Browsing the internet I came across one of the best short animation-films I’ve ever seen. Called the story of stuff and presented by a lady called Annie Leonard, this film exposes the true cost behind todays society of use-and-throw-out. One really shocking thing that she said, which I checked out (and found to be true) was a true reflection of consumerism. What did President Bush tell people to do in the days after 9/11? (apart from bomb Iraq, I mean.) Pray? Spend time with families? Grieve? No. He told us to shop. Don’t let the terrorists win, continue our daily way of life – in fact, we should shop more just to spite the terrorists. Yeah, that’ll show them.
Do everyone a favour. Watch the film yourself, and when you’ve watched it, publicize it. Tell everyone you can think of about it. Blog about it, as I have done. Perhaps THE most important point she makes is that it isn’t too late to take this back off the corporations. But time IS running out. The planet’s resources are not finite. Watch. Care. Get involved. The planet is depending on you.
One of my first calls of the day on the internet these days is the business page of the BBC News website, where I read about the latest problems on global stock exchanges.
One thing in particular strikes me, about all the discussion going on. That people are working from the point of view of trying to prevent a recession.
People, hate to break it to you – but the recession is already here. The US Economy is already in recession, and trying to figure out ways of stopping it going there are closing the stable door LONG after the horse has bolted.
Bush’s tax givebacks are an ideal example of this. It’s a gamble that giving some money back from the treasury to the public will result in the public stimulating the economy by spending that money on American products in the open marketplace. But ultimately it’s doomed to failure, because most Americans are already in debt. If you give them money, they are much more likely to use it to pay down some of their debt, than go out shopping for new products. And those that do, would probably buy things that aren’t made by American companies; household electrics imported from Japan and China.
My point is, that money doesn’t go back into the economy. Either it goes to credit companies or banks, which are private entities, or it goes to other countries economies in luxury goods. Or it might even go to the health or insurance sector – and meanwhile the economy remains in trouble.
With the way the Bush administration has run the country into the ground, much of the manufacturing sector in America doesn’t actually belong to America, and as such any money invested there simply leaves the country. Add to that the MASSIVE drain that is the war in Iraq, and the chickenhawks wanting to start war with Iran and you can start to see what a hole the American economy has been left in.
At this point in time, Bush has one objective and one objective alone – stop the economy from completely crashing until he’s out of office. Then he couldn’t care less; after all, he’s run nearly everything he did into the ground, why should his own country be any different?
Time is running out, very rapidly. While $800bn continues to be spent in unnecessary war, the country is on the edge of complete self destruction. Unless serious fiscal policy gets implemented fast, the USA will never recover from the result. And to implement that, first the economists have got to accept the recession is already here, it’s already begun. If they don’t admit the problem, they can’t start fixing it. It’s the 1930s all over again. Lessons haven’t been learned, and now it’s time to pay the price.
A while ago I went to a job where somebody wanted two lots put on Ebay.
This person had never used ebay before, but they were clearly convinced it would allow them to unlock the riches in their old things.
The two things they wanted to place were a trio of historical pictures. (this one and these two as a matter of fact.) The seller didn’t have any pictures, so I was asked to bring my own camera, take the pictures, set up the ebay sellers account and put the pictures up for auction.
For $30,000. Yes, that’s right, 30 thousand dollars. For a print. I tried to discreetly make it clear that there wasn’t a chance in hell of them being sold for that, but no go. Apparently the seller had heard that the originals to these prints had been sold to a museum for that price, so therefore in the sellers mind, this was the value of the prints.
Despite being re-listed a number of times, there is still no interest. In fact, I’m told there have been some pretty snarky comments in the “contact seller” choice, along the lines of “does a house come with it for that price?” and similar.
So, I figure that in the vain hope that this person, or other newcomers to ebay might come across this blog, I’d just go over the advice I tried to give.
- Start small. If you’re new to ebay, you’re not yet trusted. Sell objects with values less than $100 if possible, till you get some good feedback. When you’ve got people who’ve said you’re honourable and actually sell what you say you’re selling, then ramp it up. I’ve got 166 positive feedback, and I still would hesitate at posting something more than $1,000 unless I thought I could give buyers no doubt I had the item.
- Buy first, if possible. Then start selling. This is related to the above, because buying also gets you feedback.
- Look at it from a potential buyers point of view. If someone has been selling nicknacks at between $10 and $200, and they suddenly put up a 50″ plasma tv for $1500, that is going to be a little suspicious, the jump from $200 to $1500 is a big one.
- Remember that Ebay has been used to rip people off, and most people aren’t as gullible as they once were. Scams do still happen, but they’re more normally by very bright kids or organised gangs. If you’re going to sell the above tv and want payment in advance, don’t be shocked if someone demands proof the goods exist.
- If you have a webcam, and you want to sell expensive goods, for goodness sake offer to use it. Ebay own Skype, Skype is free and it supports webcams. If someone wants proof you have that nice tv, let them skype you and show them the goods. Chances are they’ll bid. They may even buy the goods. They’ll also be able to tell from your raft of excuses if you don’t actually possess the goods. I sold a car that way when I was in the UK, it was outside my normal price range by quite a margin, but I made it clear I had a webcam that I could show people it live. It sold.
- Never EVER do what this seller did. When asked rather snarkily “Does it come with a house” their response was to insult the buyer, by saying “If you can’t appreciate art, don’t bid.” If they could have left negative feedback for that alone, they probably would. ANYONE who sends an enquiry is a potential customer; you wouldn’t want a shop owner to give you an extremely sarcastic response to an enquiry. Treat Ebay like a shop, and enquiries like customers.
One person enquiring to the above seller advised repricing the pictures at $150 and was given a really rude reply. Personally, I think $150 is a bit pricey for what they are, but that – to me – sounded like genuine interest, and I’d have been revising the price straight away. Experienced ebayers generally have a good idea what something they are interested in might cost; newcomers should be willing to take advice. Yes, sometimes people do try to bargain the price down, but if something isn’t selling and you’re ending up with relisting fees then something’s wrong either with the description or the price. If the description is accurate, the price should be reviewed.
These pictures aren’t going to sell. Not at this price. No way. They might sell for between $50 and $150 depending on interest, they might not (especially since the potential buyer who suggested $150 went off with a flea in their ear)
Ebay DOES work. When I was in the UK, driving for a courier company, I took a 7.5 tonne lorry out to a company that sold through Ebay nearly every single day because they were selling enough for it not to fit in a 3.5 tonne van. But they were established, they were a power seller, and it takes a lot of work to get to that stage. However, it can be done, and even if you’re a domestic ebayer getting rid of a few things Ebay can make a lot of money.
But if you’re going to use Ebay, and make it pay, use a bit of common sense.
Happy new year, and stay safe.