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.

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!