The Secret Lives of Buyers

So, I was telling a couple of my colleagues at work today that there is SO MUCH stuff that happens behind the scenes at the eBay store that I would LOVE to share in the blog, but can't for fear of offending my customers.  Kooky things.  Really and truly kooky things.  But also cool things.

Part of the reason I started this blog was after having traded on eBay a couple of times, I often ended a transaction wondering who the buyer was and why they wanted my item.  What they saw in it, whether they planned to wear it to a particular event, whether they were going to resell it, that sort of thing.  Transactions on eBay can be so ... ROBOTIC.  Silent, almost.  I don't do that.  I don't like that.  I break the silence, all the time.  Sometimes buyers like it, and sometimes they don't.

For example, whenever a buyer pays I let them know I received their payment and give them an estimate for when their item will ship.  Then I track their item to make sure it arrived, and once it shows up as having arrived I contact them again to make sure it was what they were expecting.  I don't do it to get them to leave feedback, it's just a way of handling anxiety but mostly a way to get a peek into my item's new home.

I'll give you an example.  I hope the buyer doesn't mind my sharing this with you.  I recently sold a very pretty article of clothing from a pseudo-designer mall brand that tends to be very expensive.  The garment was unique, partly because of the item itself but mostly because it was a couple of years old and no longer available.  When I contacted the buyer to check whether the item had arrived intact and whether they were pleased with their purchase, they told me they had actually wanted to buy that item when it first came out a few years ago but couldn't afford it then, so they couldn't believe their eyes when there it was listed on eBay!

That's the sort of stuff that makes my day!

Here's what I'm secretly hoping.  I'm secretly hoping one of my buyers will read my blog and leave me a comment!  I've always wanted to create a closer connection between the store-world and the blog world, but I haven't quite figured out how yet.  So, if you're one of my buyers and you're reading this, would you mind dropping me a "hi"?