All Dolled Up And Nowhere To Go

I am familiar with a summertime slump in sales...but I feel like the 5 day thing is sucking all my mojo. I get lukewarm interest, a watcher or 10, and then they forget about the item since it was 3-4 days ago that they decided to watch it, and they're on to another thing that they can purchase sooner.

I have a doll that Theriault's got $250 for not long ago, someone else on ebay has the exact same one in terrible shape for $297. I priced mine at $70 in the hopes of a small bidding war and got watchers. Relisted, more watchers.

I am seriously thinking of amassing a few thousand dollars worth of dolls and sending them to Theriault's again. I might have to wait 3-6 months for the money, and pay 25%, but since I cannot even get 30% of what the item is actually worth on ebay, it's worth it to send it elsewhere.

I had one Bonanza sale and one Etsy sale which took up some of the slack, but it's just not enough.

Sexiest Wire Transfer...EVER

Tonight I get this message in my ebay inbox.

Please leave the feedback Thanks

Dude, you're a fucking buyer. You already have 295 feedback, what are you collecting the shit? It's not like I could leave a negative even if I wanted to. No no. You will get left feedback when I do my bulk feedback leaving that I do when I feel like it since it is a time-consuming process. Ain't no one got time fo' that.

Charley says "Leave them one that says Oh yeah, your money was so good. Sexiest wire transfer ever"

I fuckin' should.

Big Money

Today Bonanza sent me a bill, and half of it was for a bunch of items some asshole put an order in for and never paid.

I sent requisite pissed off support message. Now I wait to see what they'll do...This blog is about ebay in general, but I have more frustrations thrown at me via etsy and Bonanza than I do ebay most times.

In the past several months, I have had a lot of mildly retarded questions about merch on etsy, after I answer, I never hear from these people again.

To answer your question, No, my answers are NEVER worded like my blog. I send polite, professional responses as soon as I see a question.

I also have the "Will you hold this?" and the "Will you combine shipping?" idiots who disappear as soon as they get the answer.

On Bonanza, I have idiots putting $100 worth of shit on hold and paying with an e-check that never clears or putting shit on hold that they don't even check out and pay for.

Right now my only problem on ebay is a self-caused doll switch debacle. For the first time in 16 years of doing business...I mixed up an order. This one was a biggie because Doll A went to South Carolina and Doll B went to Australia. It is going to cost me $90 to rectify the situation and both buyers are going to have to a wait a week or 2 to get their shit...big boo-boo. BIG one, and completely my fault.

Fleamarket Shoppers

I have a new rash of ebay pests. These are not complainers, or whiners. They are lowball after auction offerers. I had 4 auctions end with start prices ranging from $29.99 to $34.99. This guy sends me this, with no title, no item number, so I have no idea what he's offering this for, and if I wanted $19.99 for it, I'd have relisted it for that...

Since bidding has ended, with no offer, I am now offering to buy from you for US$19.99.  Your consideration will be much appreciated. Thank you.

Last night. Again, no title, no auction number.

 hi how are you..? I am willing to pay 5.00 $

My response (rather snippy):

I do not know what item you are talking about, and what I have listed for the price is the price. $5 won't cut it for anything I have listed.

He finally got back to me and said it was for some feathers. Frig that, dude. I can package them with some crochet lace and other feathers I have and sell them as a millinery lot for more than I had them listed in the first place as fly tying supplies. It's all in the presentation.

Did my auction say Best Offer? no it did NOT. If I wanted to give my shit away I'd just go to the damned fleamarket.

This weeks winner is....

Potential Etsy buyer, E.

Question:

what size is this plate?

Item title:

 Vintage German Cabbage Roses 6" Cabinet Plate

That happened.

Seller Updates

Hey ebay! Let this seller give YOU an update.

I hate being forced into 5 day listings.  They suck, and here's why:
I upload my 5 day listing. Potential buyer puts item on watch list. This gives them 5 days to find another item, forget said item, or think over and decide they don't really want it. Since I have had to implement 5 day listings my sales have taken the proverbial dump. I don't like to do buy-it-now because there's too much potential to screw oneself out of extra money garnered from the bidding process.

I also hate that you've eliminated 30 freebie listings. The FVF amounts you would have gotten from whatever freebie listings that sold would have trumped the .30 you got per listing that you will now get, because now I will be selecting very carefully and selling less of my lower end stuff.

Yay! say some people "I am sick of ebay being flooded with cheap crap" This hits people who are looking for parts or accessories to things...now people are not going to want to list that hat to a certain doll, or fence piece from that playset because they don't think it is worth it to blow .30 on listing a $5 thing.

I am gun-shy to list any more suspected non home runs/cheap items (IE under $12). Etsy will get my money for those.

eBay, your company is tanking. Please for-the-love-of-God, get your heads out of your asses!

Buy It Now

I had this message waiting for me in my inbox this morning:

I am interested in the Stangl Magnolia 

Is there any way I can combine several of the listings and pay a buy now price?

Let me know if that is possible.

If I had any idea what to charge for these damned things, I would have charged it and done a fixed price. If I wanted to do a buy-it-now, I would have done so. I was hoping there would be some competition and so these would not go for the start bid, so the start price is a no. I don't want to seem greedy, but I want to get what these fuckin' things are worth, or at least ballpark.

She doesn't tell me which of the lots she even wants, though I am suspecting it's the bowls, because they are rare and they will wind up going for about double when these auctions finally end. I also suspect this has come about because she does not want to wait 4 days for the fuckin things to end, and on that point I don't blame her!

I kind of cringe because she lives in Washington state, and I charge east coast prices for shipping so that west coast people aren't scared off from bidding due to high shipping. Her wanting this shit causes a conundrum for me because for obvious reasons I would prefer someone in say New York/Pennsylvania/Virginia/Maryland/North Carolina...you know, upper-middle EAST COAST to win them because then I won't have to pay out-of-pocket for the shipping cost discrepancy 

I hate HATE the new "seller update" and being pigeonholed into 5 day listings. The stuff sits forever. I liked the 3 day auctions because then I had faster turnover. 5 days sends me to a screeching halt. People stick the shit on their watch list and then forget about it by the time the damned thing ends, not to mention that I've got more inventory sticking around my house for longer periods of time.