Odds and ends of shopping

[matrixrefugee]

My cheap knockoff X-Acto knife decided to disappear, plus the blade has been getting harder and harder to sharpen, so I decided it was time for a new one and to invest in an actual X-Acto knife. I'm going to need a new one since I've undertaken yet another crazy project, this time printing out and (eventually) hand-binding some scanlations of the "missing" Yami no Matsuei manga chapters. Also got a Christmas present for our birds -- they're both getting seed treat sticks.

To everyone who posted such kind words of support last night when I was feeling so low, I'd like to give you all a big hug in gratitude: I'm not out of the woods, but I'm a little better tonight.

Comments

Tell me what better then e-bay ?

[(Anonymous)]

I sold some stuff on eBay for the first time. When I received the bill, I signed up for it to be paid automatically via my PayPal account. Life's great, eh?

Not so fast. A month later, eBay hits me with late fees and puts my eBay account on hold. Turns out, they didn't debit PayPal automatically as I'd asked them to. Instead, I was supposed to divine that auto-pay works only for invoices received after auto-pay is set up.

You might say that is predictable. In fact, that is how my bank works. When I sign up for e-bills or auto-pay, my bank warns that it might not kick in right away and that I should pay manually for the next billing cycle.

So here is my defense:

eBay and PayPal are part of the same company. Someone should be able to figure this out.

Not convinced? Fine, either was I. So when I first signed up for auto-pay, I asked eBay customer service when my account would be debited. They said it would happen in 5 or 10 days. They mentioned nothing about it *not* happening in the first billing cycle. Obviously, I was asking about that because people who had been using the service for more than a month wouldn't be asking the question!

Still not convinced? Fine, you're a skeptic. So am I. So when I didn't notice a debit (shortly before the payment was due--30 days after the invoice was sent), I again contacted customer support at eBay. Should I pay manually, I asked? No, they said, that would just result in a double payment and confuse everyone.

Okay, so I'm a lunatic raging against the machine, right? No, nothing of the sort. I calmly contacted customer service, asked them to remove the late fee and reinstate my account. Everyone makes mistakes, and they were entitled to a second chance.

Instead, they gave me the runaround through 10 emails, refusing to credit (drum roll please....) 8 cents! They insisted that because I wouldn't accept blame for their systems' limitations that I somehow did not understand them. The coup de grace (sp?) was their customer service rep (ironically named "Grace") chastising me to make sure I wouldn't let this happen again in the future.

So to summarize, eBay customer service sucks even worse than their software.

I have recently discovered another online auction site that proves to be promising. Very easy to use and the added bonus of a program of being able to earn money on top of what you are selling. It is part of Strong Future International. There is no requirement for you to be upgraded to use the service as so many affiliate programs require. You only need to be a member of SFI, and you can not only promote the site yourself, but add your products to the listings. You earn every time someone else purchases from your site; plus whatever you are selling, you earn 100%! There is no overhead as with some of the other auction sites.

Making money online doesn't have to be hard or time consuming.

http://tripleclicksmoneymaker.blogspot.com/