A lot of people want to ask me questions about how I operate my Business, and so I thought I would [just] go [ahead] and put together a little video here Talking about some of the realities of doing business particularly on ebay and Craigslist So the first thing I want to go over is I've compiled a list of the six most common questions that I get asked from Potential Buyers on eBay The very first question on the list the most commonly asked question is what condition is it in? Now in order for you to understand. Why this is ludicrous? I want to show you a sample screenshot of one of my ebay auctions now. You can see that I provide a minimum of six pictures And I'm very specific that these are actual pictures of the computer that is for sale And not just some random stock photo and yet, they want to ask me what condition. It's in I really don't understand that I also list a textual description That they can read about if there's even if there's even so much as a scratch on the computer I'll make a note [of] it and they want to always ask me the condition, and I don't know what to tell them So my response is always please refer to the photos and the description of the listing it may sound rude But I don't know what else to [tell] people besides what I've already provided All right, the number two most common question that I get asked on ebay is does it work? Yeah, then what even though I say that it works in the listing I even say it's backed by a [30-day] Money-Back Guarantee They still want to ask me does it work And again, I'm kind of left clueless [how'd] I get this question every day, and I just tell them please refer to the warranty information, and we're listing I don't really know what else to tell them I mean I guess people just don't read. I don't know so the third most common question that I could ask Donna qa is Will you take xmL or they'll say I'll offer xmL for this laptop now if you go out We're dealing on ebay you either bid on the computer or you click buy it now Are you don't that's the way ebay works, but at least once or twice a day? I receive an email with somebody making some kind of offer And it's usually very low - like if the product is being advertised by it now 400 they'll offer 200 or something like that, and I usually just ignore those or sometimes. I'll just tell them The price is whatever take it or leave it, [and] you know I [won't] be rude but chances are that person is not going to buy anything from me anyway, so Why do I want to waste my time on them? so the fourth most common Question that I could ask and this one will probably take you by surprise because it certainly did me when I started My business the fourth most common question I get asked is will you send me a laptop for free? Yeah, yeah, and they always accompany. This was some kind of sob story about oh, my mother's in the [hospital] Or I'm a poor college student or whatever and I'm going to tell you a funny story about that one time I think it was a young young boy or Adolescent he had asked me if I would give him a computer free and I wrote it back very sarcastically and said well Yes, of course. I will just give me your address because that's how I stay [in] business is by giving laptops away for free And I thought that he would understand the sarcasm there, but to my surprise ten minutes later I [got] an email response from him with his address saying. Oh, thank you very much. Here's my [address] I'll go tell all [my] friends and then not more than two or three minutes later I got a flood of email from probably 10 other people saying oh, I heard you're giving away free laptops. Here's my address And I had to write the boy back and tell him I was being sarcastic I can't give away laptops, or I would be out of business in a week My profit Margin is already very thin on these. I just do not [have] him just need to give them away so the fifth most common question I get asked is people want to know will it one program x Program x could be anything. It's always something [different]. [it's] usually some program I've never heard of before and so basically what they want you to do is they want me to google that program? Find out what system requirements are how much ram. It needs how much hard drive It needs what kind of processor needs what kind of operating systems need and then find out if it matches up with the computer that I'm selling them and make them some kind of guarantee that it's going to work And I just [won't] do it. It's too much trouble [and] if they're not capable of doing that themselves They're probably not a customer. I want anyway, so unless it's a program. I'm intimately familiar with Like if they call them and say well will it run skype or something like that then I can I'll tell them but nine times out of ten I have no idea, and I don't know why they would even think I would know but and the sixth most common question that I get asked on ebay is not a one specific question it's it's a bunch of question going to lump into one category and they want to know a Specification of the computer they want to know does it come with an optical drive will it play DVDS does it? how much memory does it have how big is the hard drive all of these things of course are listed in the ad in fact They're usually listed in more than one place fact in most cases like stuff like the cPU and memory are vested in three different places and they just don't want to read so they'll just send me an email and ask me that question and You know sometimes they [think] I'm rude, but I just I'll go ahead and respond I'll answer the question, but I also mentioned in parentheses this information was provided [and] listing Did also manage to at least alleviate one of the problems I used to get asked a whole lot if it would play DVDS Now even though this was listed in the text I would hand has made it a point to start taking photos of the computer with a DVD sticking out of the side and believe it or not that almost entirely eliminated the question of If it has a DVd or not apparently a picture really is worth a thousand words Okay, so I wanted to talk to you about the four most common problems. I have on ebay after a transaction [the] biggest problem by far is simply Non-Payment People they they click buy it now or they bid on something and win it and then they don't pay for it and and that [is] such a common thing in fact I would venture to say Probably about 10% [I] sell 10 laptops and guaranteed at least one of them will not pay for it And I've also composed a list of the most common excuses For not paying for it Believe it or not the number one most common excuse used in Non-Payment of a laptop is they been in a car wreck [I] mean there must be a lot of car wrecks because I have probably heard this excuse at least a hundred times of the last five years Chris, I I suspect it's fake It's just made up, but it sounds good And that is definitely the most common one and so when I hear that somebody's been in a car wreck [I] pretty much dismisses immediately I know they're faking it because [it's] just too many of them the number two excuse for not paying for an ebay item is that my son or daughter bought this computer without my permission, and I'm not paying for it and I probably heard that excuse at least 50 times over the last Few [years] [I] could honestly see that being true on rare occasion But I just don't think [that] it could happen nearly as often as what I see And the number three [excuses] simply that they've changed their mind and sometimes They're quite honest about oh, I found a better deal or I decided I don't want [to] mack on you to PC Or whatever and they make no bones about it They [just] don't want it which that's a complete and total violation of ebay policy, but they don't care And of course the fourth most common thing again is nothing at all. They [just] don't answer I'll send them repeated emails asking if they're going to pay for the item and just never hear from them So that's I [guess] you could say the number fourth response is no response Now back to my list of actual ebay problems that I encounter one of the problems I have is people who change their mind about a computer after they bought it I mean, it's one thing to change your mind before you pay for it and just not pay [for] it, but it's bad It's worse when you pay for it you've had it delivered, and then you change your mind, and I've had people do that before Because they found out it won't run some program. They want it to run But believe it or not the most common reason in my opinion [for] wanting to return a laptop has been overpayment in The past I used to do actions Where people could bid on the laptop and particularly around? Christmas time as the bidding would get out of [control] and I would have a laptop that normally [sells] for $400 in many cases sell for six or $700 and so I had to put a stop to that and Switch to buy it now now. You might be asking why would that be bad for me? Why I should like having over payment for laptops on the seller [well] really I don't and the main reason for [that] is because people want to return them I do offer a 30-day Money-back guarantee You know that's that's part of the way. I do business on ebay so [any] [time] somebody over pays for laptop well
They usually realize it a few weeks later after they finally Get their head together and realize what they've paid for and what it's really worth and so then they'll come up with any kind [of] excuse to return it and [get] their money back, and of course returns aren't [a] huge pain in the rear for me both Just the amount of paperwork, and I don't mean real paperwork you know the procedures and stuff I have to do on [ebay] and moving the money around and getting stuff shit back after when I get it back after unpackage sometimes it's damaged and You know I have to wipe the hard drives and reload them because I feel a full junk and whatnot so it's a huge pain [I'll] avoid [or] return it at any cost [and] so if I think Overpayments going to result in return [Bottom-1] overpayment, so I switched all my auctions to buy it now about two years ago And I just put a reasonable price on the buy it now and if it doesn't sell then I lower the price by 10 bucks The next time around and it usually will sell And that's that's how I've solved that problem And as far as people who've changed their minds go There's the nice ones who just make up an excuse to [return] the laptop like oh It won't run what I need or something like that, but then there's the ones that can be absolute jerks about it. I've had people literally file complaints [trying] to with ebay or PayPal to return something without even contacting me first I'll give you a good example of what happened. Just [recently] a guy in my local city bought a laptop He paid for it, and then he said well, I don't want you to ship it I want to do a local pickup cuz I live here in [town], and that's fine with me. I do that all the time Well, I sent him an email with the address before you can come pick [it] up and I told him is here waiting for him and I never heard from him the next day I said same copy of the email out again And it did that again and again again for six days and on the seventh day I got an email from Paypal saying that a dispute had been followed over not delivery So I called Paypal and I said well yeah the buyer says you haven't delivered the product So I copied them on the emails and explained to them. What was happening So they contacted the customer And then they called me back and said oh well the customer just said he change his mind he just disappointed Now the funny thing is here paypal knows this they know that I'm in the right and the buyers and the wrong But they still told me I might as well. Go ahead and give him [this] money back because he's going to get his money back one way or the other and One of the realities of doing business on ebay and Paypal is that you bank PayPal Invariably takes the side of the Buyer doesn't matter what what's happened? the Buyer Always wins the only exception to that that I can think of is when the buyer doesn't pay if they haven't paid EBay will take the side of the seller But if they pay and matter what happens you may always take the side of the buyer And that's some reality of doing business on ebay, and it's unfortunate Okay, so I've also done a lot of business on Craigslist and so I thought [I] would tell you about some of the issues [that] I've encountered dealing with people locally When I post up a computer on Craigslist believe it or not [the] most common question I get asked is people will call me and They will want to know what's the price how much do you want for this laptop? Now one of the problems with answering that question is I usually have more than one listed I'll either have several different ads or I'll have one ad that has maybe five or six different laptops with their photos their Specifications and the price for it right next to it Now the price is listed all over the ad and in fact It's even listen in the header of the ad when you're scrolling down Craigslist looking at the individual lines so you can't miss the price, but people always call and ask me that [and] Since I don't know exactly which computer. They're talking about I have to ask them and say well look sir or ma'am [I] have several different ones up on Craigslist right now I don't know which one you're talking about I'll be happy to give you the price but you'll have to tell me which laptop it is now the funny thing about that is the Very first answer I usually get it which I think is hilarious [is] it usually be response like oh What's the one you have listed for? $350 [or] something that effect and So I'll pause there for a second I go oh Well, I guess the price is $350 And then they always seem like dumbfounded like oh So that's your price, huh? I'm like well Yeah So I Had that conversation so many times with so many different people [it's] it's hilarious. I I don't know why they do that I mean, maybe they're thinking I'm going to give them a different price when I answer the phone I'm not sure, but I'm usually very specific in the ad about what the price is and that I'm not negotiable on it I have very thin profit margins on these computers sometimes as little as twenty dollars so I just don't have any room to negotiate like that, and I make that [very] plain in the ad so It's kind of a take-it-or-leave-it type thing on that same regard. I've had people come to my place [of] business from across town about 50 miles Show up after we've already discussed the laptop and we've already discussed the price and this show up They look at it, and they want to offer me less money Sometimes it's only [ten] or [twenty] dollars, but again I told you you know my profit Margin ten or twenty dollars sometimes so I don't have a lot to move there And I'll tell them no, and they will get furious at me They'll say "So I drove 50 miles across town to come over here to buy this," and I'll be like well You knew what the price was on the phone. We agreed to it before you came all this way and I've had them storm out and not buy it. It's like what do they think they think? They think - I know I wouldn't drive 50 miles across town to buy a product That I'd already discussed the price on under the assumption that the seller is going to reduce that price when I get there. That's crazy But I've had them do it So the number two question I get asked on Craigslist [is] Actually very similar to a question I get asked on ebay a lot they want to know the condition of it now I have the same photos on my craigslist ads that I do on ebay. They're very clear very sharp photos From multiple Angles in Focus Brightly lit they can see the condition But they always want to ask me [about] it now I could understand if they thought it was a stock photo or something But I'm also very specific these are real pictures of the computer that you'll be getting Nevertheless, it's very common for them to ask me to text them photos [oh], yeah, will you take some more photos of [it] and text it to me? Of course my answer is no, that's just too tight too darn much trouble. I'm just not gonna do it I've already provided 6 - or from 6 to 10 photos of the unit I'm just not going to go out [of] my way to take any more. That's just the way I you know, how I deal with it. Sometimes that makes people mad. Maybe I'll lose sales I don't know But I just think it's ridiculous to ask for more photos when I've already provided [6] to 10 clear photos so am I crazy or are they crazy you tell me? And my final gripe about Craigslist which is something Anybody ought to be aware [of] if you're ever thinking about selling anything on Craigslist is That when somebody says that they are coming to pick something up that you've agreed upon And you give them the address and they say they're going to be there in ten minutes thirty minutes an hour or whatever There is a 50% [chance] They will never show [up], and they will not call you back and tell you that they changed their mind Or they've made other plans [they] will just let you sit there and wait for them and wait for them until you finally give up and assume that they're not coming And I'm not exaggerating when I say 50% chance and I've had them do it to me not just on laptops But on even personal items that I've selling they're not necessarily part of my business. I mean I've sold iphones and iPods and bicycles and even cars I've sold on Craigslist and it's the same thing. It doesn't seem to matter what it is You're selling fifty percent of people will say they're coming and not show up. So you just better be prepared for that, so [an] irony about the no-shows though is it's not terribly uncommon for me to have A craigslist buyer not show up, and then call me up two or three days later And ask me if I can do Macbook repairs and I'll say sure you know bring it on over and Then I'll ask them like didn't didn't you call me a few days ago saying you wanted to buy a [Macbook] They'll be like oh yeah. Yeah, I think yeah I was going to buy one, but I found one you know [$20] cheaper somewhere else Of course you know the one [they] bought didn't have a 30 day You know Money-back guarantee like mine does so they might want to do some work? And then now they want to spend anywhere from fifty [to] hundred dollars to [have] me repair it and they've [been] better [off] if they just bought mine to begin with I've been trying to save a few bucks going to some shady person somewhere or buying one So I guess karma kind of gets them a little bit on that and Last thing that I'm going to touch on on this video is I get a lot of personal emails From people on the internet who've seen my videos and they've got a computer, and they're having a problem with it And they want my help [now] [believe] it or not. I'm fairly charitable with my time and I will actually Answer a lot of those emails, but it's not uncommon for me to get anywhere from ten to a [hundred] emails in a day Asking such questions now. I don't answer them all and I'll tell you which ones I answer I'll answer the ones I can read in less than 30 seconds now. I'm serious I mean if I look and I've got a bunch of emails and I have a whole bunch of them that are like One paragraph or two three sentences asking me a [question] about something I will typically answer those if I get one that is three pages long And they want to tell me their whole history of how they got this at a garage sale or their grandmother gave it to them and and they used to play this game on and they loved it so [much] and they let their kids do this and and and You know and they take it with them on vacation, and you know and they just want to go into all this erroneous detail that is not really relevant to their question and So I just don't in time for that I don't want to be rude about it, but I just really don't have the time [to] read all [of] that information so I usually just hit delete and you know anybody who's celebrity I'm sure I'm not really a celebrity but I'm just giving [a] sample of anybody who is a celebrity I'm sure gets a same problem only you know hundred times worse than what I have and So I would just say when sending anybody an email that you don't know you need to keep it short and sweet if you develop A conversation going over something and you add more detail as it goes you know that's okay But I think when you're sending somebody you've never met before an email You need to keep it short and because I just don't have the time to read life histories in Order to answer a simple question about you know how much memory a computer will take or something So yeah, the ones I usually answer our stuff like oh, I have an iBook G4 [alarm beeping] Sorry about that. It's like oh, I have an iBook G4 for you know a 1.5, gigahertz or something like that How much memory you want to take well? I'd usually know stuff like that off the top of my head I'll just shoot them a quick answer or if they say hey, I've [got] this problem with my you know iBook or my [Macbook] and you know nine times out of ten I've experienced it before and I'll Shoot them [a] one or two sentence for plot telling them. You know send them all in the direction of how to fix that so Just an FyI if you ever send me an email, please keep it short and sweet. Thanks
