@shopnyc - wow, long time in NYC, I'm envious! Some time ago, I lived on Long Island and commuted to my job in Manhattan. I was crazy enough to love it so much that I thought I should be paying them to let me have an office in the sky LOL. I loved every minute there....now I think I would feel differently because the city has changed so much.
More recently, I lived in another large metro area, but still had a car, so I hear you on the adjustment....now my driving is measured in distance vs. time...I am acclimating, slowly.
Later this morning I will head to one of the big farmers markets in this area, so at least I will get some walking in there.
When I lived in the other city, I always applied for airport shops, since I lived close to a huge airport, but never got them...I had a feeling they had long time shoppers they used for those, but still kept posting them.

I also recently lived in Florida...shopping was lucrative there - not as many shoppers in the area I was in....I found one crazy route where there were like 10 Circle K gas stations within 5 miles of each other. I have never found those kind of clusters in the north. Same with restaurants.....probably because we don't have as many tourists and visitors here.
I can tell from reading the various posts, that msing definitely varies dramatically from location to location.

@ServiceAward
Thank you for all the helpful insider tips....
I've had pretty good luck so far, I think...probably because almost nothing I buy there is urgent for me, they mostly fall in the category of nice to have on hand....and I try very hard to avoid clutter, so I am choosy I guess.
but I have one more question if you don't mind....
you mentioned having items sit on the site for quite awhile....does eBay charge you any ongoing fees just to keep a listing active? or do they only collect a fee when you sell?

I do have a few things I would like to sell, so I need to learn how to do that...

@sueac101 - wow you have a lot of experience with merchandising. I've always wondered how that pays
in comparison to mystery shopping.
I think I've written the story here before, but I only have one experience with merchandising.
In the early 90s, I rode with a friend who used to do a route for those, all around the state....miles and miles. In addition to payment, he also got reimbursed mileage, all meals and hotels. This was pre-internet, so I don't remember how he got into it. His trunk was full of boxes of inserts and flyers and I helped him at each grocery store. It's hard to picture a similar arrangement now, but maybe they exist.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

@sueac101 - wow you have a lot of experience with merchandising. I've always wondered how that pays
in comparison to mystery shopping.
I think I've written the story here before, but I only have one experience with merchandising.
In the early 90s, I rode with a friend who used to do a route for those, all around the state....miles and miles. In addition to payment, he also got reimbursed mileage, all meals and hotels. This was pre-internet, so I don't remember how he got into it. His trunk was full of boxes of inserts and flyers and I helped him at each grocery store. It's hard to picture a similar arrangement now, but maybe they exist.

When I started it was pre-internet days, everything was done by snail mail. I got started in it when I took a neighbor to the state employment office, while waiting for her I was looking at the job boards and saw an ad for a merchandiser for Huffy, the bicycle company. It was their merchandising division, so didn't do bicycles. at the time I had just closed my hobby store and was looking for work anyway. I called them and did a phone interview and was hired. The job paid $7.00 an hour, plus mileage, plus travel time between the stores. And if we had a reset that was not close to home, and it would be a 12 hour or more job they paid for a hotel for the night. I had a route that went from Ontario, Oregon to Mountain Home, Idaho. Which was 125 miles one way. I mostly did K-marts on a weekly basis. Then later we got Albertsons for jobs and as the area grew, we got more stores. When I started, you were not allowed to work for any other merchandising companies at the same time. After about 5 years it changed, and you could work for more than one company at the same time. At one time I was working for 10 companies. When I quit due to health problems, I mainly was doing the Boise area and a few surrounding cities. Unfortunately, the pay rate has not gone up with the times. One company I worked for never gave raises started out at $10 hour and when I quit 15 years later it was still $10 hour. I heard that they just raised the pay to $15 hour.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2024 09:56PM by sueac101.

sueac, thank you for sharing your story.
On a side note, it just proves what I've noticed over the years....working, for the most part, is just not as lucrative as it used to be...

Well.. I did a thing. One I swore I wasn't going to do, but 6 months of begging for rides in a car with no AC in the hottest part of the year, wore me down. I traded in the POS Jeep on a running car.. Lets see how this goes. I'm independent again, I have AC, and the car only has 55K miles on it. I'm not unhappy..

Okie, so glad to see you are managing your health...and your A1C is in line! great news!

as we know, the rewards are there. I lost my mom last year to Type II...or rather, complications of Type II....which she had for 30 years...so I watched her situation evolve over the decades...and I miss her so much. She didn't manage her disease except to take her meds - so no real lifestyle changes.
When I read about the meds now available for her illness, it's so bittersweet...bitter because hers was so advanced that they would not have reversed her situation....sweet because we now have big hope for others who deal...maybe I'm making an outrageous claim here but I believe peptides will eradicate metabolic disease in the coming decades.
Her case was somewhat odd though, diagnosed young and seemingly not genetic in nature - none of us in the family have had to deal with it...not her parents or siblings, nor any of her children. One of her endocrinologists said sometimes this happens, just happens.

I know what you mean about keeping it all together....health, finances, peace, joy, friendship....sometimes for me, life feels like a juggling act lol....a big one, complicated one too sometimes....
I filed for an extension this year, so I am reminded that October 15 is coming and it's causing me a bit of stress.

We're all here in this together...Carry on the good work, mate

I am sure you can....we have so much more data now to look to for, for guidance. I am convinced my mom would still be here if GLP1 drugs had been available sooner. She was always a light eater, a reasonably healthy eater, but could never overcome her sweet tooth....and you know - the more something is considered forbidden, the more we crave it. Human brains are often wacked.
Best to you....I think adulting is overrated lol.

circling back to the eBay topic....I do not completely understand how the shipping is priced.
I get that it's USPS and there are categories set by USPS.
But some sellers will charge $8 to ship me something and another seller will charge $16 for the same item.
Further, USPS does not guarantee their Priority Mail packages.
I pay the same whether they take 3 days or 11 days to reach me (recent, real life examples)

@BarefootBliss wrote:

circling back to the eBay topic....I do not completely understand how the shipping is priced.

Service will comment in 3...2...1... -lol-

@Okie wrote:

I was wondering where he's been. Beetlejuice, beetlejuice eBay, eBay

Don't believe it when he says I've been monopolizing his time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2024 10:41PM by drdoggie00.

wow, lots of data - thanks!
Ok, I think I get it now....since eBay knows a buyer's zip code, I might get a different shipping price quote than someone who lives closer to the seller.
I thought the shipping price was the same for all buyers.

It just initially seemed as if the shipping price was overly inflated to increase profit - and I was thinking - just adjust the price.

Poshmark just announced they're rolling back their buyer protection fees...must have gotten pushback on that.

Thanks for the shipping explanation. I was looking at a particular kind of tote bag that I was interested in buying. Exact same item - one seller showed $20 to ship it to me, another only $10.

Thank you for the snapshot from across the other side. I have sold on eBay, but not often....same with Poshmark, I am a very very part time seller. I am more of a buyer, so I see things from that perspective.
I have never left a negative review on any selling platform because if there's a problem, I first work it out with the platform or the seller, depending on the details.
There are two more platforms I've noticed recently: DePop, and Thred Up.
Easy money for them I guess. Even easier if they don't really provide any assistance.
Even though it's not a platform, I can't stand dealing with PayPal. They are the worst at offering any kind of assistance.
Amazon is getting there....omg all you have to do is read the Prime reddit. The horror stories started about a year ago and they're only getting worse. I guess they've changed their policies.
Facebook, Amazon, Walmart - all too big to fail...so what do they care lol.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2024 11:30AM by BarefootBliss.

oh on the comment about buyers who think you are Amazon..here's the issue.
Clothes and footwear are a big category on selling platforms.
Everybody knows you can't really tell fit in advance because each manufacturers uses different metrics, unfortunately.
Ok, ding a buyer who wants to return a known commodity like a piece of hardware or a game or book, etc.
but clothing? shoes? there needs to be a separate return policy - given the circumstances, one that is fair to both sides.,,,or maybe those items shouldn't be sold online at all - but good luck because brick and mortar places have been disappearing.

I give you credit. I don't like dealing with the general public, quite honestly.
You ought to develop a course and sell it to would-be new sellers on various platforms.
You have so much important knowledge and guidance with your experience.

PS/Amazon has recently taken to simply permanently banning repeat offenders. I assume other sellers could do that somehow?