Is it all about eBay or is it all about the trash?

It’s been one of the days.

Let’s just say, I’m off my diet.

Excuse me while I take a bite of my ice cream that’s sitting here next to me.  It’s starting to melt. 

Anyway, I need to get something off my chest.

I finally called eBay about my situation.  I asked to speak to someone who could help me appeal my case.

For those of you new to My Dear Trash, let me introduce myself and share my heart-breaking eBay saga.

My name is Laura and I absolutely love, or I should say loved selling on eBay.

I sold for over 6 years and had 5,000 positive feedbacks, but about 9 months ago, I was banned from every selling on eBay again.

This came as a huge shock to me.  I was doing what I have always done.  List items I found at thrift stores and yard sales and watch the profits role in. 

Here’s why I think I was kicked off eBay. 

Since I started selling over 6 years ago, I was old-school eBay.  I thought eBay was all about positive/negative feedback.  I never took the time to read about new policies or procedures (I didn’t even realize that was an option.)  I didn’t know I had a seller dashboard.  I didn’t know there were graphs showing me what I was doing well and what I was doing poorly.  I didn’t jump on the printing shipping labels at home band wagon because I didn’t know how to do it.  I was intimidated by the whole process and didn’t think it was really necessary.   I had a few customers upset they weren’t getting email tracking confirmations from USPS.  In addition, when selling gently used name brand clothing, the merchandise can be a bit subjective, all right very subjective.  If I sold a blue dress and the customer received it, thinking it was more navy then blue; she could rate me poorly in how I described the item.  Not trying to be misleading or deceitful, I would take the hit when a customer was not happy even if it was just a matter opinion.  To make a long story short, I didn’t understand how the new eBay 5-star rating system worked and how eventually, it would be my downfall.  I was on a sinking ship and didn’t know it until my store was shut down.  All my listings I’d worked so hard to get up, and even those that had bids, were gone.  In December, 2010, out of 527 sales, I had 8 customers rate me poorly in shipping time and item as described.  This led to my downfall (and a broken heart) and I was told I could never sell on eBay again.

Knowing I didn’t steal, cheat or do anything illegal on eBay, I really thought my case might be overturned.  When I was first kicked off eBay 9 months ago, I was told it was permanent, but I just couldn’t take that for real.  Surely, someone would see that this case was an exception.  The gentleman I talked to a few weeks ago was amazing.  He was such a great listener and took the time to hear about what happened to me.  He looked at all my emails, feedback, etc. and said “I don’t understand why you were ever kicked off eBay to begin with.  I think your account should be reinstated.”

He took time with me, writing up a proposal and making suggestions on how I could better serve my customers, including printing my shipping labels at home and improving my item descriptions. 
He even looked at the blog My Dear Trash and thought it was great.

“You could be the next Queen of Auctions if we could get this all figured out,” he said.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I replied, hopeful.

“I think you have a chance, although I don’t want you to get your hopes up.  I’ll be in touch with you as soon as I hear anything,” he said.

So, off my proposal went to the eBay board committee to review my case.  Sounds pretty serious, doesn’t it.

And I waited.

I promised myself, whatever the outcome was I’d be at peace with it.  That eBay or no eBay, life is too short, that I have so many blessings and I’d move on.

I waited for 7 weeks.

Everyday, checking for that email.

Going back into my old eBay account (yeah, that was pretty painful) to see if I had a message from the committee.

I was ready to shop, ready to photograph, and ready to get back to business, if only eBay would so graciously let me back in the very special group of eBay sellers.

But, nothing, no encouraging email, no life-changing message.

So after 7 weeks, I finally called eBay today, hoping there had been some sort of resolve.  Hoping maybe they’d see that I was worth having around, that I better served the eBay community, that what happened on eBay was totally subjective, that 8 poor-ratings out of 527 happen even when a seller is doing everything she can to get things right.  That buyers can be harsh, even when they are given a full refund, even when they don’t have to ship the item back, even when the seller apologizes for whatever the customer was upset about.

This time, I spoke with a woman.  She took a few minutes to understand my situation.

“And I really would like to know if I will be able to sell on eBay again,” I asked.

She looked into my account.  And there was a pause, and then an apology.

“I’m sorry no one got back to you about this issue, as this was resolved a while ago, but no, you are not able to sell on eBay ever again.  Once you’re banned from selling on eBay, they’ll never let you back on.”

Banned! Ouch!  And here came all the emotions again.

Because eBay has helped me through so many financial crisis’ in my life, because I have control over my earning potential, because it’s just so much darn fun and because I love to write about it.  Because I can work from home, because of the exposure, the world-wide market eBay offers, I mean there's no place in the world like eBay, especially for a trash collector like me.

But, no more.

I think I knew the answer all along, but I had to try, didn’t I?  I mean this blog is called My Dear Trash.  

It started because I wanted to share with the world my success of selling trash on eBay.  It’s all about eBay, isn’t it?

Isn’t it?

Wait a second, it's not about eBay at all.

It’s about family.

It’s about passion.

It’s about recycling.

It’s about thrifting and donating and making a difference in people’s life.

It’s about taking risks and trying knew things and reaching potentials that weren’t possible.

It’s about finding value where others may not see it, especially in yourself.

Especially in yourself.

And, it’s about trash.

It’s all about the trash.

And this is how I got through a second horrible blow in my eBay saga.  Understanding that as long as I can find great trash, take risks and shop till I drop,  I can make a great living.

It will no longer be from selling clothes (my true love) because of my passion for fashion, but furniture and knick-knacks and vintage stuff for the shop at QcumberZ and finding great trash for my family so in the end I save loads of money.

As hard as it is, I’m letting eBay go, not because their letting me go, but because I can no longer support a company that doesn’t support their selling community.  In a sense, eBay has turned into the federal government in the worst way.  They think people can’t think for themselves anymore.  They think they have to scrutinize everything. That every law and rule is meant to be reinforced no matter what, even if that law or rule doesn’t make sense in every situation.  They think everything has to be rated and dissected and monitored for the people's benefit, even though it’s for their own.  I bet the people in charge of eBay never even sold on eBay to begin with.  They don’t understand the challenges of being a seller and the little rights we sellers have.  And eBay thinks they have to protect buyers from a seller who didn’t differentiate a pair of jeans from bell-bottom to wide-leg because she used a photograph instead of typing it out, from a buyer who sells used clothing and when the customer is upset the item isn’t “new” is still granted a full refund anyway, from a seller who loves eBay and its opportunities so much she started a freakin' blog about it.

But I didn’t start a blog about eBay, did I.

I started a blog about trash and now that eBay’s absolutely out of the picture for me (not for Kelly, so you can keep reading about her success), I’m looking forward to growing my business in different ways, but all with the trash I love (and I’d like to thank Kelly for the pep talk late last night, for letting me cry about something so silly like eBay rejection issues because I can be such a drama queen, for reminding me God has a new direction for me and for just being stinkin’ cool.  I don’t know what I’d do without that girl). 

Hey, look at that.  My ice cream melted, but I don't need it anymore. I feel a lot  better now.

And I will always secretly have a crush on eBay, dream about eBay, love eBay and remember the good old days, even though eBay broke my heart.  

By the way, to get great tips on selling on eBay, check out the blog Goodwill Haunting.  She wrote a post about what happened to me (thank you for that).  Check it out here.