Drowning in cash ....

This morning I crawled out of bed - made a cup of tea - and sat down to my morning ritual of checking emails, printing out postage labels for my parcels and checking Paypal for any miniscule amount I can transfer to my bank account.


Then I check my bank account.    A lovely number swims before my eyes, and I have to blink a few times to make sure I'm not dreaming.


The grand total in my account is just over $1000.


There hasn't been that much in my account for a few years.   

I dream of the wonderful things I can do with this money:


- pay the phone bill, the gas bill, the electricity bill, the internet bill
- buy my Dad's present for his birthday
- get my car its long over-due service
- go to the chiropractor for my back
- get a haircut by a hairdresser instead of hacking at it myself with scissors
- wrap my teeth around a real steak for the first time in years.
- replace my worn granny knickers with some new granny knickers   (oh the thrill !!)
- perhaps even *shock* - buy myself a BRAND NEW book or DVD!!!!


The possibilities are endless.    I feel a warm glow in my nether regions, about the delicious things I can do with this money.


Except for one thing.


IT IS NOT MINE.   It has been transferred to my account in error overnight.




You see, the lovely website where I attempt to sell my books Fishpond.com.au - has been fiddling with their website.    They've been having a really good poke around in there.   I sent a query to them only a couple of days ago querying why a couple of sales hadn't been applied to my account.


Now they've had a fiddle-fest and all the sales I've made from them in the past 3 years or so came up as not being paid.   I saw this yesterday evening and had a laugh.  At the top of the account it said that $925 would be paid to my bank account via bank transfer.    What a hoot!   Surely they wouldn't be silly enough to do that.


Apparently they are.   Apparently all those transfers are automated.   If the system say pay it - it gets paid.   Oh, their IT Department is going to be getting a thrashing.   I feel sorry for them.   Have they never heard of Beta Testing changes before they go live?

Oh well, I will just sit and look at this total in my account for a day and pretend it is mine - then tomorrow I will contact them if they haven't contacted me first.


Oh, my precious.  My precious!!!!

SLAP!!  <Ahem>.


Back to the real world.




My sales have been atrocious.   I'm talking a drop of two thirds in sales for 3 months that had me in tears almost daily.   So bad, I haven't been blogging because I all would do is moan about it, and that's not fun for you or for me. 


My friends on Ebay Underground had been talking about a "light being switched on."   I finally got to see that in action in my store last week.      In one day I had 10 sales - and it has still been pretty good.  Things I had gotten sick of looking at were suddenly bouncing out the red door.   Hurrah, I can finally pay some bills!!


Finally, here are some items I have sold worth mentioning:




This rare 1st edition book from 1918.     A previous copy on Ebay had sold for $40.    Mine sat for ages at that price, and then I decided I just needed some money to pay bills.  

Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

I thought my new foray into kids clothing was going to save my bacon, but they suddenly stopped selling.   Then I got this sale of Bulk 27 x Girls Size 4 Clothing.  Hurrah!!  

Sold for:  $47.95 (less $11 fee for stupidity)

Bought for:   $7

Then I got home from the post office and looked at the photo, thinking "I don't remember packing those dresses?"    Oh crap, I'd forgotten to pack 3 dresses that were hanging up.    I grabbed them and hurried back to the post office.   Yay, they still had my parcel.   I did surgery on it and added the missing clothes.    I got slugged with $11 charge for the extra weight.   Oh well, at least I remembered before it got to the customer.

These diet books I've had for 8 months.  I was selling them separately, and then decided to put them in all together.   Glad to see them go.    

Sold for:  $15

Bought for:  Less than $1

These lovely embroidery magazines I've had for a while.  Then somebody came in and snaffled up 4 of them. 

Sold for:  $22 (4 magazines at $5.50 each)

Bought for : $2

This Maths Textbook - I've also had for a while.   The buyer wanted to pick it up.  At the front door she stared at the book and said "I hope it's the right one.  I'll let you know if there's any problems."

WHAAAAT??!!   You're supposed to check that before you buy the frickin book!   I haven't heard from her, so all is well.

Sold for :  $29.99

Bought for :   $1

This huge gorgeous book on roses was in Like New condition.   It's huge and weighs over 3.5 kgs.  I'm surprised it took 6 months to sell.   Somebody bought it, and I am posting it to a friend of the buyer for a gift.

Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

Ah, the lovely Squatter Board Game.  My sister found me this when she was op-shopping.  Always a sure-fire seller if it is complete.  Considering part of the game is 180 tiny plastic sheep, this rarely happens!

Bought for:  $3.50

Sold for :  $24.95

This is my favourite sale.   These sold within a few hours.   I got 4 of these magazines for free from my local op-shop.    Woodworking books/magazines are always a sure-fire seller for me.

Sold for:    $22.00 (for 4 magazines @ 5.50 each).

Bought for :   FREE

I'm thinking of branching into magazines.  Does anybody have any magazines they can recommend as a good-seller either in singles or bulk lots?


For now, I'll sit and gaze at my illegal bank balance, and not think about spanking.


Whoops, too late....

Did the earth move for you too?

Last week Melbourne had an earth tremor - 5.3 on the richter scale.

It was about 9:30pm at night and I was doing what I always am at that time - Monday to Sunday - sitting in the dark watching a DVD with a bottle of plonk, wine, fermented grape juice at my elbow.

First my chair started shaking.   I assumed it was a large truck driving by, or one of those wankers in their car with the bass turned up, making their tiny brain bounce around in their skull.

Then the walls started shaking and buzzing - they did this for about 20 seconds.    I sniffed my wine, fermented grape juice to see if it was tainted.

Being a nerd, I shuffled into the study to check Facebook.   Friends and family in the Melbourne area had felt the same thing and were commenting on it there.

Sniff!   And I had so-hoped it was a tardis, space-ship or bi-plane piloted by a hot pilot coming to take me away from this place.

Buggar.

I rang my mother to see if she had felt it.  "What earthquake?" she says.   By the next weekend, she had changed her story, and upgraded it to things falling off walls and my father being shot from his easy-chair.   *snort*

Now let me tell you another story - this was the NIGHT BEFORE the earth tremor, at about the same time.

Same scenario - me - fermented grape juice - TV - darkness - approx 9:30pm.

Cue a huge crash from the kitchen in the next room.     My heart began to thump wildly.   It came from near the back door.   Had someone snuck into the house, brushed against something and knocked it over?????

I searched around for a weapon - I had two TV remotes that I could turn into nun-chucks - but it might damage them.  There was a wine bottle, but I didn't want to waste what was still left in there.  

I shuffled across the room.    I was wearing a snuggie.  

And you can bet that I was wearing it with as much class and style as the woman above.   *SNORT*

Being vertically-challenged it hangs about 1 metre  under my feet.   When I walk in it, I have to kick my feet forward to make sure that I don't fall a$$ over tit.  The sleeves are about 20cm too long, so I walk with my arms straight out and upward to keep my hands exposed.

It occurred to me that the sight of me doing my zombie walk with my hair standing on end, wearing my unfashionable PJs, ragged dressing gown and snuggie would be enough to frighten off the most hardened criminal.

I reached around to turn the light on, and remembered that there was no light-globe in it.    Yes, I am cutting costs to get my bills down.  Bummer.     With a huge amount of noise and swearing I hit a button on my Rangehood - and turn on the noisy fan.   So much for my stealth-ninja plan.   I turn off the fan - and finally find the light.  

Then I see what caused the noise - a pile of board games that were on top of the bookshelf by the back door has fallen to the floor.    There's six of them - with contents spread all across the tiles.  One of my birds is flapping in his cage in fright.

But what caused them to fall?   I checked the back door - locked - and searched the whole house, looking inside cupboards and behind doors.   My flat is tiny, it didn't take long.   Nobody was there.

I could not figure out how the games had fallen down.

Causes I could think of were :

a)    My place is haunted

b)   A huge rat lives there that had pushed them off

c)    One of my birds had farted and caused a mini-tornado

d)   The games were sick of their miserable existence, and had committed mass suicide.

Now, I can only guess that there must have been a smaller pre-tremor the night before.

I still have to sort through the games as I just stuffed anything I found into any box.

If there had an intruder it would have been:   Intruder - 0 ,   Snuggie - 1

I really must buy a baseball bat,  medieval sword, or perhaps some ninja stars.

I could possibly have just a smidgen more respect now for my Snuggie.

A Change Is As Good As a Holiday ...

A change is as good as a holiday.   <snort>


This is one of those trite sayings that people say to you at times when you have stood in the Great Cowpat of Life.

Along with my other two favourite cringers of 'When one door closes, another door opens.'


And


'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'




So Ebay Australia - that great dinosaur of the Ebay family finally had half the overhaul it had announced for May. Two things were put off until later - I will be discussing them later (take notice: there will be an essay and multiple choice test later).


Were these changes wonderful and amazing, did it make me shiver with joy, did I feel a tingling in my nether regions, did my cheeks glow like a child who has been given a big fat lolly?   You can see where I'm going here, surely.


Bottom line - they got rid of the lowliest store tier - Basic Store - at $19.95/month.  This is what my store was.
They got rid of the 'I Can't Believe You're Willing To Pay This Much' Store - at $49.95.     A new Basic Store Level emerges and the price rises to $24.95/month for my store.


For this I get:


~ No change in fees for the major stock in my store (videos/books/etc) - still at 5 cents a pop for BIN listings.


~ Other items have decreased from 40 cents to 20 cents for BIN listing.  This constitutes less than 10% of my store items.


~ Number of free photos allowed in each listing rises to 13.   (Yawn: I subscribe to Auctiva and get 24 photos per listing).


So all in all - the end result for me - given that the decrease in fees is cancelled out by the rise in store cost = no change.


Oh, oh, I forgot to mention the most exciting benefit listed for the change:


      ***  GREATER VISIBILITY OF LISTING FEES ***


"Look, it's the Transit of Venus - it won't happen again until 2117".


"Sod that - LOOK at those Ebay Fees - they are Visible for the first time in 1000s of years, and may not be seen again until 2300!"   *Runs off to grab camera.*

Big Fat Yawn.   Sorry, can't get excited over those changes.   No benefit to my business.




And now to the two items that were put on hold.


My favourite change of all - which I really think is the Ebay Monkeys playing a trick on us - is the No Communication = Great Service = Instant 5 stars on your Communication DSR.


So you get 5 Stars for Communication, by not having any Communication other than those impersonal ones sent by Ebay.   I am all agog.  Am I the only one in thinks this is a farce?


This must be wonderful for all those huge stores run by Cybermen who just want your money and don't give a crap about customer service.


Even though I am an anti-social bint - this ebay shop is my job.  It's the only way I get to interact with my customers.  I want them to know that I am one real human being sitting behind this business and I want them to be happy with their service.   I send all my customers a personal message after I've posted their items.  ALWAYS!   I get a tiny amount of warmth in my big toe when somebody sends me a thank you email, saying it's rare to get a real message from a seller.  Or somebody saying that they are so grateful to find the game from their childhood that they can't wait to play it.   Or somebody saying thanks for the books for my granddad/nan who can't find them anywhere and will be ever so happy.


With this new process in place, does it mean that we begin to feel resentment for a customer when they dare to send a message to you - the Seller?


I fart in eBay's general direction over this one.  I'm sticking with sending my personal messages.  I'll leave impersonal ebay messages to the Cybermen.

The next update I know my US Ebug friends are having challenges with - sending your parcel within 1 day to get an automatic 5 stars for Postage Time.


I can't help but get the image of a cowboy with his gun out  ....

Whoops.  *Ahem*  


The image of the cowboy baddie shooting bullets at the good guy's feet to "make him dance to his tune."


Are we all now dancing to eBay's tune like little puppets?


I can be blase about this, because on eBay Australia there are NO BENEFITS to being a Top Rated Seller.   I got my rating back again last week, and really didn't care.   After how upset I was about losing it that first time, I don't give a patootie.


The other eBay Sites get a 20% Final Value Fee Discount.    That's worth jumping through hoops for, I'm sure.   At the moment I have no compulsion to dance to eBay's tune any more than I currently do.


My DSRs have been dinged by customers who are either uneducated or just malicious.     I can do the eBay Cha-Cha-Cha and get automatic 5 stars on a couple of items - but those other two are still out there vulnerable to attack.


Now I have the song "I want to play with my ding-a-ling" in my head.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D2PwYVLiR8&feature=related


As a child I never once thought this was about a boy playing with his cocktail frankfurt.   No, not at all.

End of rant.   I promise my next blog will be more interesting and have sales and other items of interest rather than whining.  In the next couple of days, hopefully.




Just when you least expect it - OWLS!!!

Deja Vu - Ebay Style

On Ebay Underground, Ryan from Terapeak was asking for an Australian Ebay member to help a colleague with their talk in Australia, at the Professional eBay & eCommerce Sellers Internet Conference on the Gold Coast.   My store would be used during the Terapeak presentation.   I was excited, and it put a little zing in my step.

So I contacted Ryan at Terapeak, and we hit a snag - I actually had to be a Terapeak subscriber for them to be able to use my store.   So I signed up for the free 1 week trial, I was able to see what I would get for my $29.95 USD per month.

The software is great, but with this awful economic climate, I am unable to even afford that much extra a month, when I can't even pay all my bills.   I had to turn the offer down, and miss a great opportunity.   I was waiting for the words "free" and "1 month" but they never occurred.  Oh well.

The software was helpful, but I could also see where it would help when I was "on the road" in the op shops looking at merchandise.

You see I do not have a smart phone.  Mine is the dunce in the class, it is ancient.   It takes ages to even log onto the internet, so I stopped trying.  All I use it for is phone-calls, text-messages and taking rude appropriate photos.  I can't even get my email to work on it properly.

So looking at Terapeak, I would like to get it one day, but should probably think about upgrading my phone so that I can get more business use out of that.

I have paid off my phone, and it is no longer on a contract - so I looked at the phones I could upgrade to.  I am currently on a plan that is about $33 a month.   When I hit the Optus website I saw that I could upgrade to a new Nokia Lumia 800 for $35 a month.   *Scream*   It has FREE unlimited access to eBay and Facebook.   Whoohoooo!   

So that is my new plan, whenever I can drag my sorry carcass down to the local shopping centre to the Optus store. 


I know that I can do all this on-line and get the phone mailed, but I'm very dense when it comes to phones, and I need to ask lots of stupid questions to the salespeople.  In this way I give their eye-balls some exercise as they roll their eyes behind my back at my utter stupidity.  But wow, a smart phone - I'm excited.   I will be moving into the Noughties phone-wise!!!

The title of my blog comes from the fact that from my limited time on Terapeak, I sold the same book 5 times.  

Here's how it happened.   I did some searches of books I'd had sitting around, I came across this little book.   

Yes, it's a diet book, don't worry it can't hurt you!!!!   You're fine, this is only a photo of it.  There are no photos of healthy meals or exercise plans on here.

There is also a Book 2 in this series, and I had been waiting to get copies of that to sell as a 2-book deal, as the postage of $10 was the same for one book as for 2.  In the meantime I had 4 copies of this book sitting around gathering dust.

Then I saw on Terapeak that this book by itself was selling for $11.   What, really?   

So I put one up.   Fifteen minutes later it sold.   I was a little surprised.

So I put the next one up.   Within 10 minutes there were 2 watchers.  Sold within half an hour.   I was *quite* surprised.

I put the next one up.  It sold within 20 minutes.    I was getting excited.  I put some depends on as emergency backup.

I put the next one up.  It sold within an hour.   I was getting to the point of gob-smacked.  I don't really know what the word means, but I *felt* that way.

I'm not sure if a rumour had gone around that these books had special pages that would get you high if you sniffed them or smoked them, because this was crazy.

So within the space of 3 hours I had sold the same book 4 times.  The reason I didn't put this up as a multiple copy listing was because these books were not all the same condition, and I like to have a photo of the actual book I am selling on the listing.

I went on the hunt for more.    I found another copy on my bookshelf.   I remembered thinking "one day I'll go on a diet".  I read the book and it said, lots of vegies, lots of exercise and no wine, so I screamed and hid it in my bookshelf.   That was a VERY close call, there.    

By now it was 5PM,  I put my copy up, and raised the price.   It sold within 2 hours.    I was now swinging off the roof and singing "Danny Boy" in an atrocious Irish accent

Yikes, I need to find a nest of these diet books and stock-pile them.  I have never ever had anything sell like this book.     (Mental note:  must sniff the pages of the last book before I post it, and see if I get high).

So this was an example of where Terapeak was very useful for me.   I also used it to get rid of some  useless older text books that were taking up space.       I dropped them off at my local op-shop this morning, and now have some lovely empty space.

Ebay sales have picked up a little in the past week.  I have sold a few videos and books and some board games.   The items worth mentioning

Videos:

Aussie Fit Low Impact Aerobics  $9.99

6 x X-Men Videos    $14.99   (not yet paid)

6 x VeggieTales Videos   $18

Wrestle War 1989    $9.99

6 x Winne the Pooh Videos   $16

Games:

Great Australian Gambling Game  $15.99

Rex Hunt Fishing Game  $15.99    (this sold within one day of listing)

Books:

2 x Vintage Patons Knitting Booklets @ $6.50

On my last blog, I mentioned that I had posted a huge box of DVDs/CDs/PC Games to Fishpond so they could sell them for me.    There were 78 items in the box.    They finally put the items up, and I had dabbled with the prices (up and down), and changed all the things they had described as New to Like New.   So far I have only have sold one DVD for $7.50 but that was a week ago, and the person has still not yet paid.  If they ever do, the payment will go toward my $15 postage cost for the box rather than into my empty wallet.    

I also noticed that not all the items had been put up on their website initally.  Finally the last 15 or so items appeared.   Obviously the box had been thrown around a bit.  These last items were listed with "lots of scratches" and "broken cases".   I also had an email from Fishpond saying that I could no longer list any more items on the website unless I posted them in to their warehouse.

So in the end, I think that Fishpond is a lost cause, and the end of another potential money-maker for me.   :-(

On Quicksales.com.au  (aka pissweaksales.com.au), I have copied over 170 items over from eBay.     If only they had a nifty download from ebay option.     I have gone through board games, children's videos, music videos, Mills & Boon bulk lots and am now half-way through sports videos.  There have been lots of clicks on my items, one query on combined postage cost, and absolutely no sales.  But I am going to keep plugging items up on there.

So always remember - Humility, Comity & Farternity.  That's my motto, especially after a few glasses of *medicine*.   

Where is my cleaning fairy god mother ?

In my childhood home where I lived from babyhood until I married at 23 years of age, I had the pleasure of having the bedroom that was next to the toilet.   I still haven't figured out whether that was a subtle indication of my importance in the family structure.


In a household of 6 - the bog-house got a good workout.  


This wonderful bedroom was where I spent my childhood hiding from the world, obsessively *rating* the same songs every weekend, inhaling books by the hundreds and writing atrocious stories and poetry.   
All this to the soundtrack of toilet sounds from the room next to mine.


No wonder I have a warped sense of humour.

Because of the stunning location of my bedroom, I am quite frankly, chuffed, to announce these defining moments in my childhood.   I submit these to the Head Shrink Doctor as evidence :


* Listening to my little brother, proud to now be house-trained, loudly counting the number of turds he was depositing in the thunder-box.   Let me tell you for such a small boy, he had a production line going there.


* Gasping in awe over the thunderous farts emitted from a tiny, 100-year-old lady who stayed with us for a few months.   Was my little brother hiding around the corner, sniggering into his grubby little fists.  You betcha!  


* The same little old lady was let loose in the house at night.  She would wander around in the wee dark hours, scratching the walls with her fingernails like something in a horror movie; drawn to the siren call of the dunny.      I would lie there in terror with the blankets pulled up to my neck.   Then one night, it happened!!    The door swung open - and there she was, silhouetted in the doorway.  As I lay there quaking in terror, she shot over to my bed at great speed, propelled by machine-gun-like farts.     Then she tried to get in the bed with me.     I think it's the only time in my life I have ever screamed.     Once that happens to you, the sight of a big hairy spider holds no fear ever again.  I promise you this.


*  Before the interruption of puberty, I slept with the door open.   Every morning, at about 6am, I would watch my mother backing out of the toilet on her hands and knees.    Much as I'd love to say it was because she was driving the porcelain bus, and hung-over from partying the night before - sadly, this is not the case.   Every morning, my mother would SCRUB the toilet and kitchen floors - on her hands and knees.
I would watch in awe, because it was kind of like something out of a Catherine Cookson novel.   She did this for years.   There was no mop and bucket until many years later.

I bet you're feeling all warm and fuzzy now.




I don't even know how I got onto this subject.   Oh yes - cleaning.  

The other day I did my bi-yearly vacuum of the flat.   I felt virtuous afterwards, I could look at my carpet without shuddering.   The dust bunnies were no longer breeding in the corners.


But the thing is, the only reason I did this was because I'm expecting *visitors* this week.   


Before I go further, I should explain that I never have visitors.  Apart from a few ebay customers who want to pickup items, the only people who have been to my flat are my parents, my sister, my younger brother and my friend Sue, who I sell items for on Ebay.    For me having visitors is as rare as a UFO sighting  (actually, perhaps rarer).

My ex-in-laws visited once - a couple of years ago - just after I moved in.  I felt I should invite them then because they had helped me find the place at a time when all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and stay hidden from the world forever.     I never saw them for two years after that.   This was because I felt guilty, and I felt like I was a disappointment to them because I had not managed to 'do my duty' and pump out any grand-children for them.


About six months ago, I learned through another source that my ex-MIL was sick.  So I rang and found she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and had gone through a horrible time.  So I began visiting and taking her books and DVDs and flowers.    She was lucky enough to have a husband who looked after her, but I felt sorry for her, as her only child was living the life of Riley in the US and didn't care to interrupt his fun long enough to come home for a visit.   


Bottom line, we see each other regularly now, and I'm happy about that.   I always go to their house, because I'm not very proud of mine.


But now they say they might *pop-in* to drop something off.   Scream!  

My flat has not changed since the day I bought it.  The walls are still empty of pictures or decorations.  The garden beds still lovingly grow weeds.   The entire 'decorating' theme of my unit is called "Ebay Stock".   I have no knick-knacks, no cushions or throw rugs - I have towering piles of dusty videos, board games, books and cardboard boxes of misc.   I don't think that I could get away with saying that the new 'look' is rummage-sale-chic.  (Believe me, I've tried)


So I vacuumed, and I hung one small picture on the wall.  Then I got bored with it all.

I thought, sod it.  I'm trying to impress my ex-MIL who has a fantastic sense of decorating.  Everything matches in her house and it looks like a photo from Better Homes & Gardens magazine, but this is not me.


Everything does match in my place.    It's fairly clean, a bit neglected, and a bit of a mess - but then so am I.     Ergo ... my flat = me.


Done.   


Oh and my toilet, it's not next to the bedroom.  But since I'm the only one who gets to use it, whilst in occupancy, I throw caution to the *wind* and hum a jaunty tune just in case any nasty toilet flashbacks pop up from my childhood.  


Yes doctor, I'm quite sane.  Really I am.

No, that clicking sound is not my knees ...

Ebay sales are plummeting.  I know from my Ebug friends, that it is the same all over the world right now.   We have started a "clicking" campaign - where we form groups and click on items in each others stores because it has been rumoured that this will somehow push you up in the search listings and boost your sales.    So far - still crickets for me.  


Having said that, I love looking at my fellow groups items and seeing what they are selling.  I wish I could find the range of awesome items they have (and get the prices they are asking).   I hope that my clicking helps their sales.  I think it's awesome that we can help each other out in this way.   I think the jury is still out on this one, but it costs nothing to try, right?


These are my sales for the past week:


May 1st - Tuesday - $25.98
May 2nd - Wednesday - $28
May 3rd - Thursday - $14
May 4th - Friday - $35.22
May 5th - Saturday - $3.79  -    woohoo!
May 6th - Sunday - $17
May 7th - Monday $7.12


Giving a grand weekly total of $131.11


My weekly goal for sales is $300 - with this I barely scrape through - and some of the utilities bills get put on the credit card.


For a while there, a couple of months ago - I was up to $500 a week which allowed me to eat/drink and pay my bills.

Now that my ONLY income is getting sucked into the great Grimpen Mire - I need to find more sources of income.     Much as I'd like to join the fetish club and sell items of my used underwear and socks on fetish web-sites, I think I'll hold off on that for the moment. 

I have not yet given up on the idea of selling a fart in a nicely wrapped jar.  The cost of outlay is minimal, but I'm just not sure what ebay category to put it under.

I have 2 other sites where I sell items.  I use the word *sell* loosely.   On one of the websites I only had a few items up and it has sold one thing in the last year.     This is Quicksales.com.au - a site similar to Bonanza in the US.    No fees to put the items ups - low final sellings fees, but not many sales.   I have spent the last week copying and pasting like an insane beast on one day, and then taking photographs the next.  I managed to copy over my board games (about 20), and also my bulk lots of books (about 30).   Next, I hope to start adding my videos.   Whilst I'm doing this, I'm not managing to put much new stuff on Ebay - but considering I now have 1,000 items and am making diddly-squat, I'm really not that fussed right now.  I'm just relisting items that end.

I'm interested to see if Quicksales lives up to their name, now that I've got more items up, but I think in my mind I'm already calling it Pissweaksales.    I keep plodding along and adding more stuff up - once it's there it can sit there for ages, so the effort is worth it (I hope).   I'll let you know if anything happens.


The other website is Fishpond.com.au.      They used to sell mainly books, and then added an option where you could sell your second hand books through the web-site.   Since then they've added DVDs, CDs, Video Games and many other things.  A couple of years ago just before my marriage went tits-up, I was making $600 a month on this web-site.  I had so many book sales, I couldn't keep up with posting them.    Of course, then everybody else jumped on the bandwagon, and now my sales on there are ---- WAIT FOR IT .....   $6 a month.    Yep, that sucks big time.     Especially when it takes them about 3 weeks to pay you for the sale.


Then the other day I got an email about their new thing called "Smartsell" - where you send them a box of books/DVDs/CDs/Computer Games.  They store it in their warehouse, put the items up and take care of posting them out for you when they sell.  The good news is they pay you in 2 days (after taking their cut of course).    


I dithered over this.   You had to pay $15 per box of goods to get them sent to their warehouse.   I sent a message to them asking what the limit was on the box size.


The reply I received was "just a normal-sized box."

I considered that one for a while, and wondered what they'd think if my idea of a normal-sized box was one that a new refrigerator came in.   I stamped down on my snarky inner voice, and considered my options.    


The boxes I had (whoops, are they are all ones that have held bottles of wine, how interesting), were quite small.   I couldn't imagine fitting much in them.   I finally bit the bullet and got a decent-sized box, but I had to BUY the darn thing at the post office for $4.50.


I couldn't fit many books in it still.  I needed to maximise the amount of items I could squeeze in to justify the $15 postage.    I looked at the CDs and DVDs and computer games that I still hadn't put up on Ebay (and my own that I didn't want).  I could fit a lot of these in the box.   So I stuffed it full - and managed to fit 78 items in the box.  It bulged at the edges, so I taped it to within an inch of its life.

The courier picked it up yesterday.   So they're winging their way off to Sydney and should get there tomorrow.  Fishpond should have the items uploaded on their website by early next week.    All I need to do is check that they aren't giving the items away at way too low prices, and sit and wait and see if this will generate me any money.   


I have my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.


In my last blog, I mentioned the two prints that I was selling for a friend.  These two auctions ended over a week ago.


They didn't go for the high price that we had hoped, going on past sales, but I needed the money at the time, so we can't be too greedy.  (or can we ???)  - *hint: I certainly can*


These are very collectable, so keep an eye out for these by J H Lynch.

Another Source Of Income - Paid Surveys $$$

First of all - here is a big bunch of flowers for my followers.    Thanks for your kind words.


I'm kinda embarrassed about my dark post yesterday, but it was cathartic - and it did help, as did all my lovely messages.    I slept well last night and today I feel better.


I bought myself a bag of kiwifruit - and I will try to eat one a day.  I'll probably just end up feeding them to my parrot, but at least I tried.  Right?


When I get down, I get really down - but then I bounce back like a rubber ball.


Today is a new day.  No more moaning for another month.




If you haven't already discovered the world of Paid Surveys, you should give it a go.   Here's a small glimpse into what appears in my In Box.


Yesterday, my sales were in the toilet, I hit my inbox to give it a clear out.


I received a new email from one of my many Paid Survey websites that I belong to.  It offered me this:

I nearly swallowed my tongue!  Get paid $50 to listen to 360 music tracks and give my snotty opinion on them?   Yes please!  I hit that Survey button as quick as I could, sure that I wouldn't qualify.   But I did.

So the rest of the afternoon, in the foul mood that I was in, I swapped between listing ebay items and listening to tracks.  In the end I found it quite relaxing, and very satisfying.


For each track, I had to select whether I:  a) had never heard of it,  b)  liked it   c)   Hated it.
If I chose a) - I had to choose whether I actually like the song or not.
If I chose b) - I had to choose whether I LOVED the song, or just LIKED it.
If I chose c) - I had to choose whether, I was just plain SICK of the song, or whether I HATED it so much, I would change the station.


This was a survey from a radio station obviously.  It was the easiest $50 I ever made.

The only downside - with this company I can only spend the money on :  Ticketek vouchers, online Magazine Subscriptions or Cinema vouchers.  Given I never go out, options 1 & 3 are out.    I now have $80 worth of Magazine Subscriptions sitting there waiting to go.   Hmmm, Mother's Day is coming up, I might use it for that.


I am signed up with lots of survey companies.  Most of these are Australian.


Opinions Paid
Cafestudy
globaltestmarket.com    (this is US based)
My View
Valued Opinions
What Do You Think
Your Opinion
My Survey
My Opinions
Pure Profile
Survey Village
Your Voice
Nine Rewards
Aussie Think


I have my In Box set so that any emails from these go straight into a folder entitled "Opinions".   I check that every day and go through the ones there.


This is my Opinions folder at the moment.  There's a few for me to go through.

Given I have already cleared out a few of these, I still have a lot to go through.  Because I belong to so many Paid Survey companies, I can get anything from 10 to 15 (even more) surveys sent to me a day.


All these companies are different.  Some offer points to be accumulated.  When you get enough you can redeem them for things.  Some offer cash incentives, also to be accumulated and redeemed.  Some give you an entry into a monthly prize draw.


The items that you can redeem points for are varied - usually gift vouchers at various stores.  Some will transfer cash into your bank account, others into your Paypal account.   Some will have options where you can donate your money to charity.  


Other companies pay you for reading emails - these are only small amounts (usually 10 to 30 cents) - but it all adds up in the end.


Here's a look at at one of the emails in my in box:

This is my newest company.  This one is nearly $5 for a 30 minute survey.  That's pretty good money.  The hint with these is not to just sit down and do them all in one go.  I have them open on a different screen and between ebay listing, I swap between them and do a few questions and then go back.  Otherwise I would get bored.


Especially if it's an a$$-rippingly boring survey on credit cards or mobile phones (my two most hated ones).


Surveys can be anything from 5 minutes to 30 minutes on average.  Some can go as long as 3 hours (taken over a few days).


If you want to find some paid survey companies to join, just google the words "paid surveys" and see what comes up in your relevant area/country.


My hints for joining are:


1.   NEVER pay money to a website to get the names of paid survey companies.  These are rip-offs.  You can get this information just by searching the net.


2.   If you have children you will get into a lot of surveys.   I don't, so I get kicked out of a lot of surveys for that.  :-(


3.   I list myself as a small business owner.    I get a lot of high-paid surveys because of this.  Even though I'm only a sole-proprietor company, my opinion is still wanted on many business decisions I make.


I currently get inundated with surveys.  I browse through them and choose the shorter ones and do them as soon as they arrive.  Anything with an interesting subject or a decent reward goes next.  All surveys have an expiry date which could be from 3 days to 2 weeks from the time you receive it.


RADIO STATIONS


Your radio stations want your opinion.  They will put you in prize draws or give you rewards to rate their music.   Just find the websites of your radio stations that see what they have on there.


This is one I joined last year.  Every week or so I get to "Rate the Hits" - they play me 20 of the new/popular songs and I have to rate them.   I wade through the current crappy music and give them a rating.   With only 20 songs, it only takes about 2 minutes.   I have to rate the songs on a meter that goes between  *This Song Makes Me Want to Vomit*  (just kidding) - to *I love this Song!*    Easy as pie.


This is the email I received yesterday from one of my stations, FOX FM:

This station has different prizes on offer each time.


In the past year, I have won:


~ 5 x DVD Pack
~ 2 x CDs
~ a $50 gift voucher for Coles-Myer
~ a $200 gift voucher to a shopping centre.  This is nearly an hour from where I live.  It's still in my purse, and I will get there sometime when I can afford the petrol.


In this email I've just received, the prize is some concert tickets.   If I won those puppies, I would fling them onto Ebay ASAP.


So once I've vented my spleen on such ultra-crappy music as "Puff Daddy Mo-Ho Featuring Miss Pooh-J Versus Bunghole Gang - and rated them as *this song makes me want to eat my own head*, I feel virtuous.

 I'm having a hand in trying to save the world from crap - sorry, rap music and possibly winning something - this is a good definition of a win/win situation.


The other side of survey companys, are ones where you get the chance to try new products and give your opinion on them.  Either you go to the survey company's office - or they post it to you at home.  You try the product and then after a certain amount of time, they send you a survey and you complete it.   You get the product for free, and sometimes you get sent a gift voucher, or get allocated points as well.


The last product test I did was in February, and I got sent a huge bar of bath-soap.  I did the survey, and then they sent me a $10 gift card as well.


I have also tested at home :  canned soup, panty liners, face moisturising cream, body moisturising lotion, tissues, Fish Oil capsules, herbal tea bags, fly spray and household cleaner.     There are others that I can't remember right now.


That's a pretty good service.    If you haven't done Paid Surveys before, I suggest you give them a try.  I find them very worthwhile.  Let me know if you do to.   Mention me as the person who referred you.  *wink*


Oh, this is the other bunch of flowers pictures I wanted to post.

Bwahhhhaaaa,  I wonder where they stuck the flowers???


Hope it made you smile.   :-)