Let's welcome our new member!

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@virgo6776 

I met this seller while helping her on the Limitless Expert Seller chat.   She is new to eBay and I felt like she would be a good fit for our group.   I'll let her decide what she want's to share about what challenges she is facing.  

 

[denise15601]

Welcome!

I am a 21+ year survivor of Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and have been selling on eBay since 2004.

I live in PA, am divorced and live alone.

Denise

[virgo6776]

Thank you for such a warm welcome and it's so nice to be part of society again. I've been couped up inside my daughter's apartment for the last 6 months I'm going to pull my hair out.

After working for over 35 years and having the freedom to live I found myself in the middle of a tornado. I suffer from several GI issues (IBS, Chronic Gastritis, Esophagitis, Hiatal Hernia and my duodenum has issues)  Basically in the summer of 2021 I was diagnosed, 3 months later in Oct I was let go from my job due to missing too much work (I've never had that problem in all the years I worked) I filed for unemployment and realized that I could not work full time anymore much less in a call center environment where I was for the last 10 years prior.  So in May of last year I filed for disability (still waiting) and in June my husband hit the road to visit his son and just never returned so we can add divorce to all of the above. Anyway I am very glad to be here and for someone with a great sales background I am totally lost here on Ebay. 🙂

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@virgo6776   Glad the link worked for you. 

Sorry you are going through so much.  Did you get a lawyer to help with the disability case?  They usually do not charge a fee up front and just get a portion of your back pay once you are approved.    I was denied the first time and then got a lawyer for the second.  

Sorry that your husband left you too, that has to be extra hard to deal with.

I am blessed to have a great a husband that has been my rock for 40 years of marriage.   25 years of that on permanent disability due to a failed back surgery mess.  

[virgo6776]

Thank You! How sweet! I got a lawyer for this time which is the first time and I have faith that I will get approved the first time otherwise I will be stuck living with my daughter which is not easy because we butt heads all the time. My attorney said that they will appeal if I am denied. My therapist received a form from SSA and she said that she will fill it out and it should help. She diagnosed me with extreme anxiety (which I've had for many years) it started back in 1999 when I had a stillborn, 3 months later my grandfather died so I moved back to Texas and watched my mother die from cancer while I was 6 months pregnant with my youngest who turned out to be on the spectrum and is autistic. He is my beautiful boy. I've since developed SVT, venous insufficiency, Hypothyroidism, osteopenia and almost cancer (thank God my gastro removed the polyps in time) which is when I was diagnosed with IBS and then a year later all the other GI conditions. I should write a book about my life - wheeeew! The old saying of "God doesn't give you more than you can handle"  he must have something special in mind for me  - I must be Wonder Woman!!  - I did manage a great career in Sales and CS and here I am today - Oh yeah I forgot to mention I've been clean now for 11 yrs!! (Prescription abuse) That felt good to say because a lot of people don't get it or understand what we go through. 

On a great note CONGRATULATIONS on 40 years of marriage!! TO have that rock in your life to help you through your disability is very important. I thought I had mine - we were together 8 yrs (5 yrs married) this time (we were HS sweethearts) and ran into each other 25 yrs later (that was for 6 months we just weren't ready) and then 5 yrs later it was 3rd time's a charm - and when the chips fell - HE RAN like the coward and narcissist he is!

I am excited about selling in Ebay  - so many things to learn I'm so glad that have ya'll to guide me.

[denise15601]

Wow Virgo!  You sure have been through way too much!  You must be very strong and I hope that you can get all of your health problems resolved.

I was divorced for 10 years when I was dx'd with my breast cancer.  That is a good thing, since he would have left me when I got sick anyway. 

You really should be able to get disability with all of your health problems.

eBay is a God-send for me since I like to keep busy.  But a normal job would be impossible for me at this point.  And I cross-post on 9 other sites. 

Good luck with everything!

Denise

[virgo6776]

Denise,

All my health problems together don’t even come close to what you have been through. Thank God for his handy work at healing you from stage 4 breast cancer. Amen! Funny how the men in our lives hit the road as soon as their rock got sick. You must be very strong to go through your ordeal alone. I hope you had family and a strong community behind you. Family is so important. Mine kinda fell through the cracks when my mother passed away in 2002. My 2 brothers and sister are not as close as we used to be. My dad is still alive and kicking at 83. 
I was telling Jenny that for me it’s much easier to list and use eBay through my phone rather than my laptop. I’m still trying to figure everything out. I do post on Poshmark and marketplace but especially marketplace so much fraud so many fake bots trying to fraud you it’s almost not worth it. I hope eBay doesn’t do that.  

As far as disability, I am very close. My claim is 90% complete with all my medical records and then my therapist writing a report stating that I cannot work regular full-time job. Hopefully I’ll get it the first time.

Thank  you Jenny for introducing me to this group love to meet the rest of the clan. 

I would love your feedback please brutal honesty will not hurt my feelings. When you get some time if you’ll go look at the few items that I have posted and let me know what I could change. Any advice is welcome. 

Y’all have a great evening!

Susanne 

[denise15601]

Hi Susanne,

Thanks for the kind words.  But I am not healed from breast cancer.  I have a CT scan coming up to try to figure out why I have various "spots" showing up.  And I am now allergic to one of my chemos.  Always a challenge here.

I only have my daughter and precious grandson left.  But since she is a nurse (actually a home-health psych nurse), she does help me to troubleshoot my various problems.

My marriage was bad and my ex was a cheater, controlling and abusive.  So after my divorce, I did become stronger and although I did try to date, I learned through counseling at the women's shelter, how to determine if a man was controlling.  And yes, they all were...LOL.  So I will remain single.

I prefer my desktop for listing and it is easier to copy and paste.  Marketplace is a close second to eBay in sales for me.  As far as the scammers, if they ask for my phone number or ask me to text them, it is obviously a scam.  I just click on their Facebook profile and they usually only have one picture or no pictures.  So I just block them.

I will click on the "view items" to see if that opens up into your store.

Hang in there!

Denise

[denise15601]

Susanne,

Hi again.  Your listings look great and I wouldn't change a thing! 

Denise

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@denise15601   @virgo6776   I agree with Denise that your listings look great.   

As I said in our messages I can't list on my cellphone since I am one finger typist on the app.   

Keith ( the good looking guy in my profile pic) does the drafts from sell one like this on another sellers listing.  I do the pics and finish the listings.      Since it's his things we are selling I'd rather he set the prices ( although he sometimes has pie in the sky hopes on his prices LOL )  

He packs and I print labels.... We make a pretty good team.   

I need to tag @whotoldya   DWB will be so happy there's a new person in our group.  I hope he's not in the hospital again. 

[virgo6776]

I have a question - Does Ebay have a way for me to do promotions? I can set up a promotion on Marketplace and schedule it (for example set up a promo for 20% off for the day or the next 48 hrs - I can set up a promo for a flat discount ($30 off) or free shipping on all jewelry today only ) from the date/time to however long I want. I like that - Does Ebay have something similar? I've looked and there is so many places to click and get lost I'm finding myself getting a little discouraged. I used to have a great memory and my learning is visual and hands on  - Can you guide me to the BEST online EBAY listing training? I've had some views and I'm on item #6 to post but no bites or offers and NOONE bid yet on my earrings :_(

[denise15601]

Yes, there is a place for promotions.  I used to use it but it takes a big bite out of my profits.  And then they made an announcement that even if we choose a low promo rate, they can charge more.

I don't know if that is still going on, but I am not doing promos now. 

Under Selling Tools, click on promoted listings and create a promotion.  A lot of people only use 2%.

eBay is really slow now because of all of the competition from the other sites with lower fees.  So be patient, and keep listing!

I have 1,550 items listed and am lucky to get one sale a day.

[virgo6776]

Denise - I am going to stop complaining about my issues and I will focus on the positive and you are in my daily prayers. I too choose to stay single - at least for the foreseeable future until I get my crap straight. Yes I knwo the scammers on FB - I laugh when they use the pic of what I'm selling as their FB profile and yea they ask me for my number and even give me a false number (I have intelius great way to check or screen people plaes etc) so if you ever have a question about someone just give me some info (name or phone # or address) and I will check it out just to make sure they are not scammers bad etc. I always tell them I'm gonna call them or purchase through Marketplace and then they are gone. 

Jenny - You are lucky or better yet blessed with what sounds like a great husband - hang on to him.  40 years is a very long time to put up with one man HA HA - my parents were married almost 41 years when my mom died ( she had a very rare cancer - peritoneal primary - a form or in the family of ovarian cancer) her tumor of a grapefruit size was growing on her omentum (stomach flap) and it took me a very long time if I've even totally to forgive myself because I took so much of the guilt and blame from her getting cancer because she ignored the symptoms and paid all her attention on me when I got pregnant with my second daughter (I had a stillborn in 1999 - full term and had to give birth - it wrecked me good) went to all my Dr. appointments and took care of me insteads of herself  - my daughter was a healthy beautiful baby. By the time I was pregnant with my youngest, my son, my mom was suffering with chemo and she managed to get one month of remission until it spread (she has a full hysterectomy and then her colon removed) after having an ileostomy bag (attached to the small intestine) it spread to her small intestines and that was it. She lived only 13 months after diagnoses and suffered most of it. I was 6 months pregnant with my son when she passed while my husband was shacking up with another woman (he ended up marrying her and doing the same thing to her with his now 3rd wife) so when my mom passed that was my downward spiral and I lived in a pill bottle for 10 years - almost killed me. That's where the blame comes in  - I felt guilty for my mom focussing so much attention on me making sure that I had a good birth and healthy child. 

Now I do have some positive stories  - I am here today despite all of the things that were thrown my way. 

Bless you both!! 

[virgo6776]

Oh wow! Serious? 1551 listings and only a sale a day - I'm doomed lol I maybe have 100 listings byt the time I'm done who knows. Even if I sold $25 -$50 a day I would be happy with that so I could pay my bills. SInce I'm living with my kid I only have my storage and my last apartment (my husband disputed the Aug rent that he paid ) that is a must pay - everyone else oh well nothing I can do right now. 

Ok - Thank you so much for all your help - I will look into promos here and just keep trucking along and posting! : )  YEEEEEEHAAAAWWW : )

[denise15601]

You might consider cross-posting to other sites, although I guess you do post to marketplace?