So many would-be sellers either forget, or don't know, the top three rules of marketing:

1. Focus on your customer
2. Focus on your customer
3. Focus on your customer

Really good - translation: successful - sales women & men focus on on the needs of the customer. In fact, this primary rule is often referred to by the acronmy WIIFM, or What's In It For Me. That is what's on the mind of the buyers and those who forget this will absolutely not succeed.

Don't misunderstand my point. Humans have big hearts and will often be exceedingly generous to victims of tragedy of those in need. But many of this lady's would-be buyers are working more than one job, or long hours or at positions they detest, themselves. So they're not likely to be sympathetic enough to buy her goods 'just because'.

The bottom line: if she wants to sell on eBay - or anywhere else - she'd better focus on finding products that people really want, rather than posting appeals like the one above. Even if a few people respond, that kind of mindset has a limited duration.