This is the third entry into the “What I’m Doing” series of posts, but the first to appear on The Collectors Site, as the first two showed up on the VintageMeld–see, this is why I have so many blogs: I had an idea, I created the posts around that idea as they naturally came to me, and I decided these posts didn’t fit where they started. I noticed rather than focusing on collectibles, the first couple of columns touched upon them, in mentioning what was coming in and what was being listed, but it really was more of, what the title proclaims, what I’ve been up to recently. Given that I enjoyed writing these it did occur to me that they might best fit here, on The Collectors Site, which while being my space to blog about e-commerce is really my most personal site without a generally declared clear goal other than speaking my mind.
So here goes, I’ve unintentionally had more time than anticipated to concentrate on my writing lately, and, no, I don’t mean that I’ve written more than intended, but I mean I’ve had a lot of clock on my hands to read and re-read, edit and tinker, as my internet connection for the past week to ten days can best be described as lousy. This morning for instance, I was able to log into my email, delete the junk, Tweet out the posts I wrote last night, all by 7 am–it is now 1:30 pm and I’ve been able to do nothing else online. This has been typical for the past week-plus. I’ve found the night hours even more productive than I normally do, but in this case it is simply because the daytime hours are not only unproductive, but basically broken for me right now.
I’m on a cable line from Cablevision and also have phone service through them … which is also black during these outages. I’m trying not to fly off the handle because I do recall the exact same thing happening last year right around this same time. Yes, I am getting close to calling, but frankly I don’t need Cablevision employees suggesting I check my connections and failing that as the cause purchase new equipment because, like I said, had this happen last year and after the 1-2 weeks of misery when service returned it has returned practically without a flaw or a glitch over the past 50 or so weeks. Not my problem, it’s their problem, they’re only making it my problem. My spare time has allotted me extra hours for daydreaming in which I’ve now convinced myself that this problem has something to do with the earth’s tilt or alignment to the sun during this particular month of the year. Hey, a stretch, but it makes me feel better.
I’ve got the ad up in the left sidebar on the VintageMeld for the Greer Garson biography “A Rose for Mrs. Miniver” by Michael Troyan (which my current connectivity issues is going to cause me to finish way faster than anticipated!) and I’m enjoying it very much. While not the utter crank that John Oller presented Jean Arthur as in another biography I’ve recently read, at 150 pages in I’d say Garson could best be described as temperamental. I found it interesting after her arrival to the States from Britain she held out on accepting any supporting roles, convinced that a move from headlining the London stage to support in Hollywood would doom her career before it really got started. It’s with this attitude that she came to “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” with much hesitation, but luckily for her legacy was convinced to take the role by a trusted friend. She complained too about “Mrs. Miniver,” largely because of Billy Wilder, but I just read my way through “Random Harvest” and that was at least one role which she embraced from the very beginning.
Have several issues of The Sporting News coming into stock very soon, dated 1947-48, late 1956, and featuring some of the best contemporary coverage you’re going to find about Jackie Robinson’s debut, the death of Babe Ruth and Don Larsen’s perfect game–I know because I’ve handled these before. In fact, right now I’m blowing out close to 20 remaining issues that have been sitting in stock for awhile with sales prices 45-50% off and auction minimum bids at up to 75% off my previous pricing.
Speaking of auctions, again, they ain’t dead, but by the same token I can’t help but to notice most of my recent success comes from Fixed Priced items on eBay. With this in mind I’m scaling way back on auctions for the time being, at least prior to the Holiday season to see how sales develop for items I list initially at Fixed Price. So far, so good, though I’m missing the rigidity of schedule afforded by constantly working to have new nightly auctions listed. I’m by nature a very undisciplined person, and so having structure really helps me to make the most of my time. Especially having rekindled by long love of writing, I have to be very careful to continue to produce sales listings and not just another round of words for the day. It’s a very fine line.
As to the recent round of eBay changes, I’m sure that I’ll delve into details at some point before Implementation A in October and Implementation B in April, but for now I stick by my original brief summary of harmless. At the core of this opinion is my continued, perhaps idealistic, belief that in the end eBay wants people to buy and sell items on their site. I stood by their last round of changes optimistically, and they were rejected by the masses with much greater scorn that this crop has inspired, and do believe they have helped improve the site. Quite honestly as a seller I have not seen a great improvement in what I take in since those changes, though I also believe this had a lot to do with the economy’s nosedive beginning about the same time as my own, in September 2008, but as a regular eBay buyer I have noticed greater service and quicker delivery of typically well-described items. With the stress on Fixed Priced items the buyer in me has not noted less “deals” insomuch as I have many overpriced items. That obviously is a downside. Though in my collectibles categories I highly doubt eBay has welcomed in any of the despised Diamond Sellers, so my gut thought on the overpriced goods are that those sellers are soon going to tire of paying listing fees for items which can’t be selling and soon leave (likely blaming eBay at their exit).
But that was last time, as for this time, it’s obvious eBay continues to try and create a great experience for buyers (or in seller speak ‘eBay sides with buyers over sellers’) and in the end I believe that’s going to trickle up into a better experience for sellers. Again, time will tell. I think not only eBay’s sellers are going to learn a lot come October, but that eBay itself will, and like last time work to correct any policy which seems too onerous–again, I believe they want me there and will do so until the day that they officially ask me to leave. It’s like this, I don’t believe in ghosts, but show me one and I will. A creaking floorboard late at night might make me flinch, and eBay has surely spooked me a few times over the years, but they’ve yet to actually jump out and say “Boo!”
After registering last December I’ve finally gotten around to listing some items on Etsy, generally thought of as the handmade site. I’m not making anything here, but they seemed to have embraced vintage goods, so why not give it a try. With a 20 cent listing fee there is a barrier to entry, so I have to think somewhere in the large number of “vintage” goods on the site are some sales. None here yet, though it’s only been a couple of weeks at most and I am encouraged by the views, though they may be more the result of curious bystanders. I’ve been curious about Etsy for vintage items for some time though and figured I’ve got to try it out to draw any real conclusions. Again, we’ll see what happens.
In the end with this selling game, I’m all about keeping an open mind, but at the same time trying to be positive.