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I saw this. That really sucks. Cant imagine what that scene must have looked liked.
01/12/2021 at 10:52 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85125I apologize Scott. We were not making fun of you in particular.
We didn’t mean to say “this is a stupid idea” but “this is a crazy idea”. And you must admit, it is pretty extreme way to make some money. If I had a nickel for everthime someone thought I was nuts, I’d be rich.
People made fun of “the pudding guy” but looks who’s laughing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Phillips_(entrepreneur)
Healthy Choice was running a promotion offering 500 miles for each pack of 10 Healthy Choice bar codes (UPC) mailed in as proof of purchase.[2] Valuing each mile at 2 cents, Phillips calculated that the return per UPC ($1) was worth a significant part of the price of a frozen entree (which were selling for $2), but while shopping he also found Healthy Choice soup cans for only $0.90.[2]
He later discovered the same promotion also included individual pudding packages at 25 cents apiece, while shopping at a nearby Grocery Outlet.[2] He subsequently visited ten Grocery Outlet stores in the Sacramento area, buying every case of pudding available, totaling 12,150 individual servings of pudding,[2] for $3,140.[3] He also had the Grocery Outlet manager order additional cases. In order to divert attention, he claimed he was stocking up for Y2K.[4] Clerks started calling him “Pudding Guy”.[5]
The promotion included an early-bird bonus if the packages were mailed during the month of May 1999 (the mileage earned would double from 500 miles to 1,000 miles for every 10 UPCs submitted). Phillips, unable to remove all the UPCs himself in such a short time, recruited members of a local Salvation Army branch to help peel the UPCs off the pudding containers; in exchange, Phillips donated the puddings. This donation allowed him to receive $815 in tax write-offs further increasing his return on investment.[2]
Phillips submitted proof of mailing the certificates and Healthy Choice Foods awarded him 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles.[6] He would apply some of the miles to his United, Delta, and Northwest frequent flyer accounts, and the majority (over 1 million miles) to his AAdvantage account, in the process earning him lifetime Gold status.[2]
It is also speculated that neither ConAgra, the owners of the Healthy Choice brand, nor the airlines were seriously disadvantaged by the outcome, due to the small price paid by ConAgra to the airlines and the resultant publicity gained.[2]
Since 2000, Phillips continues to take advantage of frequent flyer promotions, and is earning points five times faster than he is spending them, now having reached lifetime Platinum status on his AAdvantage account.[7]
01/12/2021 at 10:48 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85124This is the answer. The buyer can always dispute the reason for cancellation, but this seller wasnt going to dispute it since he didnt want to pay.
01/12/2021 at 10:45 am in reply to: Buyer reqts return claiming item not authentic but is also auctioning the item #85123Yeah, she jus seems kooky. If she returns it, she cant sell it. If she sells it, she cant return it. You did your job by accepting the return. I’d just stay silent.
Is she reselling the item for a higher price than what she paid?
It’s such a bad practice for these big retailers to let people keep items. It trains folks to know they can possibly complain and just keep the item + money. Shows how much the retailers value the items they sell: most of it is likely just cheap trash.
01/11/2021 at 12:29 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85090“Julie’s discount apothecary and cure all ointments” !
01/11/2021 at 10:44 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85081Can you give an example of the normal items you can find and sell? Not the home runs, but what are regularly finding and selling?
01/11/2021 at 10:26 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85079“I have 2 items that I can’t seem to find. It’s happened before about a month or two ago.”
“My inventory spreadsheet is going really well…”
These two statements are very contradictory 🙂 If you’re losing this many items, I’d take a good look at your storage situation. Otherwise, congrats on growing business. It’s going to get messier without a good inventory system.
01/10/2021 at 7:06 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 496: Can Your Business Run Without You? #85069I’ve heard of this before, but if it says “delivered”, the buyer needs to contact USPS. In the handful of times its happened to us, the item is always found. Often the package was left with a neighbor.
Very true. We find that good wifi = happy guests. But even for ur property, the mesh network helps us get good internet back to our eBay and storage office. Its pretty amazing how far it’ll reach.
But I’d love 100MG to play with!
That’s right. You only sell on Etsy. Huh, so if an Etsy buyer says you misrepresented the item they purchased, you don’t have to take a return?
Maybe Etsy buyers are just more honest and less dramatic.
Speeds of 100mb! We jealous of those speeds out here in rural VA.
A couple years ago we installed this mesh network at ur home and all our rentals. They;re great: https://store.amplifi.com/products/amplifi-mesh-wi-fi-system
Yep, this is the logical answer.
He has always encouraged me to put my “stale” inventory on sale. I tell him that with vintage, there’s no such thing as stale. It just gets more vintage!
This is going to be our new motto 🙂
I admire your skill and buying + selling precious metals and jewelry. I see all the pieces at auction and it’s just feels too risky to me. Always expensive to buy and then I worry about scammers and returns if we sell. But you seem to do very well.
One dream I have on the horizon for my store is to somehow start another branch, or possibly a second store remotely in the midwest with one of my best friends from back home.
That is ambitious. Would it be an online store that she would run for you?
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