Phew!

Uuuunngngnggghhh. ..... I spent all of yesterday in bed. Didn't you know that late May is well-known for the flu???  Fortunately, it came and went quickly, but while it was here, it was not a pleasant guest.  My 4 year old had it worse than I did, and apparently my sister did too. I actually escaped without vomiting, but I almost wish I could have just vomited and been done with it. :(     I felt much better today, but because I didn't eat or drink anything at all yesterday, it took me half of today to get my body replenished and energized again. Yuk.

Enough about that. Sales are still slow. I listed 32 items today. Hopefully that will spark something for the rest of the week. I have played the piano for 25 years. I have amassed quite a collection of piano music, most of which I don't play anymore. With 4 kids, I have pretty limited piano time, so when I do play, I only have a handful of favorite books that I choose from. I went through a lot of my music awhile ago and picked out a folder full of sheet music I didn't want anymore. That's what I listed today. It went pretty quickly. And I already sold one of them! They aren't high-dollar by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll get more for them on eBay than I would at a yard sale, so I figured I might as well list them.

I bought a voice-changing Storm Trooper helmet from my Facebook group today! Woot! Mine's the one that's just white and grey, without those things on the sides. I paid $5 for it and should be able to get $30-35 for it. I promised my 9 year old that he could play with it for awhile. He'll get bored with it within a week or so...

I also bought a pogo stick from the group. What was I thinking? Have you ever HEARD a pogo stick??? How annoying! My kids were trying to use it in the house today. None of them has ever used one before, so that was amusing to watch. But crazy kids that they are, one of them was actually hopping on it with a lollipop in his mouth! The only thing worse would have been if he was holding a pair of scissors in his other hand! Geesh.  (No worries - no one got hurt!)

I sold these today:

I bought them from my Facebook group for $2 - and I sold them for $25! It was a quick flip - took exactly one month.

That's all for today. I'm tired...

Uneventful Weekend

My spirits are much better than they were during my last post. Thank you all for the encouraging words :)

I haven't had much of anything exciting going on, eBay-wise. I went yard saling Friday morning. Remember I mentioned that the neighboring borough had lifted the yard sale permit requirement, so I was expecting there to be lots and lots of yard sales? There were 2. Two. What a wasted effort.  But there was a different community that was having their community sale, so I made up for it there. I found a few goodies.

My favorite is this cutie:

Isn't he absolutely darling?!?!?  He's in perfect condition - no chips or crazing at all. Definitely vintage though. I snapped him right up off the table! For only a dollar!! A DOLLAR, people! I feel like I ripped the lady off!

After that sale, I was quite discouraged by all the boutique pricing that people seem to think is completely acceptable at yard sales. A blog that I read recently (how embarrassing that I forget whose it was!!) made an interesting statement: "If you are sitting on your lawn selling things, don't expect Macy's prices."  That hits the nail on the head. Your items are sitting on your yard. Which is made up of grass and mud. And you want me to pay this much for that!?!?  I don't think so.

But just a couple other goodies we found:

-2 pairs of ice skates in their boxes (I usually do "ok" with ice skates, but they sit for awhile)
-a new-in-the-box board game that turned out to be a total dud, but I bought it without looking it up, because my family will probably play it anyway
-5 boxes of vintage colorforms. Not convinced these were a great investment, but they were only 50 cents a box, so I figure even I flip them for $9.99, I've done alright.

After we gave up on the yard sales, I asked the kids who all wanted to go to Goodwill. ALL OF THEM SHOUTED, "I DO!!" Can you believe it?!?! Well, the 9 month old didn't, but the other four did. So off we went. I haven't set foot in a Goodwill since March 26. I had most of my unlisted inventory caught up, and we'd had a dud of a yard sale morning, so I figured why not. I'm glad we did. We found a couple goodies there too!

-vintage Mall Madness (which I still haven't checked for completeness, but it was only 50 cents)
-NIP Harry Potter Lego set (WOOT!)
-a Leap Frog plush that's a dud, but my kids 9 year old boy has been having a grand time making it say all kinds of words (sigh...)
-2 Ralph Lauren men's 2X button down shirts
-Pendleton linen blouse
-Christian Dior floral blouse (a new brand for me - I've never found any before, so we'll see)
- a NWT $60 Chereskin sweater, which turned out to have a big honkin' hole in it that I somehow overlooked until AFTER I took the Goodwill barb off :(
-a NWT women's Disney sweatshirt
-SAS sandals
-Dansko slingbacks! I haven't found any Danskos in a long time, and these are really cute! And in excellent condition!

Nothing very exciting in the sales department either. I did sell a cycling jersey. It was returned to me last week for fit. I relisted it and sold it 2 days later for $8 more. Yay!  It's been a typically slow holiday weekend. I'm hoping these thunderstorms keep people indoors tomorrow and on their computer shopping, rather than outside picnicking :)

Did I mention that we put a deposit down on my new storage building last week?? We ended up having to custom order it to get it exactly the way we wanted it, so it will be about 4-6 weeks. Which is good, because the way we custom ordered it will require a couple more weeks to get the rest of the money ;-)  But I'm super-excited about it. It will have a 12' x 4' loft (packing peanut storage!!) and a 12' x 2' built-in workbench! The space will be simply glorious!!

Ready for Tomorrow

I've had a very blah day today. I'm just feeling very ho-hum, low-energy, not myself. I got a few new listings up this morning. I'm encouraged to see my unlisted inventory pile steadily decreasing.  I had been running a 50% off clothing sale the last few days, which really made my sales soar. But that sale ended last night, and with it, my actual sales. I sold 2 jars of shoe cream today, and I think that's it. lol.  So I'm running another sale right now. We'll see if that helps.

A neighboring borough requires permits for yard sales. This weekend, they've lifted that requirement and are having a community-wide yard sale. I thought I would be very excited about it, but I'm having a hard time mustering up the enthusiasm required for a marathon yard saling weekend. I hope to get out some on Saturday morning, hopefully to find a few goodies. If I do, I'll be sure to post about them.

I sold a Brooks Brothers sport coat for $25 + shipping the other day during my 50% off sale. As I was getting ready to package it, I noticed that the undersides of both sleeve cuffs were quite stained. I have no idea how I missed that. But what's more, I just had it dry-cleaned. I have no idea how the dry-cleaner missed it too! So I sent the buyer some pictures, asking how he wanted to handle it. I offered either a partial refund or a cancellation. Normally, I am very averse to partial refunds. But in this case, I wanted the dumb jacket gone. It was CLEARLY my error. And I only paid $1.50 for the thing. Plus I had it dry-cleaned during a special promotion. I think I paid $2.99 for that. So the buyer wrote me back, thanking me for catching the problem. He said he was hoping the stains would be small, but he sees that they are actually quite noticeable. But he still wants to complete the transaction, because he can just keep it at his office as a spare. So I offered him half off. He seemed quite pleased with that. I sent him his refund, and his jacket will go out to him tomorrow. No, not much of a profit at all. But a happy customer!

I've had a couple poo-ey buyers leave me less than stellar feedback and DSR's, so that's got me down too. I try really hard and take my business very seriously. The crazy lady with the Hello Kitty slippers is all mad because I "used the rules as an excuse to avoid refunding her immediately."  lol. She actually said that in her neutral feedback (thank goodness it wasn't a negative).  Seriously. Like anyone is going to read that comment and feel that it reflects poorly on me as a seller. That I followed the rules. How dare I.

And I had two other buyers leave me a (1) for communication. That I don't understand at all. The one was an offer that I accepted. I immediately sent an invoice (as I always do), and on day 3, I sent a 2nd invoice (as I always do). After day 4, my UPI assistant opened an unpaid item case against her (as it always does). She paid the next day, with a note apologizing for not paying earlier - she didn't realize I had accepted her offer. Really? The 2 invoices from me and the reminder from eBay weren't a clue?? She had left me a positive feedback, stating that the items were good but that communication was very poor. Sigh.

The other (1) for communication is a true puzzle. I think it was for a shoe cleaning starter kit. The comment just said "All around great kit. Long process."  No idea what that means, and why that was deserving of a (1) on communication. But whatever. Onward and upward.

I need today to be over. It was not a good day personally. I am ready to start over tomorrow, with a new outlook and a fresh perspective on life.

My Head Is Safe

Oh, I forgot to mention ... I got my Hello Kitty slippers back today. They are still attached to the card, and still in perfectly fine condition. I refunded, I requested a transaction cancellation (which she accepted, wonder of wonders!), and I still have my head!  Hooray!

Something Is Working!

I haven't run a sale in my store for nearly a week. I haven't listed anything new in my store for nearly a week. I have had pitiful sales for nearly a week.

What a coincidence.

Last night, I began running a 50% off most clothing sale. Last night, I began listing a bunch. Last night, I began selling a bunch.

What a coincidence.

Since last night, I have listed 36 new items. Since last night, I have sold 22 items. Half of those were shoe cream, but that is still a lot of "real" sales.

Coincidence? Perhaps not....

**********

My favorite quick sale? I listed a Friends 2B Made doll this afternoon (from the makers of Build a Bear), and 5 or 6 of her outfits. Within an hour, I sold the doll and 2 outfits for a total of $62! Remember, I paid $100 for the ENTIRE lot! I've made back two-thirds of that with just those couple sales! That's a real weight off my shoulders, because I wasn't convinced I had made the right decision on those.

So Discouraged

With the exception of an occasional complaint about a buyer (see yesterday's post!), and sometimes whining around about slow sales, I try to keep things pretty upbeat around here. But folks ... I am getting SO DISCOURAGED.  My sales for the last 3 days have been:  $8.75, $12.74, and $27.73. Over the past several months, I have averaged in the vicinity of $100 a day. May has been a real struggle for me.

Now, I will admit, I haven't been doing much listing. We're trying to get our school year wrapped up, and the weather's nice, and you all know the excuses. So I absolutely take responsibility for this. But it's a vicious cycle. I haven't been listing, so I haven't been selling. I haven't been selling, so I don't feel motivated to list. Yuk. I have this monstrous pile of Build a Bear stuff sitting beside me. I listed a few of them tonight, and I put almost all of my clothing on a 50% off sale. I'm hoping the clothing sale will spark some actual sales, and that those sales will spark my enthusiasm again, so I can get the rest of these Build a Bear outfits listed.

I had gotten pretty far down in my to-be-listed pile, so I don't have a whole lot left to list. What I do have is really great stuff that I've gotten from my Facebook group. It's just a matter of doing it.

Anyone else in the same boat? Can we partner up and encourage each other to list, whether we've been selling or not, and whether we feel like it or not? I've got to get out of this slump!

****

edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention. I just got ANOTHER message about a return for something that doesn't fit. That makes FOUR in 48 hours. That's SUPER-discouraging to have to shell out $90 in refunds when I've not even made half of that in the last 3 days.  Siiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhh

Build a Bear

I made another big Facebook purchase yesterday. I was just saying on the eBay Underground forum that sometimes you have to be willing to shell out big bucks in order to make bigger bucks. It's very nice to find something at a yard sale or thrift store for a buck or two and flip it into $25-30. But sometimes it's exciting to spend $100 and flip it into $400. That's what I'm hoping this one will do.

I bought a big BABW lot yesterday. It included an inflatable chair, 4 Build a Bear plush, a Build a Bear girl (Friend 2B, which I've never heard of), 5 Friend 2B outfits, and 26 Build a Bear outfits. I paid $100 for them, which is probably a little more than I should have. But even if I sell the outfits for only $9.99 each, that's $310 on just the outfits. The couch won't get me much. The plush aren't just bears, so I'm hoping I'll do already with them. But no matter what, I expect to more than triple my money. We shall see...

Here's what I got:

I have all my pics edited and ready to go, but it's late and I do NOT feel like starting with the listing. I'll work on that tomorrow. As with all my bulk purchases like this, I will post back anytime I sell something!

**********

I am not running a sale right now, and I haven't listed all week, and my sales have died again. Truly. I sold 3 jars of shoe cream yesterday for a whopping $8.75. That's it. Today? A hairpiece and another jar of shoe cream. It is becoming more and more obvious to me that I bring these slow spells on myself. I neglect eBay? eBay neglects me. lol. All joking aside, it really is that simple. If you just keep listing, you'll see the sales come in. I have bought a lot of stuff over the past couple weeks. Great stuff! I just need to take a few minutes and get them listed.

**********

Complaints seem to come in clumps for me. Remember the buyer with the silver paint on the shoes? That was #1. I got another message from a buyer whose shirt doesn't fit, so he wants to return it. No problem. I have a 14-day return policy. And he was very nice about it. That was #2. But #3? Yikes. Crazy lady!

Here's the listing in question:

I have highlighted the important part in blue.  The first contact was this:

"No where did say that these are children shoes. I want a full refund with shipping."

That's it. So I think I laughed and said to myself, "What exactly does 'girls' mean?" Then I double-checked the listing to see if I provided measurements, and sure enough.  7 5/8" sole length. Can you picture that? That's pretty small, right? So I gave myself the luxury of composing (in my head only) all the replies I wanted  to send her. But, I am a professional. So I didn't put any of them in writing. Instead, I said this:

The title and the item description both clearly state that these are girls' slippers/boots. I also included the sole length, which is 7 5/8". Reading my description, there should have been no doubt that these are girls' slippers/boots. If you wish to return them, you may do so by sending them back to me within 7 days to:

Jessica
Address
City, Street

Once I have received them back in their original condition (still attached to the card), I will refund you your original purchase price of $9.38.

Jessica

Silly me, I thought that would be the end of it.  But no. It's never that easy. Her response:

Well most put small, medium, or large. That's fine and as soon as the package is marked as shipped, because I will send it tomorrow, I will send a number and expect immediate refund. If not, I will use that that sent you a tracking number and open a paypal case. Thank you! :)

Because you know, small/medium/large would have clarified without a doubt that these were children's slippers. <end sarcasm>  And then she threatens to open a case against me. And then she has the audacity to smile at me???   So I replied:

I included the size that was on the slipper - girls 11/12. There is no need to threaten a case. I will stand by my word and issue your refund as promised. As evidenced by my feedback, I am an exemplary businessperson and would never risk that. I assure you your refund will be issued immediately upon receipt of the package, provided it is still in its original condition.

to which she replied:

No. If I send a tracking number to prove it is sent, I want my money back. If anything happens in the shipment process that is the post office problem. I paid you before I got my product without anything, but the tracking number.

At this point, I called eBay. Obviously,  I'm not going to refund her until I've received the item back. But I wanted to be able to tell her that eBay SAID SO. The customer service rep read over our exchange and actually LAUGHED. She said, "Of course you don't refund until you get her item back. Blame us. Tell her that it is eBay's policy."  So I did. I replied:

I just spoke to an eBay customer service representative. She read through our correspondence and pointed out that it is THEIR policy that sellers not refund until they have received the item back. Customer satisfaction is very important to me, and I am definitely willing to work with you and refund you your $9.38 as previously promised, but I do have to abide by eBay's policy of waiting until I have received the item back. Thank you for your understanding.

to which she replied:

Well I hope you receive it, because if not it will be your head. Thank you and it will be sent back.

 

And on that note, I wish you all a good night!