I am conviced it's somewhere on Ebay. Remind me again why I even bother visting that site? I rarely have good experiences but it's like a drug, I keep going back for more thinking I'm going to find a deal. Sometimes I feel like a battered wife and Ebay is my abusive husband-- I keep thinking things will change and they never will but somehow I keep holding out hope.

First example, my selling experiences. I have sold, ahem... attempted to sell, a whopping total of 3 items on Ebay and not because I have a lack of shit to sell. I think the problem was my Ebay ego was inflated too early on when I sold a box of free hair bleach.

I was astonished that my free hair bleach even received a view let alone multiple bids! It was some wacky coupon I sent into L'Oreal, I think it was, and they sent me some free hair dye sample. I thought maybe my mother would like it but it was hair bleach and she doesn't bleach her hair, so I thought, "I'll try to sell it on Ebay!" Apparently someone wanted it.

Then I found a great deal on a handbag I was sure would sell. Got a hell of a lot of views and a lot of "watchers" but no bids. $9 in listing fees down the toilet. Shit. Now I'm losing money.

Had another handbag I was sure would sell. Got one bid. Good enough for me. The buyer sends her e-check through Paypal. Waiting. Waiting. Then for some reason her whole account get's shut down. Just my luck. I got reimbursed the final sale fees, but another $5 bucks in listing fees gone. That's when I gave up selling on Ebay.

Onto my buying experiences....

I've had some successful transactions. Bought a few things. Found a few deals. But that was awhile ago. Then, of course, there have been the psycho sellers who provide a shitty overall experience and jump all over your case when you leave them less than stellar feedback.

I have found that overal, communication is extremely poor over there. It would be courteous to send your buyer an email to let them know you've shipped, but I find that rarely happens. Whenever I contact a seller on Ebay I feel like when I send my message it's literally gone into some black hole, never to be retrieved. Actually, I'm pretty sure that is what actually happens.

Previous Ebay transaction -- bid, win, pay. Seller somehow sends my item to a completely wrong person on the other side of the United States, who just happens to be nice enough to send it back but takes half of it?? So I am stuck with half an item and some extras the seller decided to throw in because of the trouble! Excellent. And still I go back...

My latest Ebay delight involved a pair of shoes. They weren't so much a great deal as that I couldn't find them anywhere, in stores or online, and had to have them. The price? Not so bad, but the seller practically raped me for the shipping. Now as an online seller, I know how much it costs to send items and it definitly did not cost $10 to ship a pair of shoes. In fact, well I received the shoes today and there's a big fat sticker for $5.50 postage on the container. Ugh! So I eagerly open them up. The idiot sent me the wrong size!! Needless to say, I am not a happy camper.

And they're really hot shoes too...