Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Amatino:
Ideally one ought to try to conservatively estimate their projected sales and plan accordingly, my point is more along the lines of not living under severe austerity measures to pay off a tax bill (not implying anyone did), and sometimes, it can be used to one’s advantage during the tax year.
I suggest all eBay sellers try to plan and structure their tax strategy.
And NO having a whopping tax bill doesn’t always mean lots of successful sales. It can mean many other things.
no, No, NOOOOO
Folks u have this business backwards. (IMO)
1. If u don’t owe or owe taxes, ur on the right track. A refund is not a refund, it’s money u left on the table and couldn’t put into your life or your business.
2. Owing tax can be seen as the best loan you can get. Hear me out: you make an installment plan with the IRS, and pay it back. They give you the Lowest interest rate you will ever get.
Your credit is only affected if the IRS files a Lien against you. For most of us, u will never owe the amount that would trigger a lien. IRS INstallments do not show up on reports bc it’s not considered a loan.
And no, it does not put you on a radar or list. If morals trouble u, ur paying interest, so in that sense, no worries.
If you owe a lot, u owe it o yourself to design your taxes thru an entity rather than a Schedule C
Just a thought.
Hi there.
Aww I’m so sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately it’s an occupational hazard of selling items of an “eye of the beholder” issue.
I would call the buyer anyway. All the better if u get the parents. ? Keep it professional, ask them how you could have done better. Listen patiently. Tell them u r sorry and ask them if there is anything u can do that would help them reconsider their negative feedback.
By now, they have either hung up, or they will ask for a bribe um, offer u a solution. Try to get the entire thing done while on the phone. It’s just easier.
Since 2003 I have done this 8 times and got them all removed except 1.
Many times the person was having something else going on in their life that was making them angry & took it out on the sale. This gets acknowledged and they remove it. Be aware if this is what happened and the person is a talker you may end up trapped on the phone for some time.
So that’s my 2 cents. All in all, it happens. It’s usually the people u least expect to ever hear from again.
I propose a bit of a compromise. Email the buyer and say you “fat fingered” the auction price and meant to put $350, not $35.
However, as the buyer must see it was an obvious mistake and know the true value, you rather work it out than cancel. Then offer it for $200.
If u do research and see the person is a dealer or a safe bet, call them explain the mistake and say u have a buyer for the price u had originally intended. (350). He can make a quick $150 for doing nothing provided that buyer comes thru.
Buyer pays, u hold the money for the return period, then send the other buyer that money. You both get money and everyone is cool.
No, that’s not BunBun, that’s a Russian Blue munchkin kitty named Sweetie. She got tossed in the city bc she has a white patch on her belly. She managed for two years until she was sheltered and I brought her home.
We are good buddies and her personality has really come out and surprised me after she warmed up to me.
My other cats dwarf her and she is afraid of them, except for my Bengal (which is as dumb as a box of rocks, but very happy, muscular and willing to swat my other cats in the head if need be). She will often try to edge him from his food bowl by getting very close to him, and he gets genuinely very puzzled before walking off to another bowl. The Bengal doesn’t swat her bc she’s not aggressive, just in his personal cat space, I guess.
Anyway, not BunBun. I don’t let her out near the cats even though they do not see her as a meal. (Or rarely anything else except cat food).
I think I answered my own question. Here we go:
Guess I gotta keep ebaying either way.?✌️
Woohoo great sales Steve. Here is what I have been up to:
Been reposting a ton of books on Amazon that somehow got deactivated and therefore not available for sale. It was probably caused when I stupidly experimented with their price changer. When I put them back on our home brewed one, it caused a conflict.
So the Amazon hamster deities deactivated them and I’m auditing that inventory now. ??
I know some hate Amazon, but we do our thing on it.
Oh drat, why do I always miss the drama?
Look, have a seat.
Once upon a time I order Duncan donuts iced Carmel latte with sugar in the bottom. I did and do that bc it reminds me of breakfast cereal milk growing up.
However I had a constant problem. It drove me crazy. The DDs are generally owned by people from India in my area.
They never got it right. Either no sugar, or I’d get liquid sugar.
Pause.
Is this a CULTURAL thing? Hmmm
Finally, after some questions with some local Sikhs I discovered it. POWDERED sugar.Not granulated. They call granulated powdered.
Ok. Iced Carmel latte with a lot of powdered sugar in the bottom please?
Boom. Correct ever since.
So you always have to think about culture these days. A rep overseas isn’t going to care about your misogyny. Many are translating from their language to English. But there is universal language for being a jerk. Is there that bias? Maybe, but it is what it is.
I have gotten light years ahead by asking a few things about their country and admiring how many languages they speak, while getting down to business. I get my way more often than not. Which is good I need all the help I can get. So do you.
Alright you two you aren’t going to like what I have to say, but friends tell u the truth. Disregard if I sound like a crotchety hag
You are talking about spending more to make more. On its face, this makes sense. I urge extreme caution. You two are already stretched pretty thin. Piling it on higher is a great way to start really dreading and or hating what you do for a living.
First, you don’t have to spend more to make more. I have spent $10 and made $1700 off one item (my video on the antique pufu robe, for example ) and it’s not an outlier. Plenty of other ways to buy besides auctions, as you know.
What you need to do is develop Only a few areas of expertise at a time. Mine among others, but closer to my heart, (and everybody here should learn it) is antique Chinese Textiles and porcelains
For example, the problem is if you spend more but don’t know the niche well enough, serious trouble can occur. For example if the auction house does not guarantee the authenticity of Tiffany items then it’s vital to intimately understand the nuances of age vs real. Tiffany was heavily replicated from the day it started, right down to signatures being etched on Steuben etc. I wouldn’t attempt it without knowing Tiffany at Auction by Alastair Duncan,inside and out. You can refer to tiffanyfakes.com to skim the surface of what a pain this can be.
Moreover Steuben, Loetz and Lindbergh are often mistaken as Tiffany. It’s hard to tell unless u know them very well.
My point is, pick an area you already know fairly well, then grow from there. It would seem Antique and collectible books, ephemera, Quimper (French pottery) mid century and rugs are a good place to start.
I was very fortunate to be able to “Apprentice” with the real Indiana Jones of Antique Chinese and Southeast Asian works. If u know an expert u can follow around for a few days at a time, nothing beats hands on learning in any of these fields. One time I worked my butt off for three days at a Manhattan antique show, but the experience taught me a great deal about some of the inner workings and I made a lot of contacts I sell to often, to this day.
As for the arch nemesis rug dude, go make friends. He or she already has a sense of how far you will bid and probably has deeper pockets. The best you can do is go say Hi, explain your love of rugs, especially those rugs, and try to work together. Eventually they will cut you some breaks, some won’t at all, but others are pragmatic. I think u have done this before, but after the auction see if there are any lots of rugs he doesn’t care for as much or are getting left behind. Always try to befriend your rivals. Many times it’s cheaper.
Anyway, the best deals both ways take place before and after auctions and shows, it’s good to learn and sell thru networking as this eliminates some uncertainty on paying the bills.
I don’t mean to sound pompous, I’m in the middle of a sticky business divorce and it’s rough. Just don’t over extend yourselves and be cautious.
We have had some crazy locations over the years. Years ago We sold a cookbook to Sean Connery’s chef on his yacht, and we had to use a fed ex account to get it to arrive when they docked. The chef was very thankful and that worked out.
One address in India was 7 lines long and had “In Alley Behind Hotel”. He ordered a ton of antique books so we were trepidatious but it got there.
Our most recent was a bible cover to “Enter thru chain link fence, leave in metal box at post”
So yeah the addresses can be strange.
Here is a school discussing theirs along with a privacy option. I don’t think one is needed, but it’s a thought as an option:
http://ecampus.polytechnic.wa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=214338&chapterid=4916
Doing this on the treadmill so sorry for any weird typos I don’t have my reading glasses.
Here is an example of the concept: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=66
And an article about the purpose for theirs:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik34.htm
