Thursday

It was in the early 1990's when I met a good looking, tall, gold prospecting guy.  Just to be clear, the guy is not my husband today.

On our first date we went out for coffee, then a movie.  The strange choice was 'Aladdin' - the animated version with Robbin Williams as Aladdin's voice.  This was not a pre-thought out thing, but rather a choice of whimsey.  And there was nothing else great showing at the time anyway.

For our second meeting, I invited him to my flat;  he was on the road around my area so I thought, why not?  When it was time for him to leave we both knew there was a big attraction.  As I was walking with him to his car, he told me that he was going to visit his parents in Margaret River straight away and stay there for about a week, and he also had some prospecting business to attend to.  He BEGGED me to go with him!  As you can well imagine, I was a tad shocked, speechless and lastly, excited.  A tonne of things were going through my mind; who's going to look after my flat?  What do I tell me parents? Who's going to pay my bills?  What am I going bring/wear?  I kept giving him every excuse under the sun for minutes on end.  Until he broke me down.  I agreed to go.  

He then told me that he was going to arrange a plane flight for me for the following morning.  This is because he had a friend that flew domestic planes and lucky me, I got the princess treatment by being flown all by myself and for free!  Believe it or not, it was my very first time up in the air.  It was a four seater and it was so loud I had to wear ear muffs.  I started feeling a little queezy in the stomach and was not at all happy.  By the time we landed, I had full on nausea but as I was driven to his parents house it had settled somewhat.  What an experience!  All I could think of was 'never again by domestic plane'. 

I met the parents, the boyfriend was already there and I settled in nicely enough in a strange place.... it was almost like a dream when I think about it now.  By what I saw in the house, the mother was a dolphin freak.  Lots of dolphin pictures on the wall, dolphin books, ceramics etc.   Apart from the fact that I thought she was a little obsessed, she was a pleasant lady.  One particular day she took me around town and to some beaches while the boyfriend had some business to attend to.  We generally 'hung out' for most of the day and I think she enjoyed my company, as I did hers.

When it was time for us to go back to Perth, the boyfriend drove me back in his land cruiser.  It was a very long drive, but I don't remember much of it.  I must have blocked it out of my mind because it was such a long and boring drive.  We were on the road for HOURS.

The stranger thing is that after we got home, he dumped me a few days later.  It wasn't an ' I don't like you ' dump, but rather a ' things don't seem right ' dump.  I instantly thought the whole ordeal was very odd, but I accepted it graciously even thought he could tell I was very disappointed. 

A few months later I received a letter from his mother stating that she was sorry that it didn't work out between me and her son, which I thought was rather nice.  Inside the letter she had popped in a little book mark with a dolphin on it.  It did make me smile.  :)  A few weeks later, I got a phone call from the guy to see how I was doing.  He had told me how sorry he was and asked if he could come and see me.  While visiting all he could do was apologize, while I was simply aloof the whole time he was in my flat.  I think I was numb because I had blocked out the bad experience and just had absolutely no feelings toward him.  He then left and we both got on with our lives.

Years later I married.  We decided to go stay in a Margaret River chalet for a weekend.  I think there were about 12 chalets altogether and each one was named after a wine.  I can't remember what ours was called, but I do remember that I had never heard of it before and I hadn't ever again.  The place bought back a few fond memories and some bad ones, but I never let the bad ones ruin the time away in gorgeous Margaret River with hubby.  On the last day of our stay before heading back to Perth, our last stop was the Fudge Factory.  We certainly indulged in some fudge but boy it felt so good to be back home that night.

This is one of the little treasures we bought back with us.  A wooden dolphin.  :)

Wednesday

Yummy yarn, found for $1 per ball;

Acrylic, but surprisingly soft.

Mohair, or at least part mohair and feels lovely to the touch.

Pure cotton, it's nice, soft and not like those horrid stiff cottons.

And now for the obligatory let down. I didn't pay $1 for this next ball of pure wool, but rather 50 cents.  I really don't know why I did not carefully check it whilst at the op shop, I must have had brain mush at that particular moment (yes, it happens to the best of us).  After I got it home, this is what I found;

I think there must be about 10gm more or less, of short and long strands.  Thankfully the rest was ok.  Ugghh!  Please check your yarn thoroughly before purchasing at the op shop!

Saturday

Apart from the fact that I find some interesting things being thrown out by people, it never ceases to amaze me that fragile things are thrown out.  

You couldn't have passed it onto a family member, a friend, the next door neighbour, an enemy even?? No.  Straight onto the the rubbish heap!  

And what's more surprising is the fact that I find a lot of un-smashed glass.  I can picture it;  They walk out the front door holding something unwanted and fragile.  They place it lovingly onto their trash heap.  The trash collectors (usually men, because I've never in my whole life seen a woman trash collector) come along and throw everything in the rubbish truck.  Do you think they are going to lovingly pick it up and place every fragile item they find in a special 'fragile box' inside the truck?  I highly doubt it.   They don't care as long as they get the job done and then go home already!

Having said all that... I am grateful to the people out there that gently place their unwanted fragile things onto their trash piles... for people like me to enjoy.  :)

Free 'Music & Light' martini glass (by Luigi Bormioli of Italy glassware), intact with absolutely no chips or cracks - perfect.  A set of four will set you back $35 and possibly more.

Free belt attachments etc.... from a a belt that was being thrown away.  I nearly tossed the whole thing in the trash bin after I bought this home - but something stopped me.  I'm guessing you can see what that was.  I'm sure I can use these for something!  I'm pretty sure these all all brass.  Too bad if I'm wrong.  ;)

How cute.  These Diamantes were attached to the back of a shoe that was being trashed (surprise, surprise!), but it was a big pity that I couldn't find the second shoe.  Yes, I did wash my hands after handling the shoe!

Wednesday

Wednesday... it's one of those words that I've always struggled to spell right.  The 'dnes' always gets me, confuses me, perplexes me.  I don't know why. 

Enough of this oddity....

As I was saying yesterday about eBay, the buyer is the one with the upper hand or covered, so to speak.  They are happy little chappies that know they won't loose anything if they don't receive an item that they've paid for, whether the seller is some kind of scammer or not.  Some might even take advantage of that fact.  How?  All you have to do is get into the warped mind of a dishonest person.  Put yourself in their shoes by pretending you are one right now;

 

You bid on an item and you've decided that you really don't want to pay for it.

You win the item, you do actually pay for it BUT then even though you've received the item... you tell the seller that you never received it, or it arrived broken, or not what you thought it was.  You live somewhere across the country, so do you think the buyer is going to come to your house to check it out?  No.  Can they prove you have actually received the item or was not broken on arrival?  No.  You have the upper hand, you poor excuse for a human being.  (lol)

If you are an eBay seller you'll understand what I'm on about.  If you are a buyer, you are oblivious to some facts.  Now please understand that I am talking about the Australia eBay only.  As for the other countries, I'm not entirely familiar with their rules.  So here are some fact that you may or may not have known;

What happens if you are a (disgruntled) buyer

1.  You place a bid on the item and you're offered standard postage, which means it's not registered and you can't track it before it arrives to your destination.  You're offered registration / tracking at your own expense (it says within the listing or you may receive an email after you've won the item).

2.  You win the item. 

3.  You decide to not spend the extra $3.05 (W.A. cost) on registration / tracking - and that's fine, nobody can force you to.  The item is then sent via standard postage which takes 4 or 5 working days.

4.  For some unknown reason, the item does not reach you after 4 or 5 working days.  The seller asks you to please be patient and wait a few more days.  Yes, parcels may be misplaced within Australia Post or some other reasons - accidents always happen.  

5.  You still have not received your item after a week or more.  The item mysteriously disappears into thin air and can't be tracked by Australia Post, simply because you did not want the registration / tracking option.  You start getting antsy, blame the seller and get annoyed so you contact the seller again to see what's going on.  The seller doesn't have much of an answer for you because they aren't the ones personally delivering the item and all they did was send the item unregistered as instructed by you.

6.  You are now really annoyed that you've paid for an item that you never received and hey, fair enough.

7.  After a certain time frame, you decide to start a dispute claim with eBay to get your money back.  (eBay does tell the seller to try and fix the 'dispute' within eBay, but some sellers prefer to let eBay fix the problem which is also legit).

8.  Eventually you are compensated either through eBay, or Paypal if this is how you paid for your item.  Yay and happy days for you.

What happens if you are a (not-guilty) seller

1.  Somebody bids on your item and you are offering standard postage, which means it is not registered and you can't track it before it arrives to the buyers destination.  You offer them registration / tracking within the listing or you may send them an email offering it after they've won the item.

2.  They win the item. 

3.  They decide not to choose to spend the extra $3.05 (W.A. cost) on registration / tracking - and that's fine, nobody can force them but it makes you a little nervous.  The item is sent via standard postage which takes 4 or 5 working days and in the back of your mind you wonder if the item will reach its destination and if so, will it be broken / damaged / tampered with?

4.  Your intuition was spot on.  For some unknown reason, the item does not reach the buyer after 4 or 5 working days and they contact you.  You know they are upset so you kindly and gently ask them to please be patient and wait a few more days, just in case.  Yes, parcels may be misplaced within Australia Post or some other unexplained reasons - accidents always happen etc.  

5.  They still have not received the item after a week or more.  It mysteriously disappears into thin air and can't be tracked by Australia Post, simply because the buyer did not want the registering option.  They start getting antsy, blame you and get annoyed so they contact you again to see what's going on.  You don't have much of an explanation because you aren't the one delivering the item and all you did was send the item unregistered as instructed by them.

6.  The buyer is now really annoyed that they've paid for an item that they never received and hey, fair enough.

7.  After a certain time frame, they decide to start a dispute claim with eBay to get their money back.

8.  Eventually they are compensated either through eBay or Paypal if this is how they paid for the item. 

But hey, eBay buyers... have you ever wondered who repays you for your undelivered items AND postage?  Do you think it's eBay or Paypal that kindly gives you your money back?  Do you think they are that kind?  Not so.  What they do is take it from me, to give back to you!  I loose money, and sometimes lots of it.  Now I ask you, who's fault is this?  I asked you if you wanted it registered for $3.05, a small price to pay when you think about it, but you didn't want it.

Of course I know most of you don't care... after all, you will always be compensated.  But please show a little compassion for me, because I will never be compensated by anybody because of your choice.

 Now... I'm not saying I've lost a lot of money by selling, but I was close to it and this is what happened; but firstly you will have to understand that I've recently had my eyes check and I need reading glasses desperately, which I'm actually picking up tomorrow.  

So a lady put a bid on one of my items last month and won.  I lovingly wrapped the item, went to the post office and sent off her goods, unregistered.  After about a week (maybe a few days more) she emailed to say that she still hadn't received her goods.  I asked her to please wait a few days more, just in case.  I was very worried because it should have taken no more than 5 working days of course. 

She waited.  And waited some more.  We were keeping in touch in the meantime and she never once sounded annoyed, but was rather understanding.  Thank goodness for the more intelligent people out there.  Almost two weeks passed and I had just come home and noticed a package in front of my door.  Oh! I got something delivered, I thought.  No.  It was the returned package from Australia Post!!!  On it was a sticker with the reason for its return - 'address unknown'.  

What???  The husbeast and I did some quick research and found that not only did I miss a number within her post box number, but I also got a number wrong within her post code.  My mouth dropped to the floor.  In all my life I have never gotten an address wrong AND to that extent!

I was embarrassed to say the least so the first thing I did was notify her to explain everything.  Yes, those new reading glasses will be very welcomed  tomorrow!  So I went to the post office the next day to re-send the goods, but unfortunately I had to pay for the postage again and out of my own pocket.  

The only good thing that came out of this is that the postage didn't cost a lot, and at least I didn't have to pay her for the 'missing item' as well.  It was only last night when I found her truthful but positive feedback - thankfully she received it this time.  :)

What a big lesson that was.  I've rectified this problem though.  I now automatically add the $3.05 registration cost within the postage cost.  My postage cost may look like daylight robbery even though it's not, but at least it covers ME.  

My moto is 'if you don't want to pay for registration, then don't bid!'  Simple as that, right?  For those of you who don't know what registration is;

It firstly allows both parties to track the parcel (where is it at the moment?), and secondly (and very important for me) is that if the item goes missing (or it breaks in transit) and Australia Post cannot locate it after a certain time, I am compensated for up to $100AU.  I can only stress that you say yes when this option is given to you, simply because it helps both parties.  You will always be compensated - yes, but if you choose the option, I will also be compensated.  Can't you do this just to be respectful, to empathize / sympathize or just simply care for another human being, at the very least? 

And Australia Post.... oh Australia Post.  Where do all those missing parcels and letters go?  Into a black hole?  Theft within the company?  They won't and can't explain it.  We SELLERS pay for their mistakes. 

The moral to this story is please think twice about eBay sellers from now on.  

Understand that if you see inflated postage, it might be because it's going to be sent registered.

Since selling on eBay, I've have a new appreciation for other eBay sellers simply because I now know how it works.   I hope I've given you some good advice today, or at least you now have a better understanding, with fresh new eyes.

Tuesday

My collecting of things has slowed down in the past 6 months or so and it's a good thing.  Everywhere I look there is something taking up space in our home.  For us, space is valuable so I really have no business buying anything else, well not for a very long time anyway.  This occurred to me several months ago, after I was searching for something really important and could not find it.  I was frustrated and I was fuming!  'Something has to be done!' - my mind yelled at me!  

So I bit the bullet and opened up an eBay sellers account.  The husbeast already had a buyers account, so he added selling onto it.  Then a few weeks later, I opened up a second account.  Between the two accounts, we can list 30 items per calender month.  yay!  Now I can off load a few things and make a buck or two in the process.  I'm so very please with myself.  But don't think it's been an easy task, oh no - because buyers and bidders are few apart.  I certainly don't claim to have made a big bundle of money (yet), but what I have made is quite good.  

It's true we all love a bargain and when we see something for 99 cents on eBay, we SQUEEEE, don't we?  Unfortunately I wouldn't be making anything if that was my starting bid was 99 cents for everything, and I'd be loosing if anything at all.  I'd even go as far as to say that I'd be PAYING YOU to take it from me!  (lol).

If I list my items for 99 cents a sellers fee will come out of that AND a paypal fee would come out of that also.  What am I left with?  20 cents?  50 cents?  It's besides the point of selling, donchathing?  People that have a tonne of items like businesses and shops do ok with this I'm guessing, but it doesn't make any sense for casual seller like me.  

People that have been bidding on my stuff have been the ones that see worth in my items, thankfully.  And don't forget, 99 cents will never guarantee that you are going to get a good quality item!  

I've learned a thing or two in the last few months as a seller.  One very important thing I've learned is the fact that the buyers are more protected than the seller.  I will share what I mean tomorrow, because I'm now very late for a very important date!

Two gorgeous genuine bone china mini plates found for 99 cents each.  Wow, I really love these!

Talk about a bargain - and that's the type of bargain you want to find, right?

Monday

I can't for the life of me remember if I've already posted about this free yellow vase.  Never mind, I'll show it again.  

When I found this, I was perplexed as to why anybody would ditch a perfectly nice vase.  When I looked closer, it was plain to see why. 

What a big shame!  I kept it anyway and unless you turn it around, you don't know there is a heartbreaking chip on its base.   Without all the dust on it, it's still a nice piece.

On a different note....

I purchase some really lovely plates months ago from an op shop.  I will go more into the plates at a later stage.  For now, what I'd like to show is what I got WITH the plates for free.  

Plate holders, also called plate stands but I'm only showing you half of what I actually have.  Pretty exciting to a person that collects plates of course!  I had asked the lady at the counter if I purchased the plates, would she throw in the plate holders for free.  No doubt she said yes and I was very pleased.


And one more thing for today.....  
Free (breast cancer awareness) Avon Teddy!!!

Thursday

Allow me to show you my newest purchase from eBay - but keep in mind this is a rarity for me.  It's one of those things I just had to have or else!  

$12 including postage got me this lovely Avon gold tone and porcelain heart locket with chain and also with original box all the way from the U.S.  

Isn't she pretty?  I love wearing this... and my mother also thinks it's sweet.