Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Buyers Don't Care....Stay Positive


I recently sold a silk scarf to a buyer in NY. It was a vintage Bill Blass that was 100% silk.
 
 Or so you would believe if you actually read the tag. The reason for return was too thick that it didn't feel like silk. Boom!! Not as described. I politely and professionally wrote back and stated that there was a tag on the scarf that said "All Silk". (I'm pretty sure that all means 100%). He replied and said    "the fabric is thin & semi transparent, therefore it does not work for me."
   After a few calls to ebay it was determined that it was buyers remorse and there was nothing wrong with the scarf. But the problem is not that.

The buyer opened a not as described case and that automatically charges me the return shipping. I have no choice but to approve the return or face the wrath of ebay for not handling the return and according to ebay once I agree to the return and the return shipping, they can't change that.

Now its just $2.45 for return shipping but after a while it grates on me that the buyer got away with this crap once again. And ebay let them. I did refund in paypal and charge 20% restocking fee.

This is what the package looked like when I received it in the mail.
If you think that the end of the poly mailer is open you are absolutely right. Thank goodness he wrapped it back in the tissue that I shipped it with. If not the scarf would have slipped right out of the mailer. Once again the buyer just doesn't give a damn.

Staying Positive!!...??

June wasn't the worst month for me, just not the best. July isn't looking good at all. I was prepared for slow sales over the week-end but not no sales. I had one sale on Friday night, no sales on Saturday, two sales on Sunday and one sale on Monday. Then I thought things were going better on Tuesday when I woke up to the cha-ching. But that was it. I looked at my week and I was all the way up to $224 but my total for the last 4 days was $124. That means that my sales for the other 3 days were only $100. That is sales, not profit.That is miserable and means that it doesn't even pay ebay store fees for the week. My goal is $100 a day. It seems I'm a bit off.

I don't like to talk about sales, money or stuff like that but it's hard staying positive when nothing is selling. Oh, I could have sold a couple of things but 50% off with free shipping is worse than no sales. Losing money is worse than no money. I don't like to price sky high and then take 50% of what I have the item listed for. I just think it sets a bad example for sales. I do accept reasonable offers, I just had an offer not 2 hours after it went live for a cycling helmet for half list price. What? If I wanted $50 for the helmet that is what I would have listed it for. Do buyers just look up something and go down the list making ridiculous offers (on the same items)until someone accepts?

Well, some good things have happened with all this "free" time. I have gotten more listed. Of course I didn't get the house clean, laundry done or the grass mowed, but I did get more listed. Doing everything yourself sure does suck, you can't blame anyone for the slow sales but ebay. Throttling and all that seems feasible about now.

Keep listing, it WILL get better.

5 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. eBay feels no love for sellers. eBay promotes internet shoplifting.

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    1. I like the "internet shoplifting". It seems the more leeway you give buyers the cheaper they want items. I just want to scream at them and say, you go to the thrift store and find these gems, in your size. I did all the work for you and you still want it for the price I paid. Get real Lucille.

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  2. Buyers seem to be extra nasty this month/last month. I have a few serious nasties I'm dealing with who won't send the item back OR photographs of the damage they claim is there but want full refunds. >.< At least it always gets better.

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    1. I'm still waiting for a guy who purchased shoes in January to return them. He emails occasionally and says he will return them when he recovers from his surgery. Oh well he isn't sending threats so I guess I'm lucky.

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  3. If it is a sale from Ebay, I am not sure you have to take the return this late. I guess it depends on your return policy. But I think Ebay only gives them 60 days if it is an item not as described case etc.

    I also got very discouraged tonight. I have sold few items, and one person wants to return something since it is not what she wanted. I also had someone try to get me to give them a discount of $20 on a leather planner by saying it wasn't leather. I have heard it said that the best course of action for that type of person is to offer them to return the item and they rarely do that. So far I have heard nothing back from them.

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