posted on March 7, 2003 10:35:36 AM new
I would have no problem putting a card into the parcel for the buyer ....for a fee!
Would not waste my time and money on a low end item for nothing. This is going overboard for a discount buyer. There are service levels starting from the bottom to the top.
One can not expect first class service for $2.37, lets get real! If they want to sent a card with the payment, no problem, but do not expect me to waste my time doing one up in this price range, no way.
posted on March 7, 2003 11:20:56 AM new
My understanding is that many jewelry stores that take returns on expensive rings after a few months have a clause where you can only return it if you upgrade your purchase to something even more expensive. Otherwise the "customer" could buy the initial ring and then have new jewelry to flash every few months, free of charge forever and a day.
I have never been under the illusion that Fluffy posts threads to get acceptance. She speaks her mind and she handles her business the way she wants.... nothing wrong with that.
posted on March 7, 2003 11:26:10 AM new
BTW marcn, I did see your comment before you edited and it is frequently used by men who do not understand that women are free to speak their mind and conduct their business as they see fit. Any time of the month.
posted on March 7, 2003 11:43:28 AM new
No hard feelings, Marc.
It's business. Truly. More than that, it's marketing.
Cataloguers segment their customer database according to recency, frequency and monetary. Simply put:
Best customer: bought within 60 days, made multiple purchases, high-dollar purchases.
Poorest customer: bought within 1 year, made 1 purchase, low-dollar purchase.
And of course there are gradations in between.
It makes sense to offer incentives to your Best Customer segment, but it makes no sense to offer them to your Poorest Customer segment. I don't want to get too specific about my own auctions here, but thanks to the pre-approved bidder list feature, I am able to make incredible deals available to the Best Customer segment. The response has been positive.
You may not want to blow off the Poorest Customer segment entirely; within the bounds of what eBay allows you to do you may want to contact those people every now and then, perhaps once a year.
But they generally don't convert. The PCs don't often become free spenders or frequent spenders. That was the point I was trying to make earlier.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 11:45:26 AM new
"My understanding is that many jewelry stores that take returns on expensive rings after a few months have a clause where you can only return it if you upgrade your purchase to something even more expensive."
Well, I know for sure you can return diamond jewelry to Costco because my engagement ring was a return. It had some wear marks, which the jeweler polished out.
What can I say, I loved the design.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
My orignal response was just stating what I would do, had nothing to do with the way you handle your transactions. You asked for an opinion, and I simply stated how I would deal with the situation....
Now let's all get back to generating more business!
posted on March 7, 2003 12:28:54 PM new
I don't sell large volume, I only sell about 40 items per week, and my average amount of each sale is $50.00. When asked to gift wrap or include a gift card, I always do, and I don't charge for the service. It does'nt matter how much the sale is, I have done it for $10.00 items as well as $500.00 items. As someone else mentioned, I pick up cheap packs of cards/wrap/gift cards here and there to keep on hand for this purpose. I get maybe one request per month, so it is no big deal to do so.
Since I chose to get emailed the new postings here, I received your comment. I knew others would take offense. I did not. I laughed out loud! I have observed that you are not insensitive or you would not have asked in another thread about reaction to your user ID, despite the fact you were trying to "up" your sales.
I do get an attitude when my hormones are out of balance, and I accept it. Trying to deny it would be stupid. I just realize those bad feelings aren't the "real" me.
Some women (not necessarily those here) will easily take offense at anything said about them being different than men in humor, but will sling jokes about men right and left.
Sometimes humor thrives on politically incorrect statements. It was meant in fun, and I took it that way. My sisters may be disgusted with me. But I HAVE held a man's job more than once. I have installed water softeners for a living, been a jeweler, and more. I am very comfortable with who I am and can face the fact that my thoughts can be influenced by raging chemicals in my body. I just recognize them as so and deal with it.
If I could have found a funny graphic of an angry woman, i would have placed it here. It would have been meant in humor, not as an attack.
posted on March 7, 2003 03:48:15 PM newI knew others would take offense. I did not.
I didn't either and that is why I put the winkie smilie. Most of my friends are male and we can joke about either sex without taking offense.
I didn't see where anyone took offense? I think some just choose to interpret posts here to their own advantage. Same as I didn't see any anger here, yet it has been posted that people should take anger management courses several times recently.
Perhaps some people read these boards way different than I do? Some comments are made in jest and I think others take it too serious.
posted on March 7, 2003 04:05:04 PM new
Volume of listings has nothing to do with being a profitable eBay seller. The smartest eBay sellers maximize profits with the least amount of listings, which minimizes costs.
I remember a post from fluffy last year in which she declared that she operates her eBay business at a loss so as to offset other income. I can try to find the post again if it has not been edited. It did stick in my memory because negative cash flow means you are working for nothing, and to me indicates a hobby seller mentality of doing business. Not to start a fight with fluffy with my comments, but to use income from other sources to pay to put up 600 auctions at a penney seems, hmm, a bit bizarre?
posted on March 7, 2003 04:55:12 PM new
Most of my auctions hover at mid teens during Christmas I offered a $5.00 card and gift wrap service and kept my teenage Irish princesses busy and they get extra income I also offer gift wrap and small card for St Patrick's Day. Other than those holidays, I print invoices and use a celtic font "Thank you" rubber stamp and a shamrock rubber stamp I am always thanking my customers for their business and on the invoice it is handwritten I will also reward customers who pay quick by putting an irish mint in the order. Fluffy has 600 auctions going, I have maybe 20 a week but I also operate a BM and it gets a bit of a mad house when 7 to 8 orders pay at the same time because I like to get the winning auctions out the next day as well as get the mail order out too. Fluffy should get a Cat paw design rubber stamp and at least a thank you stamp
posted on March 7, 2003 05:51:48 PM new
Fluffy, why do you sell on eBay? You obviously hate your buyers. And it seems like 600 auctions a week is too much stress. If you don't want do deal with sales of $2.97 items then don't sell them, or don't start your auctions so low. Maybe it's time to re-think your business plan, or find another line of merchandise to sell?
posted on March 7, 2003 06:08:26 PM new
hotcupoftea: Just goes to show ya what relying on memory will do. Watch _Memento_ sometime; a chilling movie that raises disturbing questions about memory.
(I immediately started taking Polaroids of my house, car and partner.)
What I said was that FOR TAX PURPOSES, the business showed a loss.
I won't waste your time and mine going into how that was achieved in 2001 and how it will be true for 2002 also. Think, however, depreciation...home office deduction...yadda yadda. I have some great help preparing my taxes: a friend who used to work on the enforcement side of the fence.
I can hardly wait for some "bright" lad to trot out the old chestnut about how the IRS is going to declare it a hobby.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 06:12:43 PM new
Marc: Just to be clear, I wouldn't hesitate to buy from you. I just won't buy Silhouettes stuff. I won't buy Lane Bryant or Avenue (really the same company) either. And that's a big never-ever-ever to Just My Size catalogue fashions.
If you get other first-quality women's clothing in, though, please feel free to add me to your mailing list or whatever you do to market. I'm way too busy to look for clothes on eBay but would check it out if sent a link. Click on my name at the side to get my email address.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 06:44:35 PM new
Hi all,
I must be a nutty poo because I actually enjoy doing those special requests for customers and do it often, no matter what the final value price of the auction..I have 8 grandchildren and know how happy that would make them! I often include a real birthday card as well..Also, It gives me pleasure to very often include a free gift to the bidder, I love to give gifts and surprise people. I do this on a pretty much regular basis if I have something on the nature of what they purchased that did not sell before or I do not want to list...on a large purchase, I almost always find somethink extra to add! An extra anything is fun to receive..Yea, and I usually always let someone ahead of me in the grocery store checkout line when they have less than me to checkout...the last response I got when I did that was from a rather grumpy older man whose first response was "WHY"! I quickly retorted back with a smile and said "why not! "..He then said thank you and said he was happy for the offer and accepted graciously. I just do not think the almighty dollar compares to the joy that doing something nice once in a while for someone makes you feel as though you are becoming little bit better of a person when you think of other people and at least trying to be a little more Christian in a small way at least.....Sometimes, I even give money when a person is short at the register...that one is a little harder cause I am a cheap, count your pennies type person and it actually helps me to be a little less greedy..in my mind anyway! LOL So much pain in the world, why not give a little pleasure to a total stranger when you can, it is even selfish, in a way, because it gives you joy also....
[ edited by kiddo2 on Mar 7, 2003 06:45 PM ]
[ edited by kiddo2 on Mar 7, 2003 06:47 PM ]
posted on March 7, 2003 07:55:10 PM new
Hmmm: Fluffy wrote:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A couple of weeks ago, a woman wins a low-value auction. Price: $2.37 for a pair of earrings.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ebay says:Item # 2618311179
1 item found for earrings
Min Price: $2.37, Max Price: $2.37 (Show active items)
$0.99 NO RES! MARCASITE EARRINGS WITH PEARL
$2.37
5
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fluffy:
sa-wat-dee (?)
(pardon my english)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
using search: Jewelry...nada
hmmm? a game of cat and mouse?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
or maybe: Item # 2619681781 and if so, then Fluffy is up to 562 items for the week. Good Fluffy, good.
LOL
[ edited by baylor45 on Mar 7, 2003 08:01 PM ]
posted on March 7, 2003 08:36:58 PM new
fluffythewondercat, good to know my memory is correct, that you stated you operate your business at a loss. Perhaps you don't realize that most businesses record their amortized expenses as the year progresses and these expenses are reflected in current financial statements. These expenses are a cost of doing business. All you are doing is having your CPA do your amortizations for you, and expensing to your books at tax time. Whether you expense as the year proceeds, or whether you wait until tax time, the reality is you are operating your business at a loss. You are working for nothing. Six hundred auctions a week for nothing. Wow.
Anyone else reading this thread think this is nuts? Six hundred auctions a week and no profits?
posted on March 7, 2003 09:00:09 PM new
hotcupoftea: Suggest you quit eBay since you obviously have a great career ahead of you as a psychic.
Let's see, no debt, over $10,000 in inventory, owner draws $1,000 a week, ample operating cash in the bank...you're right, I'm clearly doing something wrong.
Lord how I love self-anointed "experts".
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 09:07:36 PM new
baylor45: You know, the amazing thing is that I didn't even realize I was in Thailand! Gosh, it sure looks like California. No one ever told me. Those folks have 31,024 items listed. I'm sure some of them are Store items, but still...you've got to respect that.
I'm pretty sure this isn't Hotlanta, either. I been there.
But I'm impressed by your sleuthing. Well done. The auction in question is about a month old and the buyer paid by check. And I might not be remembering the amount precisely.
--
"I find myself having to apologize for being an American." --Belinda Carlisle, ex-Go-Go
posted on March 7, 2003 09:36:30 PM new
fluffy, you certainly have unusual books. A $52,000 owner draw is not meaningful since it is a balance sheet item. Your cash on hand can be from owner's contributions for all anyone knows. Anyone on this board with any financial expertise can do some hypothetical number crunching as to your gross income, expenses and owner's withdrawals (cash flow analysis) to derive a loss on the P&L, and be able to make some sound conclusions as to the merits of your business practices. No, they don't have to be psychics. Anybody with a little bit of background in accounting, finance or business management can see the flaws in your business reasoning.
BTW, my numbers are vastly superior to yours, with less auctions and reportable profits. And I am able to accomodate all of my customers' requests with a smile because each and every customer is important to me.
I am certainly not dumb enough to work 52 weeks a year at a reportable loss, just to off-set other income. I maximize income and profits from all sources with ZERO losses.
posted on March 8, 2003 06:25:04 AM new
You are right hotcupoftea, pussy-cat's memory is not so good. Item maybe sold a couple of weeks ago maybe a month ago. Maybe for $2.37, maybe not. Oooh the game of cat and mouse continues. This mouse must take a break to post the few paltry items I post a week. But, hey, I end up developing great relationships with my buyers and make a reasonable sum of dough on the side. (Enough to cover my daughter's monthly at the University). Thanks for the diversion Fluffy...have a great day!
posted on March 8, 2003 11:04:21 AM new
Baylor, I took a look at fluffy's auctions last night. Ouch. Fluffy must have the lowest sell-rate on eBay. She has thousands of auctions listed, and doesn't seem to understand the basic principle of oversupply and the Law of Diminishing Returns.
We see that with other volume sellers also. They don't understand the basic laws of supply and demand interactions in the eBay marketplace. As cash flow diminishes, the sellers increase their volume of listings so as to attempt to sustain prior income levels. It is like a car dealership in your town. The dealer buys a ten-acre parcel next to his dealership and fills it with more vehicles for sale, thinking that if he has more inventory, he will sell more. The reality is he put his financial resources into inventory, and there his money sits, unsold on a lot, and even when he slashes prices he is unable to sell the cars.
When volume sellers think they are superior to other sellers, merely because they are foolish enough to have thousands of listings at one time, well - that leaves them open for reminders such as the one I posted, that fluffy is not able to operate her eBay business at a profit.
posted on March 8, 2003 11:23:58 AM new
I really don't see why anyone should expect a thank you note. I never do & most of my auctions go for $25.00 & up, not $2.37. I always send an email when I ship the item to let the buyer know its on the way. I end the email with Thank You For Bidding. That is enough. Do you get personalized thank you notes from Lands End? Also I don't get a lot of repeat customers. It isn't that type of things that I sell.
