Posts Tagged: Random Things

Frugality / Thoughts from Mom — 4 Comments
28
Mar 09

More Hard-Earned Lessons from Selling on Ebay

Last month I had the seemingly bright idea to sell my clothes on Ebay in 2 huge lots – one for my “career” clothing, and one for my “casual” clothing. Both lots contained around 35 pieces each and weighed a TON  (well, ok, only about 20lbs each, but it felt like a ton!).

Now, I only hop on Ebay a once or twice a month, and this was my first venture in selling clothing. I’ve been a happy Ebayer (typically I just buy, but sometimes I sell random things) for the past 7 years on the same account and have always had a 100% feedback score (hey! I’m a decent, honest person!).

That is…
until now.

I logged into my ebay last night and saw ::::::gasp:::::: a negative review. My heart about stopped!

The negative review claimed that all of my clothing was shrunken, stained, and couldn’t fit a 10 year old.

Uhmm.. considering I’m 26, 125 lbs, 5’4″ and all the clothes fit me fine…I found that rather harsh.

It went on to say I refused to answer their emails. (“What emails!!??” was my thought train at that point).  I almost thought they had given feedback on the wrong auction because they couldn’t be talking about my auction!

After reading that review, I checked ebay’s message system and sure enough, there was a lonely little message with their complaint dated March 6…… a few weeks ago.  *sigh*  

I have sent her a response now, but there is no way I can redeem myself in Ebay’s eyes.

So where did I go wrong??

Each piece of clothing was meticulously photographed, and I detailed the exact size as stated on the label, color, and flaw with each piece…even stating pieces that I thought fit snug on me. Only one piece had a stain that I could tell – the rest was simply typical gently used clothing (many of which I had only worn 2-3 times!). I didn’t consider any of them “shrunken” so of course I wouldn’t have stated that in my ad. I even had the clothing freshly washed, folded extremely neatly, tied in bundles with colorful ribbon, and wrapped in plastic.  

It didn’t even occur to me that someone would take issue with any of them as they were all great clothes, in my opinion.  The email even stated that she had thrown some of them in the trash!  That makes me sad in itself.  I can’t even imagine which articles she deemed trash worthy.  Sheesh.

And considering that the lot in question included 37 articles of casual shirts & brandname jeans for a whopping total of 35 bucks, including shipping? What do people expect from used clothing?   Pristine Gucci??!  

I have never ever given any negative feedback on Ebay (and I’ve been disappointed with a variety of my own purchases).  It’s USED things we’re purchasing on Ebay, no?  And it’s the general public.  We take a chance, and take a risk.  Too high expectations on Ebay never served anyone well.

But now.. now my Ebay feedback is 85%.  I myself wouldn’t even buy from someone with an 85%.  I also would hesitate to even sell to someone with that low of a score.   Yet here I am – stuck with an 85% because of ONE single negative feedback in 7 years.  ONE single negative feedback out of over 45 transactions.  And it annoys me.  Especially after all the work I put into selling those stinkin’ clothes - photographing in detail, designing the auction listing, taking the time to examine and describe each piece in detail, washing, folding, bundling, packing and shipping it all.  After all was said and done (ebay fees, paypal fees, and very high shipping) I ended up making absolutely no money whatsoever off of either auction.  Actually, I think I lost a little.  (Don’t laugh!) *sigh*

The only good thing that came out of it was that the person who purchased the “career” clothing gave me a positive feed back that said “Awesome lot! Thanks for the nice packing and great items!”.  Yay.  At least I feel redeemed on that part.

So, anyway…to make a short story long…

I must say, my days of selling clothing on Ebay are over.  Done.  Poof.  Gone.  It’s simply not worth it to me.  I just want to scream in frustration!   I know some of you out there have succeeded in turning a profit on Ebay, but I have never been able to – and this experience only hammers in the lesson that Ebay’ing is just not worth my time or efforts. 

From now on, all of my clothing will be going to the curbside for the local kidney foundation truck to pick up on donation day.

Thoughts from Mom — 1 Comment
8
Feb 09

25 Random Things About Me

These have been going around Facebook recently, so I thought I’d play along.  Why?  Probably because my life is a lot more boring than it should be at 6:05 am on a Sunday morning.

1. I hate being farted on.  (Ok, I’m sitting here in bed, in the dark, beside my sleeping husband .  Those of you with husbands may understand my miserable plight).

2. I use to dream of becoming a veterinarian when I was little.  That, and a country singer, until a) I realized vets sometimes put animals to sleep and b) I can’t sing.

3. I get my G’s and J’s mixed up if spelling orally.  I don’t have trouble in print form though, thanks joodness.

4. I can’t tell my left from my right and have to do the little “L” shape with my left hand to remember.  My husband gets very annoyed at this sometimes.  Other times he’s a peach and thinks of creative ways of telling me direction without using the words “left” or “right”.

5.  Shyness plagued me throughout childhood, especially around boys.  I don’t think I said 2 words to an un-related male until I hit 7th grade.  What’s worse, I remember those 2 words.

6.  I will admit to googling my own name.

7.  Some of my favorite memories of childhood include spending summers with my Granny and cousin Troy.  Granny always promised to take us “down the street to play ski-ball if we were good”.  I just realized last month that to this day I have no idea where (if any) ski-ball places are located near her house.  It saddens me to suddenly realize that my childhood fantasies of playing ski-ball all day as a reward probably could have never came true anyway.

8.  I idolized my cousin Carrie as a goddess growing up and subconciously (or perhaps even a bit conciously) ended up trying to model my life after her.

9.  I have very vivid memories of early childhood (before the age of 3).

10.  Red nail polish looks hideous against my pale white skin.

11.  I grew up hating pale white skin.

12.  The older I get, the dumber I feel.  

13.  When my Granny died, I rescued a used bar of soap from her bathroom sink.  Really, a bar of soap.  It was one of the only things I got from her house. I was quite touched to find it, and still have it stashed away.  I loved my Granny. 

14.  Cooties were never an issue with me, and I remember having crushes on nursery school buddies when I was a toddler.  Perhaps that’s why I was shy.  (See #5 and #9)

15.  I still have a trapper keeper from 4th grade filled with notes, papers, reports, tests, and an award for a spelling bee I had won.  On the paper I taped the award to, I had proudly wrote “I won the spelling bee compatishion!”

16.  We shot video of a deer casually walking through our backyard a week ago (uh…we live in the city, in suburbia, just 2 miles outside of our large state capital).  My uncle, who goes hunting every year has been known not to see a deer for 3-4 years in a row.  We have warned him that our backyard is now offlimits during open season.

17.  I stuck the tip of an ink pen deep in my knee once when I was 5 years old, and remember hiding behind the floor-model TV, crying,with the pen lazily bobbing back,  trying to avoid Dad who was wanting to get it out.  Now that I think back, it must have been a humerous sight.  Too bad those where before the days of snap as you please digital cameras.

18.  I have an acute fondness for children’s programs from the 1980s.

19.  I am named after “Lisa” Douglas on Green Acres.

20.  Dogs have always been a part of my life.  The only time I haven’t owned a dog since I was 3 years old was for one week during 2002 after my last childhood dog “Floppy” died.

21.  I once managed a 600 member forum group for collie owners on MSN groups from 2002 to 2005.  I still own the website that sprung off from the group – www.CollieDogOwners.com (and my online store www.CollieShop.com).  

22.  The taste of anything fermented makes me gag.  I just can’t help it.

23.  I own 3 desktop computers, 3 laptops, and 1 handheld.   That’s what happens when you neglect finding new homes for your old electronics when you upgrade.

24. When I was 7, I started a paper airplane company and recruited my Uncle George to be my first salesman.  They were going to be sold for a nickel, and I would staple them so they wouldn’t fall apart during flight (thus making them more durable).  Hey, it was 7 year old logic, mmmkay?  It wasn’t until I was grown that I remembered this first business venture and how wonderful my Uncle was for not dashing my miniature hopes and dreams.

25.  My husband has my initials tattooed on his wrist.