"Post No. 656"

You know, I clean forgot about last Friday the 20th.

I knew there was 'something" about that date, but it just struck me today that it marked the 10th. year anniversary of when I registered on eBay, so that was my "eBirth-Day", so to speak.

Things haven't always been rosey for me as a seller on this site. In fact, before I ever registered, I had others selling for me on it, and back then business was really booming, even with the guys selling for me charging me listing fees and commissions, I was bringing in roughly twice what I drew per week at a regular job, pay-wise.

Then, 9-11 happened, and the bottom fell out of a lot of things; eBay especially.

So when I decided to start selling on my own, I began by selling items such as toys and comics and old pulp magazines. The first item I can ever recall selling was a Mego Spider-man doll from the 1970's, probably for around four bucks. I've made good money on ebay, and lost money as well on items that went waaayyyy too cheap; much less than what I had "in" them, but I suppose, it all evens out.

Sometimes as a seller I've had hassles, and still do. In fact, I sold some action figures just recently and the bidder didn't read my description stating that I mailed ONLY to U.S.A. addresses, i.e., the lower 48 continental states.

At first I didn't want to fool with sending the item at all and emailed him stating such; that he hadn't read where I mailed merchandise and that we should just cancel the transaction. But, he insisted he wanted them, so I did make a trip to the local post office to inquire as to how much that would cost.

The postal clerk looked up a generalized sum for the location (Brazil, South America) and told me $13.00, and that I wouldn't be able to put either insurance or tracking on the item since it was going out-of-the-country (so once mailed, the merchandise would be entirely out-of-my-hands) and I emailed the bidder back that information.

So...he pays me and I take it to the post office to mail and go through a good half an hour of filling out custom forms and the like, and then the clerk says the cost would be $23.00! Naturally, I cancel the mailing and go back and email the guy again.

I tell him about the additional cost and that it simply wasn't worth sending the items, especially since they were only three little action figures I'd picked up at the local flea market for no more that fifty cents total. That's when all the hassle began.

I was acussed of not wanting to mail them because I thought they went for less than they should. I try to explain to him that it'd be $10.00 out of my own pocket and that I didn't mind breaking even on a sell, but I certainly didn't want to get in a hole on the costs. I refunded his amount back through Paypal and told him the deal was over and that we should just let it go. But....noooooooo.

Then he says he'll willing to actually pay me $23.00 to mail the items. By this time I'm pretty worn out over this whole mess. Frankly, IF he wants to send me the postage costs alone I might mail them on to him when I have the time to fool with postal paperwork again and not even charge him the winning bid amount. But, you can see that not every sale goes well.

Not like today when someone bought an item I had listed at a "Buy-It-Now" price of $9.99; something I'd gotten free, and the buyer paid $6. postage for it, and when I mailed it even with complimentary confirmation, it cost just $4. on THAT, I made a few bucks. It evens out.