eBay's new checkout integration

I just made a quick purchase on eBay and I am thrilled with the new checkout eBay/PayPal integration. I don't know if it is a beta or if it is for everyone, but I love it.
I was always mildly annoyed that once I made a purchase on eBay and paid with PayPal the end result was a final page that had "return to eBay" as a choice but when you clicked it you got a whole new window.
This new integration is seamless. It doesn't even feel like you are leaving eBay and going into PayPal. hmmm. Maybe you're not? I don't know enough about technology to understand, but I like it.
For the longest time I would try and figure these things out because I'm someone who likes to know what makes thing tick. Finally, I've let go. I can now accept that I cannot understand and it would take me too much time and effort to try. The end.

Sometimes I just don't know what goes through people's minds

I realize that not everyone is a full time eBayer and not everyone looks at their eBay activity as a business, but there is so much I see on eBay that just makes me wonder what goes through people's heads.
I regularly read and participate in a discussion board that is meant for people who are using eBay as a business, so for the most part the posts are from people honestly trying to either help or get help. It is a pleasant place to spend downtime and a great place to get an outside perspective when I get stuck in a dilemma.
However, the other day someone had posted something there and I clicked their feedback number just to check them out.
I was shocked at the feedback they had left for someone. They wrote that the buyer was a pain in the butt even before their payment was received! I just can't comprehend writing that about one of my customers! And it upsets me even more that this person is not a newbie or someone who just sells one or two things here and there. This is a person who is a regular seller and is looking at their eBay activity as a business. How can someone consider themselves a professional and post that a customer is a pain in the butt, and post it where it is permanent and public?
Maybe it was all those years I spent in the service industry, or maybe it was the manors that my mother taught me, but, boy am I glad that I know better than to treat people that way.
It just upsets me because I would love eBay to be a positive experience for everyone. Please, fellow eBayers, remember the golden rule.

Trade Show to stock up on Merchandise to sell

Wow. What good fun that was. Last week I went off to Vegas for a trade show. I totally recommend this to anyone selling on eBay. They have shows for every kind of merchandise that you want to sell, you'd just need to find the one that would be relevant to you. This is actually my 4th show but the best so far.
I've been considering writing an ebook about sourcing at trade shows and I still might, but I just have so many things on my plate right now I haven't gotten around to researching to find out if it would be worth my time or not.
Anyway, back to the subject.
I am so happy that I finally found the right show for my niche. I just wish I had a bigger budget because we found so many companies that I would love to carry their stuff. Well, maybe the growth that I'm hoping for will finally happen so that I can buy more next fall.
Another really great thing was that the flight and hotel for my friend and I was FREE! That took some planning, but I made it happen. You see, I set my system up last year to prepare for this. My customers pay me through PayPal but I buy my postage through Endicia on my American Express. PayPal encourages you (and makes it very easy for you) to pay for shipping through their site and just use the PayPal balance to pay for it. Well, by doing one more step and using Endicia, not only can I print First Class International labels from home (huge time saver!), but I get the reward points too.
If you are going to do this, you must be organized. Especially if you do alot a shipping, it could get out of hand pretty quickly. You must make sure to remember that all that money in your account isn't really all yours! Just this week I've spent over $200 in shipping on my CC. So, if I look in my PayPal account, it would be very tempting to think all that money is spendable, but it is not, at least $200 is owed to American Express.
If sales increase as planned, I hope to take a vacation next year on my reward points as well!

I wish Advanced search had a .....

I am so frustrated right now. The other day I was listening to some downloads of eBay radio and some blog talk radio shows and heard about a book I thought I would like to read. It was "The Perfect Store" by Adam Cohen. So, I did what any self respecting eBay junkie would do.... I looked it up on eBay and bid on it!
(you can find one on eBay too... click here)
So, no problem there, easily found one affordable and by the time it arrives I'll probably have finished the book I'm currently reading.
My mind started twirly and I thought maybe I should browse around and look for some other books on my favorite subject....eBay.
Err.... Here is what happens. Go to the books category and type 'eBay' in the search box and you'll get around 4 or 5 hundred results. Great! lots of books on my fav subject. Wrong.
What you really get is about a hundred (or maybe less) actual books on eBay and maybe a few dozen books with things like "best deal on eBay" in the title and the rest are e-books.
I have nothing against e-books, I'm just not into them. I spend enough time in front of my computer and when I want to curl up to a book, it just doesn't work for me.
I just wish there was a way to manipulate the search to only REAL, physical, turn the pages yourself, sling it into a backback, read it on the plane BOOKS!
Sorry for yelling, just frustrated.
Before giving up on the search process here is what I had typed into the search box;
ebay -download, -ebook, -"e book", -"bar exam", -mpre
and even with that, probably about 30% of the 147 search results were "digital delivery"
There must be a better way.... please, someone help!

so funny... just had to laugh out loud when I read it

Tonight I was reading the discussion boards and decided to take a peak in on one that I don't usually read. I was so glad that I did too! This person posted a thread asking "what is a via check?"
then goes on to describe an experience with a seller whom she had paid with a money order. The seller responded to her inquiry saying that when payment is made "via check" it takes a couple of days to clear. She was posting to the board wanting to know what via check is! Several people had responded, some to make fun, but one person actually explained it but she STILL didn't get it.
One of the people responded by asking where the "any" key is.
he he he he I had a good chuckle.

But in all seriousness, I think I may go back and re-read some of my canned emails to make sure they are easy to understand for people with limited vocabulary or maybe English as a second language. :)

This is why eBay changed their rules

I recently had a very odd thing happen from a buyer. After receiving their purchase they emailed me asking for an exchange to a larger size. I didn't have the size they needed so I told them if they would like to return for a refund it would be fine and gave my address. The emails we passesed back & fourth were friendly and giving no signs of trouble. Just didn't fit, no big deal, happens from time to time.
So, the next email was with a DC # and expected arrival date. Great.
Then, the next email was from PayPal that they had filed a 'Not as Described' dispute. Then, two minutes later another email from PayPal that they had escalated the dispute.
What?
"not as described"?
I thought it just was a little too tight?!?! Everyone knows that what one company considers a small is not exactly the same as what another company considers a small, so that is why I posted the EXACT measurements of the garment.
So, just out of curiosity of this buyers reputation, I check their feedback.
WOW... this person is actually a SELLER! with a store even! They sell NWT swimwear.
How is it that a seller doesn't understand that filing a SNAD dispute unnecessarily can hurt a seller? So, I looked a little closer and realized why. This seller is lacking business sense and professionalism. Take a look at some of these feedbacks...this is a good example of why eBay has changed their rules about feedback:

Feedback: 367 (members who left a positive 371, members who left a negative 4, all positive feedback 426)
98.9% positive

From buyers: 402
From sellers: 39
8 neutrals in the last 12 months
Member since Aug 07
372 items availble for sale


Negative from buyer: Bad seller item was pinned in picture and did not say it was. Its a tent!
- response from seller: Mannequin is a size 6!, of course it has 2B pinned!..Sorry if you are Bigger!

Neutral from buyer: Great item but didn't fit
- response from seller: Unfair Feedback..Buyer said is Great Item, Then, Why blame us if it doesn't fit?

Neutral from buyer: shipping was slow .8.99 for a 3 oz package in 5 days?
-response from seller: Unfair FB! Buyer loved swimsuit BUT Don't Blame us if USPS is'nt fast enough 4U!

Negative from buyer: Item as described. Charged sales tax illegally and would not respond/refund
- response from seller: She loves the suit and we got bad feedbck? Illegal Tax? Then Y U BID??
- response from buyer: Seller left negative feedback in retaliation. Sent childish emails. Dispute open

Neutral from buyer: not new item as stated, you can see snags on rear seat and had a disinfect odor

Positive from buyer: BEWARE - seller added extra charges not previously disclosed.

Neutral from buyer: This suit is older than the price warranted.

eBay removed feedback from buyer for not responding to UPI: Seller agreed to relist item when I refused to pay unnecessary tax and insurance
- response from seller: BUYER GOT NEGATIVE STRIKE FROM EBAY FOR NON PAYMENT.

negative from buyer: swimsuit listed as new; while not worn, so old it stretched out of shape immed.
- response from seller: New as Stated, The suit Wasn't stretched at all UNTIL you tried it on..

Positive from buyer: Miscommunication about shipping, but item arrived as described


mutually withdrawn feedback from buyer: Have not received item. awaiting response from seller,.
-response from seller: Unfair FB! USPS returned package Bcause YOU have a WRONG MAILING ADDRESS!

Left for buyer:
Negative: Thanks
- response from buyer: I left positive for you. I paid immediately, was disappointed in quality/price.


Negative:
THE SUIT WASN'T STRETCHED AT ALL UNTIL U TRIED IT ON !. ..
(and this one was on a buyer with only 4 feedback!)

Now, just think about if you were one of these buyers. How would you feel about being treated like that? I'm supprised how someone can brutally insult the people who keep them in business! I know no one likes to hear bad things said (or posted) about us, but maybe when those things happen it is time to take a look internally to see if possibly the problem could lie within! I certainly did with my issue. I got some great advice from the discussion board and decided to put together a letter explaining the return for a refund process to make things easier for the buyer. I was wrong to assume that everyone would know the process. Too bad that this seller doesn't realize that.