I've been an ebay member since near its beginning, when item numbers had letters and numbers, and outages were commonplace. Ebay has grown, and I have aged. Even though I am now retired, I still treat this as a pleasant hobby and pasttime.

Every once in awhile I have to remind myself of its status, and not get too serious. Its great that I can put more time and energy into this when the need arises, but I can also kick back and slow down the listing pace when a break is needed, or when other parts of real life demand time and attention.

I try to be above fair and honest when it comes to dealing with others. I want to be the kind of dealer that I would want to buy from when I am shopping. Accurate and honest descriptions. Never hiding potential faults or defects in merchandise Fair, reasonable, and accommodating with shipping and handling.

It irks me to see the blatant abuses of the "reasonable handling charges" part of auction listings. I've given up trying to do anything about it, as responses from ebay prove their unwillingness to address the issue, and its not worth the aggravation of pursuing it when the "bosses" just don't care. I can only continue to ignore any and all listings that engage in the practice, no matter what they're selling.

One side note on postal insurance...... I almost always offer insurance, as some people insist on purchasing it. Personally, I don't think it is worth the expense on lower priced items for two reasons: (1) I could count on one hand the number of lost packages I have experienced in mailing over 8,000 items over the last few years, and (2) I don't think it would even be worth the hassle and time of filling out paperwork to try to recoup five or ten bucks. I do still offer the option. However, when an item sells for under (around) $15 or less, and the buyer pays for insurance, I will mark my spreadsheet as "self-insured", and will cover any loss personally. Please don't think I'm trying to cheat you, as you are covered, and with less headache than you would go through with usps.

Any questions or comments.... please email (no, I'm not looking for penpals!).

Thank you.....

Denis