Corona Virus + eBay = Wild Returns

Sometimes I get some crazy eBay messages from eBay buyers.  This message was a little off to me.

Purchased a lawn chair, in February 2020

Message from buyer:

I’m contacting you in regards to the above aforementioned items. I received the package it was in fine condition I open up the box and remove the folding lawnchair. I have two friends come over if I’m lucky weigh 150 pounds each and they collapsed in the chair. The screws that it hears the chair together in the middle popped out that was very dangerous I had to help these ppl up. Fortunately neither was injured.

Please contact me with what you would like to do with regards to this situation. I did not want to leave a bad review on this.

 

My message

I am so sorry this item is broken.  Could you take a photo of the damage?

Message from the Buyer:

No I do not have a camera. Just send me another item.  The Corona is going around!

 

My Message:

I am so sorry this happened to you. We have a 30 day return policy, and I see you purchased this in February. If you would like to return it you can send it to: XXX and we will refund your money.

 

Message from the Buyer:

Seeing the covid 19 has been around since January, it would kind of you to extend the return policy as well as credit me and send a new 1.

*****************

So she can’t send a photo, and can’t send the item back because of the Corona virus.. but can have friends over to sit in 1 lawn chair not 6ft apart?

The Best eBay Return Message

I had a buyer that had 9 business days to send back their return.  I called eBay and they closed the return out.

Today I received this email.

“Hello,  The case to return this item was closed last week.  I’m asking you to please reconsider.  We have had a crazy few weeks, my husband broke his arm and we went on a family vacation for 5 days.  The item was sent back last week.  Please see the photos.  Please reconsider the decision and refund my original form of payment.”

It’s a very kind message.. but the best part of the message is that they sent me proof of the broken arm and a family vacation photo!  This was a good day on eBay!

Win Some, Lose Some

I’ve been thinking about a way to describe my absence.   I wondered how deep in a explanation I should give.   I decided I would list some of them (in no particular order).

Lose Some

  • My father died.  He would not win any awards for being a father. He left this world with as many questions and problems as I can imagine one person dying with. He had more than 10 children, and only left 4 of them anything in his trust.  (I was one of them)  By doing this he created a situation between  siblings that were on the receiving end and the ones that did not receive anything. Many of us have different biological mothers, he created a division there also.  Money is missing, houses are sold, families are divided… yada yada yada.. it all equals unhappiness.
  • I quit my job as a youth pastor at my church of 8+ years.  This was harder on our family than I thought it would be.  I don’t know if you go to church, or have ever had a job with a church, but this is one of the most rewarding, heart breaking, fun, challenging jobs I have ever had. Every member of our family served in some capacity at church.  I miss being with the youth, serving and being with the friends that I saw each week.  But not only did I miss this stuff and was in mourning, my family did also. You see I didn’t just quit my job, we left the church.  We had no choice.   Something happened at church that was not handled in the best way it should have been handled.  It put children at risk and no one seemed to care.  I am still pretty angry.  We have visited a lot of churches. We have found one we like and are starting to get in the groove there, and even helped with VBS.
  • #2 moved out, and it has changed how our family operates.  We all miss him, he’s doing well, and lives close, it has just been a huge change for us.

Win Some

  • In May of 2016 I was offered a consulting job at a catalog company near me.  They asked me to help grow their eBay business.  I thought this would only be a week to a month long process, and here we are 2 years later.  I am so grateful for this opportunity.  It has not only taught me so much about running a business it has also keep my mind off feeling sorry for myself.   Currently I am running the eBay and Outlet store for this company.  I am very fortunate that I can work there or from home.
  • Our family is doing well.  The business my children have started have taken off. I am so blessed to have children that love me and a fantastic husband.
  • My eBay business is doing very well.  We have used some techniques to grow and it is working.

I try to not tell the world all that is wrong with me.  I tend to stay quiet (except to my family) when I have something going on.  It seemed a bit disingenuous to try to talk about  great things going on.. when deep down I didn’t see anything as great.  I hope this is the start of me blogging again. I miss it.  I hope you missed me too.

 

Union’s and Postal Workers OR That Time I Chased My USPS Mail Carrier Down

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Cute T-Shirt (that describes my morning) made by Sunshine State Tees. You can get this shirt HERE

This morning started out just like any normal day.  We had packages to send out, messages to respond to, you know the usual stuff.  Our rural route mail person was out today so our sub was filling in.  I send #3.5 out to give him our packages.  She came back in with an empty tub and said… “He couldn’t scan them because he wasn’t covered.”

Wasn’t covered? What does that mean?

Everyone knows how important it is to a online seller to have your packages scanned.  I called the substitute mail carrier and he didn’t answer.  I text him.. and he didn’t respond.  What else to do.. but to try and find him.

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I drove down a lot of these roads…..

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I live in a rural area, if that “rural route carrier” thing didn’t give it away.  I drove around for 30 minutes or so, and finally found him.  Flagged him down and got my packages.  Where he gave me the following excuses for NOT scanning my packages:

  • “I’m not in the same union as everyone else.”
  • “Tammy told me to do it this way.”
  • “I’m not covered.”
  • “Something could happen to me along the way.”
  • “Your packages need coverage that I don’t have.”
  • “The union does not allow me to scan packages”
  • “My phone fell off my visor onto the street and broke.”
  • “I’m sure they would have been scanned when they get to their destination.”
  • “Tammy told me NOT to do it this way”

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I listened to his excuses, and found the nearest paved road to drive into town to have my packages scanned.

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About 18 miles and 1 hour after the start of my adventure I arrived at the post office to have the packages scanned.

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It should not be this hard to mail stuff.