posted on June 13, 2001 02:11:54 PM new
Hi guys - I am awaiting payment on close to 100 items right now. I just found out today that I need surgery tomorrow that will keep me in the hospital for a week. My husband has NO CLUE on how things work with the ebay stuff. What measures do you suggest that I take to ensure this goes smoothly? I intend to email everyone tonight, but what else can I do?
posted on June 13, 2001 02:24:12 PM new
Print out as much of the pre invoice merchandise while you can. Match it up with the product, then walk him though it day by day. Why not send an attachment with your EOA stating the obvious that you'll be behind while mending? Most will understand.
posted on June 13, 2001 02:24:26 PM new
You might think about setting your email to "auto respond" to any inbound email messages you receive while you're unavailable. Your message should indicate that you are in the hospital and will quickly address any questions or orders as soon as you return.
We use the above feature when we are out of town or traveling.
posted on June 13, 2001 02:25:03 PM new
For starters, start wrapping up your packages now. Put a sticky Post-It note on each one giving your hubby basic info (how much the winner will send, any special mailing instructions, item number for reference, winner's email address, winner's name and mailing address if known, etc). I suppose you could make a list of everyone's email address. Send one generic email out to everyone on the list. Be sure to put the names on the "BCC" line and NOT the "CC" line in order to protect the privacy of your winners. Otherwise, I haven't got a clue.
[ edited by squinkle99 on Jun 13, 2001 02:27 PM ]
posted on June 13, 2001 02:29:31 PM new
I'm sorry to hear that -- hope you're back up to full speed soon!
Depending on the dollar amount of the items, I personally would go ahead and pre-ship everyone's packages. But most of my items are fairly low-dollar, and I don't usually have too many non-payers, so this may or may not be feasible for you.
If nothing else, maybe your husband could match up the names on the payments that come in, and ship only those packages?
As far as e-mail, yes, do e-mail everyone ahead of time and let them know there may be some delays in answering e-mails and/or shipping.
I wonder if rental places rent laptop computers? If they do, and if the cost is feasible, you might rent one for a day (in the middle of the week or so), just to answer any e-mails that have come in.
Another possibility might be to set your e-mail to auto-respond ... whenever someone e-mails you, they'll automatically get a message back saying that you're away from the computer due to an emergency, and that you'll get back to them as soon as possible.
posted on June 13, 2001 02:38:47 PM new
Do you have a relative or close friend who is Ebay savvy and could take over for you for a week?
If not, I'd definitely repackage, address, and everything, leave the boxes open if you put in a dated invoice when payment comes in, so all he'd ahve to do is complete 1 part of the invoice, put it in the box, seal it and go.
posted on June 13, 2001 02:44:19 PM new
If you send emails or auto respond to them- I would add the name of the Hospital & City (..if you want to send flowers...) and tell the switchboard no calls. Hubby will be there in person one supposes and he can relay calls from family and friends.
I would do this to A)cadge flowers from strangers and B)give the suspicious something to check on while they worry.
I know lots of you wouldn't do this- but i would. Might substitute candy for flowers tho.
posted on June 13, 2001 04:23:38 PM new
100 items! Tomorrow you're hospital bound? I'm sure you have other worries besides EBAY. There's no way you'll be able to get hubby up-to-speed, or be able to prepackage them all.
E-mail everybody and hope for the best when you get back.
The worst that can happen is shipments will be delayed a week. Very few people can't accept that.
Hope everything goes well.
posted on June 13, 2001 05:19:36 PM new
Personally, I would send out the message with your EOA explaining the circumstances, but I would think hard about having someone else complete the transactions for you. I have come back from vacation from work where I manage our auctions (among other things) to find mass confusion with the few (less than 10) auctions that were running while I was away.
You have to take into account the buyers who have to be handheld through the auction process, those who refuse to pay, or pay the wrong amount, etc. Plus it would get messy should hubby send out the wrong package. My husband is a doll, but has ZERO interest in Ebay, internet, etc, and I can imagine his selling on Ebay going about as well as ME repairing my own car! LOL
But I don't know your situation. If you will be able to be available to answer panicked questions from your hubby, and if you have time to adequately prepare the packages and paperwork, you'll probably do fine.
Edited to add: I reread, and see that you don't have time!! Send out the message that you'll ship when you return, and avoid undue stress by not thinking about it till you get back. You'll probably heal faster.
[ edited by hiddenheaven on Jun 13, 2001 05:21 PM ]
posted on June 13, 2001 07:58:46 PM new
Thanks so much for all your replies!
I emailed support at my webhost and they walked me through setting up auto respond via their website...
victoria: "I'm sure you have other worries besides EBAY"
Yeah, finding people to help out watching my 2 year old for the next 6 weeks! There's a six week recovery time for non-laproscopic (spelling?) gallbladder surgery... Fun, fun...
posted on June 13, 2001 11:49:16 PM newravensrealm,
I'm SO sorry to hear that you have to have the incision! I had mine out in October, but it was the easy way. I was terrified that I'd wake up from the anesthesia and find out that they had to do the incision instead of the lap., and that was the first thing I asked when I came around!
I just wonder why they feel the need to do the incision? A friend of mine had it, but there were complications during her surgery, and that's when they decided to go ahead and do it like that. That's really what scared me about mine, but it ended up being quite routine.
One thing my friend found beneficial was to hold a small pillow to her abdomen since things like clearing your throat, coughing, sneezing, etc. will be extremely painful (it will help to support your traumatized muscles). I don't mean to discourage you, but depending on your lifestyle, it could take substantially longer than six weeks to recover if you do anything that involves your abs like exercise or singing. I found that it took ME a good six weeks to get my strength back in that area, and I had the easy surgery!! I was able to do "normal" things long before that, and I felt I recovered quite quickly, but it took those six weeks to regain necessary muscle tone.
The GOOD thing is....you'll lose a ton of weight!
Good luck, and I hope things go as smoothly as possible for you!
posted on June 14, 2001 01:52:37 AM new
Hi Ravensrealm ....... If you need some support before or after your surgery please
feel free to email me [email protected].
I had this surgery last year.
Pat
posted on June 14, 2001 12:05:08 PM new
It's so nice to see people that care about others and have taken the time to give good advice too!
AW has Wonderful People here!
ravensrealmI will be praying for you, that all goes well!
Put your trust in Him and He'll be right there for you!
Please keep us posted when you are able? Hope that will be real soon!
