 BooMer Story
Hi everyone, Here is my Story and hopefully New and Old members of this forum can learn from this.
Well I have been in the Optical Business for over 12 Years and had a Lab and Doctor on premise. I sold that business and opened up a Sunglass Only Store and been doing that for the past 8 years. Less hassle and paperwork to deal with.
I was approach one day by one of my customer who just started selling on ebay and asked me if I would like to do a consignment with my sunglasses. I agreed and gave her around 5 popular pairs to start out. She gave me her Ebay ID and item # so I could check on the status. She listed and re-listed with no bids and sales. So that ended and I got my sunglasses back and it didn't cost me anything. I looked at her pictures and the descriptions she put and thought to myself "No wonder they didn't sell" She had blurry photos and a very short description. I knew I could take better, clearer photos and give a detailed description. So I started an Ebay account back in 2000 and l listed in the regular auction format and to my surprise I got bids but when it all ended I either lost money or just made a little. I knew I was new with Zero Feedback and that was why I was getting some bids just below my cost. Well I still shipped out the items and received positive feedback. I also did some shill bidding on this account and got 7 day suspension but it was reopened with out a problem.
After building up my feedback My bids began to grow and I was making profit now. I only listed about 10 at a time but when they had the Buy it now feature and me gaining more knowledge of ebay and options I set my starting price higher and with a Buy it now option. People was buying it left and right.
Then Ebay created the "Ebay Store" and Listings only cost 1 to 3 cents to list. That was when I went big and started listing like crazy. Taking pictures and writing descriptions is very time consuming but I had about 600 items in my Ebay Store. Keep in mind that I was doing this all by myself. Listing, Ordering, Packing, Shipping, responding to emails etc..
I now got myself Platinum PowerSeller Status and everything was smooth sailing. Then I received a Phone call from my distributor telling me that I was not allowed to sell on ebay since it was in breach of our Contract. Apparently they found out about me because I left my business card in every sunglass I shipped to provide better customer service and warranty repairs. I had over 1800 feedback and had to remove all my listing or risk losing the account with the distributor. So I had no choice but to agree but didn't really listen to the warning. I wasn't going to lose my ebay income just that easy so I started a New Ebay account using different ID and left the other one on standby for just buying stuff.
Well I had to start all over again with Zero feedback and work my way up. I changed all my info to my girlfriend name and address and didn't leave any phone or business card that could be traced back to me by my distributor. Well remember I said taking photos and listing description is time consuming? Well I reused my old listing format and pictures in my new account. Bad decision on my part. Keep in mind both account was legit and never suspended indefinitely. That will come later on in the story. After building up my feedback again to about 1000 and a Gold Powerseller status, I get another call from my distributor telling me that they know that I am still selling on Ebay. This time they followed up on it by sending me a registered mail stating that they will not renew my contract with "CHANEL". That brand was my biggest seller 70% of my sales was Chanel. I had couple of months before my contract ends so I ordered a lot to stock up Probably $50,000 worth of Sunglasses for Chanel.
I knew the end was coming So I prepared by stocking up. So now my account with Chanel is closed but I was still listing and selling other brands. The other brands was not that strict on enforcing their contract as Chanel.
Well now I am up to 1500 feedback and ebay raised their listing fees, and Final Value fees. I wasn't making that much profit from the other brands and 5 years has past and ebay increased their fees again, This time a lot Ebay Store 12% Final Value Fee?? More and more Sunglass sellers are selling and competition is everywhere and Ebay decided to increase the FEES. Now I really wasn't making that much.
So I was looking for ways to save on my Final Value fees and this was what I found. I tried the Store referral credit but that was once in a blue moon, and I tried filing a dispute with the buyer to "Mutually agree not to complete this transaction" with all my sunglass sales through ebay. This method worked most of the time and I was saving $12 to $25 on final value fees that I got back as credit. Then I got reported to ebay from some buyers who felt that it was unethical to do that. That in returned raised a flag to ebay why I filed a dispute on almost all my High priced Transaction. So I get limited on listing in the Sunglass Category to only 1 or 2 a week. I looked around to find other things to make up for my income So I resorted to selling dvd copying digital software. This is what did it for me and worked for about 3 months. I make mostly all profit since the item was being emailed and was easily reproduced. Well I got the Listing cancellation and waring but relisted anyway. Then I got the vero tutorial. So I stop selling the DVD Software.
Everything was fine and I think they gave me a lot of outs because I was a powerseller but it only took one more violation to give me the 7 day suspension. That violation was a College textbook that I had listed that came with a free email of a .PDF that I got reported from a vero member. I received the 7 day suspension and was told not to use ebay in any way. Well I had a chance to get my account reinstated but my girlfriend did not read the suspension notice and bought some womens clothing. I waited the 7 days and emailed ebay back and was told that I was indefinitely suspended because I have use my account to purchase stuff. I appealed and was denied.
I thought to myself I still got my first account that I had under my name with 1800 feedback so I'll just go back on that account to relist and go back to normal. Well that account was shut down after 2 weeks and was linked to the suspended account. I was sad and Mad at the same time. So I opened a new account under my sister name and that account got linked and shut down.
I said WTF is going on. So I did a search on ebay suspension and found this forum and read before trying to open another account and I got the EbayStealth book. I reopened another account under my mom name but found out later about the Feedback manipulation and was instantly suspended indefinitely.
Now I have a account under my Girlfriend father name and address with over 350 feedback and good for 4 months and counting. But the only thing is the STRICT EBAY VERO 30 DAY LISTING LIMITATIONS that I don't like.
That is my story.
BooMer
Last edited by BooMer; 07-17-2008 at 08:35 AM.
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