More Shameless Self-Promotion

I've been selling stuff on eBay for a while now. I've been a member of eBay for 15 years, but originally that was just as a buyer. But along the way I accumulated a lot of clothes, shoes, watches, and other stuff, and not all of it worked out for various reasons, so about ten years ago I started selling things sporadically.

I've got another batch of items for sale, both to clear out stuff that I can't use and to bring in some fundage. At the moment most of it is shoes and sneakers in sizes 10.5 and 11; there's also a nice vintage Burberry raincoat in size 40 regular, and I've been culling my collection of watches and selling some of them. I do have some additional outerwear and other clothing items to get to, and I add an item or two every few days, so if you find any of it interesting, you may want to bookmark my items for sale page and keep checking it. (And if for any reason that link doesn't work, please get in touch and I'll figure out why.)

Perhaps I Can Interest You in Some Fine Merchandise?

In the past I've written about selling stuff on eBay, and occasionally suggested that some of you might be interested in what I have for sale. I've ramped my selling activity back up this fall; over the past month I've sold three pieces of outerwear and a pair of boots.

Since Christmas is approaching, it seems like an opportune time to list as many items as I can. At the moment there are only two listings, a vintage wool-blend coat from Brooks Brothers and a 1960s Accutron watch (this one), but I will be adding items pretty much every day until I've exhausted the sellable stuff around here. Please have a look at my listings here. Thanks.

Just Browsing

I've never had a job where I had to wear dress clothing. Well, I did some office work back in the '80s where I did the tie-but-no-jacket thing that I now realize is a terrible look, and in the mid-'90s I spent a couple of years working a part-time second job on the house staff of a theater company, but that was a sportcoat-and-khakis kind of thing.

So why have I spent so much time over the past several months looking for dress shirts and ties on eBay? I have plenty of outfits that are suitable for job interviews, and bolder shirt and tie choices that would easily take me to a wedding or other semi-formal event. Do I on some level want a job where I have to dress up every day?

I don't think that's it. I do enjoy getting dressed up, but I'm sure if I had to do it daily it would cease to be enjoyable. I think it's just that I like clothes, and my interest in various items of clothing tends to run in cycles. While I've been looking for these items, I've barely looked for shoes, which I need none of at the moment.

Tie Do-Over

After the tie incident a couple of weeks back, I continued browsing eBay for a suitable replacement. It didn't take long, which was a little surprising.

This tie is very different from the other one, but it's also from Liberty and made of cotton in the USA. The background is a coral pink, which my camera represents as more red than it really is.

We don't have any summer weddings or other dress-up events on our schedule, but if we did this would be a likely candidate to wear, probably paired with my cotton suit and the chambray dress shirt I acquired back in December:

(Blame the poor lighting in this shot on my basement's fluorescents.)

Meanwhile I'll still be checking eBay to try to find another tie in the same pattern as the one that got mangled.

An eBay Story

Last month I mentioned my experience with a fraudulent eBay bidder who "purchased" one of the items I had for sale but neglected to pay for it. Since then I've been more wary of the offers that buyers have submitted, and have looked at their feedback information before responding.

A couple of weekends back I got an offer on a suit that I have for sale. It was for only 40% of my asking price so I rejected it, but I also noticed that the bidder had zero feedback and his eBay user account had just been created a week or so earlier.

A couple of days later he made another offer, higher but still lower than what I was hoping for. I contacted him through eBay and told him that as a seller I was looking to protect myself, and that to be blunt, I was suspicious of him. I said that I would feel somewhat more reassured if he could confirm to me that he had a vaild Paypal account with a confirmed address.

His response was more or less "oh yes I have a paypal account," which was not at all what I had meant; I was looking for him to provide information that I could use to confirm the existence of an account. So I came up with an idea: I asked him to send me $1 via Paypal, so that I would have a transaction connected to him, with the associated verifiable details. I would then deduct the dollar from the amount I wanted for the suit, which was still higher than his second offer.

Imagine my lack of surprise when I heard nothing from him, which served to confirm my suspicions. Interestingly, he tried again this past weekend, making another offer for the same amount as his second offer. Buyers get three offers per item per auction, and as a seller I can reject any offer without having to provide an explanation, so I was able to deal with that nuisance with a click of my mouse.

eBay does protect sellers from fraud, as happened with my earlier experience, but heading off a fraud before being victimized is certainly preferable.

Postal Perils

I have a bunch of ongoing searches for items on eBay, some of which I pursue more intently than others. I have very casually been looking for a Liberty of London floral-pattern tie in cotton, in the event that I have to go to a wedding or other dress-up event during warmer weather. Liberty ties are colorful and fun, yet still dignified enough for adults.

I didn't have any particular colors in mind; I'd just take a spin through the listings here and there to see if anything struck me. A couple of weeks ago I found something interesting. The print had the look of a watercolor painting, the tie was a standard width, the condition was excellent, the colors were bright but not overpowering, and it had a low starting bid.

I ended up being the only bidder and got it for something like $7 plus $2 shipping. I figured the seller was going to send it by first class mail, which meant it wouldn't be trackable. That's how these things go sometimes.

It didn't get lost, which is how these stories typically go. It arrived a couple of days ago, in one of those apology-festooned plastic sleeves the postal service uses when a piece of your mail gets devoured by one of their machines. I took pictures to document its condition:

It was sent in only a plain business envelope (addresses blurred, because duh). I contacted the seller right away and explained what had happened, and he issued a refund immediately, which was great. But I wasn't even concerned about the money, since the tie had been so cheap. I was more disappointed that the tie was ruined, because as you can see it was a really pretty tie. Here's a closer look at the damage:

It really got crunched and munched. And who knows how long it will be before I find another that I like as much.

As someone who's sold plenty of items on eBay, I know the importance of protective packaging. When I ship shoes I use bubble wrap and pack the box with wadded tissue paper, to prevent the shoes from banging around inside the box. Sure, a lot of the stuff that gets bought and sold on eBay is used and not necessarily of high value, but nobody wants to receive a purchase in this condition.

Auction Status

Last month I put a bunch of my stuff on eBay. Things generally went quite well, but I did have one item that was "bought" but the buyer never paid me. It's kind of my own fault, because I didn't notice that the buyer had zero feedback, a warning sign that I should have heeded.

In such circumstances, eBay makes sellers wait a certain number of days before opening an unpaid item claim, then they make you wait a while longer. Eventually (which is to say, today) eBay notified me that I could mark the case as closed and relist the item, and that they would refund the fee they charged me when it "sold."

So I've posted this particular item for sale again. All my other auctions have ended, either with items selling or, in a few cases, with them unsold. In the meantime I have rounded up another batch of things to try to sell, and I'll start posting those tomorrow.

Wedding Casual

We have a wedding to attend in a few weeks, so of course I have been thinking about what I might wear. But it isn't going to be a typical wedding, so it's unlikely I'll wear what I would typically choose wear to a wedding.

The bride is a friend and former coworker of the Mrs., and as we did, she and her fiancé are paying for the wedding themselves. To save money, the actual wedding and reception are to be family-only; what we are attending is the "after-party" at a local tavern, on a Saturday evening.

The first thing I decided is that there will be no point in wearing a suit or a tie. No one else will be as dressed up as that, which I find unfortunate, but I also don't to be the one guy who shows up in a suit and tie and ends up looking foolish.

Also, it will probably still be fairly warm; our wedding was in the last week of September and I believe the high that day was around 72. By 7 pm it will be starting to cool off, but it's likely to still be in the mid-to-upper 60s that evening. I want to look sharp but casual, and be comfortable.

I never had much interest in linen, but I'm realizing its value in warm-weather dressing situations. A linen jacket with only a partial lining is about the most comfortable thing a guy can wear on a warm day when the situation calls for any amount of dressing up. A couple of weeks ago I happened to see a blog post somewhere that mentioned a cream-colored linen jacket, and it made me realize that such a jacket would be a great piece to build an outfit around for this event.

I scanned the sale sections of some websites; the best option I found was at Nordstrom Rack, but the marked-down price was $120 and they were sold out of my size anyway. I was hoping to find something for less, if possible, so I turned to eBay. I immediately got really, really lucky: I found an auction for a cream Brooks Brothers linen jacket, made in Italy, in my size.

It has patch pockets, which are more casual than the set-in style pockets you typically see in suits and sportcoats. This is a nod to the more relaxed nature of dressing up in warm weather. The measurements indicated that this jacket would very likely fit me quite nicely. Amazingly, no one else bid on it, so I walked away with it for $50. It arrived yesterday, and it fits me perfectly; I don't even need to have the sleeves altered. It may have been worn, but it appears new.

There are some creases from being folded for shipping, but those can be steamed out easily. It's a three-button jacket, and from the position of the buttons it looks like it might be a decade or so old. I'd prefer that the lapels roll to the center button, which is more traditional, so I'll have a go at it with the iron, but I'm not especially worried about how successful I'll be.

Now to figure out what I'm going to wear with it...

So It Begins...

Thank you, eBay, for alerting me this morning that there are only 54 shopping days left until Christmas. I'm sure I would have completely bonked on all my holiday shopping had you not provided me with that helpful reminder.

Dock of the 'Bay

I know I haven't posted much this week. That's because as we head into the holidays, my office will be closed for winter break, and I'll be using vacation time to bump it up to a full two weeks off, so I need to get my monthly deadline stuff squared away before heading out the office door this evening.

I've also been making a little extra scratch for holiday gifts by selling some stuff on eBay (including stuff that I bought on eBay that didn't quite work out for one reason or another), which takes up a fair bit of time. First you have to take pictures of whatever it is you want to sell (in my case, it's mainly clothing, shoes, and a couple of watches that have fallen out of the rotation). It amazes me that 15 years into the existence of eBay, there are still people who think it's possible to sell something without providing a picture of it. Or, you get one blurry shot from too far away, with a description that reads like this: "Coat, black. Worn only a few times."

Thanks so much, that was really helpful. That leads to step two: a detailed, informative description. I like to put a bit of my personality into this part, including information about where I got the item, how long I've owned/used it, its original retail value. What I NEVER do is say how much I paid for something, because that's irrelevant. What matters is how much you can get someone to pay for it now. Knowing what the item was once worth is a good way to frame your opening bid as a bargain while making sure the auction is worth your time (assuming the item sells).

A couple of months ago, I had an urge for some now boots (I believe I mentioned this in my post about boots from a few weeks ago). During that time I bid on some US-made Red Wing boots that were not really what I was looking for, but were nice-looking and in good condition. I have a tendency to place bids on items that I'm only semi-interested in, figuring that fate will decide whether or not I'm supposed to own them. In this case I won the auction, but the boots just didn't quite fit me right (which is why I didn't include them in the boot post).

So last week I finally got around to taking some pictures and posting the auction in an attempt to turn them around and find them a good home. Within a few hours I'd received a message from a guy in the United Kingdom who was interested in the boots, asking if I would consider opening the auction to bidders from outside the US. Generally speaking, I try to avoid this, because it makes things more complicated, and because the likelihood of being a victim of fraud is much higher with international bidders. That's not intended to be derogatory or prejudiced; it's simply an unfortunate fact of trying to do business on eBay.

In this case, the guy's feedback profile had almost 2300 entries, with a score of a perfect 100%, so I figured I was safe letting him bid. Apparently Red Wings are a big deal in the UK, and are hard to get there. As soon as I'd adjusted the auction, I was contacted by someone in Japan with the same request. This person also had 100% feedback, but only 10 feedbacks. This can be a red flag for trouble, or it could just be someone new to eBay. I stalled by answering that I would take 24 hours to consider the request and research shipping costs. The next day I received another request from Japan, this time from another seasoned bidder like the one from the UK. I decided to go ahead and open the bidding to Japan, figuring that with so much interest, the boots were bound to sell.

The auction closed last night, and the winning bidder turned out to be from Virginia, making my life a little easier. The boots sold for $76 plus shipping, which is 50% more than what I paid for them (though I don't always get so lucky). The other cool thing is eBay's arrangement with the US Postal Service regarding shipping. Typically I get the item packaged up the night the auction closes, then the next day, after receiving payment, I print a shipping label and stop at the post office on my way home from work and use the automated postage machine.

Now I don't even have to do that: from the eBay site you can buy postage using PayPal (essentially withdrawing against what you've just been paid by the buyer) and print the label. At that point the package is ready to go, and you can drop it off at a post office or, if you are using USPS-supplied boxes, which are free, even call for a pickup.

The biggest problem for me is refraining from using the ensuing PayPal balance to buy more stuff on eBay.

Two Left (and Two Right) Feet

For the past couple of months, I've been selling some of my excess stuff on eBay. Most of it is clothing and shoes, with a couple of messenger-type bags and a couple of watches that I no longer wear. There are some things I've bought on eBay that didn't quite work out for one reason or other, and the best thing to do is to turn it over again to someone else. Often I make only a few bucks on each auction, but after a dozen or so sales it accumulates to a respectable amount of money.

Due to the amount of time involved in setting up an auction--taking decent pictures, writing a good description, posting the information, answering questions, packing the items and shipping them to the winning bidders--I tend to post only one or two auctions at a time on a sort of rolling schedule, one new auction every couple of days or so, so that I am not completely overwhelmed by the process.

Last week I sold a pair of adidas sneakers to a guy out in California. To maintain my ranking as a trustworthy seller, I make the effort to ship the winning bidder's item the next day. It's easy enough for me to stop at the Milk Street post office, which closes at 6, on my way home from work (I used to stop in the Prudential Center, but they cut back their hours and now close too early). I usually pack the item and get it ready the night before, but for some reason this time I didn't, so in the morning I had to scramble to find a shoebox-sized box and some packing material. (Given the amount of stuff I buy, I have amassed a substantial stash of boxes and packing supplies in the basement that comes in handy for this.)

Yesterday I got an email from the buyer: I sent him the wrong sneakers. I had two pairs of adidas sitting next to each other in their boxes, and I posted the auction for the second pair a couple of days before the first auction ended. In doing so I mixed up the boxes, and because I was in a hurry I didn't bother to look at the shoebox before enclosing it in the outer box.

Sending him the correct pair is the easy part. I had a few people watching the other auction, but no bids yet. Thinking it would take too much time for him to send the shoes back to me, I asked him if he would be willing to send the "wrong" shoes to the winning bidder if I reimbursed him for the postage. He replied that he could do that, but then he offered to buy the other pair. Under the circumstances it was the easiest solution, and even though I'm probably not making any money on this situation, I guess I'm lucky he liked those other shoes too.