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Topics - dbr831

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eBay / Strange EBAY dispute resolution
« on: October 10, 2014, 02:56:52 PM »
I just received a communication from Paypal that a case against me has been decided in the buyers favor. First I had heard of this. So to back up, I sold a small inexpensive piece of jewelry, under $20 including shipping. The buyer emails me as soon as she receives it with: "sorry not going to work will promptly reship". My listing has a no returns policy. I respond with "was there something wrong with the item?". She immediately responds with: "not at all". I didn't respond and haven't heard from her since. I just assumed she probably read the listing and realized it was no return although I would have let her if she pursued it. Not worth a bad feedback over a couple bucks lost postage. That was all on 10/2. So this morning I get the paypal message I mentioned above. I look in past emails (I get a ton of paypal emails since they email me every time I get paid and every time I print a label) and yesterday I got an email stating that the dispute against me has been escalated to a claim. Her dispute says "Item not as described" and her complaint is: "i returned the item the seller is aware of this and that its ok for them, and they will refund my money back.  I still dont have refund." That is a cut and paste, exactly her words. Ok, first of all I haven't gotten it back yet. Second of all I just got the email less than 24 hours ago stating that it was excalated to a claim and I have 10 days to respond and already this morning they have closed it and decided in her favor. Ok, here's the really strange/funny part. In the email deciding in her favor it says: "Due to the unique circumstances of the case, PayPal will refund your buyer at no cost to you. Your account will not be debited." wtf! I checked and they haven't taken the money out of my account. So she gets a refund and they cover it due to "special circumstances"? I'm dying to know the whole story but since it didn't cost me anything I don't really want to ask them. So wierd.....

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Craigslist / Determined Craigslist Buyer
« on: June 27, 2014, 09:18:50 AM »
Had a dresser / chest of drawers for sale on Craigslist for a couple weeks. Nothing special, pressboard actually but in nice shape and nice looking $65.00. Got a call from a buyer about an hour away who wanted to come see it. The buyer had to borrow a truck from a friend. Calls back, ok has a borrowed truck and will come. Arranged to come at 5:30. I get a call around 5:00 that they had a flat tire on the truck half way here. Will have to try again another day. They called back at about 6:15 asking if they can still come. Sure! Finally around 7:00 they arrive...in a huge tow truck with the smaller truck with the flat time loaded on it! Tire was shreaded by the way. Saw the dresser. Wife is hesitant, says "I didn't realize it was pressboard". Husband says "After all this we are not leaving without a dresser...we'll take it". Didn't even talk me down. Tow truck driver lowered the smaller truck, we loaded up the dresser, driver raised it back up and away they went!

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eBay / Annoying Ebay Glitch
« on: May 17, 2014, 09:01:14 AM »
Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this. Lately when creating a new listing on EBAY it sometimes initially won't let me put the price in. When I start to type the price it looks like it's working then it disappears. Or say I'm trying to type 29.99 and it drops a digit and puts 9.99 or maybe even .99. The only way I can get it to work is to move on to another area and make a change, like shipping, then go back to price and then it works fine. So annoying! This has been going on for a couple weeks.

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eBay / Ebay global shipping program
« on: January 28, 2014, 09:39:48 AM »
I know there's been some discussion about this in the past year but I'm wondering how it has been going for those that use it. Last year I unknowingly offered it on some listings. I think I sold a couple items through it and had no problems but stopped using it pretty quickly. Not sure why. Anyway, here we are in a new year and all the sudden it's there again on my listings. Only noticed because I sold a (very fragile) clock for a bit over $800.00 and panicked because the buyer was listed as being in Russia (I think). I always list as US shipping only but there are those that just bid anyway and hope you will ship to them. Then I see he has paid and shipping is very inexpensive. I check and the address is Kentucky. ???? That's when I finally figured out it is an EBAY Global Shipping situation. Anyway, I sent it, he got it (pretty quickly actually) and has already given me great feedback.

So my question is, are any of you consistently using the Global Shipping Program and how is it going? Also, my other concern is items over $250.00 which must have signature confirmation. Who signs? The Ebay crew in Kentucky or the buyer at the final destination?

5
There was a unit we bought a couple years ago that was our best unit ever. Paid $500, made over $10,000 profit. At the time there was a comment made by the auctioneer that it was one of three the owner had in three different storage facilities. We have always joked that if another unit owned by "Marie D..." came up we would have to get it. So lately we are not buying any units due to a huge estate we bought 3 months ago that we are still sorting / selling, but we do go to the occasional storage auction just in case there is a unit we just have to have...and because it's fun. So yesterday my husband goes to a place we have never been to that has just one unit and its not far from home so, why not? Yep, you guessed it, "Marie D...". 10x15, looks just like the last one...messy lots of boxes. Had to buy it. Unfortunately others wanted it too so it was very expensive, $2600! Arrggghhh...An initial inspection has unearthed some gold jewelry (maybe $500's worth), a bag of assorted foreign coins and a few old silver coins, 4 mink jackets, some decent furniture and tons of boxes of books. Not thrilled about the books although the last unit also had tons of books and I did make about $1000 on just books selling them on Amazon. Hoping we find some treasure as we dig deeper.....wish us luck.

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eBay / Is EBAY super slow lately or is it just me?
« on: October 29, 2013, 10:08:23 AM »
I have listed quite a few new things lately and it seems like no one is buying. Has anyone else noticed a slow down? Craigslist also.

7
eBay / Got a bad feedback from international buyer
« on: October 12, 2013, 10:00:17 AM »
Very frustrating. I always list US only but of course the foreigners occasionally bid anyway. This guy won an item and he's in the Netherlands. He emails a request for cheapest shipping.  I invoice him Priority Mail International shipping cost since it includes tracking and he pays. Next he emails me to put $20.00 as total on customs form. Item sold for $80.00. I put $80.00 on the customs form. Actually I didn't put anything, EBAY put $80.00 because it is done automatically and I'm not going to commit fraud by changing it. Anyway, he gave me bad feedback saying I don't read my emails. Ugh, so annoying. I "reported" it to EBAY that the guy gave me bad feedback because I wouldn't break the law for him. Doubt they will remove the feedback but you never know.

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eBay / Ebay insurance
« on: October 09, 2013, 07:19:41 PM »
Maybe everybody already knows this but apparently I don't read the fine print...just found out that when you ship USPS and print your shipping from EBAY and pay for insurance you are not getting insurance from the post office. Here I've been trying to track down a package I shipped out on 9/10 (yeah, the post office lost it, grrrr) and the post office told me I didn't purchase insurance. I said I did and have the receipt to prove it. This is were I finally read the fine print. The insurance I purchased is ShipCover through EBAY and not USPS insurance. Not sure if this is good news or bad news yet. I get to file my claim on the 11th to hopefully get my money back. I refunded the buyer a couple days ago. She was very nice about the whole thing and even gave me good feedback. So apparently ShipCover will reimburse me the cost of the item ($330.00) but not the shipping ($50.00ish). I'm filling out a claim form with the post office to get my shipping cost back. Seems reasonable that they shouldn't get to keep money for a service they obviously did not provide.  My post office seems to think I will get it but we shall see....Anybody ever deal with ShipCover? Or USPS lost package shipping cost reimbursement?

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Other Forms of Selling / Selling at auction houses
« on: October 09, 2013, 09:18:38 AM »
I have a few nearby auction houses that I buy and occasionally sell at. After recently buying a huge estate I am looking for ways to sell some items. For the last month or so I have noticed that the auction houses are not getting many buyers and as a result stuff is selling dirt cheap. This is a good thing when I am buying but at the moment I'm more interested in selling. Has anyone else noticed the lack of buyers at auction houses lately?

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Picker's Paradise / Might buy hoarder house contents
« on: July 14, 2013, 08:28:46 PM »
Interesting opportunity has come our way. A friend was approached by someone that has a full house that he wants to sell the contents of so it can be sold. It was too much for our friend and his partner to deal with so we were given the opportunity to partner up for the deal. The word hoarder was used. Apparently the man inherited it from an elderly lady friend who had no heirs. She was 92 and had lived there for 60+ years.  A little scary and two hours from home but we figured it was worth a try. I googled the address and the house is 1240 sq. feet. Nice neighborhood.  We went to see it today. OMG!!!!!! Yes you could call her a hoarder. But good news is she was a very clean hoarder. More like a collector really. No trash. Just stuff....everywhere. Boxes piled along all walls so walkways are narrow. The guy selling it has done some sorting and has removed clothing but not much else. Lots of figurines, trinkets, antique clocks, cast iron door stops, figurines and bookends, paintings and prints, furniture, very few books (thank God!), two big bins of jewelry (mostly costume but some sterling), depression glass, antique microscopes, antique opthomologist glasses set with all the lenses, lots of antiques and vintage stuff....I could go on and on but I am still so overwhelmed I can not even wrap my mind around it. The owner says no rush to get the house empty. I'm thinking it will take a month at least. Another thing that freaks me out is the whole partner thing. How in the world can you split something like this?
This is going to be a long process, not just to empty the house but to sell all the stuff. Also our friends don't have trucks or trailers (we do) or a place to store the stuff (we don't really but could make it work). Oh and did I mention that in addition to the 1240 sq foot house, there is a guest house, a garage with attached room, and another storage building that is probably another 1000 square feet. All full of stuff.     

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General Storage Auction Talk / Legal notices
« on: May 16, 2013, 10:45:30 PM »
Who is responsible for posting a legal notice for a storage auction? There is a storage auction in the near future that I have heard about that may have a very valuable unit. I have been watching for a legal notice online to see if the unit I am interested in will be included. I called the auctioneer and was told that the facility does the legal notice and they (the auctioneer) have no idea where or when it will be posted. Now I thought the auctioneer did that. Does anyone know who is responsible for publishing a legal notice about a storage auction? I'm a little concerned that the auction will not be completely legal.

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eBay / USPS Parcel Post Dilema
« on: February 02, 2013, 11:13:12 AM »
Is anyone else out there suffering with the recent USPS pricing change and the loss of "Parcel Post"? What a pain. It was just so convenient to use parcel post, print the label on Ebay and go drop it on the counter at the post office. Now I have to put a label on the package, go to the post office and stand in line to buy Standard Post (which is not yet available online and is more expensive than Parcel Post was). I've had to switch to Fedex for heavier stuff but the nearest Fedex office is 16 miles away and you can't put Fedex ground in those drop boxes. I got lucky yesterday and received a package from Fedex and the driver was willing to take my outgoing package. He said I can call and they will pick up, just leave it on my doorstep. Not sure if they charge for that but will be checking.  I have been comparing prices on most of my packages and it seems that most smaller stuff is ok at the post office but anything larger needs to go Fedex. USP is always the most expensive (so far). Just really frustrated! I don't like change....

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eBay / Ebay zero feedback buyers that don't pay and are NOT new accounts
« on: January 18, 2013, 05:07:35 PM »
I've had my fair share of non payers on Ebay. Usually they are brand new accounts but lately I've had a few that are many years old and still have zero feedback and don't pay. I don't get it. What's their angle. There has to be a reason for it other than annoying me. I just sold a $600.00 item (yay!!) and just looked and there it is, zero feedback, account open since 2009. I'm jumping the gun a bit because it just sold today but I have that sinking feeling. Now if I'm right and they don't pay I'm stuck waiting a week then opening a case then waiting another week to resolve it so I can relist the item. It occured to me that the plan is to get my item off the market so someone will buy his item but I checked and there is not another item like mine listed. Any other ideas?

Hopefully he will pay and I'm in the clear but it has happened a few times so I was just wondering.

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Storage Auctioneers / Shady Auctioneers and shills
« on: October 17, 2012, 10:01:12 AM »
Has anybody run across any auctioneers with shills / fake buyers in the crowd? I've had a couple situations come up recently, involving two different auctioneers, that have been really frustrating. In the first case the rumor is that the auctioneer has people in the crowd bidding just to get the price up. After hearing this we payed closer attention to exactly who was bidding and there was a guy from out of the area that none of the regulars knew that was bidding on almost every locker. The auctioneer was calling him by name and a peek at the sign up sheet revealed that the guy was from the same town as the auctioneer. On the other hand the bidder did win at least two of the lockers so maybe he's legit? One of the regular buyers in our area has had previous issues with this auctioneer where at an auction he was outbid on a very expensive unit (several thousand) and afterwards the auctioneer contacted him to say the buyer backed out and did he still want it for his last bid? He thinks it was a shill and he refused the offer.

In the case of the other auctioneer, I've only attended his auctions twice. In both cases people in the crowds ended up very upset and there were shouting matches between the angry buyers and the auctioneer. Funny, I've never seen this happen between any other auctioneer and a buyer but it's happened twice now with this auctioneer. Anyway, the auctioneer has a couple of guys that stand to either side of him watching the crowd to spot bids. It's very chaotic and loud with them alternately shouting out "here" and pointing into the crowd. Over and over again there is confusion over the amount of the last bid and several times when bidders tried to see who the supposed bidder on the other side of the crowd is it gets retracted by the spotter with a "oh wait, you had the last bid". Hard to explain but basically it appears that the spotters are just getting a buyer to keep bidding himself up. If anyone else reading this has been to this auctioneers auctions you probably know exactly who I'm talking about.   

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Stories about Storage Auctions / Our wierdest find yet
« on: February 21, 2012, 09:35:39 AM »
Bought a large household type unit a few days ago. Lots of stuff. Several dump loads but plenty of good stuff to offset the trash. Oddest thing in the unit was a rectangular wooden box, maybe 1' by 2' with a cross on the top. Several ziplock bags of locks of hair. All labeled with names and info like first haircut...Then further down the bags of hair contained what appeared to be cat hair with pet type names on them. In the bottom of the box were....the cats! Cremated remains of 4 cats. All I can say is thank goodness there were no human remains.

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