posted on March 15, 2007 07:31:24 AM
I feel like Paul Harvey! I am so grateful to cashinthecloset for giving me the facts that gave me the courage to not accept the $2200. I am NOT a gambler. Money is to hard to make and I do not flitter it away! The auction closed last night for just dollars shy of $3800.00 YEAH! I am so SO very grateful. One more chunk of debt GONE!!!!!
posted on March 15, 2007 07:34:26 AM
YAY!! I wanted to ask about the outcome yesterday but thought better of it. I am SO glad it turned out well for you!! Can you set some aside for a bottle of bubbly or night out on the town?
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posted on March 15, 2007 07:37:40 AM
You betcha babe! I am going to treat my husband to fresh scallops and our favorite Pinot! Thanks Neg I appriciate your kind thoughts... there but for the Grace of God and friends.
posted on March 15, 2007 09:16:52 AM
Yep, and I called it wrong, too. Congratulations!
_____________________
"You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time." --Dave Barry
posted on March 15, 2007 09:33:47 AM
Take this as a sign from a higher power that you should cut up ALL your credit cards and use only a debit card to make purchases. Yes, you've heard this advice before. Doesn't mean it's wrong.
I have a friend (yes, this is a "I have a friend" story) who racked up $35,000 in credit card debt with no hope of being able to repay it in this lifetime. Someone who loved her paid it off for her. She cut up her credit cards and swore never to charge anything again.
Well, apparently it is a drag trying to get by without a credit card because three years later she owed $55,000 total on four cards. She said became obvious over the course of many sleepless nights that she had a problem bigger than trying to repay the debt. She consulted an attorney about declaring bankruptcy. He told her if she did that she would lose her house. So amazingly -- and this is the point where my jaw drops -- the same loving person paid her debts. She cut up her credit cards, lather, rinse, repeat.
OK. Lesson learned, right? Wrong.
She got a new card. It was one of those rewards cards from a company she shopped at a LOT. She was going to buy from them anyway and it didn't make sense not to get the rewards. I'll bet you think you know how this round ends...
When the balance on the rewards card got to $5,000, she caught herself short. Scraped up the money, sent one large check, and closed the account.
When she confessed to her loving friend what she had done (he knew nothing of the balance on the rewards card), she expected scolding and perhaps a little acknowledgement that she was coming to terms with her addiction. She told me later that his reaction was, "Aren't you going to get a new card? Everybody needs a credit card."
Keep in mind there are addicts and there are enablers. If you start from a place of "Nobody needs a credit card", you clear the way to peace and well-being.
posted on March 15, 2007 09:53:57 AM
Not to pile on, because I know how tempting it is incur debt, but the advice I gave to a close relative is: "Everything else being equal, I will have 14% more toys than you."
It takes a bit of self-control, but if you bank the amount of money you would have paid monthly for the car/TV/widget, and then only purchase it when you have the cash in hand, you'll be 14% (the average CC rate) ahead of the game. Other than deferring the satisfaction, you'll be no worse for the experience, and you'll probably sleep better.
Mortgages are a bit different, because they're (typically, perhaps not today) debt on an appreciating asset. However, and most of our friends think we're crazy, we pre-paid our mortgage and got rid of it as soon as we could, and I'm not sorry that we did.
Anyway, the point of this thread is that you made a courageous decision, held your breath, hoped for the best, and were rewarded for taking the risk. BRAVO! You earned the extra $1600, just as much as if you'd dug ditches for it
posted on March 15, 2007 09:55:11 AM
I buy all my E-Bay inventory with my bank card. I like to use the Paypal for Post Office and gas. Yea I know I only get a few cents back each time I use it,but it's better than nothing. I don't think we get anything back when we use Paypal to pay E-Bay fees.
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
bjboswell
posted on March 10, 2007 07:53:33 AM This is a very timely conversation for me. I have a piece of porcelain listed this week. I put a reserve of $950.00 on it as I have had it at shows for a year now. All the high end dealers want it but they wanted to steal it. I have asked $1200 at shows. bottom line. First morning after the list no bids BUT 2 letters.
#1 Will I stop the auction and what is my BIN price?
#2 I will give you $2200.00 and pay shipping if you will stop the auction.
Needless to say that one caught my attention. During the day I received 5 more stop the auction letters with various offers. As you may remember I am in the process of trying to pay off CC debt. NOT EASY... so the $2200.00 offer made me crazy. I still haven't given her a final answer. The update is I have 28 watchers,its at $600.00 and closes next Wens night. I really HONESTLY don't know what to do. This woman has good feedback and has spent serious money in this category. I'm be-twixed and between. I have never stopped an auction before but $2200.00 is ALOT of CASH! what would ya'll do. HONESTLY!
niel35
posted on March 10, 2007 08:04:30 AM If she wants it bad enough, she will bid on it. Maybe she knows it is worth much more and wants to BIN at the 1200. JMHO
pixiamom
posted on March 10, 2007 08:06:02 AM I'd probably put a BIN price of $2200, complete the transaction through eBay and take the money and run.
bjboswell
posted on March 10, 2007 08:13:15 AM Pix you have some idea I'm sure of how much I want to do that... $50 items and offers you can take risks on but when you have something you couldn't sell for $1200.00 at several of the largest shows in America and someone offers you $2200.00 its not easy to turn your nose up. The item is honestly worth $3500.00 to $4000.00 if in perfect condition. It needs about $300 to $400 worth of repair. I'm not an idiot I know its worth. DAMN I hate this!! She wrote to me again for an answer. Wish I had a crystal ball!
pat1959
posted on March 10, 2007 09:04:22 AM I'm with Pixia on this one, but counter the buyer's offer with a slightly higher BIN.
Email her with the BIN counter offer. If she is still interested she can snag it right away. So can someone else who may be in the market for the same item.
You wrote: ...honestly worth $3500.00 to $4000.00 if in perfect condition. It needs about $300 to $400 worth of repair.
...Yet it did not sell at $1200 on the circuit where the "professional" buyers shop?
A lot to consider... But I have to agree with Pixia, that a BIN it your best route here.
[ edited by pat1959 on Mar 10, 2007 09:05 AM ]
sunnyjo
posted on March 10, 2007 09:08:59 AM Don't do it! They're making the offer because they know what it's worth, know how much they're willing to spend, and are trying to avoid it.
Let it ride -- all the important bids will come in during the last 60 seconds anyway.
As to offering to buy something after eBay has failed to produce a sale .... go for it. If a seller wants to do it by putting up a private auction, they can. But if they want to sell it to you as a private transaction, they can do that, too. eBay got their fees, the original auction was run fair and square, and once it's over, eBay doesn't get a say.
There would be nothing to gain for either the buyer or the seller busting the other, and if, as a buyer, you always make your approach by saying you'd like to buy it, either through a private auction or privately, you've covered your behind.
It's the seller's item to sell; eBay doesn't own it and they don't own us. Our obligation to them for an item ends when the auction does.
roadsmith
posted on March 10, 2007 09:14:21 AM After thinking this over, I believe that, if I needed the money badly to cover CC debts, I'd do the BIN for at least $2200.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
cashinyourcloset
posted on March 10, 2007 09:35:51 AM Around a year ago, I did a spreadsheet of 36 offers made to me, all refused, and what the eventual outcome of the auction was. During that period of time, I accepted no offers, and generally speaking accept hardly any, perhaps 1 out of 100.
Had I accepted the offers, I would have made more money on 2 of them, for a gain of $55 (BFD). On the other hand, on the other 34 auctions, I would have lost $8763 if I didn't let them run.
In total, I had offers of $13,184. The auctions ended at $21,892, or 66% more. Your mileage may vary, and everyone's risk tolerance is different, but my feeling is that unless the offer comes from someone who is time-desperate, certainty-desperate, or completely clueless, I don't accept offers AND definitely do a BIN; no point in giving a potential customer something to extort you with.
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posted on March 15, 2007 05:05:24 PM
Fluffy PHEW!!! Thank God I am no where EVEN close to those kind of numbers. NOT EVEN at the high. If I had even 17,000 or half of the low # in debt, I'd have a nervous breakdown! She is a very lucky person that someone was a safety net for her. Just as much as I am not a gambler I am also not a self indulgent person.
In January of this year I decided that I was going to get the 4 cards we had out of my monthly face. So far 2 of them are completely gone closed... YEAH FOR THE GOOD GAL! The 2 that are left... well one will be halved next week. I am keeping money back out of my "boon" to pay the regular bills for the next few months... In 3 months of actively working towards my goal I have more than halved the card debt.I hope by September... (we all know the summer is coming) I will have them gone. It does not matter to me what I have to sell to accomplish this goal I want them out of my life. THAT'S A BIG PERIOD.
posted on March 15, 2007 05:48:35 PMShe is a very lucky person that someone was a safety net for her.
She is indeed. And she knows it.
She's funny, too. I've gone shopping with her. You know how at the checkout counter they often offer you a discount if you'll sign up for the store credit card right then? Instead of saying no thanks, she says, "I am not allowed to have a credit card because I can't handle it." It makes the clerks uncomfortable.
posted on March 16, 2007 05:28:09 AM
Wonderful story! Congratulations -- I was especially interested to see that you had it at shows at a third of what it brought here. Dang, there's just NOTHING like eBay still some times, is there?
posted on March 16, 2007 01:23:07 PM
birgittaw - you took the words right out of mouth. It's stories like this one that keeps me out of shows and on ebay.
posted on March 16, 2007 04:31:35 PM
I agree about cash ... he sells items that most closely resemble mine... at shows... So when he gave the facts of his survey that gave me the bottom line courage. AND it does take courage to turn down that much money.
Fluffys story about her friend is still a day later giving me the shudders. I have a friend who is an Antique dealer, 69 years old and a widow. Her husband died about 8 years ago. In this biz nobody I know has life insurance... except me... a recent purchase. When Stan died they had a nice business and were very established on the midwest show circuit. As the years past her health and ability to do shows alone came to a screeching hault. The credit cards,house payment,just plain bad habits of spending.. had brought her to the brink. Last spring with card interest rates of 29.99% and I don't even want to know how many thousands owed... she filed for bankruptcy. I decided last spring when I left her home I would not NOT allow myself to fall into that trap. "I do not want to be ---- her name" was my mantra. I have sold a few things for her on ebay this past year.. several other friends have as well. That and SS have kept her house safe from the court and food on the table. Thank GOD for medicare. Every time this year that I surf ebay or shows or shops and auctions I remind myself... "I do not want to be----" I buy but I buy carefully.
posted on March 17, 2007 07:05:27 AM
ladyjewels & bjboswell,
Thank you. I would have thought that I was too old to blush, but I did.
I was actually wondering if I should stop posting, as I seem of late to have been the last poster on most threads, kind of a "thread cooler" (to use a gambling term). Since I don't spend as much time on eBay as I did (having sold my business), I thought that maybe my slant on things was orthogonal to the interests of the forum (this last sentence was gratuitous, but I wanted to write "orthogonal" ).
Anyway, I'm glad that some of my posts helped someone.
posted on March 17, 2007 12:09:05 PM
"Since I don't spend as much time on eBay as I did (having sold my business),...
I've been wondering, cash, how you feel about selling out your interest in the business. It seems you're shop is set up in such a lucrative part of town. You still happy being in the sidewings?
edited to add: and YES, your input/views are always welcome and so insightful here.
[ edited by aintrichyet on Mar 17, 2007 12:10 PM ]
If my personal life had been set up to work retail hours, I would probably still own the business. My wife has a high-pressure, high-hours job at an investment bank, and there are months where she's overseas twice, for a week at a time. I have two younger children at home (9 & 11) and 2 outside the home (17 at his mother's, 25 in graduate school).
I was getting by with my so-so hours (9-5 weekdays, first Saturday of the month). However, I couldn't grow the business to the point where it was making better money without being there on weekends and at least staying late on Thursdays. I tried hiring people, but with one exception it wasn't working, and even that one exception did it for a while as a lark, and then went back to tennis and PTO.
I won't characterize the new owner's way of running the business other than to say that he is taking a different tack than I would have. I wish him luck (he's a nice guy, and I have another 4 years to run on a note ).
Sometimes I wish that I still owned it, but c'est la vie.
posted on March 17, 2007 02:32:01 PM
Interesting, Cash... thanx for your reply ... I have wondered, because I'm real ebay savvy, and had thought about opening a consignment shop .. ... but have seen several ebay consignment stores in my area of Ohio, come and go ... have always (sort of) kept up with checking in on 'cashinyourcloset' for as long as you've been a poster here ...
I remember a few emails we sent back and forth when I was starting out. I think that the franchise drop centers are almost guaranteed to fail. I also think that an absentee owner is almost guaranteed to fail. I think that, unless you luck into relationships like Portero has, you'll be working very hard to break into six figures annually. If I could have gotten 5% of my town's no-longer-needed handbags, I would probably still be doing it, but I could never seem to get a steady enough stream.
