Thursday 23 May 2013

So slow .....

Argghhh!  My sales have been so slow.  I am planning on downgrading to a basic store next month.     I will save $30 a month.  There is only 80 free listings with the Basic Store, but given most of my stuff is media at 5 cents a pop, that's not so bad.

I have 900 listings in my store, and I am sick of listing the same things over and over again.   It's very disheartening and in the end quite pricey.   So the last couple of weeks, as things ended that I didn't want to relist - they stayed in my Unsold folder.  I was planning on getting rid of a lot of the books - box them up, and send them off to Fishpond (Amazon wannabee),  group them and list them as bulk-listings - or send them off to the op shop.

I was starting on this process, , and my store was down to just over 600 items, when I got an email from eBay saying that I was being offered 5,000 free listings, with a week to list them (ending 28th May).    Have they tapped my computer?  Did they know what I was going to do?  I am gob-smacked.    (I love that word!!!)     So what the heck could I do?   I re-listed all my crap again.   It's now floating around in the ether, with all the other crap that people have put up with their 5,000 free listings.  What the heck,  I figure with free listings it doesn't hurt.  I'll just have to put off my book culling for another month.    However, I will still be down-grading to a Basic Store.

The last 3 days, I have only had one pissy little sale - sales are now down to a third of what they were.   Ebay is such a downer.    I am seriously considering selling only videos & board games.  My books don't seem to get many hits at all.    After a month, a lot of them have less than 5 views.

I am also seriously considering an Etsy store.   I have created one, but it's not open yet, and there's nothing in it.   Given most of my eBay stock is books, games and videos, not much of this is suitable for Etsy.  But I have been collecting some things, and I think I will concentrate on paper ephemera.   I have stacks of old sewing patterns, and some old knitting booklets so I should put them up.

Along with the colossal down-fall in sales, I had a couple of "item not as described" emails.      I hate the whack in the guts feeling when I get one of those.    

The first was a couple of weeks ago.   For this lovely sale.  This had sold 3 weeks before I got the email.  I had been very happy with what I got for it.


She sent an email saying that a card was missing from the game, when it had been advertised as complete.   I checked my feedback, and she had already left me a big fat negative.     

Now I know that I counted those cards carefully - but that's not to say that each card was correct.    She didn't want to return the game, so just left the negative.    I gave myself a couple of hours to calm down.   

I had been so excited by this sale, and lo and behold I had found two more copies of the same game.   Wahooo!    Excitement deflated - I offered her a replacement card from one of the other games I found - and waited.  After about 4 days she sent an email saying - she would take the replacement card and change the feedback.    I sent the card, and waited 4 days - then sent off a request to change the feedback.   It's been about 5 days, and I haven't heard anything.   I can only sit and wait.


Then a couple of days ago, I got an 'item not as described' about this sale.

He said the parcel was filled with an oily substance, and some of the video cases were cracked.   I was gutted because being a Trekkie myself, I hated that these had been ruined.   The buyer stated that he would leave positive feedback, because it had all been carefully wrapped, but just wanted an explanation on how it could have happened.

I had no explanation other than an Australia Post employee with a dirty van, had piled parcels on top of mine.   I sent an apologetic email, bit the bullet and refunded his money (less the postage cost).

He replied a minute later, insisting that I didn't have to refund the money.   He knew it wasn't my fault.  
He told me send another invoice, and he would pay me again.

What?????  

We were at stalemate -  he wanted to pay me, I felt that he shouldn't have to.  I countered with going halves - at $10, and sent him my email address for Paypal.

He sent me a payment 5 minutes later  - for $15, and sent me an email saying how it was great to see there were still nice people in the world.

I'm not ashamed to admit I cried like a baby.

I love my sci fi nerds.     :-)

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