As far as the piece I cut-n-pasted from that newsletter, the guy that wrote it is a very, very successful power-seller on eBay. A lot of his stuff is hype to get you to by his e-books so you can get insider tips, but he does dole out some useful tips in his free newsletter. Apparently he was also a very popular speaker at one of e-Bay's big conferences.
I often don't like his tone or his attitude. He seems too cut-throat at times... all for the seller getting as much out of the poop unsuspecting buyer as the market will bear. But when you are selling 1000s of items a month I guess you lose that personal touch - which is something I've also been struggling with.
How do I sell more and still keep that personal, friendly mom-n-pop feel that I think gives my buyers that warm fuzzy feeling they like and deserve? No one likes to be treated like a number and get the same response to their problem as the next guy. We all feel we are unique and numero uno when we are having a problem. And I know I don't appreciate it when I email in a complaint and get a stock form-letter type reply. I will give you a recent example that really fried my azz!
I bid on this auction of 5 paperbacks. The ONLY reason I was going for this particular auction was for 1 paperback I have a buyer for - he has asked me to watch out for certain books. When I find them for a low price that I can mark up a bit, then I buy them and sell them to him. The other 4 paperbacks have very little resell value because they are mass market books and the market is saturated with copies for sale. I knew I wouldn't be able to unload them for more than 75 cents, and that's if I'm lucky - so I was counting on making up for that with the sale of that one book!
So, I placed a very very low snipe bid and won the auction. Course I was obviously having a brain-fart day and failed to inquire about shipping costs, which wasn't posted. I got an automated invoice with shipping listed for $2, which was less than expected, but I wasn't complaining. I paid quickly via PayPal as I always do.
FOUR days later I got an email from the seller thanking me for my payment, but ooops his automatic invoice system was designed for his baseball cards not for shipping books, and oooops he undercharged me, and would I please send another $5.50 for S/H! Ok... $2 was cheap, but $7.50 is outrageous! So after counting to 10, I wrote him back and managed to avoid saying all the nasty things I wanted to about poor customer service and such, etc. (The NERVE of this guy ignoring me for 4 days, never sending a personal thanks or anything, and THEN jotting me off a letter saying I owed him more $ for S/H! And this guy is a BIG seller, not just little guy selling his collection from home.) Ok... so I replied to his email and acknowledged that $2 seemed low, but that $7.50 seemed too high. Could we reach a compromise? Would he consider shipping via Media Mail instead of his usual method of Priority Mail and I'd send him the additional money for that?
He came back with a big fat NOPE. My choices were get a refund for the auction or pay up. And he went out of his way to point out I'd gotten a BIG BARGAIN on these books which were worth $35! YEAH RIGHT! I wasn't born yesterday! I sell books for Pete's Sake.
(BTW, telling a buyer that they got a REALLY GREAT DEAL as an excuse for not dealing with a problem is VERY VERY poor Customer Service. It will only make the most reasonable buyers angry and unreasonable... like it did me. Hey buddy, this widget I bought from you has a big huge stain on the front! Yeah but you GOT A REALLY GREAT DEAL! See how THAT flies folks!)
So after counting to 10 again, I wrote back that it was unfortunate he was willing to lose a sale rather than reach a compromise and told him I'd take the refund. I resisted the need to point out to him that I'd be lucky to get 75 cents for 4 of his BIG BARGAINS! (I'm always professional even when I don't wanna be!) At this point my only hope is that he doesn't leave me negative feedback... sigh.
Anyway, I've picked up a few tips from that power-seller's newsletters. I let go of some guilt over certain things that initially just seemed "wrong." Just like sniping grates on peoples' sense of right and wrong, there are other issues that do too... like charging more for shipping/handling than your cost, so you make a little money there too. I could never WAY overcharge like he seems to do, but I have gotten a little more comfy adding another 50 cents here and there... and WOW, the occasional extra $1.00!!
When you think about it, too many people are making this "business" of running auctions into a moral debate! Yes, we need ethics in business, but to argue that sniping is morally wrong is ridiculous! waaaaa it's not fair they all whine! Well it's not fair I have a cable modem and you don't, or that I might have a faster PC than you, or that I can type faster than you, or maybe have more $ to bid on an item than you, or that last week my widget only sold for $2.99 and this week the same widget listed by someone else sold for $29.99, or any number of things that might give me an advantage over someone else... or someone else an advantage over me.
Hello! Life ain't fair! And auctions certainly aren't. They are a form of gambling, that is why they are so addicting! If you want fair, read all the newspaper marketing ads, and go buy your widget from XYZ company that offers rebates if you can find that same widget anywhere else for less. But be assured you are NOT even close to getting a REAL bargain, not like you MIGHT be able to get on eBay. But then again, the risks are higher. It's a tradeoff and a crapshoot!
Ok... that soapbox keeps landing at my feet. Will someone PLEEZZE take it away? lol And... the usual disclaimers apply. This again, was just the normal (abnormal?) rantings of a less-than-sane woman!
Bubbye!
diva (aka Dag)