No no no - no SCAM, no THIEF - this is a FIRST!

Now I feel badly - so quick to think the worse! But this gal is not trying a scam at all. In fact, my gal at eBay said that she has never heard of anyone trying a scam like that! Ahh - that's a relief! I hate thinking the worst!
What has happened though is a first for me - which is interesting considering how many packages I have shipped out of the USA? Of course we all know that I have managed to send out the wrong item - luckily that has always gotten straightened out and I do hope that this will work out too.

So - this is what has happened - EMS (Express Mail International) gave her the WRONG package. The numbers do not match. She received someone else's COACH wallet and of course you know that they must have received her FENDI handbag. The really sad thing about this is that she bought the bag for her mom! Of course she is not blaming me - ahhhh - lucky for me - people are so funny - I'm surprised that she is not blaming me! Most of all I hope this will work out for her. Her post office is closed until January 4th. Just to remind you - this package was sent to Thailand.

Doing a little investigative work I do see a COACH wallet just like the one she received and I have asked the gal at eBay if she can check to see if it went to Thailand! Perhaps we can figure this out before her post office re-opens.

Most of all I'm sorry that I suggested that this could be a scam. Must have faith in people! She sounds so sweet, so nice and I would just like to see this end up well. Unlike shopping in a department store where there might be another that they could send you - this is it! She would have a hard time finding another.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please - don't forget to go to AMAZON to order my son-in-law's book - Something Missing
I'm so happy because they have added the cover art to the page - YAY!

Check out my site on eBay
ilovemygirls3

This is a new one!

I've encountered a few thieves on ebay - only one at my selling end! Any other thieves have been (unfortunately) people I've bought things from. Those things turned out to be OK in the end. The gal who sent me the fake BOTTEGA did give me back my money and the fellow who sold me the Hermes watch did come through in the end (I'll never know if the watch is real - but I do love it). The fellow who insisted that I give him back $200 (he paid $700) for the MANOLO boots - he just couldn't bear to take them away from his wife - well, I guess he wasn't a thief! just a major creep! But now I have a new one........
This is the email that I have sent to my representative at ebay:

Once again I am faced with a little problem.
I received the following email

Dear ilovemygirls3,

I have an urgent problem, i don't understand i ordered "FENDI POCHETTE BRAND NEW-SIGNATURE FF w/Brown Leather' from you. Why u sent "Coach Wallet" to me?? Please reply me immediately!!

Reference item #120350846609

I requested a photo of what she is claiming she received. I personally packaged that Fendi handbag and didn't have any COACH wallets at all.
This is a new one. I have met only 1 person who has tried to cheat me in a way similar to this. Of course she can send a photo of anything - and I am once again concerned. I also asked her to package it up and send it back to me.
Personally, I am happy to refund her the $113. that she paid for it - once again, in an attempt to save my reputation - but tell me, have you seen anything like this before? It's a first for me.
I have to hear back from her - and am curious as to what she will do.

I'm asking for your advice.
She has only 1 feedback so there is no way of knowing what kind of ebayer she is.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best
Barbara


This is where, being unable in the end to leave FEEDBACK for a buyer seems very unfair.
Look, I don't know - perhaps it's possible that I sent her the wrong thing - but as I said - I wrapped and packaged the handbag AND I didn't have any Coach wallets at my disposal.
It's a very strange situation.

So here I am - faced with a real dilema - I didn't even have any COACH wallets and remember very well putting that lovely little FENDI in the package and sending it to THAILAND.

Is all of this worth it? I really do enjoy selling on ebay - but when things like this happen - it makes me sick. Glad this is not next week - glad I'm not having to start the New Year off with something like this.

I think that I take this all too seriously - I don't think that things like this should actually make me feel sick - but they do.

Let's see what happens!

Sorry!

I guess that is just one of the reasons I stopped writing last year - TIME! There just is not enough time in each day. Believe me, I start out early enough - Bean - our 14-1/2 year old (BICHON) has taken to waking us by whining, crying and barking at approximately 5 am! Why is she doing this? Well, she is a bit demented at this point (aren't we all?) and is ready to eat! She will not relent! Of course we could just ignore her - but within five minutes of her tirade she has awakened Rachmaninoff (Russian Bolonka 7 month old puppy). Once Rachi is up - it's take him out or wash the bathroom rug - get my drift? At this point - the rug is just about threadbare! So we all get up - the 3 dogs and us. I guess in Spring and Summer this could be OK - but now with the low temps and the ice and snow on the ground it's not so great! One of us takes the puppy out while the other prepares the 3 bowls of BRAVO (raw diet - highly recommended for your dog) and medication for BEAN! Like us - Bean is on lots of meds! I think perhaps an anti-depressant might be a good idea for her.
So yes, up early enough!
Still the days have not been long enough. I've been doing a lot of listings - working -and whatever else that takes away from any free time.

I will bring you up to date on the two Jamin Puech items that got mixed up going to Austraila. The wallet FINALLY got to the gal who ordered the pouch. At this point she already had the pouch - it having been forwarded by the gal who wanted it for her mom's birthday. There is the reason I don't like Priority International versus Express International. It took TWO WEEKS longer for the wallet to get to her. I asked her to refuse it - eventually it will appear at my house! Yes, eventually it will come! Anyway - she received her pouch and is happily using it. She could not have been nicer.

The other gal was very upset about not having the wallet for her mom's birthday and laid a lot of guilt at my feet by telling me that her mom "received no gifts at all" because of me! Explaining to her that mistakes can happen - she apologized explaining that she is pregnant and that it is effecting her good sense! BUT having seen the pouch that arrived in error - did I have another one? In the end I sent the wallet (luckily I had another one) AND a pouch (I also had another one of those) to her mom in California. Her mom was leaving Austraila and heading to California. So that worked out well. She was not angry - just explained that being pregnant she seems to be a little more emotional! Many of us can certainly relate - in fact my lovely daughter is pregnant - hasn't been too emotional (that I have seen) but we all do it our own way!

We worked out the financials - and she just paid the difference for the pouch. Her mom wound up with TWO wonderful JAMIN PUECH items. All's well that ends WELL!

I will try to be more diligent!
One of the problems that I see though is that I write about the mishaps that I have on ebay! You will think that all I do is make mistakes! Having sent out over 5000 items at this point I do think that I've done pretty well. I do hate when these things happen though. I have to be so nice - I have to bend over backwards (at my age - this is no easy task). Of course these people deserve my bending over backwards - I'm the one who made the mistake. The good thing - so far - most people have been pretty nice.

Perhaps tomorrow I will tell you about the person who wasn't!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
HAPPY CHANUKAH
HAPPY NEW YEAR
HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Can't resist

No, I can't resist - my son in law wrote this about me in his blog - I must share it with you....

December 10, 2008

Stealing from real life

Something Missing is a work of fiction. Even so, there are elements of my own life contained therein. Several characters are loosely based upon friends and acquaintances, certain plotlines vaguely resemble actual moments in my life, and specific incidents and locales inspired parts of the story.

Sometimes I think that Something Missing is little more than personal therapy wrapped up in humor, suspense and story. And the new book is shaping up in much the same way.

Obviously it’s common for authors to draw from real life experiences. That awful cliché Write what you know has some truth to it. And while Something Missing, as well as my current manuscript, are most certainly fiction (despite what some members of my wife’s family might suspect… I am constantly asked if I was some kind of a thief in my past), certain themes and elements are taken from my own life.

Take my mother-in-law, for example.

EBay, the online auction site, plays a small but somewhat significant role in my book. When it came time to research EBay, in order to ensure the veracity of the details surrounding this online world, I turned to Barbara, my mother-in-law, who is an EBay power seller, for advice. Barbara has created a small business for herself through EBay, and listening to her speak about it is like attending a Pentecostal tent revival. She loves EBay and might be convinced that EBay will someday save the world.

Through her business, she has managed to make friends with women from around the world, and she takes genuine pleasure in selling high end handbags and fashion at a fraction of the retail price to women in states like North Dakota or countries like Tanzania like that suffer from a tragic lack of Prada boutiques and Coach outlets. I sometimes wonder if she even cares about the profit. It’s almost as if she thinks of herself as a fashion ambassador, bringing high end goods to women in need.

Not being at all fashion conscious and finding the mere existence of a $500 handbag offensive and insane (and this coming from a guy who carries a bag), I turned to Barbara when it came time to write the chapter dealing with EBay. More precisely, I turned to her EBay auctions, crafting the online persona of Barbara Teal from my mother-in-law, Barbara Green.

It was quite fun. Gathering material from her dozens of auction descriptions, as well as the blog that she writes about her EBay experiences, it was simple to create an online persona for Martin (the main character of the novel) that was interesting, amusing, and genuine.

And paying minor homage to your mother-in-law in your first novel can’t hurt.

You can order his book at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, etc. etc. etc. - isn't that great?

SOMETHING MISSING

Tell me why!

I really do not understand......
Why do people bid and win an item and then not pay?
A lot of sellers block bidders with 0-3 feedback. I never did - after all, these people need to start somewhere and overall they have been great! They want to bid and buy things on ebay and they start building up their feedback.
In the last week I have been burned twice - Hermes men's sweater - $2200 went for $400 (sounds like a good deal to me) - buyer had 1 feedback. Nope - he didn't pay, didn't contact me, didn't respond to my emails. Chanel handbag - $1305 (at least a $2500 bag) - yup - again!
WHY oh WHY? I really do not understand.
Why would anyone want to do this? Don't they have better things to do with their time?
It really messes things up. Even though I know that they are not going to pay I can't really relist the item until 10 days have passed. After 10 days I can file a non-payment charge - but not until then. How can you relist the item if the matter is not closed? I do get back the final value fee but not the original listing fee. Ebay's charges are high for items like these.
Ebay is really a great place. Yesterday I sold a really beautiful brand new red leather and alligator BALENCIAGA bag. The bag is going to Indonesia. Isn't that great? I think so - my son-in-law thinks that I feel that I am doing a fashion service by moving these great things around (I don't know if he thinks that a $1600 bag is great). Well, I am! The bag was purchased in Paris - the gal who bought it never used it - and now it is going to someone who will love it who is in Indonesia. That's GREAT! and FUN!
Ebay can be a great place to do your shopping. Why do people have to try to ruin it? And they have succeeded! Yesterday I added a block to block buyers with less than 3 feedback. OK - they won! It really makes me angry.....

It wasn't so simple............

No, it wasn't so simple at all!
The wallet still has not turned up - so here we go again - PRIORITY MAIL - INTERNATIONAL - I've had so many problems with sending things this way. People are not happy with the EXPRESS INTERNATIONAL charges - but you know, it works! It's worth the extra $$$ to get the item there quickly and safely!
The wallet was sent Priority and the clutch was sent Express. The clutch arrived, the wallet did not!

The gal who received the clutch instead of the wallet was kind enough to send it on to its rightful owner! The other gal was more than happy to send the wallet - but she still has not received it.

In the end the wallet was not received in time for the gal's mom's birthday - I do feel badly about that. But the good news! Her mom is leaving for California tomorrow and I have wrapped the wallet AND a clutch and it is going to be sent to her today. She will have it when she arrives in California. In the end I had an extra wallet and an extra clutch. So this gal bought the clutch too! Her mom comes out ahead!

When the wallet arrives in Australia - the other gal will refuse it and hopefully it will make it's way back to me.

Yes, this is what can happen. Ebay is fun - but sometimes it can get complicated. I'm never happy when things like this occur - but I do enjoy getting it straightened out. Most of all I enjoy the fact that people can be so nice and so accommodating. Think about it - 2 packages going to Australia - they get mixed up - but we're able to get things right! That's because these gals were both so terrific - so understanding and so willing to help fix it up. I LOVE THAT!

Yes, I did it again!

Oh boy! There are so many things that can go wrong. I try so hard to be so careful - but it's bound to happen sometimes. And so it did........
Sent two packages out - a lovely Black Patent Jamin Puech wallet and a lovely Black Patent Jamin Puech Clutch - do you see a similarity here at all? Yes - so far these things might be easy to mix up! But wait - it gets better - both pieces were going to Australia! Well this is the time to be REALLY CAREFUL! and I was - so careful that of course I managed to mix them up.
Received this email from the gal who bought the wallet - she bought it for her mom's birthday!

Hi Barbara, my package arrived in time (just for this weekend to give to my mother) but I have been sent the wrong thing. The clutch and not the wallet. Help please!!!

You can imagine how I felt........awful! and in the middle of my packing for our little trip to Washington, DC.

My ebayers though are always (well, most of the time) great! These two gals are going to work it out at their end. Although they are both in Australia - they are far apart - Australia is a BIG place! Through emails and the post they will set it straight and I will reimburse them for any expenses incurred.

I do hate when things like this happen. It's hard - I really try to be sooooo careful! Printing the labels - laying out the merchandise with the right label, etc. etc. - so it really kills me when these things occur. Luckily these two gals will work it out - it could have been a lot worse - the wallet could have been in Australia and the clutch could have been in Japan!

So - I look on the bright side and see how lucky I am!
The glass is always HALF FULL!

It's just so hard..

.......I guess one of the other reasons I stopped writing my blog was the time! Ebay takes all of my time! It's like the laundry - it never ends. If you want to keep your site filled with great items you must always be listing. Everyday you need to add more as everyday there are items that are ending. No matter how many hours I put in each day - I need even more. No matter how far ahead of myself I can get - it is never far enough. Going away for a few days causes havoc with my eBay. Coming home means sending out so many things - labels have to be ordered, items packed and boxed.....and of course, get more things listed!

I don't know that people realize how much work is involved. I guess it would be easy enough to be listing a few of your own things here and there - but listing like this is a huge job. I really resented the gal who said that she wants to send me her things but would like a different split! She's a big time designer herself and I'm sure she doesn't shorten her split when selling something! People are really something! In the end she relented and hopefully the things that she will send are great and wonderful for my ebayers. That's the important thing!

Most of these gals are great though and the things that they give up are really wonderful. I love passing these things on to people who will wear and enjoy them. That's the really fun part.

I'm addicted at this point - I must be able to get a certain number of new things on everyday - I love when I receive really great things to list and I love when people email me as if they really know me because they have been buying from me for years!



One of my favorite things on my ebay right now is this fabulous piece from YOHJI YAMAMOTO Y3! This scarf is unbelieveable - I have it and I LOVE IT! You can wear it every which way - it has three panels - plaid/solid/check and depending on how you fold it you get different looks! Really, I can't believe my friend has given this up. It is from this season and cost $605 at the store. We had six of them (something we very rarely do) and they were sold grabbed up so quickly. So this is a great find! She has never worn it and it still has it's tags! Someone very lucky will get it and they won't believe their good fortune!

Have you ordered my son-in-law's book yet? Come on - it's a great book and you will love it! I'm so proud of him! Read my blog about it SOMETHING MISSING - the Amazon site for his book is there too. The Book of the Month Club has chosen it as an Alternate title and might use it as their main choice - so you know it's got to be good! Isn't it wonderful?