posted on February 13, 2002 04:29:09 PM
I am trying to do a little email housecleaning and was just wondering, how long do you need to keep....ebay listing and ending emails....buyer emails......ebay invoice emails.....paypal receipts of payment...etc, etc, etc?
I am also wondering how long you keep your delivery confirmation and usps insurance documentation slips?
posted on February 13, 2002 04:44:50 PM
Not sure how everyone else does it but as far as my auction invoices that are stored on my computer and my insurance receipts, I have this disclaimer that is included in all of my invoices billings that are sent to my buyers when they win my auction......it keeps me from having to keep records after they are no longer needed........
"INSURANCE INSTRUCTIONS & DISCLAIMER INFORMATION
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BUYERS: Insurance receipts and invoices are deleted from my files after 45 days from date of shipment, so if I hear nothing back from you within 45 days after you have been notified that your items are being shipped, I will assume all is fine and these records are not longer needed. Will not be held responsible for insurance receipts if contact is not made within this time frame."
If I hear from a bidder that his item is received before this time frame then I delete invoices at that time and throw away un-needed insurance slips.
[ edited by Nanasturtles on Feb 13, 2002 04:45 PM ]
[ edited by Nanasturtles on Feb 13, 2002 04:46 PM ]
posted on February 13, 2002 04:47:22 PM
If you are using Outlook, you can make a backup file of your outlook.PST file and then delete anything that's more than a few months old. I don't save email of transactions more than about three months old and once the feedback is left or the item is received, there's nothing I need to save that's not in my database (which is also backed up).
posted on February 13, 2002 06:52:25 PM
my business is rather small and I hard copy everything. I am sure it would not work with someone with many sales but this works for me.
posted on February 13, 2002 07:04:37 PM
I have all my DC's from day one. Each year in date order in a shoe box. Well, last year is in a boot box. Prior to July I did not use an online postage service so it is the all record of shipping address I have. Need to keep them for sales tax purposes and income tax since it is my receipts for postage (actual receipt stapled to the daily batch).
Emails -
ebay invoice - since I deduct these as a business expense - 7 years for IRS.
Buyer, end of auction, listing notice - those can be trashed BUT I have everyone I ever received.
Huh??? Maybe I need to clean. I know I have to dump so pictures I have 2 years of pictures!
posted on February 13, 2002 08:17:17 PM
On this same topic....can anyone tell me how to delete only some of the emails in my deleted items folder? I'm using Outlook express. I've tried holding down ctrl, alt, and the shift key, and all it does is open the emails up. I have over 4000 emails in my trash folder and want to get rid of the really old ones. I don't want to empty the whole folder since very often I have to do searches by item #'s or names or whatever for all my "mystery checks".
Thanks
posted on February 13, 2002 08:24:45 PM
ihula....why don't you create a new folder in Outlook strictly for the emails you want to keep and move them over into it? then you could delete everything else in your delete folder and cut down on space being used for things you don't need.....
posted on February 14, 2002 02:00:21 AM
RichieRich, LOL! I thought I was compulsive. I have a folder set up for each year that I put the email from buyers in. I have another folder for listings, endings. and on and on.
Why do you need to save all your DC slips? since the buyer pays this, you can't claim it on your taxes can you?
Ihula, you definitely need to set up folders to send your read items too. My deleted file empties everytime I close outlook.
posted on February 14, 2002 03:27:45 AM
now I am wondering if I am really anal about things.....
I do not keep any of my listing confirmation emails.
In my outlook I have a Work folder set up within that I have subfolders (6 of them). One for questions, ones for waiting for payments, one for waiting to ship, one for awaiting feedback, one for auctions I have no feedback but I have followed up one, and one for NPB.
Within each of these subfolders, they are broken down into seperate auctions number (I guess sub-sub-folders). Each time the closed auction progresses I move it to the approriate category (ie., if someone pays the folder for that auction is moved to the waiting to ship folder). The only time auction folders are removed is when I receive feedback from the buyer. Even if I receive an email stating they love the item I keep all the back-up email. Never know when they will change their mind. NPB auction folders will never be removed either, even if I receive negative FB from them. That is how I do my email.
For my postage receipts. I send a true paper invoice with each of my shipments and of course I keep a copy of it for myself. Each package is sent with DC (insurance is optional). So my DC and insurance receipts are stapled very nicely to my copy of the invoice.
posted on February 14, 2002 04:37:02 AM
Wow, I must be so lazy. I do have a "waiting payments" folder for those people who email me an address instead of filling out a WBN. I guess I don't have other folders because it's easier to just it the delete button, and I figured if I needed to pull something up I can always do a search by sender, or title, or message, whatever I needed to do.
posted on February 14, 2002 06:10:21 AM
I delete EVERYTHING in email after 6 months. In over 3 years there has been one time when I wanted to refer to an older email, but c'est la vie.
I am not need emails for taxes, because I record every bit of income and outgo in a notebook.
posted on February 14, 2002 11:06:03 AM
To cut down on e-mail clutter, erase the e-mail you just replied to. The outgoing e-mail will have the original message. This will also help speed up any e-mail searches.
Go get Nelson Organizer by Caelo. It is the best Outlook add-on you will ever use!
posted on February 14, 2002 12:55:17 PMcan anyone tell me how to delete only some of the emails in my deleted items folder? I'm using Outlook express.
To delete a number of individual emails. Hold down the ctrl key and click on each email. This will highlight the email in the top pane and show the last one clicked in the preview pane. When you've selected all of emails that you want to delete, press the DELETE key and they'll be deleted.
If you want to delete a group of emails, click the first one and then hold down the Shift key and click on the last email that you want to delete. This will highlight the first and last emails that you selected as well as all those in between. Then press the DELETE key and they'll be deleted.
posted on February 14, 2002 01:04:56 PM
That Worked! Thank you so much. Thought I tried it last night and all it did was open them up. Shows you shouldn't work on stuff when you're really tired
