eBay Headache

I sold the BodyBugg on eBay! This wouldn’t normally make me so relieved, but eBay got a little upset with me for using terminology that I apparently shouldn’t have used to try to sell it. They pulled my first listing which had four bids and about five watchers.

I was furious. In hindsight, I see the point of what they were saying, but there are two things I didn’t particularly get.

1. The words couldn’t be used (“As seen on The Biggest Loser”) because according to eBay, the show doesn’t endorse this item. The only way I was looking at it was that they show did endorse the item because they feature it. So they don’t endorse this exact item…what’s the difference? Not to mention that contrary to what eBay customer service seemed to think, I wouldn’t have gleaned this from the seller rules because it’s open for interpretation.

2. This was the second Body Bugg I’d sold (total impulse buy, obviously. The fiancé and I had big plans, then just never followed through. We’re losing weight without the Bugg anyway). Nothing had been said the first time around and trust me, I was not the only one using this description in my listing.

The rep from eBay of course talked me down from my ledge in that sweet email tone that makes me feel like I’m two years old. I’m not sure that they actually got how rude it was to pull a listing without notifying me and asking me to change it. I suppose that’s policy. I suppose if I had time to memorize the guidelines I may have known that. So call me an irresponsible seller, but at least it sold, I took their survey, and now I can go on with my life.

Sad part is, while I was mad I was sure I was never going to sell anything on eBay ever again. But I’ve already got the itch to list something else…darn addicting online auction!

More Coupon Organizing

A few weeks back I did a blog about how I repurposed an old DVD case to hold my coupons. While I really liked this idea and was proud of my resourcefulness, there was a slight problem. Even though I tried to plan which coupons I was going to use, often I’d find something on sale and realize that I had a coupon for that item, but I’d left it at home.

A co-worker had the same problem but had fixed it by buying a small organizer that fit nicely in her purse. I’d looked at a few of these organizers at WalMart and Target, and the ones I found were four or five dollars. I know that’s not a horrible amount to pay, but it still seemed pretty expensive to me.

Last night, Jon and I took a trip to the Dollar Tree and as luck would have it, sitting there on a random shelf was a cute little coupon organizer for a dollar!
I’m not yet sure if I like their organizing system, but I’ll try it and if I don’t like it after awhile, I can always re-label. Already I feel better about having something to keep in my purse should I find a good deal to throw a good coupon on.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have a printer that works so I’m unable to print coupons. For now I’ll use what I get in the mail from various sources and what comes in the paper, plus the odd coupon that prints without the coupon program download.

Moving, Thrifting, Making Money

The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy. Between vacation and moving and still not having home internet, I haven’t been able to do much online. Our frugal living factor has gone up immensely, however, since now we’re budgeting for a new puppy. I don’t mind cutting costs though since he’s absolutely awesome to have around.

While my fiancé looks for a job (already had one interview), we’re finding creative ways not only to cut costs but also to bring in some extra income. I gave plasma for the first time last Saturday and am going to try again today. Unfortunately, the second times I tried to give, my iron was too low. This has always been a problem for me. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying. I did start taking a multi-vitamin which will hopefully work.

We sold some books, CDs, and DVDs to Hastings for store credit. While cash is good, so is having a chance to do something fun, and we both enjoy going for iced hot chocolates, internet use, and reading. What we couldn’t sell there went to a local CD and bookstore, and what didn’t sell there is either going on BookMooch or being used for some crafty project I’ll come up with.

We’ve sold some things that didn’t fit into our apartment, have given plasma, and I’ve been writing some articles on Associated Content. Things we don’t need go on Craigslist. What doesn’t sell there goes on eBay. We’re having a rummage sale in a couple weeks with proceeds going to Relay for Life, and from there, anything we don’t need gets donated to the Salvation Army or Freecycle.

Once I have my internet at home, I do have some pictures to share of some ultra thrifty finds from the last few weeks and pics of the new apartment.