I'm a bit of a closet ebay addict. I think it is the gambler in me raising its ugly head again (I had a fairly short-lived but expensive flurry with fruit machines when I worked in a pub many moons ago). I like the element of risk and the fact that sometimes some bit of junk that has been sitting in the back of my cupboard for a while can make me some cash. Obviously, it doesn't always pay off.
I've been nagging Stu for ages to clear our his bulging wardrobes. He is the King of hoarders and I am the most merciless clearer-outer; not a great combination. I used to randomly clear out his cupboards and bin stuff when we first met but soon realised it was not worth the agro. He would lament for days over a binned tape with three years worth of dust on it (we don't even own a bloody tape deck - GRRRRR!) looking at me as if he was a puppy I had kicked. Painful.
Anyway, after years of training he is much improved. (Why do I get the feeling this is one blog post I will not be prompting him to read.....?) Ok, he is nowhere near my brutal standards (I regularly do an inventory of my wardrobe and if something hasn't been worn for a year, for whatever reason, it is gone), but, he does do a fairly regular clear-out. This happened last week and suddenly there was a huge pile of (in some cases, hardly worn), designer clothes for charity. Way too much temptation for this ebay-gambler and when filling the Children in Need bag, I found myself sifting off some of the cream of the crop for my own miserly gains.
Learn from my mistakes blog-readers, no good will ever come from stealing from charity. Every sodding piece sold for a measly 99p! Ninety-nine sodding pence. What a load of hassle was then involved parcelling it all up and standing in a post-office queue with two distinctly non-patient small people to send this stuff off to some jammy designer-clothes-stealing bastards. No point crying over it though. Until, someone emailed me to complain about the Ted Baker shirt they had received (the day after winning it, just note the award winning service too please) and had paid 99p for. Ebay can be a little bit like road-rage I find. You behave suddenly in a completely un-civilised manner to complete strangers. Apparently, although this stupid man had ordered the size I had clearly stated, it was a little tight around his chest as it was a slimmer fit than he had imagined and now it didn't fit, what did I want to do about it? Feeling generous, I offered to refund him if he sent it back to me but apparently he didn't want to pay the postage and what did I want to do about that? Erm, mainly nothing mate. After fees etc, I had made about 50p on this purchase and I wasn't about to go into negative equity. Apparently, I'm not a very helpful person. I could've told him that on the first email.
Then there was the item I sold for £1.24 plus 70p postage a couple of weeks ago but forgot to put a stamp on the envelope so ended up refunding that poor chap the full amount as he had had to drive a long way to his post depot and pay a fee. It hardly all seems worth it sometimes.
I had an email from one man when I was selling some high heels once however, who said he would bid on them if I would walk around with my smelly plates of meat in them for the week in which they were being auctioned as he had a 'used high heel fettish'. Ewwwwwww..........
I think ebay and I just need to have some time-out from each other for a bit. Well, until the next the time I'm having a snoop around inside some wardrobes anyway..... I'm joking Darling, don't go ballistic ;-)
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