Going With Your Gut

I mentioned the other day that I sold a pair of cedar shoe trees to a buyer in Taiwan. After checking the International Mail Manual, I discovered that shipments to Taiwan require the buyer to have an import license. Also all dutiable first class parcels are required to be registered. I don't even know what that means - who do I register it with? So I sent the buyer a message, asking if she had the proper paperwork, and if she knew who I was to register the package with. A couple days went by and I didn't hear back from her, so I wrote her again to let her know that I needed to either ship the item or cancel the transaction. I still hadn't heard from her this afternoon, so I refunded her money, sent the cancellation request, and relisted the item. A couple hours later, they sold to a U.S. buyer :)

I also mentioned that I was expecting a return on a pair of shoes because they didn't fit. The buyer wanted me to refund her original shipping since she was paying to return them to me. I stuck to my guns, pointing out that my return policy states that the buyer pays the return shipping. I didn't hear back from her, which made me nervous. The shoes arrived today, I issued the refund (purchase price only), and sent a cancellation request. Shortly thereafter, she agreed to the cancellation and left me a glowing positive feedback.

So you see, sometimes it's good to follow a gut feeling. Both of these stories ended well. I think I was lucky :)

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I reached an exciting milestone today!

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I only had 3 sales today, but that's okay. My sales have been the highest they've been since last winter. eBay has really been keeping me hopping. When I'm not packaging, I'm listing. So I have welcomed the slower day today.

I sold another item from that big yard sale back in September. I'm surprised this didn't sell sooner than it did. I guess it needed just the right buyer.

This is a toddler Calvin Klein winter coat. It has a retail price of $90, so I had it listed pretty high for quite awhile. I finally found the right price though. It sold today for $50.

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And this Gap dress came from my daughter's closet. It just never looked right on her, so I decided to throw it in my store for a month or two and see if it sold. It sold in less than a month, so I'm glad I gave it a shot.

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That's pretty much it. Personally, this is going to be a really weird week. My husband has been home on a seasonal layoff since October. It's always nice to have him home over the winter, and it REALLY stinks when he goes back to work in the spring. He was able to put off going back for a couple weeks longer than he usually does, so that was nice. But this year he is also in nursing school. So several days a week, he will leave here at 6:30 in the morning to go to work. He'll have to go straight from work to school, and then he'll get home at 11pm. I have no problem waiting up late, but on the days where he has both work and school, the kids won't see him at all. Unless of course I turn into a total softie and let them wait up for him. Like I did tonight. :-\

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I was going to spend the next hour or so taking pictures to list tomorrow, but I'm exhausted. Off to watch some tv!