corduroy pants that were autographed on the pocket. An eBay bidder paid $187 for them.

“We have sold between 30 and 40 items in all with an average of four to six items a week,” Arredia said. “We do take time off for the holidays.”

Arredia does the most of the eBay work herself but is looking forward to help from another person as the St. Maria Goretti School eBay auction grows in popularity. She admits it’s a lot of work but worth the effort. Arredia offers tips for those who might consider doing similarly for their church or school.

“You have to check the website every day,” she said. “It’s like my second part-time job.”

Arredia says it’s important to describe the item well to be auctioned. She takes a digital photo and adds it to the description. Arredia also advises being prompt answering queries from bidders and shipping items they have won. She currently stores most of the donated items at her house. Arredia donates any item that does not sell at the auction to her church’s sister parish.

The overhead for the project is relatively low because Arredia collects boxes free-of-charge from local stores. She does buy bubble wrap, however.

Arredia weighs the item and checks a local website to determine the least expensive shipper, UPS or the U.S.Postal Service. Then she informs the winner what the total cost is. She insures items if requested.

Checks are sent directly to the school and the treasurer informs Arredia when the money arrives. She, in turn, ships the items.

“If an item arrives broken or the winner is unhappy with it, I’ll refund the money,” she said. “That only happened once. We have never had any bad checks.”
Arredia says one of the most satisfying parts of her new-found job is hearing the stories of why someone bought an item.

“Everyone has a story,” she said.

“One woman bought a cologne set because it brought back a family memory. Another bought an older Viewmaster to bring back thoughts of childhood days.”

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