EBay: a miracle of modern technology. A global yard sale. A veritable treasure chest just waiting to be opened. Gotta love eBay. Or maybe, not so much.....
For Diva, I like eBay because she outgrows her stuff so fast. She’s with us mostly on weekends, so nothing gets a lot of wear. I buy her one new church outfit a season, and the rest I try to find second hand. Walker is really hard on his clothes, and he doesn’t think about what he’s wearing when he gets going on a project. I have given up trying to get paint and car wax out of new clothes. I pretty much consider his stuff disposable. For him, I look for new items with the tags still on that are being sold at a greatly reduced price. The stuff looks nice, and if he wrecks something, no big deal. For me, it’s a matter of quantity. I’ve lost enough weight that I needed some smaller sizes, but since I’ve got a bit to go I didn’t want to spend much. EBay is great for me in that I can bid on lots – collections of separates – and usually end up with enough pieces in one lot to get me through the season. If there are things in the collection that I don’t care for, no big deal. I can always donate them. The goal is to try to get three bottoms and five tops, enough for a work week. I try to get the lot for less than $25. I can do it, too. Just takes some looking. All that said, from where I stand it seems that eBay has taken a downturn lately. I’m guessing the crappy economy has forced people to sell items that really aren't up to snuff. But there's more to my concern that that.
For Diva, I like eBay because she outgrows her stuff so fast. She’s with us mostly on weekends, so nothing gets a lot of wear. I buy her one new church outfit a season, and the rest I try to find second hand. Walker is really hard on his clothes, and he doesn’t think about what he’s wearing when he gets going on a project. I have given up trying to get paint and car wax out of new clothes. I pretty much consider his stuff disposable. For him, I look for new items with the tags still on that are being sold at a greatly reduced price. The stuff looks nice, and if he wrecks something, no big deal. For me, it’s a matter of quantity. I’ve lost enough weight that I needed some smaller sizes, but since I’ve got a bit to go I didn’t want to spend much. EBay is great for me in that I can bid on lots – collections of separates – and usually end up with enough pieces in one lot to get me through the season. If there are things in the collection that I don’t care for, no big deal. I can always donate them. The goal is to try to get three bottoms and five tops, enough for a work week. I try to get the lot for less than $25. I can do it, too. Just takes some looking. All that said, from where I stand it seems that eBay has taken a downturn lately. I’m guessing the crappy economy has forced people to sell items that really aren't up to snuff. But there's more to my concern that that.
My most recent encounter happened when I bid on a lot of eight items: Three pair of capri pants, a pair of shorts, a swimsuit top, two collared shirts, and a pull over shirt. I really only cared about the capris and the collared shirts, since I can wear those items to work. I won the lot for about $16, and there was a fee for the shipping that I gladly paid. Hey, with the price of gas and the intense heat and humidity, I consider shipping charges money well spent if it means I can do what I need to do without leaving my air conditioned house.
Anyway: the box arrived. The capris were great, but the shorts had paint all over them. Well, I didn't really need the shorts so oh, well. The swimsuit top reeked of cigarette smoke but okay, I can wash that out. But one of the collared shirts was missing. Not okay. I need that piece! It was one of the reasons I bid on this lot to begin with. So I emailed the seller, and his response was this: "Hi: I think you recieved 8 pcs and the blue one might have gotten mixed up with another color." There is just so much wrong with this. Where is the apology? Where is the promise to make it right? And, no, I did not get eight pieces, I got seven. Not cool.
So I contacted eBay and requested a partial refund for the missing item. Not sure why, but eBay refunded all my money, including the shipping charges. Which let to this charming email from the seller: "Hi: That was one slick move you did. You got the clothes for free and the shipping and you got your money back. Thanks for the education, a bit crooked, but effective. "
I did not know that eBay takes care of things like that. That is great! I purchased some software on eBay once and found it was a pirated copy. I ask politely for a refund. They answered, NO. I took my problem to Paypal and they refunded me out of the sellers account. It is good if you know you can trust eBay and Paypal too.
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