Those crazy offers....killing me!!

I have come to dread the message alert on ebay. I think its another question or an offer when I don't have an offer on an item.

Now, I don't mind offers. I sold something just recently from an offer on a pair of boots. The boots were $135 and I accepted an offer of $120 and we were both happy. Now I don't consider an offer of $50 and  free shipping on a heavy  item I have listed for $99, plus shipping, a reasonable offer. I got the same offer from the same person on two different days. Did she think I didn't notice that she had the same user name? Did she forget I already responded to her offer? I don't know. But the item is still for sale at $99 and there are others the same price, some higher and some lower.

I spend quite a bit of time trying to find just the right price for what I'm selling. I don't want to overprice or underprice an item. I check sold listings and current listing and try to find a happy balance. It makes it hard when sellers routinely list items with really high prices and then take 50% or more off the original price. Now, before you start writing those harsh responses I understand everyone has the right to price items as they see fit and to discount or not. It just seems like lately that a lot of sellers are going overboard with the 50% off and its killing me. And I understand it is better to put something on sale and sell it than to pull it and re-donate it. And I simply do not like free shipping. When I go to the post office someone has to pay for the shipping...it's not free.

I need to make a sale just like everyone else but I also need to make a decent profit. I'm not talking about 1000% profit but a reasonable profit for my time and energy to get an item in front of the buyers. I know some sellers are able to get stuff at outlets and pound stores for next to nothing. I can't do that. My GW never runs sales, no color tags, no bulk sales, no discount of any kind. They had rather send it back to the warehouse than come down in price. The bulk store is 2.5 hours away, for the closest one. My GW's also don't have carts or customer bathrooms, but that's a whole other rant story. I do try and shop the local church thrifts but they are getting savvy and a lot of the bargains that I had been finding are not there anymore. You have to really look for the good stuff. Yes, I'm talking about you $2.50 Allen Edmonds shoes that sold for $100!!

Is it too much to ask sellers to price reasonably and not put everything at 50% off ? Don't get me started on free shipping. I will accept offers on items when the offer is reasonable but drop the price by 25-40% AND free shipping. Give me a break lady who wants those Disney scarves for next to nothing.

I've worked hard this past year to get educated to buy better stuff and my store is full of stuff that I think is better quality and therefore priced higher than last year at this time. Yet my sales for December are significantly lower than last December. This year I sold about 2/3 of what I sold last December. My sales for January and February were really good last year and I hope that is the case this year. I think...knock on wood... that I can get TRS back in January and if not I will get it in February.

Better merchandise should yield better sales? I don't know what else to do. Keep listing, and listing and getting things shipped as quickly as possible. I do know that losing TRS has something to do with sales being slow due to the search ranking.

But come on ebay, I'm starting to think about those theories. The dark, ebay is against me theories. I don't want to but I'm slipping to the dark side....hello Darth.

New Year's Declarations, Statements not Resolutions

Yeah I survived the holiday seasons...all except the new year. We'll see about that on Friday.

I did get a tree up this year unlike last year with the boxed fiber optic tree that graced our family room. Ten foot ceilings and a three foot tree do not make a good combination. No matter how high up you put the tree.

This year I did get a small tree up and all aglow before the family decended upon our house. I had motivation to get everything looking festive. Our grandson is in the Army, and for now is still in training, but he already knows he will be stationed overseas in February. And he probably won't be home next Christmas because of the long distance to get back and the expense. So we wanted good memories of this Christmas. Well, every Christmas, but this one especially. So we have been festive until our teeth hurt!! Smile....

I don't usually do New Year's Resolutions. The diet one is only as good as your will power and make more money is only as good as ebay and good health is only as good as your doctor. So I have decided on New Year's Statements.

My New Year's Statements for 2016

1. I will teach ebay buyers to read. The W on the bottom of a pair of Crocs is for Women's not Wide, for example. Faux leather is not real leather, really, trust me on that one lady.
2.  I will joyfully refund every idiot that buys something and then has buyers remorse. Well...maybe joyfull is too strong a word. How about just refund....yeah that's better.
3. I will get an appointment with my eye doctor....if I can see the number on the screen...maybe I should put this as number one...if I can see how to do that.
4. I will list and sell what I buy as soon as I get home. No more procrastanation. Well....maybe I should wait on that one. Don't want to have too many statements. Yeah...wait on that one, that's better.

You can see I'm off to a great start for the new year with my statements. Now I have to go get my coupons organaized so I can cash in on the last day of the year/month and use those December 50% off coupons. And then I think I need a nap....no more procrastanation for me!!!

Happy New Year y'all

Loving that thrift smell

My daughter and I were exploring the bag sale yesterday and I found two pair of jeans and some t shirts for my princess grand daughters. I had sorted them out to wash and left them on the floor. This morning I noticed our cat had claimed a pair and was sleeping on them.  When I went to get my camera she went nuts....a very short trip for her.

She was just napping on the bottom pair until I got the camera. Then she decided to explore the other pair.

Ummm...what is that wonderful smell? 

Essence of Thrift Store?  Love it. Really, really love it.
I love it so much it needs a hug.

Ah....life is so exciting here at the castle!!

Where do the numbers come from?

We have a saying here in the South. When you don't want to hurt someone's feelings you just say "bless their hearts". A way to be polite and not offend.

Well ebay has struck again.

I was checking my dashboard yesterday and saw that they had raised my selling limit. Not long ago they raised my selling limit to $595,000. I laughed at that for several days.

Now I will be laughing for a week.

They raised my selling limits to $2,932,819.78. That's over 75 times what I have listed at this very minute. Where do the numbers come from? Random generated numbers? A dart board in the break room?

If I listed everything I have ever owned in my lifetime and everything I have in my stash to list now I could never reach that impossible number.

Way back when I was a newbie seller there were no limits. They just wanted you to list your stuff because everything sold and they wanted those fees. Now everything is regulated and I feel for new ebay sellers when they have to beg ebay to raise their limits. But these numbers are so totally out of reach that it's funny.

Bless their hearts....

Thanks for the feedback...I think

We all work for positive feedback. Its part of the feedback game that we all play. Feedback can be a good thing or hurt your store and sales.

But this is just plain weird.

A bit of background before you judge the feedback I received.

Nike Shox Vince Carter Respect Sneakers

I  had these shoes listed for several months and no bites. I had no idea how much they were worth because there were only a few pair sold and the prices, colors and sizes were all over the place. So of course I started them high at $249.

I finally received an offer one morning last week. It was  for $100, less than half price. I thought I could push the envelope a little and counter offered with $125. The buyer accepted and we were off. I was able to ship that day since all of this occurred while I was trying to get sales packed and shipped. Money in the bank...soon.

The post office did its job and got them there quickly. The next day he left this feedback:

"The undertaker is coming beware. He is rising from he dead. Rest in piece" 

My first thought was what the h---?

Should I be upset? Should I laugh? Should I call ebay?

 In the end I decided to chalk it up to a weird guy and let it go. Six more feedback and he goes to the next page!!

Would you be upset?

Would you call ebay?

Free as a Bird

I've been huffing and puffing trying to get things in order for a big Thanksgiving. I have tons of stuff to get listed and with only little ole me to do it I am not making any visible progress. At least it looks like the same to me. Big piles o'stuff. 

It was a nice day on Saturday and I decided to take the bigger things I needed to photograph out on the deck. I only have twin beds that the grand princess' sleep on to spread out blankets, comforters, afghans and stuff like that and the room is light but not the right kind of light. So I keep putting off taking the pictures. Not any more. Out we go.

I had 5 granny square afghans to get photographed, an alpaca wool blanket, a quillo and a sleeping bag. Plus several baby quilts. Yikes, who buys all of this stuff? And why such big stuff?

I was snapping away when I heard a bird flying over with a distinctive screech. We have hawks and owls all the time since we live on the "backside of nowhere" but this was different. I kept trying to get a good shot but my cheap little camera did its best and that wasn't very good.

If you squint, just right, you can see the white head of this bald eagle. There were a pair of them that kept circling over the creek behind the house for a couple of hours. Several times one would fly directly over me and the house. I guess he decided I wasn't a tasty morsel and after a while they flew off.  That tree in the edge of the photo is over 120' tall and the bird is at least that much further away, probably more. So at 240' he looks that big. Glad he didn't get any closer to me but I do wish that I could have gotten a better shot of him.

UPDATE
Both the Cafe Matina and Mukka Express espresso pots from my last post sold in less than two days after listing. Both have arrived and are working great. The vintage espresso pot hasn't sold yet. The vintage train set has had 115 views and 8 watchers. I sure hope someone needs that for Christmas. It would make my friend very happy and plus I get 50% after fees.

I have been trying to list what I have and staying away from thrifts. I did go to the rescue mission thrift a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to find shoes at buy one get one half off. I stumbled up several pairs of Allen Edmonds, one black, one brown and the same size. Cost me $3.25 each. Already sold one pair for $70 and have the other left. Also recently found some Allen Edmonds York boots. First time I have found boots in that brand.

One other item I picked up at the GW outlet when I was on vacation was brass blazer buttons. I got a full set of Ralph Lauren Polo brass blazer buttons for almost free. They weigh so little that they cost about 2 cents each. Listed last week and already sold 2 jacket buttons and 1 sleeve button.
These are called Waterbury because they are made in Waterbury CT..
Also picked these from a vintage blazer, 60's-70's. monogrammed brass buttons. If I can find someone with the initials FUS or FSU I'll be all set.

Okay, enough relaxing, back to listing and cleaning.

Done with Drama

Quick update on the shirt issue.

Ebay did rule in favor of the buyer. Why? I offered a refund as required and he refused because he wanted return shipping. In the end, after 4 calls to ebay to fix things, I gave him his refund for original shipping and cost of the shirt. The same as I offered to start with. He shipped the shirt back to me. No damage, other than light wear as described in the listing. No structural damage. He never did say what the problem was and I really don't think there was one. Just buyers remorse.

Now this puzzles me. He shipped a lightweight shirt (8-9oz.), originally shipped 1st class in a poly mailer, back to me in a box, about 8" x 5" x 4", with the shirt stuffed in two WallyMart bags for $7.09 priority postage. He knew he was not going to be reimbursed for postage so why did he add extra weight and ship priority? It always amazes me when a disgruntled buyer ships something back. It never fails that they package it in a strange manner or put a small item in a large flat rate box or something stupid silly. But that is OK because.....

I AM DONE WITH THE DRAMA!!!

From now on I will not let returns bother me....no matter what. Most returns are fine but there is always the occasional one that wants drama. I'm not going there. So there!! For the most part I try to respond in a timely manner, go silent when demands are put on the table, call ebay for help, and follow their instructions. But I still let an occasional buyer get under my skin. Which is OK as long as I keep it short and professional with the emails and don't feed their rant.

On to more pleasant things.

I have had a flurry of espresso items lately. Don't know why but I have found several electric espresso pots and other accessories. New carafes, filter holders, cup holders and related stuff.

 

Found this never used Caffe Mattina electric espresso pot on vacation at a VV. It has an electric base that it fits on and I looked that entire store over, twice, trying to find the base with no luck. So I purchased just the pot and listed it as a replacement part. Immediately I had an interested person who decided it was priced too high. While she was "negotiating" someone else purchased for full price. I love when that happens!! and in less than 24 hours after listing!!

Also found this one locally at a ReStore.

It had been at the store over a week, according to the tag, and I'm surprised it was still there. It is a Bialetti Mukka Express and works just fine.

In researching electric moka pots it seems that the "true espresso lovers" don't like the electric pots and prefer the stovetop ones. I have an electric Krups espresso maker and I don't really see the difference. It's all in the coffee to me

Found this at GW, locally. Don't think they knew what it was because it was $3 and taped together weird.

A vintage stovetop espresso pot. Remove lid, put coffee in right pot, flip upside down on left pot with water in base, put on stovetop, make espresso, remove top pot, replace lid, enjoy. Simple, right? This one says Italian Style on the bottom and has some lovely scroll work on the sides. Very nice, made in Italy.

At a local Mom&Pop greasy spoon we eat at occasionally, the owner knows I sell on ebay. I  found some items he needed online and he purchased them from me. He asked me to sell his train set online.


Little did I know what kind of train set he had. This is a vintage electric train set sold in the Montgomery Ward catalog in the early 60's, made in UK and is absolutely beautiful. Metal die cast cars, tiny telephone poles, trees, and in the box!!The trebel-o-lectric 000 gauge translates to an N gauge now.(I have learned a lot about electric trains recently!!) One sold recently, from an antiques dealer, on ebay for $315 on auction. I don't do auctions and I started mine higher at $499 with best offer. No offers yet and after about 50 views I have 5 watchers. Hope they are really interested in the train and not just professional watchers.

So, as always, you never know where you'll find your next treasure. Look everywhere, VV, GW, ReStore and when you go out for lunch!!!

Keep listing and hope the goblins didn't get you last night.