Reseller's Repeat Cycle

Being a reseller is a constant game of digging yourself out of a hole. Last week I cleared a nice $300+ profit from ebay/Etsy.

I paid my water bill ($133), I paid my cable bill ($100) and then I paid Geico ($46), I also bought some necessary car parts for my stupid junky car that I smashed up last week. I then took $240 more and bought more inventory. I used leftover bank account cash and my auction house paycheck.

In the hole again.

I have a little over $100 in sales, things for sale with many watchers, and 4 things still enroute from last week. I should be getting paid a little over $100 from my auction house odd jobs. I will then pay my trustee ($450 because I fell behind and am making up with an extra $150 a month) and be starting from scratch again...sigh.

I wish I could sell enough to just get ahead and not just treading water all the time.

Another Crackpot

This exchange is over a stupid, lame, $14.99 QVC pin that doesn't even have a bid on it!

This person decided to get her panties in a twist over the signature on back of the thing. Apparently she is the costume jewelry police.

Dear ______,

if not signed, it is NOT Nolan Miller.
misleading information

I reply with: "It is signed"

 Dear______,

is it signed "Nolan Miller"? like all his jewelry items ? I doubt that.

I reply:  It was bought from QVC a few years back, it is signed NM on back, which is indeed one of his signatures. If you doubt the authenticity, you have the right not to bid. I provided a picture and whatever information is needed to make a judgement.

 Oh okay Grand Poobah of cheap-ass QVC jewelry, sorry I stepped on your fuckin' toadstool by taking a clear picture and showing the NM signature on back too, which, by the way, is one that he used. 

I immediately blocked the bitch and reported her for harassment for the snarky reply. Had it been worded like "I don't think this is Nolan Miller, because________" instead of acting like she was the damned authority on it might have garnered a more "polite" response from me.

More insults...

More insults toward less vocal members of the group with a pic of "The Ho" under it.  It's a "satire" of something the Ho would supposedly say, but it's really "Charley's" viewpoint.

Just because people are not vocal on a Facebook page does not mean they are not being proactive elsewhere. This guy rubs me the wrong way with comments such as this.

"THIS Facebook page Group..."Former eBay Sellers", it's a prime example at how apathetic and totally ineffective sellers are. Most of the 500+ members don't post or comment on this page. They don't pay attention. Don't get involved. They won't open their minds to what we've done to them and their businesses. They are sheeple. We've stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in fees from sellers each month since around 2007/2008, we've destroyed countless small to mid-size businesses by putting them under through the fraudulent DSR system and forcing them to sell and auction their assets for pennies on the dollar. We've charged them fees to list their inventory and NOT posted up their items for sale. They sit there and think that 10 to 20 views is acceptable, when it isn't. They post and their items pass again and again and they come back for more abuse. And in the end....we eventually suspend them, no matter how hard they work, no matter how much they lower their prices and deplete their asset base. Or they eventually disappear on their own and crawl into a hole. They have no true voice. They are weak and won't stand up to our criminal behavior and speak-out. Lazy and apathetic. THIS is why I am now advising President OBama regarding global trade. I'm a hero in the White Houses eyes. The war on the middle class is a Cold War. And we are winning. LOL."

I disagree with the 10-20 views is not acceptable. If your item is not a popular niche, 10-20 views is perfectly acceptable. Just because there are millions of users doesn't mean that 2 million of them should look at your crappy Fostoria glass or some such small niche item. And...I am pretty sure that I haven't been ripped off via fees because pretty much the only time I list is when I get free listings, lol. When my auctions pass, they go to Etsy.

My personal beef with them is the ridiculous DSR standards that are nearly impossible to keep spotless with all the nutcase buyers out there, the paypal holds for stupid reasons, taking a percentage of shipping costs, and the reaching into bank accounts whenever they feel like it.

Blocked Bidder 2...Electric Boogaloo "Glasses Bitch"

Me and "glasses bitch" (I call her that because she has glasses) got into a fight over dolls again this past Friday, but this time I got one up on her. She always comes in late and perhaps doesn't always check things out as thoroughly as I do. Off to the side was a 1968 Barbie case bulging with mod Barbies and clothes hidden behind several modern things in boxes.

Wayne goes "Anything on those two tables, choice" Charley glances up and makes the "Well?" face. I bid $12.50 and leave with the damned thing. I let her have another case that was on the opposite wall, but not before I bid it up to $17.50. It was a knock-off case that had an old Skipper doll, a Suzette doll, and some homemade clothes...stick that one in your crawdaddy, glasses bitch!

Party Fart

The originator of the Former Ebay Sellers page on Facebook announced the groups 500th member and a guy commented that he was happy to have a place to vent, and then this poster, (I'll call him Charley because his comments remind me of my husbands demeanor) who always uses pictures of John Donahoe to make his point leaves this snarky message:

Congrats Rich. Now if only the 500 members here would speak up and post comments instead of staying silent like lemmings. Perhaps if you posted up a cat photo they would shake off their apathy and get involved. Each one is owed listing fees / credits from eBay going back to 2007.

Yeah. Way to get us to join you in your epic fight against the injustices done by ebay. Insult us. Don't act like ebay if you want us to fight ebay harder.

I fight with this blog. I fight by stealthing. I fought by shutting down my bank account and giving paypal the virtual finger on my way out the door. I also fight by sharing my story with EVERYONE online and in my everyday life. Word of mouth is also a powerful thing. When I hear or read other peoples personal stories about their fight with ebay, former or ongoing, I have a feeling of solidarity with them and that motivates me to fight more than any picture of John Donahoe with some made up text below it.

I am not a "silent lemming" look at the blog...I am sure as hell not silent. But I have to do what I have to do for my familys sake. I cannot be wasting time fighting a battle that I have no chance of winning, while also calling attention to myself and quite possibly getting banned again because of it. I have to make as much money as I can, for as long as I can, and though I have branched out, unfortunately ebay remains my biggest source of income.

More Bullshit...

Yesterday I finally log into Paypal to dump it. I am greeted by a "we need your "taxpayer number" I.E., social security number. I have not sold $20,000, I have exceeded 200 items. This presents a problem for me because my account is a so-called "stealth" account. I am using another name. I believe my SSN might be attached to my real account, the one that was banned. But, getting an EIN requires your SSN with your real name attached, which presents a problem if paypal decides to dig. So, I am thinking I have to set up a DBA and get an EIN that way to the tune of $60 fuckin dollars. There goes this week's snack bar money. AND I would also like to issue this message...Fuck you Paypal. Was ebay not just hacked? Like hell I am giving you any more SS info ever.

Blocked Bidder

Sometimes I wish that I could block other bidders at the auction house. There's this woman who never ever lets me get a bargain on a doll. She always has to bid the damned things up to the limit of almost no profitability just to be an asshole. She sees Charley bidding, so she knows she is bidding against me (I am inside working the snack bar). I wish that for once she would just fuck off...lol.