Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Magic: the Gathering Collector's Edition - Still cursed?

I have had to relist the Magic: the Gathering Collector's Edition for auction again! The person who ended up winning it over three weeks ago, for $800, was unable to pay. So, I had to file a nonpaying bidder report to get my Final Value Fee back (giving the buyer a strike against their account - but I refrained from leaving negative feedback). If you remember from a previous post, this makes the third time this particular set is being auctioned off.

As of this writing the bidding is up to $255. Hopefully it will go for a good deal more than that! The auction ends on Sunday (October 1, 2006) and I'll report back on the final bid.

In other news, I've been extremely busy. My Biotech courses (Instrumentation in the Biotech Lab, Cell Culture & Cell Function, and Nucleic Acid Methods) keep me very busy in general, and unavailable to do store business while I'm in class Monday night, and Tuesday and Thursday mornings and nights. It's somewhat frustrating to not be as available as I have been - but realistically, if/when I return to work full time, the store is going to get even less attention.
I have started working on the "Lot 3" cards, and have gotten several added to the store from the Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, Prophecy, Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse, Odyssey, Torment, Judgment, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge and Mirrodin sets. Hopefully I'll have some more in today from the Darksteel, Fifth Dawn, Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa and Ravnica: City of Guilds sets.

I have been promoted to the Silver level of PowerSeller, as the sales from Alan's cards (both the commission items and "Lot 4") have boosted my sales phenomenally (about $12,000 in raw sales the last 30 days). Of course I don't see all of this - a lot goes to Alan, as well as to eBay and PayPal (my eBay fees, listing and Final Value, for August totaled over $660 and PayPal took another $340 - over $1000 in fees!).

I've had several repeat customers of late, which is wonderful! Not only does this mean more sales, which is cool in and of itself, but it also means that these people have been pleased enough with the items I sell and the service they receive to come back to the store. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :-)

Cool feedback of late: A gent in Australia (thanks, Shane!) write, in a series of Feedbacks (I'll use ... between individual entries): "This...guy...is...absolutely...totally...Awesome!...Delivery to Oz in 3 days! Unbelievable!...THIS GUY ROCKS!" I love it when I get complimented on delivery times, especially since once I mail it, it's completely out of my control! But, I am at the post office every single week day, and most Saturdays as well, so I guess I do get things out quicker than the average seller.

Well, enough patting myself on the back for one morning. It's off to shower and then (you guessed it) to the post office!

3 comments:

Don Wiggins said...

Yes, indeed! There are those who use obviously canned phrases (I'll admit to doing so myself), but every now and again I get some that are obviously thought out and written specifically for the order they recieved. As I've said before, I love my customers! :-)

Anonymous said...

Your welcome Don! *That* Shane...:)
I enjoy your Blog also!..heh heh

Don Wiggins said...

Awesome! Really nice feedback AND he reads the Blog! Who could ask anything more of a customer? :-)