The Anti-Social Network

Perfection - with the help of Photoshop

2014-05-21T15:31:00.001+10:00

I wish this entry was about taking photos for eBay, but this one is not about eBay, but about a topic that holds a lot of meaning to me. I needed to get this off my chest, whilst I have the words to say in my head.

A topic came across my Facebook newsfeed this afternoon from Upworthy - an American website who post great videos on topics that matter right now.

The lady in the video/picture below is Boggie, a Hungarian singer who released this video in 2013 about what we do to the already-beautiful human body to sell an unattainable ideal. She also sings the lovely song that is played during the video.

This is the screen capture for the video, or you can look at the whole thing HERE (it only goes for 3.34 minutes).

This video struck a chord with me, and I watched it in tears. There is a moment in the video when the software is used to make a copy of one of her eyes (presumably, her "perfect" eye), and it is mirrored over her other eye.

This reminded me of a moment when I was offered the same service on a photo of me.

Lucky imperfect me.

It was 7 years ago, and my parents were having their 50th wedding anniversary. My siblings and I decided to get a family portrait done of us as a gift for them, as we'd never had one done.

I awkwardly allowed my photo to be taken, only because it was a special occasion. I usually avoid cameras like the plague. I was so glad when it was all over.

When we came back two weeks later, the photographers showed us the resulting photographs via a slide show on a huge screen. I sat there cringing, and holding back tears at every photo with me in it. I was still married at that time, and they had taken a couple of photos of just me and my husband. I "really" wanted a photo of us, as we'd had no formal photos since our wedding some 14 years earlier.

The photographer asked if I wanted to order a copy of the photos. I shook my head violently, and she asked why not. "Because I look like I've had a stroke," I blurted out.

I should mention that I have a sagging eye due to nerve damage that was caused during surgery 15 years ago. The surgery was to remove a cancer.

"We can fix that," said the photographer with a big fake-white-teeth smile. "We just copy your good eye over that one."

I can't imagine what the look on my face was. "But that wouldn't be a photo of me," I remember saying, tempting as it was to have a photo of me with two "good" eyes - an imposter hanging on my wall.

I'd kind of pushed that memory to the back of my mind until this video found the splinter that's still there lurking in my mind, and hiding under my skin. Now I can pick at it again, and renew the pain.

I have only had my photo taken once in the last four years. It was a nerd moment, and I needed to have my photo taken with a Dalek from Doctor Who, on display in a bookshop.

I tried to take a selfie once about 4 years ago when I thought (very briefly) about joining an on-line dating website, and I cried for a day when I saw the result. How nice it would have been to upload a "perfected" picture to their website, and have my date, looking for the false me, walk past the freak hiding in the corner.

My niece was taking selfies on her phone the other day, and showed them to me. She's making faces in some of them, and goofing around. I smiled at her and I told her she looked beautiful in all of them. She showed me a few of them and told me that she didn't like them because she "looked fat". She's ten years old, already as tall as me and has arms and legs like sticks.

What are we doing to these girls? Next thing you know they'll be photoshopping the school portraits to show perfection instead of the growth of awkward child to (in my case) awkward adult.

When will it end? Soon the reality of photos modified on our phones and computers will be our reality, and what we see in the mirror is just a myth. Whilst I don't like what I see, at least it's real.

I still have my favourite photo of me. I am 6 months old - my skin is perfect and both my eyes are "normal". Photoshop did not exist, and I had not yet learned to despise what I see in the mirror.

Making money from NOT selling the same thing 3 times

2014-04-17T17:37:00.003+10:00

I didn't know that you could NOT sell something three times and make a profit. But I have seen it first-hand, and it is possible, apparently.

I sell on a website called Fishpond, which is a small Aussie wannabe of Amazon. I send a box of books/DVDs every few months and they store them and sell them for me. I don't have to lift a finger.

This sale was for a used DVD that I got for free from a family member who was moving house.

It first sold on 3rd March. The buyer paid, money (after fees) from the 1st sale was transferred to my account.

Then the same DVD sold again on 25th of March. I was surprised and assumed that they had accidentally listed the same DVD twice. They would figure out the problem.

The buyer paid, and the money (after fees) from the 2nd sale was transferred to my account.

I was intrigued as to where this second DVD had come from and looked back at the first sale.

It now came up as "Buyer Cancelled This Item". So they must have paid, and then pulled out of the sale. Fishpond automatically transfers money after payment so it went through to my account. So Fishpond paid me for the sale that never happened.

I thought it was nice of them to cover the non-sale.

THEN, on 9th April, I got a 3rd sale notification for the same DVD.

What the F***? The proceeds for the (3rd) sale went into my account 2 days later.

I went back to the previous (2nd) sale, and saw that the buyer had cancelled the item on that one too. So Fishpond had paid me again for a sale that never went through. They were being awfully nice about this covering all bases again. I was embarrassed and hoped it didn't happen again for their sake.

Then yesterday, I poked my nose in to see if there was any new sales. And sitting at the top of the list, was the 3rd sale of this (obviously possessed) DVD, now showing as Buyer Cancelled Item.

Oh boy. I sure hope they don't think that I am colluding with a third person on this!!! Is this the same looney buying this DVD three times, or did random people suddenly feel the burning to buy and then not buy the same DVD?

Either way, I have been paid $13.86 x 3 = $41.58 for this DVD.

I've checked and they haven't re-listed it again, so hopefully it's power has waned now, along with that of the full red moon.

Lost & Found

2014-03-31T08:55:00.000+11:00

Eeek - I have nothing to say for a week or so, and then suddenly I have a lot to say. So I need to space it into smaller messages each day instead of one rambling long message.

First and most importantly - my Dad went missing again yesterday. Those who read my blog, may recall almost exactly a year ago, my Dad went missing for nearly 24 hours. The original story was here.

Well yesterday, he left home at 11:30am to put petrol in the car and pick up some things from the supermarket. Then he disappeared.

He has improved greatly since a year ago. Put on weight and gained strength again. It all turned out to be something to do with his kidneys & lack of iron in his bone marrow. Anyhow, yes - he's still driving at 85 years of age.

Mum called me at 2:30pm to say that he hadn't come home. My sister was driving the areas where he should have been but there was no sign of him.

By 4:30 we were all cruising the streets, uselessly searching for him or his car. By 5:30 I was feeling ill because it was going to get dark soon. I sat at home with my stomach churning wondering where the heck he was again - waiting for the phone to ring and hoping for good news.

Then at 6:00pm my Mum called. She said he'd just called her from the hospital and quite calmly said "They said I can go now, can somebody come and pick me up?"

We don't know the full story yet - but apparently Dad went to a sports bar at a local restaurant (to make a sneaky bet, or to watch a horse race that he'd bet on) - fell over something , and cut himself on some glass. The cuts aren't bad, but he has skin like tissue paper and bleeds like a stuck pig. An ambulance was called and whilst we were all frantically running around for hours, he'd been lying in hospital getting his cuts looked at and flirting with the nurses.

He must have been at the hospital for hours. Whilst we are happy he was looked after following his fall we are still trying to figure out why they never called us when he was first admitted.

Oh well, at least the news was good in the end. If I can muster up the courage I will go to the restaurant/sports bar today and try to find out exactly what happened and thank them for looking after Dad.

In the meantime, my wish for free listings finally came true - they threw 100,000 free listings at me over 7 days so I was working like a mad thing to take advantage of them. Will check in again soon!

March Madness - Board Games

2014-03-14T12:55:00.001+11:00

So, I'm still sitting here waiting for another invite for free listings. It's been over a month now, and not a one has been thrown my way. *sob*

Total Inventory In My Store : 255 items (38 of which are board games)

Unsold Listings Waiting for Freebies Because I'm Too Tight To Pay Listing Fees Now : 714

As part of my store package I get 80 free listings a month. Because Board Games cost me 50 cents a pop, and everything else I sell is 5 cents a pop - I decided to only focus on my board games. Plus these also generally have the highest selling price of my items.

With that in mind, my op-shopping for the past few weeks has focussed mainly on Board Games. It has totally changed my way of thinking. Now I can list one board game and get an average $10 to $20 profit per item instead of only about $4 - $8 for my books & videos (truthfully, sometimes even less than that).

As a result of filling my store with board games, my $ sales have been at a similar level to when I had over 1,000 lower-priced and much less popular items. Board games are in demand at the moment, and there is not much competition for others selling the same item.

This is a quick overview of the Board Game sales in the past 3 weeks (since I went to the Gamers side) :

Race To The Top Australian Edition - sold for $17.99 - cost $3

Trivial Pursuit Baby Boomer Edition - sold for $14.95 - cost $2

Spirograph Set - 1973 Edition - sold for $19.99 - cost $2

Triolo - sold for $14.99 - cost $2

Scattegories Refill Pack # 1 - sold for $14.99

Scattergories - sold for $19.99 - I purchased this + the refill kit above for $3 in total

Trivial Pursuit - Volume 3 - sold for $19.99 - cost $3

Trivial Pursuit - 20th Anniversary Edition - sold for $23.99 - cost $2

Oz Quiz - sold for $29.99 - cost $4

Battleship - 1975 Edition - sold for $14.99 - cost $3

Battle of the Sexes Simpson Edition - sold for $14.99 - cost $3

Secret Weapon - sold for $15.99 - cost $2

Scrabble 1978 edition - sold for $11.99 - cost 50 cents

Game of Life - sold for $19.99 - cost $3

Test Match - sold for $19.99 - cost $3

Scotland Yard - sold for $26.99 - cost $5

Sumo! - sold for $11.99 - cost 50 cents

Nightmare - sold for $25.99 - cost $6

Trivial Pursuit Original - sold for $14.99 - cost $3

Rum Rebellion - sold for $29.99 - cost $2

Cluedo 1983 edition (still sealed) - sold for $29.99 - cost $5

Connect 4 - sold for $10 - cost $2

Scrabble Board Game 1988 Edition - sold for $11 - cost $5

Trivial Pursuit Genus II (Canadian Edition) - sold for $16.99 - cost $3

These are all the games I've sold since 24th of February (about 3 weeks).

That's a total of 24 games - at a cost of $67 to bring in sales of just around $450.

This is not taking into account the selling fees, but it's still a pretty good turn-over on only 24 sales. I would usually have to sell 45 - 80 books/videos to make the same amount of money.

I think by being forced to reduce my number of listings, it has given me the ability to find this niche that seems to work for me.

Of course there are down-sides to board games. The biggest charity shops (not pointing any fingers) tape their games up so you can't check inside and they price them hideously high.

Just last week at my local Salvation Army I saw a Nightmare game. If you look above, you will see that this sold for $25.99. I was willing to pay the price of $6 (with gritted teeth) - but was the game all there? I surreptitiously cut through the sticky-tape with my car key - another good hint!!! - and checked the contents.

The game board was torn half-way through. Not all items were there. One of the pieces of the game had been replaced with a BEER BOTTLE CAP !!!! Classy. Um no. Sorry Salvos - but I will be that annoying person cutting open your boxes to check the insides of your games. Until you get your act together I will keep doing that.

Then I must give cudos to those other op shops that lovingly put a sticker on the box listing what is missing from the game, or just putting 'Complete'. Of course their idea of complete may differ from the game contents on the box, but at least they've tried.

Needless to say I have piles of board games that are incomplete - but have kept these for that "just in case I find another copy of the game" moment. You really need to be organised or it can be overwhelming. I have spent the past week going through all my incomplete games, and making a list of what is missing so I know what to look for. How many incomplete board games do I have languishing around my house? About 70 I think. They are taking over. I still have about 15 board games to photograph and list as well.

There are times when it is good to buy a game that is incomplete. It helps to keep an eye on what games are selling. Some can go for crazy high prices.

More on this in my next blog.

February update

2014-02-19T12:00:00.003+11:00

Oh, I couldn't think of a witty title. So there it is. If I wait any longer February will be gone before I can blink.

My store is currently sitting at 150 listings. A week ago it was at 1,050. Now all those listings from the last 10,000 free listings offer have rolled off and I'm waiting impatiently for some more free ones, so I can relist everything.

Yes, it's got to that stage.

This morning, I got an invite on my eBay Dashboard, and saw "10,000 Free Listings". In a rare moment of actual joy, I actually pumped my fist and shouted "Yes!" - causing one of my parrots to fall off their perch in fright. But then I read it more carefully and saw it was only for items over $100. WTF? I've had about 5 items over $100 in my 15 years on eBay.

Thanks for nothing !!!! I may have to bite the bullet and actually fork out for some listing fees. Nooooooooooooooo.

I wish I had lovely interesting shiny things for sale like other blogs I read. Here are my best sales so far in February. Prepare to be underwhelmed ! Board games have been my highest price sellers as usual.

"Nova Ace of Aces WWI Air Combat Game - Balloon Buster 014 - VGC - 100% - 1985"

Bought for ???? - Sold for $19.99

I found this on my bookshelf. I bought it at an Op shop a couple of years ago, and kept it myself as I have an interest in aeroplanes. It sat unused. I don't know who I thought I was going to play this with - myself?

There were no previous sales on this exact one that I could compare, but after research a website said this was the most common one. So I just put this price on it. It sold one hour later. I guess I should have sold it for more. Oh well.

"Monopoly Australian Edition Board Game - 100% Complete - 12 x Metal Tokens - VGC"

Bought for 50 cents - sold for $27.99

Vintage or special edition Monopoly games always sell quickly for me.

"Cluedo Board Game - Vintage 1983 - 100% Complete - Contents VGC - Waddingtons"

Bought for $2 - sold for $17.99

Cluedo is also a quick selling board game for me.

"The Great Australian Road Trip Trivia Board Game - Reader's Digest - Unplayed"

Bought for $3 - sold for $27.99

"Holden VU Ute : A New Legend - PAL VHS Video - Hosted by Peter Brock - 2001 RARE"

Bought for 50 cents - sold for $15.99

This is just a short promo video from Holden to sell some shiny new car. Cars = high interest. Also hosted by Peter Brock, a famous Australian race car driver, who died in a race car crash a few years ago. So this hits a few interest buttons. I had no other sales to compare this to when I priced it, so I just put this price on it, and waited. Took a few months, but finally sold just before I was going to reduce the price.

I'll go back to job searching (there'll be a separate blog on that farce), and sitting here like a gargoyle glaring at my "Promotional Offers" box on my eBay dashboard.

Lost listings

2014-01-27T15:59:00.003+11:00

I find myself at a loose end today. It's Monday, and the Australia Day public holiday, so post office is shut, and no Paypal transfers go into my account.

A week ago, as the latest 2,000 free listings bout was coming to an end, I was ending my listings that were finishing soon, and relisting them as "sell similar". I would do this 50 listings at a time, and then delete them from the Unsold area.

Just before Christmas I managed to get my number of listings to over 1,000 items. It was an achievement that I was proud of, but did little to affect my sales.

Anyhow, once I'd done all my end listing / sell similar / delete ended items spate, I realised that my numbers were off. I had somehow deleted 50 ended listing without doing the "sell similar" first. I had no idea what these listings were. *scream*

So, today it's hot, and I'm unmotivated to list anything, so I'm going through all my stock (all 1,000 of them!), and seeing which ones are not listed. It's good to do this every now and then, as it's amazing how much stock you think is listed, but is nowhere to be seen in your store. I've also picked up a few duplicate listings, and incorrect titles.

The OCD in me enjoys the process, and I get a feeling of satisfaction. So far I've checked all my board games and all the kids videos, and already found 20 items that weren't listed. Woohoo! Only 820 more items to go.....

Then to start online, for 5 jobs to apply for this week. Happy times.

Enough seriousness!

A couple of years ago my sister innocently sent me a link to a website that had scans of old crochet/knitting books. This picture was on the main page at the time.

Feast your eyes on the cover of this one - let them roam around. Does anything catch your attention? I can tell you what caught mine.

My sister is the knitter in our family, so I requested the yellow penis for Christmas (nawww, he has eyes & a nose!), but she has yet to produce one for me.

This Christmas Day just a month ago,the family sat around after opening our presents. I looked my sister in the eye and said "where's my penis?" (for the second Christmas in a row). She made excuses, but I brushed them aside. I probably won't see it until I'm ancient, and no need for what I might store in it. ;-) (Just kidding, I'll never be too old).

In the meantime I thought I'd share some photos from this cute board game I need to list:

Aren't these rubber sumo's just adorable? Just look at those magnificent bums. And who else wants to do a mouth fart on their superb tummies? I know I do.

But then there's the back cover, where these two have more than a hint of lunacy to their smiles.

Happy Monday !!

I'm back ...

2014-01-26T12:18:00.001+11:00

Hello, remember me? I'm sneaking back in sideways, wondering if anybody noticed that I was gone.

I apologise for my lack of posts in the past 5 months!

Happy New Year to you all.

I've finally managed to crawl out of the black hole that I had dug for myself. I've also been like a fish on a feeding frenzy with all those 1,000s of free listings that have been thrown our way. They don't seem to have made much difference to my sales, but at least they had me dragging my sorry butt off the couch and getting some listings done.

Today (Sunday) is Australia Day, and tomorrow is the public holiday. It's going to be hot today, and tomorrow (39 degrees). I will be hiding inside with the curtains shut, spending the two days alone. I'm hoping to put some stuff up for sale on Facebook today, so if I get any visitors it will be buyers from there. *fingers crossed*.

I've taken a good hard look at myself over the past few months, and I don't like what I see. I'm not just talking about avoiding mirrors (which I've done all my life), but the birds-eye view of myself from above. All I can see is a great yawning empty space around me, and inside me, and also the gaping empty space in my bank account. :-0

I figured that I could fix the bank account, by getting a job, as eBay just wasn't covering my cost of living. I figured that this would also fill some of the space around me, and maybe just a little bit inside of me. Doing this eBay job suits me, because I am an introvert, and people tend to over-whelm me. But also, I found that it was making me more reclusive.

Applying for a job meant job interviews. Nothing is more likely to turn me into a stammering, jibbering, red-faced fool, shaking so hard that I have to hide my hands from the interviewers. How can I sell myself to somebody else, when I didn't even believe in myself?

So I put off looking for a job, because of the fear of those "job interviews."

Then it hit me, that I wasn't going to find any self-confidence by hiding away in my house. It was only going to come, with me having a job, and connecting with people; feeling that if I dropped off the face of the Earth, somebody might even miss me.

Then I found out that I may be eligible for something called "New Start", which is a fancy name for going on the dole. I shuffled into my local Centrelink office, guilty & embarrassed, and found that I make so little money, that I am eligible for a partial Job Seeker payment.

I've had a 13 week wait before it kicks in , but it gave me something positive to look forward to.

This week is my first week on it. As part of this I have to apply for 5 jobs a week. So this has FORCED me to track down a couple of people I used to work with to be my referees, and to get my resume in order.

Even though I am shit-shared at the thought of interviews, I just have to suck it up, and stop making excuses. There are people far worse off than me, who have got through far harder times. Enough with the self-pity and playing a victim to my own insecurities!

And, yes, doing it all on my little lonesome is hard too - but I've got my imaginary friends to help me. ;-)

And now off to read all the blogs I subscribe to, and catch up on what all my Blog friends are up to.

Facing the Truth

2013-08-22T12:57:00.000+10:00

Have you seen that internet phenomenon - Grumpy Cat?

I'm probably the human version of that. I don't *deliberately* look that way.

I was at the supermarket the other day, looking at the vegetables. Going through my usual "should I buy a couple in an attempt to look healthy, and then let them turn to mush in the fridge , or just give up the pretence" argument.

Then suddenly, a man bellowed at me from across the vegetables, "Don't worry love, it might never happen!"

I tore my eyes away from the phallic zucchinis, and sidled away (to fondle the cucumbers). But I admit, it was a surprise that someone even noticed that I existed, let alone what the look on my "resting face" seemed to show.

The nicest thing my ex-husband ever had to say about my looks was that I had an "open face".

Well, I guess that's closed now. Rather than the now-public disease of Bitchy Resting Face, I think I have "disgruntled resting face."

And that makes me even more disgruntled. Soon I'll have babies crying at ten paces, and sweet little old ladies setting speed-limits on their walking frames, as they hurry in the direction of away.

OK, so I've been extra-down for the past couple of weeks. The cute guy at the Post Office has gone AWOL. For two weeks he was not there. That probably explained the extra downward droop of the corners of my mouth. A visit to the PO, was now no longer a lovely pervy adventure.

Perhaps I laughed a little too maniacally at his adorable jokes. Perhaps I gazed too longingly upon his big chubby (ringless !) fingers as he typed on the tiny keyboard. Perhaps when I said to him "have a nice day" as I left, he could read what my mind was actually thinking. Eeep!

So this morning, I shuffled into the PO, everything drooping that could droop (a combination of gravity & misery) -------- and there he was. The drooping parts of me got perky, ( except for the gravity-based drooping - no hope there).

He served me! Oh that smile, oh those eyes! He made an adorable joke, I laughed maniacally (with a extra dash of desperation & relief). I purchased extra things I didn't need, just to draw out the experience. The PO profits from this too!

I floated to the supermarket with a dumb grin on my face. Fondled zucchinis, cucumbers, and a couple of nice wrinkled passionfruit. Purchased a packet of two-minute noodles and a bag of chips. Chips are potatoes, right? That's a vegetable.

Ha! Bet I didn't have disgruntled face then. Probably more "Warning - looney person. Approach with caution."

Now I have a reason to make some attempt at trying to look vaguely human, and not like something that has just crawled out from a ditch.

(But I can't perform miracles - YET).

Taking the Bait

2013-08-14T10:59:00.001+10:00

I admit, after the third offer of 5,000 free listings from eBay, it is making me list like a mad thing.

My store is at 935 items, and I hope to get to 1,000 - but with only 3 days to go until the offer ends, I'm not sure that I'll get there. But hey! It's working great at getting me to go through my towering piles of videos and books that I have been ignoring.

These free listings combined with being able to make my store a Basic Store has lowered my costs so that I am actually keeping up with my eBay fees. Hurrah! Having said that, having over 900 items in my store has not increased my sales. I don't go with the "list more, and the sales increase" theory. That has never worked for me. You don't have to list more, you just have to list what people want, and that is the secret to it.

Last week, I accidentally left my garage door open. Now, I can sit in my car outside my garage door, madly pressing the button on my remote (on the keyring). It might take 4-5 presses for the darn thing to open.

But once I'm inside the house, one extra-soft accidental press on that button has the garage door opening wide without any extra voodoo or swearing on my part.

I came out the next morning, through the door at the back of the garage and saw the roller-door was open. Snort. Silly me. Then I loaded some things in the boot of my car, and went to get in. My driver side door was ajar. I looked inside and my glove box was open, with items sitting on my seat.

My heart dropped, as I realised that someone had gone through my car. Happily, there is nothing in my car worth taking. I have an old GPS device (with maps 4 years out of date), but I had it sitting in the built-in drink holder. They didn't find it, and there was nothing else worth them taking.

They even left the whole 20 cent piece in the coin container. How kind.

I hoped that they were pooping their pants scrounging around in my car in the dark. Ha ha! All that effort for nothing. What an embarrassment for me to have nothing worth stealing!

Then that night, as I sat in my PJs making friends with a bottle of wine, I remembered that I'd had a huge roll of bubble-wrap in the boot of the car. Ack! Panic stations! I shuffled out to the garage, and opened my car. Whew, still there.

Oh lovely bubble-wrap! You mean so much to me, I would have hunted them to the ends of the earth if they'd taken you.

Yes, this is what my life has come to now.

A lesson learned

2013-08-10T13:07:00.000+10:00

Excuse me, whilst I slink back onto my blog that I have ignored recently. Sorry about that!

The other day I received a "kick in the bum" email from a buyer.

He was the buyer of this game, that I had sold for my sister. It sold for $21.99

His email stated that I could not wrap a vintage game in some bubble-wrap and expect it to arrived undamaged, that my packaging had been inadequate to protect the game, and I should have put more thought into it. He said he was more forgiving than other buyers that would have left me an instant negative. He ended the email with the words "from one ebay seller to another."

My stomach became an acid bath, and I deleted the email with a petulant finger. How dare he tell me what to do!!! I would ignore his words, and he could take his email and shove it.

An hour passed, and I began to think about the email. Of course he was right. As I packaged the game, I remembered thinking that I should add some cardboard to the outside, as the lid was especially damaged. The game box was not heavy cardboard at all, but at 40 years old had softened.

But I didn't add that extra cardboard. Do you know why .... because it would ruin the look of the parcel. I wanted the game to arrive neatly covered in bubble-wrap with my sticker on the top. Cardboard would have ruined the look.

Shame on me.

I had gotten caught in the trap of worrying about looks, and following the same process for each game instead of treating each game differently depending on its condition.

I replied to the buyer's message, humbly telling him that he was right in his criticism, and apologised. I thanked him for giving me the "kick in the pants" that I needed.

A couple of days later he left positive feedback of "thanks". I checked my DSRs and noticed that he'd dinged me for "item as described". I took that one on the chin as being deserved. I was thankful for not getting negative feedback.

So after 10 years on eBay, I had become stuck in a rut with the wrapping of my items. Process as follows : - wrap with bubble-wrap or brown paper - stick label on - pretty parcel ready to go.

This was a great lesson to learn, to really think about the item I'm packing for postage, and treat each item individually, instead of just another parcel on a processing line.

Even though my bum hurt after a good kicking, I was proud that I had seen the error of my ways, instead of acting like a kicked puppy. Who knows, I might even become a grown-up soon.

... Off to sit on my icepack now. ;-)

Resistance is futile !!!!

2013-06-12T14:18:00.000+10:00

I've not blogged in a while.

Just haven't had anything to say, really.

Life is just, blah. I'm feeling kind of flat. Kind of like I'm stuck in a rut, and can't get out of it. Like I'm trying to plug a leaky dam and there's more holes there than I have fingers. Or I'm pushing a boulder uphill on my own.

And sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to have somebody else there to share things with, and stop my life from flat-lining all the time.

The only thrill in my life is when I get served by the cute man at the post office, and he says "Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

I've been mulling that question over, so I wrote a long list of things. Might give it to him next time he asks, but I don't want him to run screaming in the direction of away.

Gotta keep that tiny light in my life.

Anyhoo, enough moaning. The customer who gave me a negative, and said she would remove it if I sent her a replacement card for the board game - well, she lied.

I sent the card. Waited about 5 days, and then sent a feedback revision with polite message. The revision expired with no response from her.

I had 2 other copies of the same game.

I sold the second one I had, and it made decent $. So what I did was photocopy the card I sent to the Big Fat Liar ( I will glue it to some card), and I will sell my third copy of the game with a "replacement copy card", and see how it goes.

I downgraded my store to a Basic Store on the 28th of May. With this, I get 80 free listings a month. After downgrading my store 80 free listings appeared in my account, I wasn't expecting them quite so quickly with 3 days still to go. They ran out on the 31st May. I assumed they were for the next month, and used them all up. Then on the 1st June, another 80 free listings appeared. Double free listings. Score! Took those and ran with them, looking just a little bit shady. Wasn't sure if they really belonged to me.

This month as all the crap in my store rolls off the 'one week where they offered 2000 free listings' from last month, I will gradually decrease the number of items in my store.

Books will now get sent to Fishpond. They have changed their selling policy, thank goodness! It now only costs $9.95 for me to take a box of stuff to the Post Office. Once they enter the stuff at their end, I choose the price it will sell for. Hurrah! Most of my books will end up there from now on.

I'm concentrating more on videos and board games now.

I've nothing really exciting in sales. The Queen's Birthday long weekend got me a few sales, which was a welcome change.

Here are some of the vaguely interesting things I have sold recently:

I'm selling this for a friend, we go halves on final price.
This was my first auction in ages.

I bought this book over a year ago for 50 cents. I can't believe it took this long to sell. So glad to see it go!

This game only took a month to sell. My sister picked it up for me for $2.

I found this pile of westerns in my cupboard, and decided to get rid of them. I had been debating selling them as they were a little tatty/repaired/stained. They only took a week to sell. They are like gold here in Australia.

I'm excited, that I have one parcel to post tomorrow. Eeep! Off to the Post Office I go. :-)

So slow .....

2013-05-23T12:25:00.000+10:00

Argghhh! My sales have been so slow. I am planning on downgrading to a basic store next month. I will save $30 a month. There is only 80 free listings with the Basic Store, but given most of my stuff is media at 5 cents a pop, that's not so bad.

I have 900 listings in my store, and I am sick of listing the same things over and over again. It's very disheartening and in the end quite pricey. So the last couple of weeks, as things ended that I didn't want to relist - they stayed in my Unsold folder. I was planning on getting rid of a lot of the books - box them up, and send them off to Fishpond (Amazon wannabee), group them and list them as bulk-listings - or send them off to the op shop.

I was starting on this process, , and my store was down to just over 600 items, when I got an email from eBay saying that I was being offered 5,000 free listings, with a week to list them (ending 28th May). Have they tapped my computer? Did they know what I was going to do? I am gob-smacked. (I love that word!!!) So what the heck could I do? I re-listed all my crap again. It's now floating around in the ether, with all the other crap that people have put up with their 5,000 free listings. What the heck, I figure with free listings it doesn't hurt. I'll just have to put off my book culling for another month. However, I will still be down-grading to a Basic Store.

The last 3 days, I have only had one pissy little sale - sales are now down to a third of what they were. Ebay is such a downer. I am seriously considering selling only videos & board games. My books don't seem to get many hits at all. After a month, a lot of them have less than 5 views.

I am also seriously considering an Etsy store. I have created one, but it's not open yet, and there's nothing in it. Given most of my eBay stock is books, games and videos, not much of this is suitable for Etsy. But I have been collecting some things, and I think I will concentrate on paper ephemera. I have stacks of old sewing patterns, and some old knitting booklets so I should put them up.

Along with the colossal down-fall in sales, I had a couple of "item not as described" emails. I hate the whack in the guts feeling when I get one of those.

The first was a couple of weeks ago. For this lovely sale. This had sold 3 weeks before I got the email. I had been very happy with what I got for it.

She sent an email saying that a card was missing from the game, when it had been advertised as complete. I checked my feedback, and she had already left me a big fat negative.

Now I know that I counted those cards carefully - but that's not to say that each card was correct. She didn't want to return the game, so just left the negative. I gave myself a couple of hours to calm down.

I had been so excited by this sale, and lo and behold I had found two more copies of the same game. Wahooo! Excitement deflated - I offered her a replacement card from one of the other games I found - and waited. After about 4 days she sent an email saying - she would take the replacement card and change the feedback. I sent the card, and waited 4 days - then sent off a request to change the feedback. It's been about 5 days, and I haven't heard anything. I can only sit and wait.

Then a couple of days ago, I got an 'item not as described' about this sale.

He said the parcel was filled with an oily substance, and some of the video cases were cracked. I was gutted because being a Trekkie myself, I hated that these had been ruined. The buyer stated that he would leave positive feedback, because it had all been carefully wrapped, but just wanted an explanation on how it could have happened.

I had no explanation other than an Australia Post employee with a dirty van, had piled parcels on top of mine. I sent an apologetic email, bit the bullet and refunded his money (less the postage cost).

He replied a minute later, insisting that I didn't have to refund the money. He knew it wasn't my fault.
He told me send another invoice, and he would pay me again.

What?????

We were at stalemate - he wanted to pay me, I felt that he shouldn't have to. I countered with going halves - at $10, and sent him my email address for Paypal.

He sent me a payment 5 minutes later - for $15, and sent me an email saying how it was great to see there were still nice people in the world.

I'm not ashamed to admit I cried like a baby.

I love my sci fi nerds. :-)

Shaking all over

2013-05-10T20:33:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I went to the dentist.

It was just for a check-up and clean. I was quite pleased with myself because I was not too worried. I felt virtuous since I had got my electronic tooth-brush for Christmas and hoped to use it to fend off the need for false teeth.

I have always had a morbid fear of getting falsies. I had always believed that false teeth were thrust onto us, when we were in our mid-forties, that suddenly our teeth fell out at that age. That was the age that my parents got theirs. Even as a child I remember my parents clacking their falsies around in their mouths. I shuddered when I came upon the teeth nestling in their own private little bath, sitting on the bathroom bench. Grinning up at me like some dental nightmare.

I had visions of shooting my teeth across the room when I sneezed, sucking on my gums as I anticipated a lovely glass of wine, or just plain losing them and painfully finding them later when I sat down on the couch.

When I was a teenager we had a 100 year old lady stay with us for a few months. I remember once she was sitting there clacking her falsies and contemplating a nice cuppa.
"Can you hold these for me," she said to my mum.

Mum held out her hand, expecting the handkerchief in her hand, and was rewarded with a handful of drool-covered grin.

Needless to say, the only reason I keep attending the dentist is to prevent this for as long as possible

My dentist is an angel and treats me like the on-the-edge, nervous looney that I am - I call him Super Dentist. The latest thing when I visit is for me to be sent to a different room to visit the 'dental hygienist' for the clean, when he used to perform this as well as the checkup. It costs more $, but I don't complain, as nobody else would take on a nut job like me.

The dental hygienist was a polite young lady, I could tell straight away that she was nervous. I lay down on the chair and began my nervous, uncontrollable quaking. She started the cleaning and for a moment I wondered if there was an earthquake. Then I realised that she was shaking too. I mean really shaking - we were at the same vibration level.

I began to panic. My shaking increased three-fold. The dental chair turned into a vibrating massage chair. The dental implements on the little table attached began to dance a not-so-merry jig.

I remembered that I still hadn't made my will. I pictured large slashes in my gums, and inside my mouth.

After a few minutes, she stopped and left the room. My dentist appeared in the doorway and I heard her murmur that she wasn't ready yet.

Then he took over, and I could have jumped out of the chair and squeezed his delicious self. At the end he declared himself pleased with me, and said that I would get a lolly, and also a stamp on my hand.

As for the dental hygienist, I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for her. I saw in her a fellow awkwardist and shy person. I know what it's like to be placed in a situation that puts you somewhere new and confronting - that suddenly tests your carefully set limited boundaries. My automatic response is just like hers. The vibration lets us know we are still alive, it is built within us and we have no control over how our body reacts.

In telling this story, I do not intend to demean or make fun of her in any way. Cudos to her, I say. She should be so proud. She tried, and she accepted that she wasn't ready yet. I was chuffed to meet a fellow awkwardist, and also in the way Super Dentist smoothed the way for her. I got a warm fuzzy feeling. It was almost a Hallmark/Dental moment.

I had obviously had the honour of being her first ever real client. I made sure to thank her profusely when I left.

I shook my way out to the car and drove home. With me inside it, my car was doing the Harlem Shuffle down the highway - it was probably an awesome sight to behold to the other drivers on the road.

Halfway through my drive home, I realised that I never got my lolly or the stamp on my hand for being a "good girl".

Shafted!!!! :-(

Hello, Possum !

2013-04-27T12:25:00.000+10:00

Dear Possum(s)

I am very pleased that you found the tiny broken part in my roof tile, and decided to move in. I know it's a lovely dark open space up there and you must have been chuffed to find your new roomy rent-free apartment.

I never knew that possums could River-dance - I certainly never expected you to be doing it from 2 to 5 am every morning in my bedroom ceiling wearing hob-nailed boots.

I'm sorry for not being an appreciative audience to your performances. I'm sure the other families you roomed with enjoyed them a hell of a lot more than I do. Perhaps they also supplied you with the steroids that made you twice as big as you should be.

Also, thanks for jumping on the eaves with your fat steroid-taking possum bums, and causing it to fall down. That's really nice that you've created a nice platform there, so that anything can now walk into my roof with ease and comfort.

You've turned my roof into a fricking Noah's Ark. I can only imagine what will be able to move into my roof now. I know it won't be something magical like unicorns.

It's windy today, and I'm sure the roof space is getting a lovely airing from the huge bloody two-metre hole that is now open to the elements. I can only picture you filling this space with possum pooh, piss & other nasty things.

I'm just waiting to hear back from my insurance company to send someone out and fix the mess you've made. Then I also get to pay hundreds of dollars to a special "possum man" to come and possum-proof my roof, and catch you in order take you away and set you free again in my area !!! How nice for you!

May I suggest Unit 12 as a nice abode. There is a lovely bogan family there that will appreciate your nightly river-dancing far more than I. They will appreciate *you* in more ways that I.

Go Home eBay - You're Drunk !!

2013-04-24T15:20:00.000+10:00

eBay Australia is implementing a huge change on 1st May.

As with any news like this, I respond by screaming and hiding in the cupboard until either I see a spider, or my need for a drink forces me out.

The blurb read that changes were being made to the fee structure, so the fees for listing were decreased, but the selling fees were increased - the end result being that the % of fees is moved to after-sales, instead of just for listing.

"What a load of wank", was my first reaction. I boo-hoo'd and moaned to my parrots, who didn't give a hoot. They just kept eating bird seed and crapping, oblivious to the fact that eBay keeps them in food.

So, I decided to actually sit down and figure out how this change affected me. Look eBay right between it's beady little eyes, and see what the future held.

Yes, I squealed when I saw the price of auctions was tripled from $0.50 to $1.50. Then I remembered that I don't run many auctions. Disaster averted.

They are bringing back the basic store at $19.95 which I used to be at, before they scrapped it and I was forced to change to Featured Store at $49.95. Good news.

They tweaked the FVF up by 1% on items. No biggie.

They offered 80 free Fixed Price items per month (basic store) or 200 for the Featured Store. Not very exciting when applied to my 5c listings (media - books, videos, CDs) - but when applied to everything else at 20c per listing - then that was a fair saving. I could sell more items that I'd been avoiding because of the higher listing cost. It doesn't sound like much, but 20 cents per listing can add up very quickly.

I dug out my sales for February, and applied these theories. I included no auctions in this, as I had none in February.

a) What it currently costs, before the change : Store Fee ($49.95) + Listings Fees ($44.50) + FVF ($105.78) = monthly cost of $200.23

b) New fee structure with Featured Store and 200 free listings : Store Fee $49.95 + Listing ($33.50) + FVF ($105.64) = monthly cost of $189.09

c) New fee structure with Basic Store and 80 free listings: Store Fee ($19.95) + Listing Fees ($36) + FVF ($119.04) = monthly cost of $174.99

Interesting.

I found out that the changes will actually give me some small savings from around $10 to $25. But then given that the fees are moving to after sales are made, then that would explain it. :-p

The free listings all start on 1st May, so to get the best advantage of them, I would need to relist all my 20 cent listings on this day. (or if I go back to a Basic Store - the 50 cent listings).

The number geek in me is satisfied.

A benefit to me from eBay - who'd've thunk!

eBay - go home, you're drunk!

Climbing the Family Tree

2013-04-22T15:01:00.001+10:00

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to reluctantly part with my genealogy microfiche collection. I started buying these about 20 years ago when I ~ a. had a life / b. had money to spend.

Researching the family tree became my passion. It was a grand mystery to be solved - link A to B, and track the trail further back. It suited my nerdy/Aspberger's personality The funny thing about genealogy - to get extra information about your ancestors - to put meat on the bones, so the speak - they had to have either been rich or naughty.

I'm very lucky that mine were naughty (I would have been luckier if they had been rich). Yes, tragedy, naughtiness and poverty abounds in my family tree (and still does!) - which is chock full of coal miners, factory workers, servants, labourers and farmers. Yet sadly, none of them were convicts that were sent to Australia!! (This would be due more to their cunningness at not getting caught, rather than having never committed a crime).

Yes, I found out some things that weren't meant to be known.

I found out my mother was # 8 of 15 children. I didn't know that. Mum wasn't too happy when I found out, and I was questioned sharply on exactly why I had to do the family tree anyway. I had only met two uncles and one aunt, and knew of two other uncles that I'd never met, and one who had died when I was young. I only know that because when I was a child (about 10), I opened the front door one night in my PJs and dressing gown, and found two policemen standing there. Later I quizzed Mum about why they were there, and she finally admitted that my Uncle John had died. Uncle John? Who? I'd never heard of him ... That got quickly swept under the mat, but those two policemen stayed in my child's mind, because I had been in awe of them - so tall in their smart uniforms.

Having never known any of my grandparents - and my parents, aunts & uncles being of the era where children were seen and not heard - none of these things were talked about.

I got the genealogy bug when I was about 25, and never stopped from there. I had to visit my parents with a bottle of wine and get them half-cut, before the stories came out of their loosened lips and I would sit there scribbling in my notepad.

Anyway, searching for something to make some money so I could pay my mounting bills, I found my plastic container full of microfiche and decided to let them go. I didn't even have a microfiche reader - that got sold 3 years ago when I was forced to move, so they were of no more use to me. I had gleaned all the information I needed from them already.

But I had no idea if there were of use to anybody else. Surely all this information was now available on CD, or on the internet?

I searched for previous sales in the "Genealogy" section of eBay, but there was just so few microfiche that had been for sale, that I had no prices to go on. My microfiche contained censuses, and baptism/marriage/burial registers for certain counties in Scotland and in England, and few from Australia.

I put most up for auction, and the single ones up for BIN prices. There was interest from all over the world - and they ended up being sent to Scotland, England and the US (and within Australia).
Every single one of them sold - and my total sales in the end was just over $600. I had been without the pleasure of watching a bidding war for so long, these ones had my granny undies dancing with joy.

Here are a couple of the sales, so you get an idea. Lots of people bought multiple microfiche. Or microfishes - as one customer hilariously called them. ;-).

I still have a few left - some of them I don't know what to do with, as I don't have microfiche reader any more, and they have no title on them - I basically have no idea what is on them.

So, if you ever see some microfiche (or microfishes) lying around your op shops - be sure to pick them up if the price is right. Then somebody else with a microfiche reader can get motion sickness like I used to - scrolling through the pages. Happy days.

22 Hours Later ....

2013-04-19T09:26:00.002+10:00

I can honestly say that was one of the worst 24 hours of my life.

Where did you go in that time, Dad? You don't know or won't say. You turned up home at noon yesterday (Thursday) looking like a grey, gaunt ghost - totally unsurprised to see your entire family at home at midday on a Thursday. Unsurprised to see me bawling my eyes out, and nearly faint with relief. When I gave you a hug, you felt like a frail shell of my father. You left when the sun was high one day and got back home the next day when the sun was high, and to you it was still the same day. You hadn't eaten or drunk anything for 24 hours.

You drove to a medical centre 20 minutes away to pay a bill at 2:30pm on Wednesday, and then disappeared. We know you you made it there because we rang the receptionist. It was on a very busy road, and you don't know the area very well. But the exit from that medical centre only lets you turn one way - but that wasn't the way you needed to go to get home.

So you kept driving - in the wrong direction. Away from us.

You are 84 years old. You have been blessed with good health, but after being rear-ended in a car accident a couple of years ago you have declined in health & mind. You have lost weight, and grown vague, and you have lost interest in the world around you.

My mother, frustrated with the way you have declined has responded to this by nagging you 24/7, and calling you names liked 'useless' and 'pathetic'. You don't know how sad that makes me. I know it hurt you inside. You have always been quiet like me, but now you stopped talking at all.

But then we got you a plethora of doctors, and you were responding well - a cause was found - anaemia from the kidneys not working properly. The last few weeks you had started to put on weight, your hands have shrunk back to their normal size, and you have taken an interest in your hobbies again. Just last weekend, I was talking with you & Mum, and a holiday to Queensland was mentioned. I saw your eyes light up, as you discussed where you would stay on the 4 day drive up there. You don't know how happy that made me.

What happened on that drive? You mentioned driving in the night, and not remembering how to put the headlights on. I am horrified. You have no idea where you drove to, but you do remember stopping for petrol & a toilet break.

Yesterday, after the police & everyone had gone - and it was just you, me & Mum left. You said that you'd "gone to do your job, to go and make some money. To make some deliveries."

You used to be a courier, and your job was making deliveries in Melbourne and beyond. You didn't retire until you were 75 years old. You did this job for about 20 years and you loved driving your car.

You want to go back to a time when you had a job and a purpose to life. When you were earning the money. You don't want to be 'useless'.

My Uncle Fred, did something similar when he was 75 years old. I was only seventeen at the time. He disappeared for 2 weeks, leaving my Aunt frantic with worry. It turned out he had gone fruit picking up north. Took off without a word. When he returned, he said he wanted to "earn some money, and feel useful again." I see a common theme here, with retired men.

When the two police officers turned up yesterday to cross you off their 'missing persons' list, we all talked about how you will no longer be allowed to drive. You took no notice, and chatted how you were going on a driving holiday to Queensland soon.

Sorry, Dad. We are hiding the car keys. Mum can't drive, so I know this will affect your independence, and will be a big blow to your self esteem. It kills me to have to do it, but it is for your safety, and all the other people on the road.

I am thankful that my Mum still has her health. I am thankful that I have 2 brothers and a sister to help share the burden of this. I am thankful for my friends - both real life and on-line who have helped through this.

I am thankful to my ex in-laws who were the ones who spotted his car and gave me the call that found him.

Dad, the next few weeks are going to be very hard for you. Please don't disappear into your own world again. We are here for you in this one.

Missing :-(

2013-04-18T08:13:00.000+10:00

I had a blog all lined up, and then Boston happened, and I put it on the side-burner as less important and trivial at the time.

But now my father is missing.

He left yesterday afternoon at 2:30pm to go and pay a bill at a medical centre about 20 minutes from home. He took off before my mum could get in the car with him. He is 85 years old and starting to get a bit vague.

It is now 8am the next day and nothing has been heard of him.

The police have been notified, and we have done the rounds of hospitals, and places he might be.

Now it is raining for the first time in ages, and all I can think about is my Dad out there somewhere in the cold. He doesn't even have a warm jacket on. I hate not knowing where he is or what has happened to him.

I feel so useless.

The Beast Within

2013-03-18T19:11:00.003+11:00

You know some days when you shouldn't get out of bed? You are in a mood as soon as you fall out and everything seems turn to poop.

Well, this was last Saturday.

I was itching to visit my local op shop - I'd missed it my last two Saturdays because of a public holiday, and a tiler coming to fix my living room floor tiles that decides to do a tango.

Ebay sales had been absolute crap - only $30 made in 5 days. I was depressed and angry and generally should have been locked in a cupboard somewhere.

I was also a super-PMS monster, and had been alternately blubbing/getting rabid over the silliest things for a few days already.

My purse only had $10 in it. I was not happy looking in my empty purse. I had just enough petrol to get to my Mum & Dad's for lunch that day and back home again.

I was walking past the bric-a-brac shed, ready to spend my puny $10 on kids clothing to re-sell. As I passed, I saw there was two large trestle tables out the front with about 10 plastic bags of books on them. My tongue lolled, my eyes glowed like something unearthly. Books! (Completely ignoring my promise to myself, to buy less books).

I started rifling through the bags - there was lots of good titles there - but I only had $10, and I still wanted to buy a bag of clothes. Then a man working there approached me. I go to this op shop nearly every week and I'd never seen this man before.

I knew from his first words that he was one of those over-hearty annoying old-man types.

He followed me around the table babbling at me about "how GREAT these books were, and how EXPENSIVE these books had been to buy. How these were SO WONDERFUL and in SUCH GOOD CONDITION. "

*My fangs began to emerge from my gums*

I heard another lady look in a bag and say "ooh there's lots of good books in here!"

He bellowed at me "Get over here and look in this bag. There's lots of GOOD BOOKS in here!"

*My hands began to pop out into long claws. My breathing changed into something non-human.*

The bag was full of historical romance. "You read a lot of historical romance, do you?" I heard the animal within me say. ( Down, girl. )

"Ermmmm, oh no. My eyesight you know. Prefer to watch car racing on the telly."

I actually Harrumphed. I never thought I could do that. But STILL he didn't give up.

"Wonderful BOOKS. You'll never see any in this FANTASTIC CONDITION again!"

*A growl emerged from me, and my feet started to split in my shoes as they elongated into hairy paws.* I wisely ignored the sudden urge to see if my fist would fit in his mouth.

I finally threw about 10 books into a bag, and asked "How much?" around my fangs (i.e. ha mush).

"$5. How's that. That's a good price isn't it. That's FAIR."

I knew the books were sold for 50 cents each so I agreed, and handed him my precious $10 note.

He took it and went to get the change, then he stopped and turned back to me. "Do you want the change?"

"Ermmmm, yesh, " says me, ever-so-nicely (and very carefully, my teeth were VERY sharp by then).

"It's just that they're SUCH NICE books. And $10 is still a GRAND PRICE for all the ones you've chosen!"

I didn't think they were worth a life-sentence for murder.

I gave him my stink-eye, with a hint of extra feral. IT DIDN'T WORK!! The gormless twit stood there like a half-wit, resembling nothing more to me than a man-sized punching-bag.

*My bones began to pop and started to shape the rest of me into something not-quite-right. I think the tips of my ears grew hairy and pointy*

I opened my purse and showed him the empty interior. "That is all the money I have left. I need that $5," I managed to say.

He finally got the hint and brought me my change.

Being the spineless wonder that I am, I was overly-effuse in my thanks, even though he was in the wrong for suddenly doubling the price that we had agreed on.

I walked to my car, and put the bag of books in the boot. By then I had changed back to pathetic fully-human again. I pretended to re-organise the things in my boot whilst I shed a few boo-hoo tears at being forced to show my empty purse to a stranger. Is this what my life had come to?

Only two weeks until I can drink wine again. Hurrah!

Men ... I can do without them .....

Ooh, Professor Lupin. Lovely.

:-)

Road trip !

2013-03-12T17:23:00.000+11:00

I started this blog entry over a week ago - it's time to send it into the ether.

Whilst the other side of the world is sighing over snow, here in Melbourne we have broken a weather record - the past 8+ days have been the hottest group of days since temperature started being recorded in Melbourne (early 1850s). I am so over it. I have got NO work done. It's been a week since my road trip described below, and I have done nothing but lie around the house, draped over furniture that I then have to peel myself off of - leaving a layer of skin attached.

Stinking hot nights where I get no sleep means I am super dopey all day.

Very few new listings for me, no op shopping for new stock at all, and a terrible week of sales. I've only really left the house to post my measly few sales.

The tiles in my living room popped up overnight in the heat, and I had to fork out $300 to get them fixed, as I kept tripping over them.

The 3M hooks that I use to hang the classy black fabric on my back sliding door (which gets the afternoon heat), totally came away from the wall, and are hanging by a thread of useless gummy stuff.

Then I'm wrangling huge spiders that come into my house to get out of the heat.

Let me tell you, the panicky dance I do when I spot those hairy freaks certainly gets my temperature up !!!

Today it is currently 37 degrees.

I AM OVER IT. RAIN PLEASE. SOON. Any more of this and I will just be a puddle. My brain is boiled, my hands and feet are swollen.

So if you see a few eBay items from Melbourne appearing in the last week that have shiny reflective surfaces on them - don't be surprised if your eye is poked out by a nipple or a nasty body part. Clothing is just too much right now!!!!

And On To The Road trip ....

Now recently I've discovered a couple of shows - American Pickers & Salvage Hunters. In these shows two guys drive around and find stuff and sell it in their shops. Of course they fork out amazing amounts of money - such as forking out $500 to sell a toy for $600! Not for tight-wad me.

But it gave me itchy feet. I go to the same op shops on the same days of the week, and I got to thinking that I'd really like to get in more of the high profit items in my eBay store - for me this is usually Board Games and Videos.

In other people's minds - a road trip means hours of driving to far away places.

For me a road trip means driving half an hour away to somewhere I haven't been.

3 things spur me onto a road trip:

~ I need more stock, need to hit different stores to get it

~ The petrol gauge on my car is not nudging the "I'm thirsty, feed me!" red line (very rare occurrence)

~ I actually have more than $10 in my purse (another rare occurrence).

Ding, ding, ding! I loved the hit over the last couple of weeks when I sold some higher priced items. I wanted more of those! I really wanted to find some cool board games.

I was stoked! Off I chugged down the new freeway just opened near my house which would take me to my destination (Mornington) with less traffic lights. I had my GPS going because I always miss street turnoffs. As I drove down the freeway, sun shining brightly, lovely new road with little traffic - I looked at my GPS and it showed me as driving through nothingness. Had I entered the Twilight Zone? No, I just haven't updated the maps on my GPS for nearly 2 years because it's too friggin' expensive. Luckily, I didn't need to rely on it on the freeway.

I had planned on taking photos and making a whole blog out of my road trip. Then the temperature rose, there was roadworks on all my turn-offs and parking spaces were few and far between. I was foaming at the mouth like a feral dog by the time I reached the second op shop. I lost the urge to document my journey pictorially, and concentrated on not throttling anybody.

My first op shop is situated next to a garbage tip. Items are "reclaimed" and sold. There is some rusty old crap there - but lots of stuff is donated as well.

Board games were a loss. So I left with 30 video-tapes. At 10 cents a video, I couldn't say no.

The Salvos were next. I pounced on a game of Atmosfear DVD Board Game marked at $5, with a caw of delight. But shuffling through the innards, I noticed the DVD was missing. Snort! Honk! Left empty-handed.

St Vinnies was next - I got some videos at 50 cents each and a Compatibility Board Game for $1. (Board game has already sold sold for $14.99 - but I'm STILL waiting for payment).

A little church op shop was next. Their videos were 10 cents each too, so I got 30 more!!! And a board game at $2 (the game turned out to be a dud).

The final op shop I planned to visit had closed down so I drove home with a boot-load of videos and very few games.

A couple of days later, I visited the animal shelter op shop which is only open a few days of the week, and I never have the petrol to get there. They had lots of interesting board games.

I got all these for $9

My favourites among these are:

This gorgeous vintage game of Mix 'N' Match. I've never seen this before. The colours on the cards are so vibrant.

This one is dated 1962. Not all the sheets are left in it, but it was too cute to leave behind.

A cute Australian Board Game from 1985.

My favourite find - Squatter Board Game - *scream* - yes, they wrote the price in texta on the lid. What I did was put some Orange Power on a tissue and rub at the price. It fades the texta, and yes it also takes a layer of the print on the lid as well. Then I wrote a fictitious surname over the top in texta. It's better to have a name written on it, than a $2 price!!!!

Game has already sold for $24.99. I wish I could find more of these.

Whoah - that was too much effort! I'm off to flop uselessly around the house again, and hope that the supposed cool change will arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Heat Wave !!!

2013-02-25T13:15:00.000+11:00

I'm finding it VERY hard to get any work done during this heatwave. After more than a week of 30+ Celsius temperature, I am grumpier than the Grumpy Cat. I hate you summer - go away!

No sleep, water from the cold tap comes out boiling, and I have absolutely NO will to do any work.

I have no cooling in my flat. In December, I bought some black fabric from the local op shop, and hung it over my living room and kitchen windows. These two rooms now look like a Goth wonderland, but it keeps the blasted sun out. Maybe one day in another destiny, I will be able to afford outside blinds.

Because I'm not getting much new stuff listed, I'm forcing myself to update my ebay items with adding lots of item specifics. Great information on this on Tina's blog here. This allows me to feel like I'm getting work done without having to move around too much! I'm going through my videos at the moment (not even a quarter of the way through yet!), and it's also allowing me to find videos that have slipped through the "sell similar" cycle, and are just sitting there languishing on my shelf taking whatever substances videos take to get themselves high. I cleaned up their act pretty quick smart.

Only 920 items in my shop to update with the specifics, but I think it's already having an effect on my sales.

If I could pull my finger out and blog more often, I wouldn't have to try to fit so much in each one!!!

Some of my purchases from my last blog have sold.

These blank videos:

Cost : about $2
Sold: $23

The Betty Neels books:

Cost: $2
Sold: $30

I still haven't put up the Pyrex, mug, doll or bowl. :-(

Did I mention this calculator I had bought about 6 months ago. I dug it up last week in and looked up the prices again. They hadn't looked so good when I first got it, but now it is the beginning of the new school year. The high school students were now looking for them, and it has pushed the price up. Sometimes it's just all about the timing.

So I listed it at a cheeky price near the upper end of the selling scale, and it sold a week later. Now I'm looking everywhere for calculators, but I will never find another one.

I had also decided to stop selling the children's clothing bulk lots because they weren't moving. I used to sell them in lots of the same size, but to get rid of them, I mixed the lots across 2 sizes and lowered the price a little. Suddenly they started flying out of the store. The last couple of weeks the money from these sales helped a lot, and having that few larger amounts put into my Paypal account *really* helped to lift my spirits.

So yes - now I'm selling them again - but now I'm merging sizes, and dropping the price a little. They still make a nice profit for me. I'm keeping away from baby clothes, and sticking to the Size 2 and up. ( But the baby clothes are SOOO cute!!!) Lessons learned.

I go to two libraries a week - my local one and the one near my parents. I love my libraries, and I don't know what I'd do without them. I need my books to read! I need to avoid reality as much as possible.

Last week my local library had some good books on their For Sale table. My eyes fell on lots of V C Andrews, and I swooped them up along with a lot of Buffy and Friends Forever books. It was "fill a bag for $5" - so I got over 30 books.

The V C Andrews were two entire series. I know these are good sellers, so I put them up ASAP, and they both sold quickly. Still haven't put up the other books yet. *guilty face*

It's funny, when I had my bookshop I would hate the sight of V C Andrew books. I couldn't even sell them for $2 each. If only I'd know then that I could have been selling them as sets on eBay for a good price!

Phew, it's 30 degrees now. The forecast is for "storms" this afternoon. What that means is lightning and thunder (no rain) which will do nothing but create more horrible grass fires, and cause the humidity to rise.

Waiting for a change.

Until then - like the wicked witch of the west - "I'm melting!"

Buys for This Week

2013-02-10T14:54:00.002+11:00

I'm still trying to get out of my comfort-zone of books, videos & board games.
Still struggling with that - but managed to pick up up a couple of items I know nothing about, so I'm getting there!

I went to my local St Vinnies, and checked out their hideously over-priced books. Then I spotted these 4 lots of books - in bundles of 5, all done up with a ribbon for $1 a bundle! (Apologies for the blurred photo!)

I instantly spotted the name Betty Neels, and grabbed them. Betty Neels is the most collectable Mills & Boon author. She was a prolific writer - in most of her books, the male love interest was a Dutch doctor with an amusingly unpronounceable name. Good on her!

I remember squillions of years ago when I had my bookshop, a lady came in specifically looking for Betty Neels and *only* Betty Neels. Although there were numerous collectors that visited my shop, this lady told me that she only bought Betty Neels because there was no sexual content in the books, and these were the only romance books that were approved by her religion (not sure what faith she was of.)

I remembered it all this time. A few years ago, I picked up a few vintage Mills & Boons of the 60's era - with gorgeous retro covers. Much like these:

I decided to read one. The story sounded sweet and there was no man on the front cover looking like a skinned animal, and with no visible body hair (like the modern ones). There would be no playing hide-the-sausage at all, let alone before Chapter 2.

The book started off predictable for that era. She was 18 years old, and an air-head. He was her boss, early 30s with the personality of a mushroom. They got married and the inevitable spot of how's-your-father never occurred. But get this - the best friend of the groom told her after a month of marriage that he *could tell by looking at her, that she hadn't done her wifely duty*. So she let hubby get the leg-over and all was happy & bluebirds were singing.

I nearly gagged. I'll never fall for those sweet front covers again! Romance shmo-mance.

Back to the books - there were others in the bundles that weren't Mills & Boons - I peeked into the be-ribboned bundles and saw these were amongst them.

I know by trolling other book-sellers that Iris Bromige is a rare author, that people are on the look-out, so I snapped up all of them. I put the 3 x Iris Bromige up for $7 each and this lot of Betty Neels for $29.99.

I love any of these Nightmare/Atmosfear games as you know. I picked this up at a local church op-shop that only opens on Monday mornings. It was $5. The tight-wad in me nearly swallowed my tongue, but I knew I could get at least $25, so I reluctantly pulled the last amount of money out of my purse, releasing a flurry of hungry moths.

When I got home, I opened the box, and found all the pieces were still in original shrink-wrap. Hurrah!

I put it up for $35 - and it sold a couple of days later.

This pyrex dish was $2.50. It has no chips or marks. People are always raving about Pyrex, so I picked it up. It's pink with white flowers. I guess if I can't sell it, I can keep it for myself. I know absolutely *nothing* about Pyrex!

There is a Salvos that I recently discovered that sells their videos 5 for $1. I go on a Tuesday morning, flash my low-income card and get 20% off - so that's 5 for 80 cents. Woohoo, I am the last of the big spenders!

I was excited to find 5 blank video cassettes still sealed.

I added 3 others that I had at home, and put them up for $23.

A Far Side mug that I got for 50 cents. Haven't tried selling a mug before. Yikes!

A friend wants me to sell this for her. It is an Arabia Finland plate. New ground here.

She also wants me to sell this Punky Brewster doll. No comfort zone here.

This video re-winder is for me and my eBay business. I often put videos in my VCR to test - press rewind and then I get distracted by something shiny. My TV turns itself off in disgust at being ignored, and I have to turn everything on again. Rinse & repeat. So this item is fantastic!

I bought it on my Saturday morning op shop before I have lunch at my parents. I plugged it in at their place and asked if they had some videos I could test on it. My Mum found a couple and it seemed to struggle rewinding them. I was disappointed, but at $3, it was worth the chance.

When I got it home, I sprayed WD-40 on the cogs, and now it's working perfectly! Hurrah. It makes testing of my videos so much easier when they are already rewound. It's only one step taken out of the process, but it makes a big difference.

What is interesting is the video that my Mum had handed me to test. It was a recorded video - when I looked at the title it said "Karina & Jonathan's Wedding." I know it is a very amateur video that my cousin's wife took on her video camera on the day. We had no professional videographer back then!

It was a poignant moment for me, because the other week I had been thinking of the videos I donated when I moved house three years ago. I was thinking how much I could sell them for now - and then my mind slid sideways to the wedding video. Mine was inexplicably damaged three years ago when I accidentally dropped it to the concrete, stomped on it ten times, and threw the pathetic remains in the rubbish bin.

I might just get the video off my parents and look at the me of 20 years ago. Did I look happy? Was I excited at what lay ahead? Was I ever that young and innocent? It would be nice to see the people there who have now passed away, those I'd like to see again - and those I hope never to see again. I won't be looking at it until my 3 months of no-alcohol is over - there is still 7 weeks to go.

Oh and more importantly, did my wedding dress really look like a toilet roll cover? Bwahahhaa!

Ah, memories ....

I've got a free ticket to ride !!!!

2013-02-04T13:37:00.003+11:00

Ebay - Feebay - this week I have given it another name - FreeBay.

It started last Thursday. I was doing a "sell similar" on some products that had ended.

At the end of it all, a screen came up with the price crossed out and the total cost of $0.00 shown.

I shook it off as just a silly quirk of eBay. I relisted 30 items as 'Sell Similar' and got the same message for all. Just for a hoot, I looked at my eBay account, and it showed no listing fees for that day at all.

I was intrigued. On my 12 years on eBay, I have NEVER HAD ONE SINGLE FREE LISTING. I read on eBay Underground about people getting offers of free listings, so I assumed I had come up in the lottery for that day.

It was like my pants were on fire. I was determined to list my items that cost a lot more per listing (ie. games, clothing, toys) at 20 cents a pop, rather than my usual media items (videos, books, magazines) at 5 cents a pop. I went crazy.

Just to mention, I was very depressed that morning, because my sales had been so terrible. We're talking $100 a week. Not even enough to buy my food. I was in tears.

This pulled me out of my blue funk and got me working hard for the rest of the day. I listed another 20 new items, and listed some 10 others clothing and games that I'd been putting off.

That night the items were still coming up free, so I ended 30 items that were finishing the next day, and relisted them - just for a hoot! I was squeezing that free listings day until it had no air left in it!! I *throttled* it to death!

The next morning, my sell similar's came up free again. I couldn't believe it - I spent another day slogging through listings. When I ran out of puff, I ended the items finishing the next day and re-listed them for free. I was on a roll.

Then it happened the next day, and the next, and the next. It is now Monday. I did a 'sell similar' on 10 items, and got charged for them. My luck had run out !!!!

Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted!!! I'm still waiting for a huge fee to suddenly get dumped onto my account. For the moment it is showing this new information in my Account Page:

I mean - wow! It almost makes up for the horrifying $20 hike in my eBay store fees. Almost. Well kinda. Well - no, not really.

I had a terrible run of 3 weeks with half the amount of sales than usual. Then it was like the lights came on. I had 4 sales within an hour at 10pm which is unheard of. Then some more sales the next morning - and then it slowed to a trickle again.

Sales This Week Worth Mentioning:

This was my only auction this week. I was selling it on behalf of a friend, where we go halvies. Car memorabilia is VERY collectable. I watched the end of the auction, so I got my ONLY thrill in a long time. (note: don't have enough money to buy new batteries *wink*)

I don't know what my friend paid for this. Probably not much.

A basketball fan bought both this game & video:

Video: costed 20 cents
Game : costed $2 ??

This Target ladies suit, I've had in my closet to sell for over a year. What put me off, was the jacket and skirt were different sizes. Free listing made me rethink it and realise, that we can be a different sizes top and bottom. I made it clear in the listing. This sold the next day.

Total cost: no more than 50 cents

Hurrah! Another pull-my-finger-out-of-my-bum free listing. This will help pay for my food this week!

Total cost : about $7

Even though the free ride has ended, I'm inspired to clear the clothes in my wardrobe, if only to get the wardrobe space back!

Picked up some interesting items at the op shops this week. Hopefully I will blog about them tomorrow.

I'm shrinking - but so are my sales !!!

2013-01-24T10:56:00.003+11:00

Yes, I know it's nearly the end of January - but Happy New Year!!

Lucky I didn't make a new year's resolution to blog more. Naughty me!

I did make a new year's resolution - to lose weight and to not drink alcohol for 3 months.

Bottom line - my doctor will be taking a blood test at the end of the 3 months to check certain levels in my blood. That is the thing that will stop me from cheating. Not one glass of wine, she said, or it will affect the test results. It will also be nice to see my cholesterol, which is a little high, go down to a healthier level.

I figured, seeing as I wouldn't be forking out the money for the plonk. I may as well use that to re-adjust my diet.

I chose Lite'n'Easy. With this great diet, they deliver ALL the meals to you - breakfast, lunch & dinner. I only have to buy milk. No more wandering around supermarkets at a loss at what to eat, and buying junk food.

I have even been eating ~ *shock* - fruit and vegetables!!!!

I am happy with the results so far.

At the end of week 3 - I have lost a total of 4.8 pounds / 2.2 kilograms so far. I'm taking measurements too, for the weeks when I don't lose as much - so I can hopefully see that my thighs are getting smaller. :-)

Only 9 weeks to go. *SIGH*

Of course the last two weeks, my sales have been atrocious.

Total cost of Lite'N'Easy for the one week - $131

Total sales on eBay last week - $120. And the previous week was no better.

Not even mentioning all my other bills. I'm not paying off the postage I put on my credit card, and the balance is beginning to grow. I'm finding it hard to get that extra money in my Paypal account to cover the $20 per month rise in my eBay shop fees.

I made the tough decision to cancel my Quikflix membership (my only treat that I give myself) to try and cover that.

I had a serious clean-out of books over the Christmas break - and got rid of about 200 the ones I was sick of the sight of. I am over books. Only sure sellers and bulk lots from now on.

In an effort to shrug off the doldrums, I decided to sit down and scrutinise my competition on the videos side of sales. I scrolled through the videos sold and saw that the major seller was selling the same videos that I had up for double, sometimes triple my price. My jaw dropped.

He had one photo of the video, with a generic description that said nothing about the condition of the video. Lots of his titles were wasted with the words "a rare find' in all of them. Most of the videos were described as "Like New". I sneaked at look at his previous sales and couldn't believe the prices he was getting.

My listings have photos of the video - front and back, and of the video itself. It has a detailed description of the video and it's condition.

We are both Top Rated Sellers, and Power Sellers. His rating is at 100%, mine at 99.9%. My postage is cheaper than his. I don't get it! Colour me confused!!

What the hell am I doing wrong?

So I jumped into my store, and on my categories for the videos. Some of them I raised the price, and added a Best Offer accepted at my previous selling price. I added a special offer of - Buy 5 Videos - Get Free Postage.

So far it hasn't helped much. It's still school holidays here, so perhaps everyone is spending their money on keeping the little monsters amused. I could find excuses until I'm blue in the face.

In the meantime I try very hard not to get discourage, and keep my head down, and my (hopefully slightly smaller) arse up, and just keep listing, listing, listing.

Favourite Sales So Far

2012-12-02T11:32:00.002+11:00

Oh dear, I meant to list my best sales every 1-2 weeks, and now almost a month has slid sneakily by. Whoops!

My board games saved my bacon the past few weeks. They are selling very quickly, probably being brought up for the Christmas/school holidays coming up. Some bulk book lots have done well too.

I was also indundated with a dearth of twit buyers, blatantly ignoring the fact the I had no 'pickup' option selected in my payment option, and mention NO PICKUPS in the listing. They just buy the item, and then email me telling me when they can pick it up. I'm not having a stranger come to my house to make $7 on a book, thanks very much, Mr & Mrs Twit.

My favourite sellers were these:

Vintage Test Match Board Game By John Sands ~ *VGC* ~ Cricket.

Bought for $2.50. Listed on 4 Nov
Sold: $53.99 on 6 Nov.

Scene It Friends Edition DVD Game ~ Like New ~ Cards Still Sealed ~ Unused

I love it when I find a Friends Scene It game. Picked up at the Salvos for a reasonable price (!!!!), and some parts of it were still sealed. A very fast flip.

Bought for $2.99. Listed on 10 Nov.
Sold for $55 on 11 Nov.

Josephine Cox - Bulk Lot of 7 x Paperbacks

Bought for $1.40. Listed on 15 Oct.
Sold for $17.99 on 7 Nov.

Chelsea Football Club - 6 x PAL VHS Videos ~Bulk Lot ~ Soccer

Bought for $3. Listed on 18 Nov.
Sold for $19.99 on 24 Nov.

This sale is very welcome, just to get rid of these videos. I had them listed separately, but they weren't selling, so I threw them all together. I was sick of the looking at the gormless faces on the cover with their mouths gaping in wonder at their ability to kick a ball around on a grassy field and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for it.

*SLAP*

Of course a newbie has bought these. I have had to hassle him to pay after day 6. We'll see if he actually does.
I want these GONE!

Vintage Scrabble Game Set ~ 1955 ~ 100% Complete ~ *VGC* ~ Wooden Racks

Bought for $2. Listed on 9 Nov.
Sold for $35.99 on 16 Nov.

Scotland Yard Vintage Board Game ~ 1983 ~ Contents in VGC ~ 100% Complete

Bought for $2. Listed on 20 Nov.
Sold for $23.99 on 22 Nov.

I ALWAYS pickup Virginia (V.C.) Andrews books. They will always be popular. I list them in an entire series, and can usually get the books 20 cents each. They are always a sure seller.

Virginia V. C. Andrew Complete Cutler Family Series ~ Set of 5 Books

Bought for $1.50. Listed on 10 Nov.
Sold for $16.50 on 25 Nov.

This last sale has more than a tinge of sadness. I've had this bulk lot of Bryce Courtenay books up for about 2 months. He sadly passed away from cancer recently.

The next day, all my Bryce Courtenay books sold.

Bulk Lot of 6 x Bryce Courtenay Books ~ Four Fires/Matthew Flinders Cat/Tandia +

Bought for $2 ?. Listed on 7 Nov.

Sold for $17.99 on 23 Nov.

I would rather have the books still for sale, and the lovely man still here to write more books. :-(

You have been wonderful too, Mr Courtenay.