Random Comments/Stream of Consciousness Thread

[Rahfa]

OK. I don't get sellers who keep relisting the same item (in this case it's a book) for seriously a ridicilous number of times but won't take slightly less than the asking price. With the listing fee X number of times listed it should be worth their time and money. If you go outside ebay they make even more due to no ebay % of the sale.

2nd. I thought it funny when a seller wouldn't ship to Canada even though I offered to pay for Express mail and his item did not sell. His answer was it was policy. Ugh. You wrote the damn policy! So he lost his listing fee and re-listed the book. He could have had the money is his account by now.

Speaking as somebody who does this...haha...it depends how it's listed...if it's a Buy-it-now auction, it's only .50 cents, so it's not an issue.

I don't like shipping internationally, but if the buyer will pay the fee and accept that it might get bumped in transit, I'll usually be okay with it. I just sent something to the Netherlands and it was $55....I feel bad asking for so much, but it's gotta be that way.

I'm surprised Canada would be a hassle...but who knows what problems the seller has had in the past.

[Resident Chris]

4:1 against England!
Vengeance for Wembley!
And now Ari, sorry but Argentina is our next victim!

[Tito_Villa]

4:1 against England!
Vengeance for Wembley!
And now Ari, sorry but Argentina is our next victim!

I have to say well done, you were the better team ... but if the Lampard goal was given the 2nd half could have been different!?

Watching Argentina at the moment i think Germany will struggle to be honest!

[biomieg]

Re: international shipping - I completely depend on international transactions for my collection so I'm glad that many sellers don't have a problem with shipping stuff to Europe. Sure, shipping costs are high. So what? I'm the one who pays!

So far I've bought roughly 300 books online from both the US and the UK and I can count the ones that arrived with some (minor) damage on the fingers of one hand. And remember how Bob's Sphere Gunslinger proof was shipped domestically in the US and arrived at his doorstep, almost torn in half? The risk of damage is not exclusive to international shipping.

So excuse me and my little rant but I really don't see why international shipping is considered to be a nuisance by some people.

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

We don't have to fill in customs forms for international shipping of books from the UK. You just write "printed papers" on the package and post as normal.

Books and magazines have no tax (VAT) levied on them in the UK.

[WeDealInLead]

(In Seinfeld's voice)... and what's the deal with customs slips? Seriously, if filling out a simple customs slip requires you more than 1 minute, I'd more concerned with your hand-eye-brain co-ordination than some policy. You can also take those blank slips home and fill them out as you're packing.

In the end, it's up to the seller what he does with his auctions but if a potential buyer is offering to pay for express/trackable shipping what's the problem?

[carlosdetweiller]

(In Seinfeld's voice)... and what's the deal with customs slips? Seriously, if filling out a simple customs slip requires you more than 1 minute, I'd more concerned with your hand-eye-brain co-ordination than some policy. You can also take those blank slips home and fill them out as you're packing.

In the end, it's up to the seller what he does with his auctions but if a potential buyer is offering to pay for express/trackable shipping what's the problem?

I know that the times I sold something on eBay I was always disappointed to find out an overseas person was the buyer. For those of us that don't make our living on eBay and sell infrequently it seems (to me anyway) to add a few degrees of difficulty to the process.

For a domestic transaction I would usually have everything I needed to pack and ship and would know beforehand the shipping costs almost to the penny. When it was an overseas transaction sometimes I felt I had to take the packed up box to the post office and get the shipping cost, then go back home and e-mail the info to the buyer and wait for them to finish the transaction. Then go back to the post office and do the actual filling of the customs forms and actual mailing. The process would naturally get streamlined the more a person did it but to the novice there is quite a bit more uncertainty on a foreign transaction. I can certainly understand some sellers just not wanting to deal with it.

I just remembered something else from the few times I had something listed for sale on eBay. I kept getting these inquiries for "How much would shipping be to Egypt?" or "How much to ship to Cameroon?" or other destinations. I had to look up shipping costs all the time for people who probably never intended to bid. I remember that getting old pretty quick.

[Ari_Racing]

Vamos Argentina, CARAJO!!!!!

Now against Germany. I'm keeping my faith in the team

[Randall Flagg]

(In Seinfeld's voice)... and what's the deal with customs slips? Seriously, if filling out a simple customs slip requires you more than 1 minute, I'd more concerned with your hand-eye-brain co-ordination than some policy. You can also take those blank slips home and fill them out as you're packing.

In the end, it's up to the seller what he does with his auctions but if a potential buyer is offering to pay for express/trackable shipping what's the problem?

I don't like it, but the fact is that from the USA shipping internationally is a PITA. As Bob just mentioned, I had to go to the USPS office with a packaged book to get an accurate quote..then return home, alert the recipient as to the cost, wait for their payment (via paypal..thus I receive ~97%). Then return to the Post Office to wait in another mind numbing queue.
I just went through this to ship a book internationally to a winner on a DT auction benefiting The Haven Foundation. Very Very annoying.
Time and energy=money. As I stated earlier; doing this for most things under $1k (for an unknown buyer) is not time or cost effective.

[Sir_Boomme]

Ok....My girlfriend and I went to Rome last November.
Here is a picture I took (one of several thousand) of her in one of the plazas...

I was looking at them today, and though I've looked at them several times in the months since, I just noticed something a bit strange in this photo...

It made me go.... WTF????
check it out...

[Fsmdr]

That sure is a strange way for a cat to travel.

[Nerak]

wow!!

[turtlex]

I'm pretty thrilled today because my girlfriend is taking a stack of books by Linda Castillo to a book signing by the author tonight in Houston.

Just thought I'd share.

[Ari_Racing]

LLOOOOOOOL! Awesome picture!!!

[The Library Policeman]

Vamos Argentina, CARAJO!!!!!

Now against Germany. I'm keeping my faith in the team

They're looking good Ari. They're looking good

[Ari_Racing]

So far, yeap.

I'm already pretty happy that we're in the best 8 teams in the world. Many didn't think we'd be able to reach this instance, even here in Argentina.

[Resident Chris]

@Ari:
Really? Here in Germany mmany people think Argentina has the best Offense of the complete Tournament! Including myself!

[Ari_Racing]

I agree that the offense is really great (Messi, Higuain and Tevez are awesome players), but the defense isn't too good.

[biomieg]

We (The Netherlands) have sneaked our way into the quarter finals as well and our players our actually growing in the tournament quite nicely! Still only two goals against us, both (undeserved) penalties...

[Ricky]

Because I can.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui337e5D50E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui337e5D50E[/ame]

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

Well done The Netherlands. Sorry you will not beat Germany in the final.

[LineofEld]

Because I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui337e5D50E

I LOL every single time I see this! Usually followed by a *snort*

[Pasiuk57]

Germany still can (and will!!) take it all!!
Hope I say it after tomorow!!

[Ari_Racing]

Germany still can (and will!!) take it all!!
Hope I say it after tomorow!!

I HOPE not!

[herbertwest]

I LOVE this bookshelve!



Books gets damaged, but it's stylish!

http://bookshelfporn.com/#/post/741876372