Sob stories

[numisnorway]

Ever get buyers telling you stories about personal tragedies about them or somebody they know and why your item has special meaning to someone etc?

[meduseld]

Don't, it's sweet.

[chapeau-noir]

Those "good old days" are so old that they're drinking age now.

[turquoisetulips]

Yes a few times . One was from a lady who wanted  to buy something for her daughter who was in another country serving in the U.S military way out at sea on a aircraft carrier . I've forget the rest of the story  but it sounded fishy [ pardon the pun] . There's also a seller that I used to do business with  until she told me her husband was in the hospital about 5 times   to explain why my order would be very late .  It's possible  I guess ,, however   now I stick  with sellers  that can get things to me in a reasonable amount of time.  Tulips 

[turquoisetulips]

Would you settle for a chicken ? Llama's have a bad habit of spitting people in the face  and chickens give ya great  eggs instead ... 🙂   Tulips 

[flp]

Please don't ever feel like a "sap" and don't stop sharing your stories.  That positive story and feeling brightens up a lot of days and lives here.  We need more of that.

[kateinthe26th]

i get a lot of " i make stuff for charity so would you include extra fabric, stuff my parcel full"........

I also get "i'm on a fixed income so if you have any fabric or thread you don't need could you add it"...

I'm sure some people think i'm a millionaire and just sell on ebay for fun or something. I just tell them to buy second hand flannel shirts or cotton bedding from Goodwill and make pet blankets out of those instead for the animal shelters as I don't have gobs of free stuff lying around.

I get asked for free stuff so often that i'm tempted to add a note regarding 'free fabric' to my listings. I sell brand new items currently........I might be able to help out if i was buying second hand cheap stuff from estate sales.

Sometimes I feel its just a sob story as when i look at what else they have been purchasing their 'fixed income' seems to stretch a VERY long way

[chapeau-noir]

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@kateinthe26th wrote:

i get a lot of " i make stuff for charity so would you include extra fabric, stuff my parcel full"........

I also get "i'm on a fixed income so if you have any fabric or thread you don't need could you add it"...

I'm sure some people think i'm a millionaire and just sell on ebay for fun or something. I just tell them to buy second hand flannel shirts or cotton bedding from Goodwill and make pet blankets out of those instead for the animal shelters as I don't have gobs of free stuff lying around.

I get asked for free stuff so often that i'm tempted to add a note regarding 'free fabric' to my listings. I sell brand new items currently........I might be able to help out if i was buying second hand cheap stuff from estate sales.

Sometimes I feel its just a sob story as when i look at what else they have been purchasing their 'fixed income' seems to stretch a VERY long way

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That second hand cheap stuff often takes a lot of first hand time and expertise to find, though  - that's factored into the price. I've turned over whole entire sales to find three items.

Fact is, nothing is really 'free' and although I will bend over backwards for my customers, I'm not a charity (I've had people ask for free stuff, too).  And yeah, I agree with the 'fixed income' - it certainly seems to streeeeeeeetch, doesn't it? 

[emerald_door]

I just had one today -- disabled, limited income, yet she needs to buy this item to add to her collection of 50+ so far.  

[city*satins]

My favorite ever story was a buyer in the US when I was in Canada.  She was desperately seeking a red velvet plus size, long dress for her teenaged daughter to wear for her solo singing performance at the school Christmas pageant.  She had looked everywhere for weeks and finally found mine but she was in Minnesota and I was in  BC Canada and we didn't have Paypal yet or even Billpoint and the pageant was just 3 days away. 

She asked me if she could pay me by Western Union that day plus $35 extra for a rush Fedex shipment to her same day.  I said okay and in fact, I shipped it off to her about 5 hours before I went down to pick up the money at Western Union.

Well, what with back and forth messages it was all good news. The dress arrived. My money arrived. The dress fit.  She spent the rest of the night sewing on fake white fur collar and cuffs to the dress and everything was good to go.

Then a couple of days after Christmas I got mail from her, a lovely thank you card signed by her and by her daughter, with a note of thanks, and enclosed were five photographs of her daughter on stage at the Christmas pageant.

It was really wonderful to have her share the final result (the white fake fur looked fantastic and so did her daughter) with me and take the time and trouble to pop those pictures in the mail so I could enjoy them too.

I think I made all of $3 profit on that dress (I was still new to the game), but it remains my happiest eBay sale.

Some folks are really, really nice!

[emerald_door]

What a great story!  I would never have predicted such a happy ending.  

[lex-talon]

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@numisnorway wrote:

Ever get buyers telling you stories about personal tragedies about them or somebody they know and why your item has special meaning to someone etc?

About 2 months ago, a buyer sent a message how one of his family members passed away and my cd I have for sale means so much to him. He then told me he didn't quite have enough money to purchase it. Since then he's been "watching" the cd for quite awhile now. Every time I relist it, a short time later and there's a watcher. Haven't received any more messages from the buyer either. Just wish he would just buy it.

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[moldy5]

I had a buyer of 3 pairs of Michael Jackson collectors' bills 2 years ago. Normal purchase, no questions about it before doing the BIN. 2 months go by & he sends a fat envelope with a long story about how he was the chairman for an MJ convention & my bills were part of prizes for attendees. He included 4 pictures of the happy winners showing off their bills! Wow, made my day that he took the time to share all that.

[kateinthe26th]

That second hand cheap stuff often takes a lot of first hand time and expertise to find, though  - that's factored into the price. I've turned over whole entire sales to find three items.

i have had lots of luck from estate sales and auctions , i just don't go anymore as my husband works crazy hours now and its no fun on my own plus the kiddo always seems to need me to run him to soccer or something. But yeah i have also been to some sales and walked in and walked straight back out again not buying a single thing.

When you can smell dank basement odor and cigarette smoke 6 feet from the front door, that's a no no for me, don't care how 'nice' it is or was i just know its going to need washing and i don't wash fabric period. Now glass and porcelain i will buy if its smoky but that's pretty much it. My husband used to work estate sales, could tell enough stories to write a book!

[reallynicestamps]

My favourite was  not a sob story and came after the transaction.

A woman bought a vintage paperback and wrote of her delight that she had found another of her father's works, which she had been collecting for years since his passing.

I don't recall the exact title, but it was something like "Bordertown Lust" and was a soft porn 1950's novel with a lot of BDSM and a lurid GGA cover.

[chapeau-noir]

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@kateinthe26th wrote:

That second hand cheap stuff often takes a lot of first hand time and expertise to find, though  - that's factored into the price. I've turned over whole entire sales to find three items.

i have had lots of luck from estate sales and auctions , i just don't go anymore as my husband works crazy hours now and its no fun on my own plus the kiddo always seems to need me to run him to soccer or something. But yeah i have also been to some sales and walked in and walked straight back out again not buying a single thing.

When you can smell dank basement odor and cigarette smoke 6 feet from the front door, that's a no no for me, don't care how 'nice' it is or was i just know its going to need washing and i don't wash fabric period. Now glass and porcelain i will buy if its smoky but that's pretty much it. My husband used to work estate sales, could tell enough stories to write a book!

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I can imagine! 

The estate sales around here seem to have aspirational pricing or they're not 'estate sales', they're just a bunch of junk and they're calling it an 'estate sale' - I've about given up on it, but I live in an area where it seems most everything goes online now, whether it's private sales or a thrift, save for furniture, etc., which I don't deal in.