Learning to Read

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2014/8/1409084001.html
I just read the above article, in which a seller complains about a costly side effect of FedEx labels. If you're able to read, then when printing the label, you can check the box that says "this is a residential address"  under the buyer's name and address before you print and you'll be charged the correct amount right when you print it out.

I don't drink any eBay kool-aid. I am not on their side. It's run by a bunch of silver spoon, suit and tie, borderline evil people. Their software is run by some baboons and chimps with iPhone5s, lol.  All their CS reps are Peggys in far east countries reading scripts. I know who I am dealing with. The light is on but nobody's home except when a small seller "fucks up" then the MC999 party's over. But be real. There's no conspiracy here in this particular case. Be smart. Read about things before you spend money on them.

I still use FedEx as an option on very large or heavy packages because even with the extra "residential address" charge, it's cheaper than the USPS for my stuff going to the west coast. Though I recently read that they are charging for "dimensional weight" which may change that.

Lazy Asses

This guy in my group had one sale...count it, ONE on Bonanza. And now he's the self-appointed all-time expert of branching out to different sites. He goes on and on about it, and if anyone questions it, they're labelled as "negative". 

I am not negative, I am realistic. I have sold maybe 10 things on Bonanza in the course of a year and a half. Etsy has been better, but it's not enough to support 4 people. Charley has an ecrater account for about 6 months and no sales, and he plugs his shit on social media constantly. He spends an hour or two a day pushing his Bonanza booth and his ecrater shop. It doesn't help. Hence my and his still selling on the evilbay, part-time jobs, and returning of cans, and therefore my questioning of the viability of other sales sites.

Group guy's all like "My sales will take off because I am not going to stay on ebay and hope it works out" etc. He then goes on about teaching yourself marketing and advertising. 

That's all well and good, but this is my problem with other sites. I should not have to do promotion and advertising, that's why I am paying them fuckin' fees! 

Charley does his own marketing and advertising and it does no good! He's no slouch either. He used to be webmaster of several "adult" sites. He knows how to drive traffic, believe me.

When I started Bonanza and Etsy, I did the self-promotion thing. I did it for months. If people want what you're selling, they'll find it and if the price is right, they'll buy. I should not have to annoy people with "Hey! You want a dolly like this one?" Nah. Didn't think so.

I got one $5 sale out of my "marketing and advertising". Most people were annoyed by the tweeting and re-tweeting of sales crap. Myself, when I was on Twitter, which was not often because I find it mind-numbing, I found myself getting annoyed by other people pushing their wares. It felt desperate to me.

Group guy then goes on and accuses others of watching too much TV instead of marketing their shit. 

Nope. I don't market my shit anymore. It did nothing but waste my time. I find shit that will sell in the first place. I watch maybe a half-hour of TV after I put my son to bed, around 11:30 at night. 

Today we got up, got dressed, drove to a place a half hour away to empty out some guys shed/garage and loaded a trailer headed for the auction house we work at. WE were there all day. I don't have time most days to fart around on Twitter or other social media sites plugging shit. When we went home, we checked our listings and did some research. I cooked supper, and did more research. 

Maybe he has all goddamned day to do the work that the sales sites should be doing for him, but a lot of us don't.

This guy posts repeatedly, almost annoyingly so. If anyone else has a diverging opinion, he runs them over like a California food truck headed for the beach. It's getting so that a lot of us don't bother posting anymore because we know he'll jump on and start spewing BS. 

Then there's the OLA cheerleader chick: "It's a great place to sell, but I don't know what sells there". If you're going to push a site, know something about what sells. These two have taken over almost every discussion on the board. I am all for being vocal, but live and let live. Other people have different circumstances than you do, their opinions, the merchandise they sell, and what they will try with sales will be different. Don't judge them for still selling on ebay.

I got in a pissing match with Group guy last week because I pointed out that the other selling sites don't have traffic. He immediately posts the the "Seller's Choice 2014" list with ratings of all the different sites and uses that as his argument that other sites have traffic. 

The list says Bonanza is the "best" one, but when you look closer there are 6 criteria that people are using to rate the sites. One was profitability. The ONLY one that matters. Ebay rated first. Bonanza's profitability was rated 6th behind Ebay, Etsy, Craigslist, Rubylane, and Amazon. Who gives a crap how easy a site is to use if it doesn't make you any money? 

The Wall of Shame

My wall of shame has a new addition this morning. These dolls normally sell for $35-$300. This clown this morning sends me this message. The thing now has a bid, so I don't even have to entertain their crappy cheap-ass "offer". My opening bid was a reasonable to begin with $30.

Would you take $15 for the doll?

8/22/14 10:09 AM: The person who actually won the doll hasn't paid 2 days later and I am going on vacation til Tuesday on Sunday. I hope for her sake she pays within the next 24 hours or she'll be waiting a long time for that thing.

Cold War

In the past week I sold two older dolls. I giggled a little to myself because one buyer was registered in Ukraine and the other, the Russian Federation. Charley made a comment "Now they're fighting over dolls".

Sorry to my Lithuanian grandmother that I sold goods to a Russian, and sorry to myself that I sent something to Pittsburgh (I am a die-hard Baltimore Ravens fan, if you know football, you know why Pittsburgh would be bad), but he's quiet. He leaves me alone!

The Ukrainian guy is driving me nuts. He has 0 feedback and is paranoid about every little thing. Make sure doll packed good, when is doll being mailed?, did you mail doll? Is birthday gift, please pack carefully.

Jesus.

He's the "kid gloves" type of person that the CS rep warned me about a few years back. I insured the fuck out of that thing. I don't normally go above and beyond the normal $50 included with priority, but this guy is driving me batty.

Like an idiot, I forgot to add the insurance number for tracking last night when I got home, so it showed as not being shipped, and the guy messaged me again about it. Did you send doll? #%^^%&*=-!

I am sure I will be updating once the damned thing arrives.

Stupid Week Continues

I have A Sasha doll for sale. The description says:

Tightly strung with brown cording on neck and legs and white on arms.

Only flaws I could find with her is some thinning of hair on the crown (pictured), and a couple of brown specks on her dress under an arm (pictured). Seems to have only been displayed.

Question from idiot potential buyer:

 Hi, does she have white strings in her arms and brown strings in her legs? Is her hair loose or any missing plugs.Thank you.

Was this not mentioned in my description? The preamble to the mentioning of these things is only 2 lines, meaning this genius had only 6 lines to read, but somehow managed to miss those two. Great. Brilliant.

Another Day Another Scammer...

Dear ----------,

There are no markings and this isn't a German doll ...what do I do?

This question was posed to me today, 6 days after the doll that was clearly marked with a number and "Germany" on the back of its head was delivered. I check the bitch's feedback and it's "private". Nope. Nothing suspicious about that.

My textually calm reply (while blood pressure rose and eyes bugged out):

Dear -----------------,

Are you talking about the doll I sent you? It was marked with a number and Germany clearly on the back of the head, but If you wish to return it, then I will refund you fully with whatever you pay for return shipping included upon receipt of it. Please let me know.

Ugh. I feel like she'll probably return something that ISN'T the doll I sent her judging by her hidden feedback. If you're a buyer, and all people can leave are positives, then you're hiding warnings others have left via feedback, or the feedback you left for others so that sellers cannot block you.

Defective Pony Buyer

Wondered why my "defect rate" was still showing as 1 defect a month after it should have showed 0.

Today I found out why because I decided to run a report.

With no communication, and never indicating anything wrong with the transaction, a fucking My Little Pony buyer left me a positive, but a low rating on "item as described" last month. A soft-positive. Guess who's getting blocked? That's right. Why even leave a positive feedback at all if you're going to be a douche with the DSRs?

Another odd thing is, when I run the full report it shows my defect rate tanking in April, but no low rating was given that month. One can only hope that the "defect" will drop off in April instead of fucking July. The pony transaction happened in July. I think they have a bunch of chimps running their defect software for them.

Another reason not to sell shit under $10. I broke my own rule and paid the price...1 ding for a year, for $6.49. It's always the cheap-asses who pay less than $10 for something that leave you bad feedback or complain. People buying higher end shit are generally more tolerant and mentally stable.