In Great Neck, seniors racking up eBay sales

In a small room at the Great Neck Senior Center, a group of entrepreneurs sits at computers. So far, they have managed to make about $1,000.

They're students in a class that's teaching senior citizens how to sell items on eBay, and they've already put their lessons to use: Their first sale was a pair of butter dishes for $231.74. They've sold cloth dolls ($59.03), a fondue pot ($51.03) and golf clubs ($23.97), according to instructor Leonard Bloom, 80, a mostly retired tuxedo manufacturer.

They've rung up $1,030.14 in sales since November and donated $472.87 of that to the center, according to David Sarason, 78, a student who serves as the group's bookkeeper. The remainder has gone to the people whose items were sold.

It's a myth that seniors don't know how to use the Internet, said Sarason, who continues to work as an optometrist. "Seniors are really good at this stuff," he said.

Dorothy Kelley is proof. At 85, the retired teacher from Douglaston, Queens, is the oldest in the group. "I was fairly proficient at using computers already," she said. Still, she said, "this is a whole new experience."

The classes teach computer skills, how to photograph items and upload the images online and how to ship items to buyers. A recent class included seven students, ranging in age from 67 to 85. Each pays a $15 fee. Classes meet on alternate Mondays.

Sarason and Susan Marlan, 67, an interfaith officiant, sat at a computer together to research how to price comic books, which they were considering at $1 to $3 until they saw that similar books were selling for much more on eBay.

Other students were busy photographing their latest items for sale: a 1950s children's tea set, a pair of art deco candlesticks, silver spoons, a Lenox bowl, a Hopi Indian pot from the 1960s, a Meerschaum pipe and 57 comic books.

"All these pieces . . . came from someone's attic," explained Judith Schneider, a retired owner of a Great Neck art gallery. She's in charge of appraisals.

Faye Harris-Corley, 71, a retired transcriber, unfurled a giant Fijian tapa cloth, donated by a Great Neck resident, that recently sold for $199. Bloom put Kelley in charge of shipping the cloth to its buyer in California.

Susan Einhorn, 67, a retired copy writer for Publishers Clearing House, said "just getting the pictures out of the camera" is the toughest part of the eBay process. "I would be lost without this group," she said.

Harris-Coley said eBay seems an ideal way for a retiree to get rid of belongings that are now regarded as clutter.

The students have scoured their own attics and posted fliers seeking items to sell. When they get an item, they research its value, take and upload photos, write descriptions and post the text and photos on eBay.

Online, they go by

gnseniors516.

And as cyber-competent as they are, they've established limits. "We don't Twitter," Sarason said, with a laugh.

Interested donors can contact Leonard Bloom at tux2222@yahoo.com or 516-902-4042. Those providing items can donate all or half of the sale price to the center. The amount donated is tax-deductible.