posted on December 12, 2003 12:26:24 PM new
I was having a bad day and I told the new guy in my life about.
A bidder pays late on Friday and excepts their item the next day ect..... anyway I get an email demanding their money back, of course the usual "I am going to turn you in for fraud".
Top that with slow sales and I am having a bad day.
So I tell Mr.Know-it-all about it and he starts to rip me a new one. He tells me I sell junk, I don't have a real job, blah blah blah..... then for the finale, he ends things with me over an instant message.
posted on December 12, 2003 12:36:44 PM new
I often find that non-eBayers don't want to hear about our trials and vicissitudes.
Of course, they expect you to listen raptly, eyes all-aglow, as they tell the long, boring and ultimately pointless story of how they got a broken piece of software to sort-of work with an obsolete piece of hardware.
(For those of you tied to sports fanatics, simply substitute a rambling play-by-play of the last quarter of Monday Night Football.)
My opinion? You're better off without this waste of skin. You know you have the right guy when, after hearing your tale of woe, he brings you a strawberry margarita and rubs your tired feet while you're sipping it.
Somehow, guys just never figure out that if they did that, the very next thing would be the best sex they've ever had.
posted on December 12, 2003 12:41:18 PM new
popnrock,
every time you post,you are either starting or ending a relationship.
try finding a mate within the ebay world,it will be good for both parties.
instead of saying you sell on ebay,just say you are independently wealthy and just do whatever you damn please.
-sig file -------The thrill is gone!!
posted on December 12, 2003 12:53:43 PM new
Foot fetishes. I have a story.
I used to work in downtown Los Angeles, in Arco Plaza, which is right across the street from the L.A. Main Library. (Wonderful place. Go see it when you're in L.A.) I'd hang out in the library on my lunch hour.
One summer it was quite warm in there. Unconsciously, I was slipping a foot in and out of my moist Bandolino pumps. This youngish Asian guy approached and said, "I just wanted to tell you you have beautiful feet."
Then he vanished, but he followed me at a distance as I moved around the library, watching (I suppose) to see if I would do that flirty thing with my shoes again.
It creeped me out, so I reported him to Security. We all had a good laugh and that was the end of it.
posted on December 12, 2003 01:14:06 PM new
I think that was my old landlord Fluff : )
I was renting a house in OC and the landlord stopped in to see how the move had gone. I'm perpetually barefoot at home and after taking a glance around the living room his eyes fizted on my feet which he proceeded to compliment for the next five minutes.
I've never been so glad to get a telemarketing call in my life. Of course I told him it was an urgent business call and shuffled him out with a thank you much, I'll be mailing the rent check - no need to stop by.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on December 12, 2003 01:34:10 PM new
Well, this guys showed his true colours to me.
I just hate it when people tell you that you do not have a real job. I do more than sell on Ebay and even if I did just sell on Ebay it is an honest living.
The items we make and sell are not junk. Yes, no one needs what I sell, that part is true. The parent company (which my family started) has been around since the 80's. So someone likes them. My feedback on Ebay is excellent with many return customers.
Yes, it has been a bad week, people forgetting my birthday, letters from attorneys, slow sales and jerky bidders. However I do not see that as reason to give it up?
Thank you guys for listening to my tale of woe this week.
posted on December 12, 2003 01:41:47 PM new
My boyfriend acts the same way about not only my eBay "job", but my full-time out of the house one as well. He's a carpenter and in his opinion if you get to sit at all during the day you aren't really working. I ignore it. His lame opinion is not worth the argument.
posted on December 12, 2003 02:10:51 PM new
I think that what many non-eBayers don't understand is the personal aspect of the abuse from rotten bidders.
Prior to selling on eBay, and in 40 years of existence on the planet, I'd *never* had anyone accuse me of trying to scam them. No one had ever called me a liar. Not a soul had ever threatened legal action against me. Save one person who may have been hormonally unbalanced, no one had ever screamed at me in a business context.
Yet every experienced eBay seller is familiar with this noise. Some get it daily.
No matter how honest and forthright you KNOW you are, after a while you get worn down by the torrent of abuse. You need a little outside reassurance. If the only person who can provide that support is not on your side, what can you do?
posted on December 12, 2003 02:43:41 PM new
I work full time and thats where I get the majority of abuse. I also do the Ebay thing for those extras in life without having to work for someone else. My hubby seems to think that It's not work at all and has commented that it's not a second job. Minus handouts I sure don't know how you can get paid without working, if someone know please fill me in. I will have to remind him of this when he's sitting on our cruise in May as to where the funds came from, cause it sure wasn't from the money tree out back.
posted on December 12, 2003 04:05:35 PM new
Do what I do lol ! Let your other half make the special size boxes you need for those odd shaped item. The old toasty one once said it wasn't hard work and he now has box detail duty nah nah nah nah nah ! God I love him !Edited to add Happy Birthday Popnrock !
[ edited by toasted36 on Dec 12, 2003 04:08 PM ]
posted on December 12, 2003 04:48:39 PM new
Tell your partner that you will be auctioning him off very soon to the Lowest Bidder.
Keep a straight face.
posted on December 12, 2003 05:10:47 PM new
Sorry gal your for pain & anguish. This sounds like the guy is the south end of a north bound horse. I never use bad language, but this comes close!! lol
posted on December 12, 2003 06:31:48 PM new
We're with you POpinrock! Happy birthday.
And Fluffy definitely speaks the truth here; if guys only knew how far they could get with a little sympathy--or doing some household chores I don't have to ask for. That really just turns me on. My husband is a wonderful man, I have to say, and as we get older he gets more sympathetic and does more chores, so, guess what, he just plain Gets More! If you get my drift. . . .
I sincerely trust that it's just girls talking here?! Although the guys could learn something from this conversation.
___________________________________
"In order to avoid poverty, just do three things: finish high school, marry before having a child, and don't have that child until you're at least 20 years old. Only 8% of people who do all three of these things wind up poor, but a staggering 79% of those who fail to do them wind up in poverty." ~William Galston
posted on December 12, 2003 06:49:21 PM new
Roadie, I am a guy 75 yrs young , Married 4 X to 3 women & I think I know a little about what a woman feels. I married my 2nd wife 2X & then she passed away after 12 happy years. I have a new love, but we both agree that marriage would be a disater for our relationship.
[ edited by sanmar on Dec 12, 2003 06:50 PM ]
posted on December 12, 2003 06:51:30 PM new
sanmar
A man after my own heart. My boyfriend and I have decided the same thing about marriage. He went down the aisle a disasterous 2x and I'm a widow. We'd never survive marriage.
posted on December 12, 2003 07:38:04 PM new
Some young man i know told me he'd learned that the sexiest thing a guy can wear is a sympathetic expression. YOU GO BABY!
And the other subject here, foot fetishes- I was at a pretty wild club one time, and had some guy tell me how much he liked my skirt- while he ran his hand down it. He liked my fishnet stockings, too, and ran his hand down my leg. And when he complimented my aubergine, satin, spiked high-heels, I took one off and handed it to him, because I can't stand people hadling my feet! so- he TRIED IT ON!
When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
posted on December 12, 2003 07:50:05 PM new
Continuing with the foot fetish tangent ( the OTWA posters are sooo drab 'over there' )
-- I worked with an odd chap that freely admited to having a foot fetish. He told us of being in supermarkets and seeing ladies in sandals and following them about the store discretely. One day one of the naive female co-workers complained of sore feet and the guy offered her a foot massage at her desk. She went for it and afterwards a few of the guys told her about the guy's fetish and what thoughts must have been in his mind as he worked on her tootsies. She declined all future massages from the odd chap.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on December 12, 2003 08:07:06 PM new
Oh Popnrock! What a big loser and be glad he is gone!
I have learned that selling on ebay is more involved that I ever imagined...and everyone I know wonders why I don't want to sell their stuff for them! No!
Re fetishists: I used to work in public access. I have more strange stories than I care to recount.
Try cleaning a studio with lysol after a production...it takes all the glamour out of the television biz...
Here's a thought: when a person tells you who they are doubt them, when they show you who they are believe them!
Of course...sounds like you came off well, and read Leonard Schlain. You will feel very powerful after his new cool book Sex, time and Power.
J
monkey time...
~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~
All the monkeys aren't in the zoo,
Every day you meet quite a few,
So you see it's all up to you.
You can be better than you are,
You could be swingin' on a star
posted on December 12, 2003 11:41:15 PM new
Popnrock, Happy Birthday!
Sorry about the boyfriend. You will probably have to find somebody who understands your desire to be an ebay seller better.
I was thinking about it myself this week and at one point I thought: "this is not normal; its not a normal life." Your job is where you live, and all this 'inventory' around you 24-7. Emails and researching 2:00 am. ???
I can truely understand why non-ebayers find it junk. I remember a friend of mine who did flea markets in prebay days, collecting, collecting, - and I remember thinking it was part of a mental disorder she had. She does see a doctor, too. You can even walk in her house without navigating thru a maze of boxes! I am not that bad right yet, but the prospect of getting there really scares me.
The funny thing is, people NOT involved with selling or ebay; their focus on life is so different than ours. And if were gonna have relationships with them, we have to be aware of that, too. My hubby has grown in patrience with it, but in an angry moment (as posted here) he's said to me also I am sitting around here doing 'nothing' all day.
It takes a special breed to do this. As fluffy said, you take alot of abuse and put so much into it. A lady told me she was doing upwards of 3000 a month, but got sick of all the emails, shipping, complaints, etc, etc. People not into ebay really dont have a clue. If this is normal to us,I dont know how we synchronize with those not doing it really.
posted on December 13, 2003 04:56:44 AM new
Hey Popnrock!
Agree with everyone here - don't let him bring you down.
My poor hubby takes most of the abuse. The girls I work with will frequently ask "when are you going to put your foot down and make him get a job". They don't understand that he makes more off of Ebay than any "real job" will pay him.
Whenever we go to apply for something (car loan, refinance the mortgage, etc) we put his job as self-employed and then if they ask more we put down internet business. I remember at our bank once the guy just rolled his eyes until he looked up our account and saw how much we transfer from paypal into our account every month. Then he suddenly got interested and wanted to know everything there was to know about Ebay.
posted on December 13, 2003 06:43:44 AM new
Sorry popnrock...I know it stings, but you are well-rid of that LOSER!!
As for foot fetishes...no story here. I am well grounded with dainty size 11 tootsies and I don't believe ANYONE has EVER said I have beautiful, lovely or even cute feet.
Luckily, my husband LOVES my eBay business and takes a lot of pride in my success. He doesn't help with other household chores but he does help me ship and scan. My friends have come to think of me as eccentric and are mystified by the internet in general. No one understands (if truth be told, I don't even understand) why I would rather list on a Saturday night than go to a party!
My holiday ebay hiatus is DRIVING ME UP THE WALL!!
posted on December 13, 2003 07:47:24 AM new
Neglus: I know how you feel about the holiday hiatus! I'm trying really hard NOT to list but I see all the stuff I need to list and it's hard. I have one more group finishing this Sunday night and nothing planned for a little later, although I know I should be writing up items and taking pictures to have a lot ready. It's hard for me to take time off from Ebay. I wonder if Ebay turns some of us into Type-A individuals?!
___________________________________
"In order to avoid poverty, just do three things: finish high school, marry before having a child, and don't have that child until you're at least 20 years old. Only 8% of people who do all three of these things wind up poor, but a staggering 79% of those who fail to do them wind up in poverty." ~William Galston
posted on December 13, 2003 09:01:26 AM new
I've never had anyone tell me that I should have a "real" job - I did this and have a real job at the same time, I have a completely different online business than sales, and between both I am making a lot more than I was at my "real" job - My "real" job allowed me to have 3 weeks of vacation a year, right now I am at the beginning of a 3 week vacation, taking a cruise this coming week, then going to Las Vegas for a week. This summer I am thinking about visiting Australia.
If someone breaks up with you through instant message, all I can say is, BE THANKFUL - That is a serious problem you avoided.
posted on December 14, 2003 11:31:54 AM new
Let's get real. Most of us have to admit that our ebay addiction can result in significant others being subjected to boring stories about big finds, rude bidders, etc. Not to mention that they get ignored when we have to spend 8 hours on a Sunday creating listings, wrapping, etc.
The only solution is to get the significant others hooked as well. Then you can have many fascinating conversations together. Think about how much they will "feel your pain" about NPBs and people who don't read your auction terms. Sexy!
posted on December 14, 2003 11:57:05 AM new
You can have any amount of vacation you want when you're self-employed.
In fact, that's not a bad way to come up with a strategy: decide how many weeks you want (six would be my number) and figure out what your net income for the year needs to be so you can have "paid" vacation.
Then, from that you can calculate with some degree of accuracy how much you need to sell and at what margins. Expenses count, of course.
Do monthly sales and revenue reports to see if you're on track and if not, figure out how to correct it.
By December 31, I will only have had three weeks' vacation, so I have some more work to do next year.
