HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

I don't really know how I feel about Valentine's Day. I think that perhaps too much importance is assigned to this day. Could that be because I'm married almost 39 years? I don't know - but I go along with it the best that I can.

Perhaps it was nicer when the girls were young and it was an opportunity for pretty cupcakes and new undies along with a card. When I was young, we always got new undies! I guess I carried out that tradition. Even bought my grand daughter some Monday-Sunday big girl panties this year. It was fun to pick out cards for the grand babies and it was really nice that my son-in-law actually commented on how much he enjoyed the card that I sent to them.

That said, I guess I enjoyed this Valentine's Day.

Hubby and I made plans for a lovely dinner - and lovely it was!

When we left - we started walking back to the apartment and I asked him if he took his credit card (he sometimes leaves the card behind :)   He said "gee, I don't think I even signed the receipt". We walked back to the restaurant and the waiter was really quite gracious - said "that's OK", but hubby proceeded to sign and leave a nice big tip.

I was waiting outside for him and happened to notice ROSES left behind in the garbage. Right on the edge of the pail. They were red roses, wrapped in a grocery store bag. Two of them had already started to wilt and it made me feel so sad. I looked around and there was no one there who seemed to have left them there and so I took them.

My husband said "where did you get those?"  "from the garbage", I said. He couldn't believe that I took them. But how could I just leave them sitting there to wilt and die?

We walked home and I got back to the apartment, cut them and put the in a glass (no vase here :( and they are just beautiful - 18 lovely roses. The two that started to wilt have come back to life and I'm so happy to have saved them.

But what could have happened?

Did someone buy them for someone and the person was stood up?

Were they bought for someone and the person who received them didn't want them?

What do you think?

Something happened..............I wonder what it was.

HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY!

What exactly do people want?

Had a shearling coat - yes, another shearling, and believe it or not, from the same store as the other troublesome coat :(   Listed it for $99.99 in a 7 day auction. Someone contacted me and asked me if I had a Buy It Now price. I told her that she could buy the coat for $200 as a Buy It Now (BIN). She said no, that she would wait for the auction to go through to the end. Her call! 

Bids started coming in and a bidding war occurred. She was bidding it up a few times each day. I told her about Auction Sniper - I felt badly that she was getting involved in a bidding war - I liked her and didn't mind if she went to Auction Sniper and wound up buying it that way. Perhaps she looked up Auction Sniper and perhaps she didn't. In the end she wound up buying the coat for $371. 

I do not charge very much for shipping and I incur the cost of insurance. She probably paid less than $10 to ship this heavy coat. OK - all's well.

Well, only for a little while.

She emails me to tell me that the coat was too big for her. She really liked the coat, but her husband told her that it did not fit and she should return it.

Fine, I tell her - return for a refund immediately.

I get the coat back and return her $371 AT ONCE. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you, I tell her and that's that. She had to call PAYPAL to find out when the refund would show up in her account and the agent at Paypal proceeds to tell her that she should get her shipping back too! Now, the agent at Paypal was not correct - my listing states that if the item is as described, the shipping is not returned.

But this gal proceeds to email me and tell me what the agent said. I was shocked - after being as nice to this person as one could be, is she asking me for the shipping back?

So, I emailed her in my shocked state and perhaps she didn't like what I said to her. She emailed back to tell me that "the customer is always right".

EEK!

We emailed back and forth a bit, but it is always disappointing when you go out of your way for someone, that they turn out to be NOT SO NICE!  I deal with so many people each day. Online with buyers, clients and at the store with customers. I love people and overall, people like me. Nice.

Imagine my surprise when I checked my feedback this evening and see this:

	Item did not fit as M/L... fit as 1x or 2x... very, very big coat..
	Reply by ilovemygirls3 Seller BEWARE! Ungrateful buyer. Measurements were given, refunded immediately.

Please explain this to me - NEUTRAL feedback because the coat did not fit her! Does that say anything about my selling? The measurements were given - she knows what her shoulders are, her waist, her hips - I don't. It is the buyer's job to read the description and decide before purchasing if the item is for them. I had 3 coats from this same "client". All of the coats were M/L. This is eBay - not Bloomingdales - you are buying things at a price - well, unless you let yourself get caught in a bidding war! and you should be careful when you make a purchase. When did I become responsible to be sure that the item will fit you?

I buy many things on ebay. I read the listing carefully - I look at the photos carefully and then I make a decision as to whether I think the item is right for me. I would not BLAME the SELLER if something didn't fit me unless the measurements were way out of whack. But even then, would I leave a NEGATIVE?

I tried to help this gal from the very beginning. In the end - she gives me a huge SLAP.

EEK - PLEASE DO NOT COME BACK!

Buyer has been put on my DO NOT SELL to list. Luckily for me, I have many wonderful buyers who come back again and again - this one, well, she can stay away!

What would you do?

Had a CHANEL Camelia Black Leather Wallet up for $675. A good price for a wallet used only a very few times. It just wasn't right for me - you know - the search for the perfect handbag doesn't end with that - there's the search for the perfect wallet, the perfect make-up case, the perfect card holder, etc. etc. 

So here it was, what I thought was the perfect wallet, certainly pretty enough, but in the end, not the perfect wallet for me. I listed it on ebay and I received an offer of $600. I was out having lunch with a friend - something I don't do very often and immediately responded that I would sell for $650. The buyer agreed and I attempted to change the Buy It Now price. I did not have my MIFI modem with me (eek - how could I have forgot it at home - not my style at all) but luckily my friend had her iPad with 3G. The connection was soooo slow, but I finally managed to get in there and change the price. I was pleased because I wanted her to be able to bid and have it in time for Xmas.

I was out when the wallet was paid for and my assistant quickly wrapped it up and got it out to the post office. We do a good job :)

Later that day I noticed something funny - she only paid $625 - not $650 as we agreed upon. I realized immediately that I had made a mistake and changed the price to $625 not $650.

Now I will say that along the line similar things have happened and my eBayers have ALWAYS gotten right back to me to let me know that there was an error. Overall, my eBayers are really honest and they appreciate what I do for them - and of course it works - vice versa! One of the things I love about eBay and my eBayers.

I immediately emailed this gal and sent her a PayPal invoice for the $25 difference. I emailed her our agreement.

You tell me........

Did she pay me the $25?

Would you have paid the $25?

There are two people who know the answer. The gal who bought the wallet and me. What's your opinion?

Obviously, becoming unhinged was the answer!

I guess that is what works - I will have to remember that :)

My primary doctor's office called me at least twice today to give me updates of the appointment for the "test" and they couldn't have been nicer. My guess is that my doctor gave them the "what for".

I hate that it is what it took for them to be "nice". 

On the other hand, it didn't take anything for them to be "nice" at the oncologist's office. A call last night and a call this morning following up with my appointment with the urologist.

Truly, I am not overly concerned, but anything that might be wrong must be discovered quickly and followed up on - moving forward is the only way to deal.

I will tell you that my day was topped off yesterday with the loss of my iPad. I love my iPad - it is the iPad1 and I love it. I love all of my "equipment" and can't be without it.

I discovered that it was gone midway through my afternoon. I ran back to the toy store to see if I left it there - called the restaurant where I had lunch, called the Leather Spa where I made a quick stop to pick something up and called Mackenzie Childs because I stopped there to use their ladies room. Don't tell - but they have the nicest ladies room in all of New York City. On the second floor - with all of their beautiful tiles, silk, etc. Even the nicest soap and hand lotion.

NO - no one had it and I was devastated. So devastated that I didn't even mention it to my husband. I couldn't even talk about it.

Headed off today to run my errands and at around 12 pm received an email from someone at Sephora asking me to call them. Now yesterday I stopped there to return something and had completely forgotten that I was even in there. Yup - that's where I left it! They had hoped that the person who left it would come back for it - but when I didn't they decided they had to turn it on and see if they could find info on me - they found my email address and emailed me.

How do you like that?

I do - and now my wonderful iPad is back in my possession.

How nice are they at SEPHORA?

........and, yes - the primary doctor's office called again this morning to tell me that my appointment will be the "test" and not a consultation.

Becoming unhinged is definitely the way to go :)

EEEK, EEK and EEK again

Sometimes there are things in my life other than eBay. Is that possible?

About six months ago while I was in NYC with my boss buying for the next season, hubby got a phone call from my primary doctor reporting that some blood work showed an infection. Hubby calls to tell me that I had an infection! How crazy! I was fine.

What went on from there was a visit to a new doctor for follow up. I won't go into all of that, but I was not that concerned.

Finally a couple of weeks ago my primary doctor, whom I love, sits me down and explains that I need to have this unpleasant test. NOT that he is concerned about results, but that I must follow through. Of course, being the adult that I am, I agreed that he was correct.

I called the other doctor to see if I could move up my appointment and to be sure that the test was scheduled.

The test was NOT scheduled.

Two weeks later I had to go back to another doctor for a re-test (not giving you the intimate details :) but again, just a regular test and no reason for concern. Asked him to do that other test again, just as an aside and discovered that the minor concern has changed to minor concern with a little extra.

On my way to Sally's Pizza in New Haven (yum yum and yum) I called my primary doctor's assistant to request that she ask my doctor to get in touch with the other doctor (is this confusing yet?) to try to move up the appointment and to be sure that the "test" is scheduled.

Yes, she said, she will get back to me as soon as she speaks with the doctor.

Next day comes and I do not hear back from her - I'm not happy and at the end of the day I called her again. She didn't want to get on the telephone with me but finally did. She told me that my primary has not gotten back to her yet.

Next day is Friday - I give her until the end of the day to get back to me. NO CALL. I call the office and she would not get on the telephone with me - I was STEAMING! Left my cell number and explained that I would be in NYC on Monday and expected to hear from her.

NO CALL. Monday morning I called and asked that my primary call me leaving my cell number. I discover that he is OUT on Monday but usually calls in and gets his messages.

By 3:00 no call. By this time I am FUMING!

But more than that - feeling very concerned that perhaps I am not well and that my doctor and his office has done nothing for me - what does one do? I guess I was brought up that doctors were G-ds and we mustn't step on their toes at all.

I called the doctor's office and must admit that I became totally UNHINGED - and when I was finished with my tirade the gal who answered the phone said "and what is your message?" Perhaps you can imagine how I responded to that one!

Within the next 15 minutes I received a telephone call from my doctor - apologizing profusely and very upset that this whole "misunderstanding" has taken place.

He said that he actually walked over to the other doctor's office LAST WEEK to ask them to move up my appointment and to be sure that the "test" was scheduled.

That leaves 3 people who could have called me on Thursday, the day after my initial call, to let me know this.

I heard from no one.

Finally I called my oncologist's office and explained the entire situation. Within an hour I had a call back saying that there are two tests that I should have and that they will immediately take care of making the arrangements.

This morning I called the doctor's office where I had an appointment for a month from now - the appointment that my doctor tried to move up.

They had NO RECORD of any appointment on their books!

Tell me, please - what is wrong with this picture?

I love my primary - but this seems too crazy. I would guess this is how people wind up dying! Supposedly they will call me back to let me know why - they do not show my appointment on their books and why, if my doctor walked over there personally, no one did ANYTHING.

I would like to mention that the first time I went to the other doctor he told me that he wanted to do this "test". When he described it to me I wasn't thrilled but worked up all of my "bravery" and agreed. Then the doctor came back in - I was totally braced for this discomfort and he told me that he didn't have the equipment to do it.

I think that should have been my first clue that I was in precarious hands! The next time I went, again prepared with Xanex, he told me he wasn't doing the "test". I guess I was so happy that I didn't ask why and happily ran out of there.

That's where I fell short - 

The moral of this story, for me, is that we must take care of ourselves and not allow these G-ds run our lives in any way. They are NOT G-ds and if we think so, we are in big trouble.

Both my primary doctor and my oncologist are really fabulous and I am happy to be in their hands - but what happened here is very bad. The oncologist's office picked up the pieces and got the puzzle together. I am grateful to them for that.

THE SHEARLING SAGA :(

I think I understand what happened and I am not happy at all.

Believe it or not the same Shearling coat got sent out again - the gal received the coat and emailed to say that there was no label in the coat. My heart sinks - what is going wrong? I look at the photos and I see NO LABEL at all in the photos. This is crazy - so I called her and she tells me that there is absolutely no label in the coat. How strange this is.

OK - I think I understand what happened - because I packed the coat myself and sent it off this time. I did not pack it the first time. The coat was in a SAKS FIFTH AVENUE garment bag.

Now my assistant is a pretty smart gal, she has worked for me for one year and I love her. She does a great job. She described the coat as SAKS FIFTH AVENUE Brown/Black Shearling coat because it was in the SAKS GARMENT garment bag. (Could that be it?)

What to do, what to do?  Unless there is a label in the coat that says SAKS FIFTH AVENUE and 100% SHEARLING - we can't say that it is. It should have said NO LABEL - and we think it is 100% Shearling.

I emailed the original owner and hope to hear from her soon.
I don't want the woman who received the coat to be unhappy. I have issued her a refund, but I am really distressed about this whole thing.

We would never try to pass anything off to anyone without a full and honest description.

It is a beautiful coat though. I want this woman to enjoy it and be happy.

EEK!

OK - this is it - I promise you won't hear about this again.
This is what happened - my friend bought 3 shearlings at a Wholesale Shearling Outlet - this was one of them - this does not explain why it did not have a label, but it is indeed shearling. Why she put it in a Saks Fifth Avenue garment bag, I do not know - but that is what must have happened.

I feel terrible - but this is it - over and done with - I have really upset myself over this - I'd better learn to "lighten up".

I know, I know - I PROMISED not to say another word. But you know me better than that :) 

I did receive this lovely email from this woman this morning and I can tell you that it made me very happy.

This is how, I feel a situation like this should end up - not without a word - just a cruel NEGATIVE for what was an honest mistake :)  THANK YOU EBAYER - thank you very much.

"I will accept your offer for you to let me return the item to you and you will pay for the shipping in return. I can see that you are an EXCELLENT seller. I will give you a rave review. The most important reviews are when there are problems, anyone can sell things when there are no problems and send it quickly, it it when there are problems like this that show the quality of the seller and how they handle the problem. You have proven your self to be a world class seller with your emails, your offer to accept the return and pay for the return shipping shows me you are a seller I would like to buy from again in the future and I would recommend to everyone."

YES, this is what I love about eBay - people like this!


NOW, I PROMISE - not another word! 


oh well, just one more

	Excellent seller, we had a problem, she fixed it! I recommend her 100%
	Saks Fifth Avenue Dark Brown & Black Long Shearling Coat-soft/warm/beautiful-M

How awful is this? How wonderful this is!

August 1st I sold a bag of my very own. A little black quilted CHANEL bag. I bought it 11 years ago and treated it like it was made of gold. On a long classic CHANEL chain - brushed silver with leather and LONG! an amazing little bag. The other thing about it was that you could remove the chain to carry as a clutch or better yet, you could put a belt through it and wear it as a belt bag. Ah, it was special.

BUT as wonderful as it was, I just didn't use it and hard as it was to give up, I listed it on eBay. I really do hate to see things like that linger on the shelf. Things like that should be used, loved and enjoyed. 

It was in BRAND NEW condition. I probably carried it a handful of times and then my daughter borrowed it a few times. She took it to CHANEL and had it cleaned and polished (it didn't even need it) for $100. So really, the bag was in BRAND NEW condition. A little jewel of a bag.

The bag sold immediately for $1050 to someone in Russia. Nice - I love to send things all over the world but Russia! I admit, it made me somewhat nervous. 

YUP - you got it - the bag never made it to this gal. Lost in customs! Well, you know that someone is enjoying it, but not the gal who bought it.

I can't tell you how fabulous this gal was. She NEVER opened up a CASE against me. She filled out the forms necessary for me to file the claim and she waited patiently for the money to be sent to me from the insurance company. It took 3 months for this to be completed. When I sent her the money - she thanked ME!

YES, eBay is a special place.

THANK YOU!

It's AMAZING!

My eBayers are the best - both my buyers and my sellers. I believe that I get the best merchandise to sell on eBay - this makes my site a "favorite" among my buyers and that makes me so happy.

Sometimes I can't even believe the things that I get - how do people part with things like this?  Brand New and gorgeous GOLD LEATHER WOVEN PRADA handbag - $1260 when purchased at the PRADA BOUTIQUE in New York City. It is so beautiful, so special and no matter where in the world you live, you can come online, anytime of the day or night and BUY IT NOW! How fun is that when you can't sleep?

So this makes it all worthwhile. I just keep listing/scheduling/wrapping/packing and selling. I really do love it!

It all goes round and round and round and round

You know how much I love eBay! I really believe it is the most amazing market place.

Last year one of the customers at the store gave me this fabulous sweater coat and scarf from an Italian company - MELY's. Mely's is one of those manufactures that produce under their own name but also produce things for some of the very top companies - CHANEL, HERMES, etc. Great things.

The coat and sweater were really wonderful, but the gal who bought them never wore them and gave them to me to sell on ebay. A great opportunity for someone. I listed the two things separately and the scarf was bought by one person and the sweater by another.

The sweater was purchased by a gal in California - who, it turns out, never wore it and sent it back to me the other day to sell on eBay :)

Today I get an email from someone asking if this was the same sweater that I had listed a year ago because she bought the scarf and has wanted the sweater too!

NOW, how good is that? and what are the chances of something like that happening? Pretty slim, I think.

I like that story - everyone is happy. The gal who bought it originally got some of her money back when I sold it for her on eBay. The gal who bought the scarf is happy because now she has the sweater that she wanted and the gal who bought it originally on eBay is happy, because she gets back some of her money.

I do love eBay :)

No soap - RADIO!

Now really, what does that mean? I'll never know, but it is a saying that I grew up with. Kind of crazy really!

But this is more crazy!

There was a TV episode (can't remember the name :( but in the episode the gal goes to a department store and is accosted by a salesperson to try some kind of moisturizer. Not wanting to buy anything, she gets caught up (don't we all) and tries it and loves it. Looking at it and seeing the price, she decided that why not? Why can't she spend $20 on herself for a cream that will keep her young and beautiful.

She buys the cream and the next morning her daughter sees it and her mom tells her how she bought it the day before. Her daughter says "but mom, this was $200!" "Oh, no, it was $20" said her mom! Well, you know - she thought it said $20 but it was $200 and when you charge something, you sign and not necessarily notice - eek! She goes back the next day and attempts to return it - well, Good LUCK! She was not able to return it and it meant that their bills weren't going to get paid that month. Her husband was so angry and on and on and on.............

Yesterday I went to Bergdorf Goodman needing to replenish my Clea de Peu face make-up, lipstick and under eye cover. Their under eye cover is the BEST! I have been using it for years and their make up is pretty terrific too. It is pretty expensive though, but the face make up lasts at least six months and the under eye cover even longer. The lipstick is the only one that I actually use up - so I went and bought the things knowing that it was going to be costly. On the counter there was a bowl with an interesting looking concoction - all foamy and soft looking. "what is this", I innocently ask - "oh, it's our new soap and it is the BEST". At that point I said "OK, throw one in". Well, I won't tell you what it toted up too, but let's say - it had better last more than six months.

Last night I opened the soap - so beautifully packaged, and used it. Scrumptious and beyond! All lathered up I thought to myself - wow - this will make wonderful XMAS gifts. Today the dogs and I walked up to Bergdorf's and visited with one of the salespeople, whom I love and I told her about the soap. Oh, it's so fabulous, blah blah and blah. So she called down to the department to see how much it was - I figured probably $25 - because after all, it is quite special and decadent.

Well, if it was $25, I could have had 4 of them for what it cost! I was totally aghast! shocked and appalled! Maybe I can sell the story as a sit-com and get my money for this damn soap!

How can I enjoy it now? My goodness! I'd better be really gorgeous tomorrow morning!

Thank you eBayers

Well, I guess it was going to happen eventually. How can you sell for 9 years - 1000s of items and not have one mean unhappy unfair person? Luckily for me, my experiences have been interesting, fun and many of them good learning experiences.

So now I've gotten over the initial pain of the NEGATIVE. That didn't take too long. Of course the 5 mile walk with my dogs today helped. The weather in New York City is beyond perfection today and one cannot be unhappy about anything on a day like this. We walked and walked and it was great. I even walked enough to have a little peanut butter yogurt (60 calories for 3 ounces) after my lunch at Grand Central.

While at Grand Central there was a homeless woman following me - unfortunately there are many homeless people there - lots of food gets thrown out and there is always a good place to sit down. I guess no one bothers them as I actually recognize some of these people as we are there a lot.

I know that we are told not to give money to these people as it just encourages them, but it is so terribly sad-so heartbreaking. So this woman finally comes over to me and asks me for money for food. I took her over to the counter where I buy my salad and told her to pick out a sandwich and a drink. She was very appreciative - but where will her next meal come from? I love NYC - but the homeless really break my heart. Like the woman sitting on Fifth Avenue with a sign that said "Pregnant and Alone - my boyfriend left me 3000 miles from home". Oh boy!

And I'm worrying about a NEGATIVE from a mean spirited woman - no, I am going to put that behind me and move forward.

Of course it also helps when I get something like this from one of my ebayers:
I hope you received my other message about the negative too. You are a sweetheart and I know how much it troubles you. You and I are the same in that. We try so hard to do things right that it's very sad when someone takes advantage or is too mean spirited to do things in the proper manner.
Kind regards,

this was her original message:
I have purchased a few things from you in the past and I was reading your blog last night. I sell too on my other user id so I can always relate to your thoughts on the ebay experience. I even had to take a break for awhile as it was just so frustrating as an honest seller.
Anyway, I know this is basically impossible but please, please don't let the negative from one unreasonable person cause you so much grief. I am a smart, savvy ebayer and as a buyer, I would be able to recognize immediately that your overall feedback speaks volumes and this one ridiculous negative means nothing! Especially when you allow returns anyway. This entire transaction was mute the moment she returned the item and you issued a refund.

To that ebayer - THANK YOU SO MUCH! It means a lot to me. Like I said - my EBAYERS are the best! and there is too much real trouble and sadness in this world. Ebay is here to make us happy and to feel good for a little bit :)

On the other hand............

Obviously I have to put that behind me and try not to let someone like that get me down. I guess my OCD makes that very hard, but it also is what drives me to always do the best job possible with my eBay selling.
This gal is not going to retract her NEGATIVE and I would have to believe that this is a pretty mean, unhappy person - with the ability to leave NEGATIVES for strangers, perhaps she is able to be in hurtful control. I mean, really...........
BUT at least I wake up to the following:
OMG !!!!
Barbara,you're THE ONE !!!That is from a gal that just bought a fabulous bag from me and I let her know last night that the owner found the long shoulder strap for the bag :)

Hi Barbara! Thank you for your patience, that we finally done it! It's amazing that all the troubles have been solved. Thank you very much!
That is from the gal in Russia who bought a Chanel bag from me on August 1st. The bag never turned up (my best guess-STOLEN in Russian customs). She waited totally patiently for the insurance to be paid from the insurance company. I sent her the $1050 last night and that was her thank you. Not once, did she suggest opening a case with either ebay or paypal-she just waited patiently for the money to come back.

and while I was writing this another email from the first gal I love u,Babs !!!

This is what I love about my ebay - people are soooo nice and over the years I've gotten to know some of these people really well.

So, as hard as it is, I will move forward and hope NEVER to run into another mean person such as that woman - I think she needs some counseling.

Perhaps you should go to my feedback and read what my OTHER ebayers have to say about me :)
http://bit.ly/shfQEp

Have a great day and check out my items - lots of great things :)
http://bit.ly/vOVQWK