Feeling of Bliss

Feeling of quiet bliss. Haven't felt this way for a long long time.

There has been many changes, upheavals, bad news after bad news one after the other over the past 6, 7 months. News of my relapse was traumatic. Accepting the truth was difficult. Holding my chin high and moved on was even tougher, but I have done so. Taking baby steps one at the time, setting milestone for myself, milestones that many would take for granted, but mean so much to me. Glad I have the chance to see Nic graduated from kindergarten and entering Primary 1 at my alma mata :)

Next milestone - Seeing Nic complete her Primary education. I will be there.

On another note, this song has been ringing in my head after hearing over the radio. Love the simplicity of the music.

Ebay Grouses

I received this email. i had been a seller on Ebay for the pst 3 uears, and over this period, Ebay has been increasing their listing the fees progressively. They have the biggest market share and are pioneers in this field of auctions, but statistics has proven otherwise.

Auction site count, Keep track of the number of listings on auction sites

I don't wish to see its downfall, but hope that more can be done

This is a long post, but this email basicially sums it all up.

This post is a really serious topic about Ebay. I'm posting this everywhere I know how to get the word out. If you're not in a good mood,come back to it later.

I'm not sure if everyone is aware of this, but Ebay is making drasticchanges for people who sell and buy on Ebay. If one looks at it from thesurface, the changes don't seem too bad. But if you look a littledeeper, they're really very scarey. Many sellers and buyers are going to be having a strike on February 11ththrough February 25 that includes no buying, no listing, no selling, no auctions on those days. If possible, if you are an Ebay buyer andseller, I would really appreciate it if you could honor those dates, fornothing else, then on MY behalf because the changes have the possibilityto really hurt me as a seller.

Right now, the Ebay marketing machine is billing these changes as "feereductions" and that is what the media initally reported because theyway the changes were announced were quite deceptive. But, for those ofyou who aren't really super active on Ebay and are wondering what allthe changes entail, a summary of them follows. First, they are reducing the listing fee by 5 cents and making Galleryfree. On the surface this looks great and this is how they are marketingthe change - as a "fee reduction". However, if you read the fine printyou'll find that they are slyly raising Final Value Fees (The fee theseller pays when the item sells at auction) by as much as 33% to 66% forsme sellers. The percentage of increase differs by seller because allsellers sell items with different values and the Final Value Fee isbased on the dollar amount of the item. So we save a nickel to list anitem, but pay 33% more after the auction is over. This first part of thechanges, while quite disgusting, IS bearable.

Second, they are removing the ability for sellers to leave feedback forbuyers. Now, Ebay has always been successful on the basis of both buyerand seller being able to rate each other based on the success of asingle transaction. They are removing this for sellers. This is veryscarey for the seller population because as sellers, we already are heldhostage by what we call "Feedback Extortionist Buyers". These are thebuyers that buy something in an auction and then send an email that says"You send me the item free or I will leave you a negative and ruin yourEbay reputation!". While people like this are quite few and far between,they do exist. I've got over 792 transactions nd I've come across 4 difficult buyers who no matter what I couldn't please them. I managed toscrape by without a negative because they were booted from Ebay, but thepoint of the matter is that while most buyers are wonderful, thesepsycho types of buyers DO exist. Now with this new feedback system, ONErogue buyer (and even my selling competition) could ruin my reputationvery easily. Even if I provided a 100% perfect transaction and the itemwas received the very same day and all was perfect with the world, thatone person could ruin me if they wanted to. All they would need to do isbuy 5 or 10 items from me and leave five feedbacks separately - because each and every negative will count against the seller. This would mean the end of my store and my business on Ebay over one rogue buyer. Why? Read the next section.

Third, as if one and two weren't bad enough, if a seller has below a 95%satisfaction rating on Ebay, Ebay will not display your auctions in thesearch engine. For example, if I sell20 items one month and 1 of themhas a neutral or negative left for it by a buyer (deserved or not), Ican no longer list auctions on Ebay and have them be seen in the searchengine. Yes, thats right. I can list, Ebay will take my money, but allof my auctions will be on page 857 of the listing and never be seen byany buyers. So once I get one negative, it is virtually impossible torecover from that by selling additional items becuase non of my items will be seen to be purchased by another buyer later. Its a no winsituation for a seller.

Fourth, as if all of this wasn't the most horrific thing you've everheard, they're making changes to Pay Pal - which is the method mostpeople use to accept payment over Ebay. From now on, if you have lessthan 100 feedback and you sell an item Pay Pal will not give you yourmoney for 21 (TWENTY ONE DAYS!). Yes, you read that right. Say, Susie sells a 50 dollar item and the buyer pays through Pay Pal. Susie is thenforced to ship the item FREE without any paymen. After 21 days haspassed, THEN Pay Pal will forward Susie her money. This folks is justhorrible. Do you know anywhere else on the planet where you can demandthat someone selling you an item give you the item FREE and ship it toyou FREE while you hold on to your money for 21 entire days? I suredon't. On top of this "under 100 feedback" thing, again if I have lessthan a 95% rating or get one negative or get one neutral - again - PayPal will hold my money for 21 days. Imagine how must interest Pay Paland Ebay will accumulate on billions of dollars being held in 21 dayincriments - yet another disguesting way for them to squeeze MORE moneyout of the system.

Fifth, they instituted "Seller Rewards". Essentially, if you meetcertain criteria as a seller you can earn 15% credit on your account.The catch is that you have to sell 1,000 dollars or more on your accountevery month and have to have a 4.8 rating on all your "stars". I feelthat these guidelines are impossible to reach and that they wer designedto be impossible to reach on purpose so that Ebay, yet again, would nothave to actually pay out the discounts. To give you an example of howhard these are to reach, out of Ebay's top 500 Powersellers (Thesepeople are the creme of the crop on Ebay and make lilke $100,000 a monthon Ebay)...anyway out of tje top 500 of them, only SEVEN qualify for the15% discount. SEVEN. And finally, when all these changes were announced, the Ebay sellerswent ballistic. The response from Ebay management? We were told that ourcomplaints and nager and frustration and tears were - and I quote -"NOISE!". Yes, we are nothing but "noise" to the Ebay management, yet they are making million dollar salaries off of us. I know I am so mad, myself. I have 100% positive feedback and I've completed almost 800 transactions. I'm not a bad seller and I bend overbackwards to make a buyer happy. I have a very good record. But ALL THATHARD WORK and ONE rogue person could ruin it for me. Or even someone whocomptes against me can very easily get a new nick, by stuff from me,leave negs - and take my listings right out the search engine!!). It's not fair at all. Not to mention, if somehow I do screw up or get a roguebuyer, Pay Pal won't even let me have my money for 21 days. When you dothis type of work full time, that is a terrifying thought.

So I'm here to beg you guys, if possible, and even if you don'tunderstand all the ins and outs of Ebay and what a seller has to go through to sell on Ebay - PLEASE RESPECT THE STRIKE we are organizing.Please! Please don't buy or sell on Ebay from Feb 18th through Feb 25th. Please tell your friends and family members to do the same. We know thatnot everyone can respect it - some people make ends meet by selling onEbay. But for those of you who can, us sellers would very much appreciate it if you could respect the strike on those days. Also - if you are an Ebay seller - and you are angry like the rest ofus, CNN and FORBES is quite interested in how we fee. Quite a fewpeople, including myself have flocked to CNN MONEY to get theirattention. So far, the comments and anger and speaking out are actuallyworking - the media is starting to pay attention and Ebay has stepped uptheir marketing tactics. We feel that they're getting a little worried over all the outrage.

Busy Busy Busy

The new stocks arrived, and I have been so busy packing and sorting out the sizes. These are really nice RL hoodies, that is still retailing on their online store. They are so nice that Mike got to keep 2 of these hoodies So much for being priviledged :)

I guess I will be even busier in the coming weeks, as more of the stocks I ordered will be coming in. Some Carter's, Striped RL polos and solid coloured RL polos. My tiny office space is getting crowded as it is right now.

Discretion please

Recently I have been having food stuck between the gaps of my teeth. I have a perfect set of pearlies, and had never had this problem until recently. Not that I need to keep food remnants or leftover bak guas for laters *yuck* Having these food particles stuck to my teeth is really getting on my nerves.
I finally plucked up enough courage, after much procrastination, to visit the neighbourhood dentist. Being a new patient, the receptionist asked for my details to be filled up on the patient card. She asked for my name (ok), address (hmm) contact details (hmmmmmm), date of birth (thats a no-no) medical history (gulp!) All these within ear shot of another patient who is waiting to pick up his prescription! Hello! Does the whole world need to know what kind of medical history i have ???????? Its a long long list, and I wish to keep it personal, and on a need to know basis! I was difinitely pissed, but told the lady to pass me the form to fill up myself. I am literate, you know. But I really wish these folks would exercise more discretion when asking such personal details. Grrrrrrr....

Some Random Joke

A man went on a business to China and wanted to buy some gifts for his kids. He went to a shop and found a nice looking CD player. Wary of buying inferior goods, he asked the shopkeeper, 'What would happen if this does not work?' The shopkeeper quietly points to the only sign in English that reads, 'GUARANTEE NO SPOILT'.

Feeling assured, he paid for the CD player and returns to his hotel. He tried to use the CD player after returning to the hotel but it would not even switch on. He quickly return to the shop and asked for a refund or an exchange for another unit. When the shopkeeper refuse to give either, the man points to the sign assuring him of a guarantee. The shopkeeper then said, 'Brother, you are in China . We read from the right to the left.