posted on May 31, 2001 08:12:48 AM
I know many people have talked about this topic before but I felt it was time for me to throw in my two cents.
If a manufacture produces a product he will make up all aspects of the product to make a profit. Example, he makes Blue Widgets
Cost to Manfacture & Sell:
1) Widget Material = $2.00
2) Blue Paint = $0.50
3) Printed Box = $0.75
4) Shipping to Store = $1.50
GRAND TOTAL = $4.75
Now he wants to make a profit so he will triple the price and that will be the selling price of $14.25
He just maked up every aspect of his "cost to produce" by a factor of 3 (including shipping).
Maufactures and store do this every day and no one complains, but the first time an eBay sellers does this everyone complains!
If I can make a 100% markup on the product there isn't anything wrong with making a 100% markup on the shipping.
One item I sell cost me $0.76 in postage to ship however I charge $4.00s/h. The $4.00 s/h is CLEARLY displayed in my eBay listing in BOLD type. I will sell about 1000 of these items per month. Each month I will have about 2 people complain, so I guess 99.9% of the people don't mind. Its really amazing however how loud that 0.1% of the complainers are.....But the complainers don't realize that there is much more to shipping an item than the mear cost of postage!
I'm on eBay to make a profit, my terms are clearly spelled out in BOLD type. And I'm not asshamed about making a profit, after all eBay Inc. is making a profit at well.
Bill
http://www.AuctionWholesaler.com
* DropShipper For eBay Sellers *
posted on May 31, 2001 09:20:19 AM
Actually, manufacturers generally work on markups much less than what you are stated in your example. A three time markup would be a dream for most producers, especially if they work with wholesalers, as most do.
The profit that is made on products that are produced is incorproated into the cost of the goods, not in the shipping. Wholesalers would never tolerate overpriced shipping costs, as most have their own traffic/routing departments and they watch these costs very closely. In addition, many manufacturers offer incentives to whoesale buyers by offering freight allowances and other incentives for their purchases.
The only type of sale that traditionally charges for shipping and handling is a retail sale. Examples are cataloguers, direct merchants, online merchants and other types of mail order businesses.
Charging $4.00 for an item that costs you .76 to ship, might not sit well with many customers on eBay. While I agree you are entitled to a markup for your efforts, I feel that it should incorporated into the price of the product you are offering by upping your starting bid pricing.
posted on May 31, 2001 09:31:57 AMNow, you name me a company which ONLY charges the customer the EXACT amount inwhich it cost them to ship.....
None, nor would I expect them to do so. Most companies have shipping departments where they have to cover the cost of their employees as well as corporate overhead.
But I seriously doubt any major mail order company is asking a 100% markup on their shipping costs.
I also suspect in some of the cases you mentioned, there were custom packing boxes or material involved.
posted on May 31, 2001 10:09:15 AM
Hi - did anyone who buys merchandise ever think of the extras that go into shipping? (And I don't even want to open that can of worms called 'International Shipping'). I sell on ebay and just recently added a 50 cent handling charge. I didn't explain it, I just added it.
Now, this is why:
I pay two girls $7.25 and $7.50 an hour to pack my merchandise. I pay the girl that opens the mail and enters the sale $9.75 an hour. I pay the person who takes it to the post office between $7.50 and $11.75 an hour (depending on who takes it) PLUS 26 cents a mile for going there and back.
I also must buy peanuts and bubble wrap or use newspaper (which the girls complain about because it irriates their hands - they can't wear rubber gloves because of the heat generated and one girl is alergic to the latex.)
So, the Post Office charges 3.95 to ship it. Why shouldn't I be entitled to tack on a small 50 cent handling charge (may be more than 10% but I charge the same 50 cents on an item that cost 7.55 to ship). I admit that the post office supplies the materials because we ship priority mail, but believe me, someone is paying for those supplies. Well, it's the buyer (and it always will be the buyer who pays because that is how capitalism works - you pass your expenses along to the buyer).
I once gave my father-in-law a great miter saw from Sears. On sale for $89.00 down from $135.00 (this was years ago). Sears made the mistake of leaving the invoice inside the box - they paid the manufacturer $36.00 for that saw. I steamed for about 5 years - took me that long to go back. Well, all sellers have to pay overhead and make a profit. I guess you charge what the market will bear.
I don't make a profit on what I sell on ebay (don't ask why - it's a long boring story) and I don't make a profit on the shipping. In fact, we refund overcharges. But - I don't think an extra 50 cents is way out of line and certainly doesn't cover my costs.
posted on May 31, 2001 10:20:58 AM
Actually most ebay sellers don't hire people to pack and ship for them, unless they're making mucho profits. If someone hires two people at $7 plus an hour to pack and someone at over $9 to open the mail and enter orders, I'd sure like to work for that person. What easy jobs these girls have for a nice tidy sum of money. (Yes, that's a lot of money for my part of the country)
Ebay doesn't permit sellers to pad shipping.
If I see any auction with more than .50 handling charges, I back out and put that seller on a "never bid" list.
Edited to say: If I received a package from a seller who charged me $4 shipping and handling and the postage said .76, I'd be asking for a refund. If I knew ahead of time that the postage would be .76, I wouldn't even bid. Knowledgable bidders know the approximate mailing prices of most items they collect.
[ edited by mtnmama on May 31, 2001 10:25 AM ]
posted on May 31, 2001 10:37:19 AM
"If someone hires two people at $7 plus an hour to pack and someone at over $9 to open the mail and enter orders, I'd sure like to work for that person. What easy jobs these girls have for a nice tidy sum of money. (Yes, that's a lot of money for my part of the country)"
well, I guess it all depends on where you live (cost of living), and how many hours this is for, and where the job is. Would YOU work for $7 an hour, even at an "easy" job, if, say, you only got to work for 5 hours a week? If you had to drive a long distance to the location? And if this prevented you from holding another job?
"Ebay doesn't permit sellers to pad shipping". well, this statement ranges from "wrong" to "just barely correct", depending on exactly what you meant. Ebay forbids people from tacking on excessive shipping fees to avoid paying fees on the base bid amount, but that isn't necessarily the same as "padding shipping", in the sense to adding on a handling fee, for example, or including other costs in the actual "shipping" cost itself.
posted on May 31, 2001 10:42:23 AM
Whether a seller hires someone to do his shipping, or does it himself/herself-- is irrelevent. The seller's time has value, and the seller is the one that gets to determine what that time is worth. And the seller gets to choose how much above postage cost to charge for shipping. The buyers get to decide whether it's reasonable, and can move to another seller if they disagree.
Like the original poster, I charge a flat $4 s/h for most of my items. Some go Priority at $3.50 or $3.95 (the auction terms explain which go priority), and some go first class at .98 to $3. On average, I take in an average of $1.50 per item on the s/h, over the postage amount. About half of this goes to pay my shippers (who are also my kids) to to that grunt work. A bit goes into packing materials. And at the end of the day, I probably clear about 50 cents per item in real profit on the s/h charge. (After SS taxes and income taxes, that becomes about 25 cents, but that's a different rant!).
I've NEVER had a single complaint about shipping charges. I have a very high repeat customer rate.
Most reasonable folks know and understand that most sellers on eBay are running a business- and that their time has value.
Steve
posted on May 31, 2001 10:47:09 AM
Padding and tacking on excessive fees is one and the same and I think CaptKirk knew what I meant by that.
I said:
"If someone hires two people at $7 plus an hour to pack and someone at over $9 to open the mail and enter orders, I'd sure like to work for that person. What easy jobs these girls have for a nice tidy sum of money. (Yes, that's a lot of money for my part of the country)"
A reply:
"well, I guess it all depends on where you live (cost of living), and how many hours this is for, and where the job is. Would YOU work for $7 an hour, even at an "easy" job, if, say, you only got to work for 5 hours
a week? If you had to drive a long distance to the location? And if this prevented you from holding another job?"
What did I say? I said that's a lot of money for my part of the country and I considered it to be an easy job for a tidy sum. Doesn't that answer your questions of "Would YOU work for $7 an hour, even at an "easy" job, if, say, you only got to work for 5 hours a week? If you had to drive a long distance to the location? And if this prevented you from holding another job?"
Obviously, I said in my part of the country and obviously if I didn't know it was true for my part of the country, I wouldn't have said it. The questions posed aren't even relevant. I've worked for $5.15 an hour parttime, traveling 40 miles round trip, 20 hours a week, preventing me from getting another job. So, yes I think I know what I'm saying, thank you.
How do you know the girls only work 5 hours a week and how do you know it's their only job and this job is preventing them from getting another job?
Most of the time I charge what the post office charges me. I actually feel guilty if I overcharge (by accident) a customer. I have been known to even send money back to the customer if it is more than what the shipping charges would be.
"Padding and tacking on excessive fees is one and the same and I think CaptKirk knew what I meant by that"
Actually, its obvious from the WIDE range of opinions on the subject that some people consider ANYTHING over postage (let alone "shipping" to be "excessive" and others are far to the other side of the debate. Your statement was so vague as to be confusing and not helpful.
so, no, I didn't know exactly what you meant by "padding". After all, I can "pad" a cost by 10%, and that is hardly excessive.
"How do you know the girls only work 5 hours a week and how do you know it's their only job and this job is preventing them from getting another job?"
Well, obviously I don't, which is why I asked the question (in a rhetorical kind of way, to be sure). And obviously you don't either. I just wanted to put some contrasting opinions to your statement. Earning a nice "tidy" $7/hour for 5 hours of work in a city in the northeast, for example, would be awful, and I'd HATE to have that job. It would "tidy" you into the poorhouse, in fact (if poorhouses still existed, of course).
And, just for the record, your statement does NOT answer my question - could YOU live on $35/week, even in your part of the country? My hat off to you if you can!
Welcome to the refund overcharges club! LOL!
I do the same thing. Lately I've been undercharging and shipping priority mail at my expense. If I overcharge because of what my scale tells me, I refund immediately, most of the time putting the money in with the package with a note. If it was PayPal'd, I send it back that day.
I think I charged a .50 handling fee one time and I was feeling so bad about it, I refunded it the next day. How can I charge if I consider the cost of packing materials to be tax deductible?
Have a great day everyone. I'm outa here for awhile.
posted on May 31, 2001 11:15:21 AM
I charge a handling fee ranging from $.50 - $1.50 depending on the product in question. These handling fees cover the costs of the packing supplies needed to safely get the purchased item(s) to where they need to go. I haven't had any complaints, and I have a 72% return customer rate on Ebay.
I list fixed S/H in my auctions ranging from $1.00 to $5.00, again depending on product, and provide combined S/H for multi-auction winners - common sense to me and much appreciated by my customers.
I recognize the funds I collect as S/H as income, and that is offset by the postage and supplies expensed through my accounting system. Yes, doing it this way ends up with higher profits and higher income taxes, otherwise I could just take the costs of postage and supplies out of my profit margin.. but I prefer to concentrate on the profit side of the picture, and I have a small profit margin per item, generally..
I imagine though I'll be pulling away to other venues from Ebay because my smaller auctions are not feeling very welcome lately.
posted on May 31, 2001 11:16:29 AM
To mtnmama, I didn't mean to step on your toes.
I own an antique mall and I'm tring desperately to liquidate a new collectibles business I began as a sideline in 1990. In 1996, my sales started falling and my best customers just disappeared. It finally dawned on me where they had gone - to ebay, where they could buy from other dealers for less than retail. Well, my mall is still in business and if you can hire someone to work part time (as the next post following yours said) for 5 - 10 hours a week for less than I'm pay in Tennessee (of all places!!) please let me know! Also, we have to assume they are mature (over 16, because we are only open during school hours) and can keep from dropping everything they pick up. As for the rest of it, I'm disabled and my husband is trying to keep food on the table by being an antique dealer. Neither one of us can or has time to pack this stuff. I have a manager who runs my mall and two assistant managers, who, among other duties, open the mail and handle the sales. I truly wish their entire day was spent opening ebay's payments but, unfortunately, a lot of their time is spent informing me of the people who are late paying so that I can send 2nd and 3rd emails to try and get my money.
I work 10-12 hours a day at this computer trying to liquidate my merchandise. I now can barely get wholesale for it because every dealer in the country has found out what I did - and because of that, buyers now refuse to pay more than the sellers did and even then, expect us to finance it by letting them pay with Paypal or Billpoint. I simply can't do that. I start my auctions at bare minimum and do not offer those fee-based payment options. Would love to do so - if the buyers would just pay more.
However, I admit, I should have made myself more clear. I just assumed that the rest of you folks would consider your OWN time to be worth at least $7.25 an hour and would understand why it costs that much to pay someone to do it. So, if you are doing the packing for yourself, I assume it is to save money. But, unless you think your time is worthless, you are not saving money. You are just choosing where you wish to spend it, as I did, which is my choice. I don't think any buyer should balk at paying a handling fee and if you really think that 50 cents on any item really covers the handling fee, then your time must be worth nothing to you. If you stopped and thought about it, would you really pack merchandise by the item for someone else for 50 cents per item??
The ebay shipping is just one task among many that these people do. As I said, I wish there were more of it - I would be out of merchandise sooner and I wouldn't be spending MY time chasing down deadbeat bidders.
It seems pretty simple to me.
Whenever I (or anyone for that matter) makes a purchase whether retail or online, everything boils down to two questions: How much am I gonna pay, and what will I get for my money.
I know how much I will bid on the item, but how much will I pay on shipping? $4.00? $2.50? Tell me.
What will I get for it? If I'm paying the higher end of the scale I want to know if I'm going to get a well packaged Priority box or a fragile item shoved into a padded first class envelope.
Answer these two questions in your TOS and I will be glad to buy from you.
posted on May 31, 2001 12:49:15 PM
When I buy a book from Half.com and pay $2.25 for shipping (of which the seller gets less) I quite frequently get a book wrapped in brown paper---nothing else.
When I buy a book from a bookseller who charges me more and is sent Media Mail, just like the Half.com book---I ususally get a book that has been protected against water damage and any other damage that might come it's way.
So the moral of the story is---you get what you pay for.
posted on May 31, 2001 01:09:14 PM
As a seller, I started listed just a flat fee for either priority/first class/media shipping - type of shipping depends on type of auction. The flat rate is generally a little higher than actual cost, but I try to stick as close as possible. Not trying to do it to make a profit, just trying to simplify my life!
As a buyer, all I want is a clearly state shipping policy so that I can determine whether the shipping charges are reasonable. If the buyer charges actual, that's great. If it's actual plus some, that's okay too, as long as I can calculate it!
posted on May 31, 2001 01:29:31 PM
Which Companies Make a Profit on Shipping......How about darn near all of them., anyone who has ever ordered anything from any large mail order company knows what I am talking about....I use a flat rate for all of my auctions (except for the 2 or 3 that I use Priority and those are actual since I have no product expense) some ebat sellers are over the limit (like charging $4.95 for a post card, or 1 coin, etc.) but those sellers dont usually last that long, and for sure have little if any repeat business. but as a seller, we most charge at least for the cost of shipping and packing items, they are not free, take my word for that...office depot and others love me as we mail about 80 to 125 packages in any given week.
posted on May 31, 2001 01:57:02 PM
I noticed all the complainers about shipping are the ones who are paying under $3 in shipping. I never have problems with those over $4.
The complainers just don't understand business, even those who claim to be sellers also. A seller has two choices to make a profit, A)Raise prices, or B) lower expenses. So if a buyer doesn't want to pay extra then that means the buyer is choosng to receive less value. If I cut out putting the item in a box and just put it into a ziplock bag I could knock off $1.25 minimum because of labor costs. I seriously put that in my TOS one time giving the buyers a choice of crappy packaging for less, but I had a hard time figuring who wanted what when it came time for the EOA email.
posted on May 31, 2001 02:14:55 PM
Count me in as a soon to be "padder." I try to avoid accepting various payment methods when I will incur a fee and request payment be made in specific ways to avoid them and keep my starting bid at absolute minimum. Do buyers listen? NO. Well, there went 30-75 cents or better.
Not to mention I use recycled materials, which is about to come to a halt. My bubblewrap supplier is going out of business--so I'll have to buy it. And, I'm tired of taking up time on making previously used boxes usable. So, I'll be buying new, soon. Tack in another 35-60 cents each.
There went a buck. I have kept my shipping at actual Post Office cost as long as possible. It is no longer a viable option. Trying to cut corners cuts way too much into my listing time, too. I'll be charging $1.50 on top of PO costs in all my auctions soon. Then, the buyer is welcome to pay any way they want.
posted on May 31, 2001 02:18:17 PM
Step on my toes? Unlikely thank you.
I'm just an individual seller doing this from my home parttime. I own no retail store, nor do I have a huge inventory (right now I have no inventory). I am recently disabled and cannot go back to working at my job. My husband works 15 hours a day.
I've done my own packing, always have done my own packing and will continue to do so. It's not about saving money or making money or how much my time is worth. I have two young adults here that would do it for nothing. My husband would do it for nothing.
It's about being sure my items get to my customers undamaged and for that peace of mind, I trust one person - me. It doesn't take more than 15 minutes to totally package a breakable item. I keep supplies of bubble wrap, tissue paper, peanuts, tape and of course, free priority mail boxes and labels of all sizes on hand. Of course, I'm not a power seller who has to hire people because I can't keep up with it. But that doesn't change the fact that padding shipping fees is wrong. I make my profit from the starting bid, not shipping. Never had a complaint either.
I live in north Georgia where minimum wage is $5.75 an hour now and that's what the going rate is for sales people to secretaries. Supermarket clerks make more! Anyone working in an antique store downtown (and we're antique store heaven here) packs their own items. They don't hire part time clerks because it would cut into their profits. Like I said, if you lived near me, I'd jump at the job! One can't make that kind of money without traveling more than 50 miles a day to the outskirts of Atlanta. Come on down! I'll pack for ya!
posted on May 31, 2001 02:31:15 PM
North Georgia? Dalton is your back yard. Starting pay in the carpet mills is about $10 an hour, my son got his first job in one making $11. Not to mention Con Agra pays well.
posted on May 31, 2001 02:33:27 PM
"But that doesn't change the *fact* (my emphasis of your word) that padding shipping fees is wrong."
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Unless I'm missing the "official dictionary of "right" and "wrong" business behavior"?
I'm assuming your definition of the word "wrong" in this case is "wrong for me"...in which case I totally agree!.
It does come down to what you mean by "pad"...since it would, in fact, be "wrong" to add costs without permission, or charge excessive amounts to avoid ebay fees. But making a reasonable profit and/or charging a typical handling fee are normal, blessed-by-ebay-and-the-rest-of-the-retail-industry business practices.
And that does it for me for the day...
[ edited by captainkirk on May 31, 2001 02:51 PM ]
posted on May 31, 2001 02:40:31 PM
I've usually been one of the first to complain if shipping charged was a bit over actual PO costs. Business isn't always pretty apparently. This just seems to be a necessary evil in order to stay in business. Which means, costs have to be covered in one manner or another. As these are costs which are incurred in the shipping and handling, it appears that is where it should be applied. Not in the starting bid. JMO.
posted on May 31, 2001 02:51:36 PM
North Georgia encompasses more than Dalton which is a two hour trip for me one way.
Did I forget to say I'm recently disabled and can't work? I think I said that, but let me go back and read, because my memory after my open heart surgery isn't functioning right.
Yes, here it is "I am recently disabled and cannot go back to working at my job." Hmmmmm, I thought I said that.
But, you realize that even discussing this is off topic and really none of anyone's business.
CaptainKirk, can I live on $35 a week? Of course not, but a college kid may be able to, especially if it's pin money. Give it a rest will ya? Why are you specifically picking my posts apart? It's very noticeable and not even on topic! Do not make posts personal, I believe the CG say. Why are you?
Shipping costs that are padded are wrong. Period! My Opinion!
posted on May 31, 2001 02:53:34 PM
Shipping complaints from buyer are simple to figure out.
Frist people go there thinking they will get something for nothing or near to it.
second reason is a good 50% or more of the buyer are dealer looking to get the best price so they can get a bigger profit on resale.
Third reason is because seller are plan easy to contact if sellers were big $$$ corporation harder to contact the top person people wouldnt bother contacting or questioning it so much.
I myself very rarely see a complaint from a actual buyer of my Items about shipping or anything else but I see the non stop complaining on this message board hourly rarely see this type of stuff on other message boards.
I dont haggle mt terms and I dont change my term and once someone bids and wins my item my terms become there terms.
ask me why and I will say everything cost money and Im not made of money every auction sale genorates a cost and the buyer must pay these costs. http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
posted on May 31, 2001 03:03:07 PM
"CaptainKirk, ... Give it a rest will ya? Why are you specifically picking my posts apart? It's very noticeable and not even on topic! Do not make posts personal, I believe the CG say. Why are you?"
OK, just saw your last post directed at me before I had to run.
Personal? I'm not attacking YOU in any way, shape, or form. I'm not even close to violating the CGs. There is nothing against discussing the validity, or lack thereof, of the arguments presented by people here, such as yourself.
As far as being "on topic", since I'm discussing YOUR posts, I guess I'm as "on topic" as you are!
If you don't like people "picking your posts apart", I guess your best bet is not to post here. Otherwise, it kinda goes with the territory.
"Shipping costs that are padded are wrong. Period! My Opinion!"
Fair enough, just wanted to clarify that point. Your opinion, which is fine with me. Obviously not the same opinion as many people here, nor a violation of ebay's rules (unless done intentionally to avoid fees, which I don't think we're talking about here).
And since I'm off to work on paperwork to adopt our 8th child tonight, I leave the rest of the forum to you
YOU brought up the disability issue, twice, in furtherance of your position on s/h fees. I'm not sure why it's relevant- many eBay sellers are disabled and eBay provides a great venue for them to make a living, or to make a second income for a family. Maybe it had something to do with the issue of what a person's time is worth?
So when you say:
"But, you realize that even discussing this is off topic and really none of anyone's business"...
I don't really get where you're coming from. If it's off topic and nobody's business, why bring it up? Twice?
Back on topic....I think there is a different mindset between sellers who sell as a business, some full time, and other casual (or "occasional" sellers who sell off their used items. The later seem to feel that they shouldn't add any cost for their time, or make a profit on the shipping costs. The folks who are running business are more likely to be watching their bottom line, doing market research to see what their competition is charging, and the like. And with a seller that ships hundreds of items a month, it quickly becomes apparent that the seller's time IS worth a LOT....and that a modest handling fee times hundreds of auctions can greatly impact the bottom line in a good way.
It's just business.
The old "eBay community" days where folks were swapping pez dispensers with their friends are gone (or maybe they never were here in the first place).
posted on May 31, 2001 03:52:13 PM
mtnmama, Hey - I'm only 1 mile from the Ga. line. I'll hire you by the piece to pack my items, 50 cents each, that's two dollars an hour. Remember my point about paying by the piece. I live in Chattanooga and the going rate here for unskilled, untrained labor is $6.50 an hour. Of course, trained, loyal employees who have more than just ONE responsibility or task, and have worked for me for two years (some for 9 or 10) are entitled to more money and I gladly pay it (think I mentioned that I, too, am disabled). Anyway, if it takes you 15 minutes to pack an item, I assume my folks are probably as good as you are. Which means, at 50 cents an item in handling fees, I'm losing 5.25 an hour minimum. So, you just drive on up here and I'll be glad to pay you 50 cents per item and I'll provide your supplies.
My point was never to make anyone angry. I was joining in on a thread to which I thought I could offer some input from the perspective of a seller who does pay to have stuff packed. Nothing personal then and nothing personal now - It is my business and I'm entitled to run it the way I please. I do not gouge people and I always refund significant overcharges. How on earth a 50 cent handling charge could cause such an uproar, I'll never know.
I charge a very minor handling fee (you just proved it for me that it no where near covers my actual costs). I don't have these people working for me because I'm a powerseller (which you make sound like a four letter word), but because I own a business that's been here for 14 years and I need people to run it (I ran it until a staph infection almost killed me 8 years ago and from which my neck will never recover). If you ever come to visit us, I'm sure you will find that you will never even realize that we ship items that we sell on ebay. We will wait on you just like we assist other cusomters. Nothing in my antique mall even has the name 'ebay' on it that is visable to the customer. If my dealers sell something on ebay, they do their own shipping and handling and sell under their own name. I sell for myself. My employees, who I don't have the heart to send home on a slow day, I put to good use packing my ebay shipping. Most companies would just send them home if there wasn't enough work for them that day. I don't do that. I find them somthing to do and one of those things is packing items for ebay shipping.
One other thing - a buyer thinks nothing of expecting us, the seller, to pay a 35 cent minimum charge and up so that they, the buyer, can charge their item via PayPal or Billpoint. So, why on earth should they complain about a handling fee? It is expressly forbidden in ebay's TOS for the seller to charge that credit card fee back to the buyer explicitly, i.e, after the auction ends. But, if starting prices have risen, look around you for the reasons - higher fees charged by ebay, customers who take advantage of the great services offered by Paypal & Billpoint and for which the seller gladly pays the fees, software programs to assist the seller in providing better service to their customers, etc.
I think I do a pretty good job. I have no idea what my return customer rate is - but you figure it out for yourself. My feedback rating is one I earned the hard way (often sending refunds for merchandise returned to me that I never shipped (the old switcheroo), shipping free of charge because we made a mistake, sending gifts (not advertised on the auction, which is a violation of ebay's rules,) because we made a mistake, and in some cases, just giving the customer the merchandise. Hard to believe, but I've done all of that and more than once. I'm not perfect and we make mistakes - we break things after they are sold, etc. When that happens, I just ask the customer what they would like in exchange or I send a refund - and a small gift as a token of my appreciation for them as customers.
So, again, I apologize for saying something that was so horrible. I never intended my statements to be taken the way you took them. I'm a pretty easy person to get along with and, although I don't expect you to believe this, there are only four people on earth for whom I hold any animosity and one of them is my ex-husband who owes me over $60,000.00 in back child support that I will never collect! So, what can I say - I'm sorry. You are not on that list, if it makes you feel any better.
I also have to go pay all those dealers I have and my employees (it's 6:50 p.m. EDT) so I'm signing off. I think I learned my lesson. This is probably the last time I will ever post a message on a board.
Please take care (since you, too, are disabled, and have a very nice evening.) If you are ever up our way, please introduce yourself. I'll give you the cook's tour, for what it's worth. If I'm not there, someone else will. You will find us at the first exit just across the state line at exit 1B in Tennessee. We are right behind the cracker barrel, green building. Just come on up. Just to shop - I really didn't mean that about putting you to work. You probably have your hands full, anyway. SO, - peace -
to be "excessive" and others are far to the other side of the debate. Your statement was so vague as to be confusing and not helpful.
