I've had several eBay Id's.  You ask why more than one?   One is for antiques and books and collectibles, one is for my husbands toy tractors and MAN things, one is my personal one for my artwork and I use it to buy items for myself because I'm signed in as it more than the others and we all know the late night, I cant sleep, I'll just look and see if there' a good bargain.  The last time that happened I'd bought 6 designer purses and 3 phone carriers in like 2 hours!! LOL

 

The first eBay id I had was a childhood nickname that sounded sort of like a stripper if you didn't know the source, I decided tece-la-tece just wasn't a very good description for what I was selling which was antiques @ the time.

 

WHY do I want my feedback on my tombstone?  That MAY be a tounge in cheek expression as I often joke I want a party instead of a funeral and want Sympathy for the Devil for the main song.  Ebay feedback seems as  appropriate to me as any other source for how the world felt about you however.

 

I honestly appreciate all the glowing feedback, when I started selling on eBay the last child was still @ home (OK, he's still @ home, they keep coming back?)  I'd been out of the main work market for awhile but had sold real estate and had heard the line about selling freezers to Eskimos.  I don't give a line of false info when I sell though if it has a scratch I turn it into a gouge, that way the buyer is pleasantly surprised,  I try to pay promptly and if I don't hear from the seller that they have shipped the item I worry they didn't receive payment or forgot about it.  My first feedback was definitely an ego stroke.  Maybe that's why I kept selling, maybe it's the fact I made like $7000 over what my reserve was on two of my early  transactions.  They were vehicles, don't get all excited. 

 

For the stay at home seller or for a buyer, for someone who sells things they have created (see lizhottinroof, she paints!LOL)  feedback isn't only a boost to your eBay reputation it's a positive reinforcement that maybe you can do something worthwhile and make someone feel good all at the same time.  On those days when nothing seems to be going right and you get a glowing feedback  the sun comes out and the birds start singing.  I wish people could realize this.  I have been extremely lucky and haven't had many non paying bidders and actually only a few items that were not what I expected when I bought them.  Most of the bidders do contact me and if there's a problem with payment like they are out of money or have bid on another item that's OK, I'm not happy and if they bid again I won't accept it but it's OK.  If it's an expensive listing I do ask for my listing fee back if I can't relist for example a time sensitive item.  I have had one buyer who wanted MUCH more than what the listing was for, he ended up verbally threatening me, I don't know what happened to him but I know after I told eBay about it and forwarded the emails he disappeared.  I also bought a computer that was never delivered, thanks to Pay pal I got back quite a bit of my money and chalked it up to experience.  The seller was no longer registered by that time so feedback wouldn't have mattered.

 

Maybe I'm being Pollyanna here and someone may see this and decide to buy something to make me eat my words but if you treat people a little better than you want to be treated you will receive excellent service from sellers and prompt payment from buyers.  We have bought expensive items on ebay, an eleven foot finishing mower and a skid steer bucket and have yet to be disappointed.  I will buy from sellers who have feedback less than positive but if it's an expensive item I go back and check to see what the negative was.  Maybe I'm giving myself too much credit but I can usually tell if it was an honest mistake or an attempt to defraud that caused the bad feedback.  From my experiences I can see how it can happen, if you sell quite a few things or things that are open to interpretation it's easier to disappoint or be disappointed.

 

I've had occasion to be helping someone buy and sell on ebay and during some personal problems their spouse bought things under their ID and didn't pay for them.   This person had been through quite a bit with their spouse but I told them THAT'S IT, they messed  with your reputation on ebay, it's time to separate.  I wasn't  being entirely facetious.

 

When I hadn't been selling too long on ebay, I think I had countryjunque by then, I got into a discussion shall we say with a buyer about shipping for a cheap but large item.  It turns out she was right but I had used an auto calculator for shipping and it had returned a high rate.  I admit I was HOT at first and she wasn't too nice either, by the time it was all over we were hoping each other had a nice day and I sent her something extra in with her item to make up for my bad attitude.  She was right and I was wrong, I have NO problem admitting this, sometimes we let ego get in the way of good business?  I did until I calmed down.  OK, I do have a temper.

 

Last but not least a girl in Chicago bought some sheet music from me, I think it was $1 and maybe shipping was $1, we emailed back and forth, she sent me cash, somehow I thought she had sent me too much and refunded part of it, not sure who was right but I LOVED the feedback she gave me.

 

Plays well with others.

 

Doesn't that sum it up perfectly?  we are doing business here but we are also having fun, we laugh, we cry, we throw temper tantrums, we play jokes, we say naughty things and give people good for bad sometimes hopefully.  This is Ebay, something like life isn't it?

T