Feeling meh about eBay

Yeah another eBay/Selling rant.

Or perhaps it is simply Monday morning malaise. Another week and everything is still the same. And next week I will be a year older.

Actually I feel almost nothing good or bad. It just is. More embarrassment than anything. Otherwise I would not care. There is some annoyance about wasting time. Normally wasting time does not bother me as that is just the way of things.

Last week I finally had a buyer for that box of Bulova watches I want to get rid of and move away from. Problem is that it has been nearly a week and they have not paid.

I am a patient person, and more or less mostly forgot about this (other than checking in the AM for any updates.) I am more interested in playing with my watches or anticipating getting parts to fix them. I have dozens more similar to these. The only reason I want to move away from them is to focus attention and avoid the distraction.

I was told over the weekend that I should report the buyer. I looked this AM and the only choice I have is to cancel and re-list the item. I will credit that eBay does have decent phone support, with fairly quick call back times. So one can at least talk to a live person. This however seemed to be a complete waste of time. I thought that when one agreed to purchase something it was a legal contract. That failure to pay was something eBay did and was aggressive about. Ebay does not have a way to send Guido over from the collection agency and make them pay.

Seems that this is only the case if the buyer gets reported multiple times. Or if the other party is stupid enough to send emails. In this case the buyer has simply remained silent. I guess hoping it will go away. That they were not serious about the BIN offer.

If it matters the name of the buyer is 'Beranda Studio.' and they are in Florida.

What really irks me. Is that I had listed the items here as one person hinted an interests. I do have a bit of a collecting problem (I would not call it hording.) This was to be my great entry into selling and downsizing. I have some other things I would like to get rid of, without basically throwing them in the trash.

Now I feel really embarrassed. And I do not embarrass easy. I also feel I have blown other chances at selling stuff. That I am completely incompetent at it.

Mostly I simply feel meh. That selling is simply not my thing. That it requires aggressive nature and force. That they buyers are simply out there to attack the unwary sellers.

Not that I feel that way as a buyer. While I am a somewhat passionate and aggressive impulse buyer, I actually think the seller is a nice person who is simply wanting to get along in life and is willing to deal with this sort of 'stuff.' Probably why I prefer in person communication. Of course I want to get something for a low or fair price and do grumble about the high costs of living in this world.

I guess the options I have are to withdraw the item I had listed here, which feels like I really messed up and done everything wrong.

I can then cancel the eBay sale and re list the item at a lower price which would work out to something like 2 bucks an item (which is which the lot supposedly sold for.) This also makes me feel incompetent and a fool for being sucked into eBay which profits from the listing and overhead fees.

Of I could not re list the items as a lot. I could list the items individually. I think each item is worth between 1 and 5 bucks. I had originally listed the lot at the higher priced value. Then over time reduced it. Down side of this is that instead of having to deal with one thing I would have to deal with 20 things. And there would be some of it which would simply not sell.

I remember the guy who ran the local antique mall, telling me that only a few percent of the stuff really sells at price, the rest simply sits around. I suspect the number is closer to 3 percent when one takes a load to the flea market or rents a stall in a consignment shop. As I buyer I know I see the same stuff all the time.

Probably why the stuff that does not sell is given away as a loss leader.

It really does make one question the concept of free will. That the world really is predestined to run the course to final judgement. What really is luck anyway? Why does the screwdriver slip and run through a hairspring? Or a cap jewel jump like a tiddly wink when one taps it with an oilier that contains a nearly invisible drop of lubricant?

I have noticed the stuff I bit on this last week (apart from some parts from a jaded ebay seller based on their snarky comments) I underbid on. Some of the stuff I can get from the material dealers for the same as I bid.

The thing is I mostly feel neutral about this. There is no passion one way or other. Apart from the time wasted writing this. But this response feels more flight than fight. I just want to run away and forget it.

I do not think it is just me. I almost posted in the other thread about selling boxed lots. Ironically this was a boxed lot of incomplete watch part I had listed here on OF my ignorance. I think my own take is I feel embarrased about making common newby selling mistakes.


There must be something in the air. Seems like the top threads today are all gripe threads.

It always amazes me how much Yiddish I seem to know. Especially the informal stuff.

Feeling meh about ebay is about as good as it gets.

Selling is a pain. There are some people who enjoy selling, but I suspect there are not many. For the majority of us, ebay is an opportunity to avoid Craigslist or a trip to the dump, which can stir more negative feelings of being wasteful and destroying the planet. What Ebay offers is a fairly simple method to reach a worldwide population. It's powerful enough to overcome inertia and the agony of getting rid of stuff, a ying and yang that yields "meh."

For the masochist, there's Craigslist. It offers cheaper fees, is about as easy to use, but reaches fewer people. Surprisingly, at least to myself, is that I have had mostly pleasant dealings with my neighbors and chance encounters. What makes Craigslist painful is having to answer if it is still available and offers of five dollars on a ten dollar ask. I feel I must be actually taking the milk from some people's babies mouths. I can list any item worth any amount of money for 25 bucks and someone will offer 10. Or list an item for 5 dollars that gets no response, then relist the same item for free and it gets 100 responses in the first minutes.

The nice thing about Craigslist is I don't have to go to the post office or drive to the dump. But then I get the crazies coming to my house. Thankfully, the crazies are a lot like me so it tends to be a pleasant interaction. I've not yet offered anyone a beer or glass of wine, but I have thought about it.

Ebay is a bit more work, requiring packaging and driving. Plus waiting and praying the buyer isn't a tech savy Nigerian Prince. With Craigslist, the worst that can happen is I get stabbed. But with Ebay I can lose money in multiple ways. For some sales I would have been better off giving it away or burning it.

Unfortunately, many of the older generation were taught to waste not, or that saving a penny is worth a stab in the eye with a pencil, which is why Ebay is so successful.

Meh is good. Someday Jeff Bezos will likely buy Ebay and sell copies of our crap for half of what we are asking, effectively forcing us to give it away for free on Craigslist. Until that time, we should enjoy our freedom to live our best capitalistic lives and celebrate that we don't need to share our profits with our neighbors like dirty communists.

meh.

The buyer finally paid after a week. Finally glad to get rid of these watches. Now they will be someone elses problem. (Or blessing.)

They never answered. I wonder if posting their eBay handle here made the difference?