You HAVE to try this!! EBAY your way to DISNEY!!

[DMRick]

Good feeling when that power went back on last night. I have two grands spending the night, so we made it an adventure. I felt much safer once I was back in my home, since they just have so many police to direct traffic out there.
Living in the great Northeast, we have our power go out here and there, in the winter, so we were prepared with candles, and a battery operated radio. We still had water, so we had our "facilities"!
Of course I'll be more careful about making sure the laptop has a full charge before I turn it off. Had phone, but not cable, so again it showed me how glad I was to have kept my AOL dial up when we went to cable LOL!!

 

[cinlee3]

I feel for you all having to go through that. I'm sure it was kind of unnerving at first. I remember the black out of '65 - We lived in NY at the time and I was 5. All I remember is the lights flashing and my mom thought it was a fire and grabbed us all up and took us outside.

 

[my2boys]

We only lost power in Central Jersey for around 20 minutes yesterday. Unfortunately, I was in Staten Island at the time it all began!!! I got home with my 2 DS (9 & 4) at around 9:30! My DH has yet to get home from work from YESTERDAY morning!!!!!!! He works in downtown Manhattan (right next to Ground Zero). I agree with Lori that yesterday 9/11 came right back!! Very Frightening!! My DH worked in 7 WTC at the time and that day is not one I want to ever relive........although I know he is safe, I just want him home.....he's on his way now so hopefully will walk through the door soon.....he figured it was much safer to stay in his office than to try and venture home to NJ!!

The GOOD thing is he gets to start his vacation early......as you can see from my counter we are off to the World in 3 days for 12 magical days........Thanks to C.Ann starting this thread, a good part of this vacation has been funded by E-bay selling!!!

I'll let the Mouse now that all my friends on this thread are working and selling hard to get there ASAP!!!! I'm taking off a few weeks for vacation but will surely start up again when we return.........how else can I convince my Dh to go back??

Keep selling and saving class!! A little **pixie dust** for awesome sales!!!

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Have a great trip, Christine! Hope your DH gets home soon, safe & sound!

Not to make light of the concerns everyone felt, but do you think there will be a surge in the baby clothes and nursery accessories market come next May? May be something to consider...

 

[disneychrista]

How much do you charge for "handling" ? do you charge a set amount for each package? does it depend on the item?

 

[wdwpluto]

Originally posted by Mrs. Snowgod

Not to make light of the concerns everyone felt, but do you think there will be a surge in the baby clothes and nursery accessories market come next May? May be something to consider...

Honestly? It was too hot for any of that DH and I played Monopoly by candlelight.

Christine ~ Hope your DH makes it home soon! Have a wonderful trip!

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Originally posted by disneychrista
How much do you charge for "handling" ? do you charge a set amount for each package? does it depend on the item?

I round up from the USPS shipping calculator price. For example, I've been doing a lot of media mail lately, and if it is a pound or less, media mail is $1.42 plus the .13 DC. So I do a set shipping price of $2 for that item, and effectively that is .45 for handling. Heavier items, I may round up a little more, but not usually more than $1 or $1.50 at most. My goal is to cover costs of packing materials and my monthly $14.95 for stamps.com fees. I've generally come out slightly ahead of that, since I have been saving boxes, tissue, bubble wrap & styro-peanuts for years (kind of nice to find a justification for that, though supplies are waning!). I have had to buy padded envelopes for pins and some hard mailers for magazines recently. I also do not try to reimburse myself for driving expenses to the P.O., since it is on my way to work. YMMV!
_______________________________
Off-topic but related:

Any of you who have a Discover Card and enjoy the rewards program with it, may want to consider redeeming rewards points for a Staples certificate. They do double value for Staples and other program "partners". Recently I redeemed $20 worth of cash-back points and got a $40 certificate within a week or so. I have stocked up with enough bubble wrap and mailers to last me quite a while, and it was "free"! Also, Staples has a rewards program for teachers and business owners... I think we ebayers are home business owners, particularly if we will file a schedule C next tax time - isn't that right, Doris?

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Originally posted by wdwpluto
Honestly? It was too hot for any of that DH and I played Monopoly by candlelight.

Oh, darn it, Lori, I was going to start stocking up! Maybe it was cooler in Ohio or Michigan?!?!

 

[robinb]

Originally posted by disneychrista
How much do you charge for "handling" ? do you charge a set amount for each package? does it depend on the item?

I add the cost of my supplies, such as bubble wrap or bubble envelopes and then I round up to the nearest 25 or 50 cent mark. So a paperback is usually only $1.60 ($1.42 postage + 0.18 supplies) for me to ship and I charge $1.75.

I only do Delivery Confirmation on orders over $6 and "self insure" for rest. If I were to add a DC for everything (for 0.13 on Endicia), I would probably charge more than $1.75, even though the true cost of postage & supplies is $1.73. I usually add the DC for more expensive items at no extra charge to the customer as it's really for my protection.

 

[kilee]

We were 1 small pocket that didn't lose power somehow (thankfully)--- every town around us for miles and miles did though. So, when watching the news last night they mentioned that blackout in NYC in July of 1977. They said 9 months later for a 10 day spree there was a massive baby boom in NYC. So maybe the heat doesn't matter to some people!!


After we knew this wasn't terrorism and things were okay--- we were swiming with my sister and she was telling me her auctions were ending that night. Both of us at the same time came out with the thought that all those people without power couldn't bid now!! We felt a little pathetic!

 

[maggiew]

When do you all leave feedback as a seller? Do you wait for the buyer to leave it? Do you leave it when you know the package was received?

Maggie

P.S. I received $100 in the mail today from various buyers! I am sooo glad you all convinced me to try eBay.

 

[DMRick]

When do you all leave feedback as a seller? Do you wait for the buyer to leave it?

I leave it when the sale is complete, buyer has their item and write to let me know they are happy.

At this time I use vrane.com, and they respond to positive feedback for me.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

Originally posted by maggiew
P.S. I received $100 in the mail today from various buyers! I am sooo glad you all convinced me to try eBay.

Great job, Maggie! Doesn't it feel great?

I love getting up in the morning to find emails that people have used BIN while I was asleep!

 

[wdwpluto]

I received a cashier's check from a buyer. No return address on the envelope, no address inside the envelope. Just the item # scribbled on a post it. I've emailed 4 times to get an address and all have bounced (and I've triple checked the email address). I pulled the contact info from eBay and typed the phone # in Google and got an address (the zip code matched the one eBay lists). I'm going to ship the package Monday. However, I don't much feel like leaving positive feedback because this was a pain in the rear. But I know it doesn't warrant negging her. And I'm not even sure it warrants a neutral. I was thinking about just not leaving feedback at all. What do you guys think?

 

[kilee]

When I am unhappy with someone for something that I find to be a personal annoyance, then I just don't leave it at all. I fgure what I find unacceptable isn't what everyone finds unacceptable, so I don't scare a person's record with it. I'm not that fussy and there have only been 3 out of probably a 100 that I haven't left feedback for.

 

[dg39]

I'm alsmost ready to start selling. I bought a disposable digital camera and now I just have to wait to get the disc back from the developer. Then I can start on e-bay. I'm realy looking for an inexpensive ( CHEAP) camera on e-bay. They have thousands. I'm looking for one that normaly sells for $100's, yet I only want to spend $20-30, in case I find that selling isn't for me. I need one with a flash, because I'll be taking all of my pic's inside & my lighting throughout the house isn't so bright. I also have an old computer and I think that has alot to do with what cameras are compatable. Any suggestion? I know this has been discussed and discussed before, but I wasn't paying attention at that stage of this venture of mine. Anyway, I'm off to e-bay to start looking again and again. Maybe I'll be lucky and find one this morn. TIA......

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by dg39
I'm alsmost ready to start selling. I bought a disposable digital camera and now I just have to wait to get the disc back from the developer. Then I can start on e-bay. I'm realy looking for an inexpensive ( CHEAP) camera on e-bay. They have thousands. I'm looking for one that normaly sells for $100's, yet I only want to spend $20-30, in case I find that selling isn't for me. I need one with a flash, because I'll be taking all of my pic's inside & my lighting throughout the house isn't so bright. I also have an old computer and I think that has alot to do with what cameras are compatable. Any suggestion? I know this has been discussed and discussed before, but I wasn't paying attention at that stage of this venture of mine. Anyway, I'm off to e-bay to start looking again and again. Maybe I'll be lucky and find one this morn. TIA......

----------------------

Back in the spring -when I first ventured into eBay - I purchased a cheap camera on eBay and that's what I've been using ever since.. It's a JAM CAM 3.0 - and was brand new.. I got it with the "Buy It Now" for $30 TOTAL (that includes shipping & handling).. It's battery operated (9 volt) and I love it.. Probably not good for very defined items (like pieces of jewelry, etc.) but is fine for everything else..

I also have an old computer so I had to go with something not so fancy in order for my computer to support it.. Do a search and see if there are any up for sale..

 

[waughzee]

If you have a flatbed scanner, you can also use that for small items. I did that for 2 years of Ebaying! Just slap your item right on it, and scan it! It worked!

 

[poober25]

Originally posted by wdwpluto
I received a cashier's check from a buyer. No return address on the envelope, no address inside the envelope. Just the item # scribbled on a post it. I've emailed 4 times to get an address and all have bounced (and I've triple checked the email address). I pulled the contact info from eBay and typed the phone # in Google and got an address (the zip code matched the one eBay lists). I'm going to ship the package Monday. However, I don't much feel like leaving positive feedback because this was a pain in the rear. But I know it doesn't warrant negging her. And I'm not even sure it warrants a neutral. I was thinking about just not leaving feedback at all. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't leave feedback. This is my policy when someone does something similar, such as sending a personal check when I'm very clear about the fact (in my auction listings and e-mails) that I don't accept them. I usually go ahead and cash them, though, on the rare occassion that I get one, and wait 10 business days to ship. HTH.

 

[wdwpluto]

Thanks for the replies everyone. You confirmed what I was thinking about just not leaving her feedback. Appreciate it!