To fashunu4eeuh
It's important to read a varying opinion and perspective. Whether I agree or disagree, and I'm not saying either, it helps in the same way that getting a second pair of eyes can help see a solution that you're not otherwise seeing. At the very least, it certainly doesn't hurt anything. It can never hurt to have more information or perspectives.
That said, I feel like my ebay profile information, the final sentence in my listings, and my feedback and DSRs should provide enough transparency, at least for the price range in which I am dealing. Were I buying/selling higher end items, perhaps I would feel differently. That's not an experience I have, so I just can't provide an honest assessment on that price range. Definitely need to transition out of the smalls, long term, if I'm still around.
If they had ended the last sentence with "You can include the requested email inside the package without violating any eBay policy. However, if you are uncomfortable providing your email, I will understand".
That would have helped. That's how I would have phrased it. I purchased an item with BIN from a seller this evening, and also sent a best offer on another item. I then sent them a message saying "I'd like to buy this and come to an arrangement, but I respect your time and your decision either way, and hope you have had a nice day." I wanted to give them an assurance that if they wished to decline or send a counter offer, it's cool. I didn't want them to feel any kind of obligation or pressure.
Beyond that, and this isn't addressed to a specific person.
Next year will be the first time I'm going to have to put all this stuff in my taxes, keeping spreadsheets of purchases, sales, gross, net, expenses, etc. I'm not a business, I've never run a business or operated as one. I've had plenty of experience selling, but it was spread out over 20 years, over many changes in rules, tos, and wildly different environments here. It was always just the odds and ends. Up until recently, I was sitting in a doctor's office 2-3 times a week, every week, for about 3/4 of a year. They put me on meds and therapy because I was a hair away from ending myself, so I didn't plan to be where I'm at now. I've shipped more items in the past 3 months, than I probably shipped in all of 2010-2020 combined. I don't have a business phone, a business email, business cards. I work almost 7 days a week, I get 3-4 hours of sleep, and I'm trying every day to just survive another day, so I haven't yet got all my ducks in a row in terms of operating "like a business". I know I need to work on it, but I didn't want to have to work on part of it this evening, and yet I must.
I package super carefully, I take lots of photos, I try to be honest in my descriptions and point out flaws, I ship same day or next day, I answer any questions, resolve any problems. I try my best to be attentive, professional, and courteous, even when sometimes the other person is not. If an item is lost or damaged, I make the buyer whole, then hash it out with the carrier. I try to be a responsible seller, and I feel like my seller ratings reflect this. So when someone asks me twice to include my email address in the package of this $7 item, without even offering a reason why they feel they need this, perhaps you can please understand why part of my brain is going "Can I please ship the item. Huh? Just let me do my job, I'm really good at it".
P.S. When they start off by saying "PayPal and eBay no longer include the seller's email address with their routine messages after a sale. Please include your email address inside the package". One can wrap this up in whatever flowery pleases and thank you that one wants, but to me, that's a tacit admission that they know that I am no longer required to give this information, but they're going to continue asking for it anyway. Which kind of defeats the whole point of Ebay no longer providing it by default eh? That would have been like, during the don't ask don't tell days of the military, if all the recruiters and superiors said to people "The form no longer requires you to indicate your sexuality, so can you please write it down on this piece of paper and give that to me, k-thanx".
Not trying to be combative with anyone btw, just explaining where I am coming from. If I'm coming across as hurtful or mean spirited, then I do apologize for my failing.
