Cheap Jewelry Beads and Supplies

Cheap Jewelry Beads and Supplies

Don't Scoff - Save!

Before I got into this jewelry making supplies business, I was a much more unbiased person. I was a hobbyist and I loved whenever I came across a good bargain or a bead store. But in the last year, I had become a bit of a snob. And now, thank goodness, I have come back to a more balanced, practical, and useful frame of mind.

Cheap Jewelry Supplies? Not for me.

This last year, I had been steadily turning my nose up at the cheap jewelry supplies and beads. I only wanted the "real" things. And I thought my customers would too.

But it was not until late in the year when I finally turned back to actually making jewelry and stuff again that I realized the value of those cheap (aka economy) supplies.

Cheap Does Not Mean Low Quality

First of all, in jewelry making and in most of the field of creative crafts, there is always something new to learn. And endless experimentation. You have an idea in your head? It sometimes takes multiple tries for the realized product to be anywhere near what was conceptualized in the mind.

And as I got back into making things, I quickly realized that it was very costly and impractical to be using expensive supplies like Swarovski beads and findings, sterling sliver and good pieces. What I really needed was good but economical supplies that would inject a sense of freedom (from the worry of the cost of supplies) while I learnt new techniques and experimented in various ideas.

And I am glad I got this lesson. Because as I got back into obtaining more economical goods, I was also surprised by the changes in this area during the time that I had been "away".

The newest looks and innovative offerings in beads and findings and notions always seem to appear first in the economical range. And they continue to innovate with a pleasing and astounding rate. And the quality of many of these items have actually gotten much better since I last looked into it.

Best of Both Worlds

So now, as far as my craft and jewelry supplies store is concerned, I will try and cater both the higher end and the economical range of supplies. The latter will be fully vetted - I will only get supplies that I myself would be happy to use, that are quality goods but offer a huge savings over the higher end stock.

I myself will continue to use both ends of the spectrum as obviously they do meet different requirements. And last but not least, I hope that it will be of help to my customers - many of them jewelry and craft makers themselves - as it could also free them up from the worry of high costs - especially while they are testing out new techniques and creative ideas.

Cliff Brunton Auction

Cliff Brunton Auctions

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the last auction offered up by Cliff Brunton in Sydney, Australia and it was very instructional in more ways than I expected.

For those of you who might not know of Cliff Brunton - he is like a costume designer extraordinaire to the stars. He was responsible for the creation of costumes for productions including Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. And after a lifetime in costume design and manufacture, proprietor Cliff Brunton closed the doors of his famous Costume Design Centre. The auction went off successfully, selling off his stock that ran into thousands of costumes including Roman, Egyptian, Medieval, Victorian, Space and all costuming from the C19th until today; thousands of meters of sequin & dress fabric, vinyl and leather skins, beaded, antique, velvets, lycra, and cotton; tens of thousands meters of braids in thousands of designs including original 1920s & 30s sequin, beaded, & metallic. And many more - too many to list here.

I ended up with some really gorgeous 1920s tassle trimmings and lots of vintage, mouth-watering braidings especially suitable for the precious occasion of weddings and for bridal wear & accessories. These braidings were mostly from stock that Cliff had purchased from a company in New York, USA years ago and which now no longer exists. Hence they are not only beautiful pieces but they are no longer obtainable. These are the kinds of braidings that one can find on vintage Christian Dior dresses.

But what I really want to talk about here is what you can get at auctions and also about the people who attend these auctions. First the people ..

I had a lot of time to look around and observe as the auction was very long drawn (up to 644 separate lots and the auction ran the whole day). What most struck me straight off was how smiles were as rare as hen's teeth at the auctions. If you didn't know anyone, no one would return your smile. It seemed as if people's faces were frozen into immobility. I am talking about the attendees and not the staff who were friendly enough. It made me wonder why people seemed so unfriendly and frozen.

The most obvious conclusion was that they were all competing against each other and hence must consider each other almost like enemies. However having gotten a chance to overhear some of them during the pre-auction inspection, I realized that this was not so. Even people who didn't know each other did not mind sharing their thoughts and opinions as to the price and viability of a piece under inspection. So their frozen unfriendly faces and eyes must be due to something else. Which I soon found out for myself as the auction progressed.

Let me just say that it was not as if one did not hear laughter and talk amongst the bidders during the auction. But this was mostly amongst people who knew each other or friends who had come together. While the frozen faces kept keeping me puzzled. There were also two young girls there as well - maybe in their twenties - and even they had frozen faces.

It is also very easy to spot new comers and experienced attendees. The new comers have a puzzled look and uncertainty in their movements as to what to do. The "old-timers" have the frozen looks.

Anyway as the auction progressed and it came time for the auction to move onto the goodies I wanted and for which I made bids, the frozen mystery was solved for me. It is a natural reaction. When you are the bidder, your face freezes. You might think it is so that your competitors cannot see how eager or desperate you are for a specific item. But that is only a small portion of it. I realized that what is going on was that we instinctively freeze all emotions out of our faces not so much due to our competitors (who truth be told, have no time to look at anyone else being focused in maintaining their own frozen calm) but more to the fact that one is afraid of displaying emotion - especially of disappointment, regret, jubilation, etc. It so reminded me of those times when one has to talk about something very emotional and one tries very hard not to let those emotions and trembling lips show on the surface. So that was the mystery of the frozen faces!

Sadly, for the regular attendees, I think that the frozen faces become almost ingrained and set permanently. I used to attend auctions like 20 years ago and observed the same phenomenon. And though this time, the bidders had changed, their immobile faces were identical.

But onto the good news for anyone who wants to attend auctions, let me just say, you should. It is lots of fun.

Before the Cliff Brunton auctions commenced, an earlier auction for furniture started and I wandered over for a look. Boy, can you get great bargains. And this is even more so if you are buying for yourself as opposed to being a re-seller.

I saw this eight seating, solid pine, semi-vintage dining table being auctioned off. It was well made, no termite infestation, beautifully aged. And it went for AUD100! What an absolute bargain. A table like that in the right shop can fetch up close to the $1,000 dollar mark.

There there were 3 white leather footstools. Brand new. And soft, soft leather. Each of them went for $30! You cannot buy one of those for less than a 3-figure amount.

So dear reader, if you ever get a chance to attend an auction, you really must give it a go. It is another world all together and might prove a very lucrative one for you.

Ebay Ashamed of their Feedback Rating?

What is Ebay's Feedback Rating Anyway?

Almost every, if not all, auction/marketpool selling venue on the internet has some feedback mechanism. Usually it is a two-way street - i.e. sellers about buyers, buyers about sellers. The big exception that I know of is ebay (but of course) who in recent years decided in their "infinite wisdom" that sellers did not have the right to leave feedback about their buyers. All very well and good since eBay holds the ball and whip.

I will be talking about eBay in particular here even though my comments could I suppose, apply to other similar venues. That there are other similar venues is important to the point I want to raise shortly. And I am also going to be talking about eBay because that is one venue I am most familiar with and unfortunately, eBay continues to be the biggest marketshare holder in this particular type of industry - i.e. providing a common venue for buyers and sellers.

Now I presume that there is much fairness and benefits to all parties that there are feedback ratings on sellers. I, as a buyer, rely on it quite extensively albeit, almost unconsciously. And as a seller, it is useful feedback to hear what your customers have to say - be it good or not so good.

More importantly, I think that the buyers, because they are spending their hard earned cash with any one seller, has the right to know something about the products, services, and efficiency of the seller that they will be handing their money over to. So if you are going to spend some money with me, you have a right to know what others have thought about my products and services. That is fair isn't it? Because if I continuously give bad service, then you have the right and the chance to find another seller of similar goods and give your hard earned cash to them instead. All a matter of money ... which brings me to my point.

Since our customers have a right to get some feedback about our offerings because they have a right to choose where they want to spend their money, we as customers of eBay, should have a right to give and see public feedback about eBay - their performance, their service, and what their customers think of them. Don't we?

Whether you are a buyer or a seller on ebay, every move you make, every transaction you undertake, you are putting ka-ching into the ebay coffers. But that payment is the most obvious from the sellers' link with ebay. As a seller, you pay to put your items up (i.e. advertise on ebay), and you pay if you want to have a storefront on ebay, or to use some of their packaged services (of which there are a multitude) - in other words, sellers are buying products and services from eBay. And of course, you pay if your sale is successful. So in a very direct sense, we sellers are direct customers of eBay.

Then shouldn't we also have the right to leave feedback about eBay and for that feedback to be public? Don't we have a right to know what previous/existing customers think about this seller (i.e. ebay) so that we can make informed choices as to whether we want to use their products and services? And even more so, since there are other "sellers" of similar services out there, this feedback will give us a chance to choose or not choose another seller of similar offerings - just like our customers do with our offerings. Isn't that the whole purpose of feedback ratings?.

Right now, of course there is some feedback about ebay. But it their own hidden, private data. They collect this via their Customer Support Questionnaire (and you already know what I think of ebay's Customer Support) and they certainly don't share it with us, their customers. To think of the amount of money we spend via our continuous payments to ebay, you would think that we would have some rights in being able to see feedback about them!

So all this just begats the question: Is ebay too ashamed of feedback about them that they dare not honestly share it with the public? Sure seems that way. "What is good for the goose ...." philosophy certainly doesn't seem to apply to them, does it?

Ebay Customer Support - A Joke

eBay Customer Service - A Joke

Just in recent times, I have had another head-on encounter with ebay. Needless to say, I don't have to declare who the winner was as I sit here in my lonely loser corner.

ebay took down a number of my listings saying that the Titles I choose were infringing their policies, in particular, "keyword spamming".

I had a number of jewelry pieces that featured charms specifically for the Twilight fans. They included hearts, apples, initials of main characters, wolf, lion, lambs, and other related charms. Ebay said that to write "Twilight bracelet ..." was considered "keyword spamming" due to the use of the word "Twilight".

Let me just note at this point that my listings were not taken down as a result of the VeRO programme (whereby the official holder of a copyright or trademark, in a behind-the-scenes agreement with ebay has the right to ask ebay to take down listings which they consider an infringement on their rights). So no legal holder had actually complained about my listings.

Nonetheless, I could more or less see the point ebay was trying to make and I was (forced) to take one of their tutorials concerning "keyword spamming". In that tutorial, they said that their main aim was:

• to provide users with a meaningful and relevant search/buying experience
• ensure Titles and search results were not misleading

One of their recommended, illuminating example they gave in the tutorial was that if someone wanted to sell a generic coffee filter that fitted the Sunbeam coffee makers, the seller could not write in his title "Sunbeam filter ..." or anything that would give viewers the impression that the filter was made by Sunbeam.

Here is the clincher though: Ebay states that the seller could legitimately write as his title "Coffee filters - fits Sunbeam". That, they said, was okay as it was not misleading to the buyer as the seller clearly states what he is selling and its functionality while not wrongly misleading the buyer into thinking that the item was made by Sunbeam.

So having that cleared up for me, I changed the titles of my jewelry pieces to this format: ".. charm bracelet for Twilight fans". No where do I suggest, hint, boldly state that this was an official Twilight piece of jewellery. However I thought (especially given the tutorial example from ebay) that my titles were fair. Buyers in search of these kinds of Twilight related jewelry would be able to find it and see clearly that it is not an official piece of Twilight jewelry but one that was created for Twilight fans.

Well after letting it run for a week or two, ebay once again took down my corrected-titled listings. For the same reason - I was "keyword spamming" and could not use the word "twilight". Imagine. Now even the use of the word "twilight" was prohibited!

I naturally wrote back to ebay. And I didn't even complain about the scores and scores of listings that blatantly infringed that particular policy and were using the "Twilight" word in misleading ways. No, all I asked them was to please help me out.

I had ploughed through their tutorials, done what they asked, changed my titles accordingly, ... but nothing seemed to please them. So maybe they could suggest to me specifically how I could write one of my titles while maintaining these aims:

• that buyers can find my items if they were looking for pieces of jewelry that were dedicated to Twilight fans
• without misrepresentation

Almost 2 days later, I finally got a reply. It said they were happy I wrote in, would be happy to help, but I had to send them an email from the email that was registered on ebay. Slow response but ok. I did that.

Another almost 2 days later, same cut-and-paste answer from ebay.

So this time, I changed my registered email address on ebay, then I rewrote to them from that email address.

Guess what? Within 1-2 days (no one can accuse them of being speedy, that's for sure), another response from ebay. This time, it was a Customer Support Survey request. It stated that I had recently written in to them so could I please give them some feedback as to the level of support I received. Did I find their service good? Did they answer my questions? Did they resolve my problems? Was the customer representative helpful?

What can you say to this?!! Of course I did their survey. Of course I let them know that my questions had not even been attended to. And that I had only received cut-and-paste answers so far.

The gall of them ... to send me a Customer Support Survey when they had not even helped me out in the least bit. Impressive? Yes, only in how lousy their tracking of issues is.

Needless to say, a week and more since then and I have heard nothing from ebay. Great Customer Support indeed.

Ebay's 911 Attack on Sellers

Ebay's 911 Attack on Sellers

Feebay attacks again

Ebay is on the move again to make you love to hate it. In an email to all sellers ~ an email that is an insult to our intellect ~ they are announcing that as of 10 September 2009, they are providing "improvements" to their Australian ebay sellers with their "new Stores packages". So really, though they have tried to avoid the exact date, it is a 11 September attack where ebay has taken the leading role of being Osama bin Ladin.

They couch their changes in deceptive terms of "offering" us "volume discounts and value you've been asking for." (WHO? WHO has been asking for these changes? Not me, that's for sure and it must be an imbecile who would actually ask for such changes as they are telling us they will be imposing.) And certainly they are not "offering" us sellers these new Stores packages ~ they are "imposing" it on us. Just like they did in the past with the 500% price hike a few years ago, like they imposed on us sellers the inability to leave feedback about our buyers, like they tried to impose on sellers the inability to offer any other payment method but the ebay-owned PayPal option (but thanks to the intervention of Australian ACCC, they failed in that devious ploy).

In the supposed "Community" ebay Forum at: http://forums.ebay.com.au/topic/Big-News-Changes/New-Fees-Huge/500112554&start=0, where some discussions are starting amongst more alert sellers, I posted the following reply to the post "New Fees = Huge increase for small sellers!". My post below was removed by ebay within 20 minutes of my posting (If only their Customer Service was as speedy and as efficient, one could almost forgive them their continuous, increasingly underhanded price hikes. But as I said before, ebay Customer Support is a Joke.)

And here is a breakdown worked out by seller sincomau in the same discussion board thread mentioned above.

Summary

One does not have to spend hours to work out the specifics and variables. The bottom line is, if you are a seller, you have a 99% chance of being "offered" to death by this new ebay move. If we decide to continue to be ebay's customers (what a joke), we are in essence, deciding to work for them at reduced income and soaring fees. And if anyone is foolish enough, as I have been on more than one occasion in the past, to think that if I can only modify my pricing/business structure and if I can survive this, I will be all right ~~ let me tell you now that is an empty pipe dream. Every year or so, ebay will continue to do something outrageous which leaves anyone who is objective and thinking clearly, to have to conclude that surely ebay must be trying to kill itself in the long run.

What to do if you are an ebay Seller?

Here are some suggestions. I have been with ebay since 2006. I have had 3 stores on ebay over that time. One had a Silver Power Seller status, the other a Bronze. I might not have seen all of ebay's descent to what they are today but in the time I have been with them, after thousands of transactions and many more thousands of dollars paid to ebay ... I think I certainly have a little insight of what one can, or at least, should do.

• If you have not selling on ebay ~ DON'T! The hardest part is not the starting or the few fees you might have to pay to try and sell a few items. It is when you plan on ebay as your stable platform and so start on a process of investing a lot of money, time, effort, and thought. Before you know it, you are paying a few hundred to a few thousand per month to ebay (for being what is only a small to very medium sized seller) and worse, you have a huge amount of stock. Then when ebay pulls one of their stunts, you feel you are in quicksand. You can't pull out because of your heavy investment (some have even given up jobs in the false belief that ebay can sustain them for the long haul) and you can only go on by increasing prices and losing customers, or by working even harder than you already were.
• If you are already selling on ebay and own a store ~ if you can, pull out now. It only gets worse and worse each year. And if you don't believe me, then you will have to do what I have done ~ spend the next few years learning the hard way with your hard-earned dollars.
• If you are selling on ebay but cannot pull out ~ start today to make plans to diversify. Even if the planning is just in your head, start today. There are still other sites like Oztion (for Australians) which, though it has not grown as big as ebay, does offer you a HUGE cost differential. And they do not charge for listing fees ~ which is really where the Killer cost is (or biggest money earner - if you are ebay).
• Other options are building your own website. Yes, all this will take time and effort as well. But believe me, in a year's time, you will be in this same situation again with ebay doing another thing that cuts into your heart and profits and sustainability ~ and if you have none nothing about moving away from ebay ~ you will be in the same trap as you are now, only worse. Because really, if you are like me ~ working 10-12 hours a day, how many more hours can you work?

I really believe that ebay has grown into a mega monster without heart. But I can't say we need to be too surprised as most organisations, when they reach the listed-on-stock-exchange size, they are just dead-hearted greedy monsters with eyes only on profit. So if the other sites have any chance to help us small sellers out, then we need to move en masse. Just like ebay grew on people-power, like Iran having a chance for their future based on people-power, like the toppling of the Berlin wall, and on and on ... it must come down to all the little people moving in another direction that is better for them. And that direction has to be away from huge money-hungry monster that ebay has now become.

Goodbye Ebay

Goodbye Ebay

Yeah! Free from the yoke of being an ebay seller

For the last few months, ever since ebay announced it's latest "improvements" for us ebay sellers, I have been working daily to clear my inventory off of ebay. Their marketing sweet words were deviously crafted to say that we would get "volume discounts" and this was what "we had been asking for" ... but for those of us who took the time to work the numbers, it was pretty clear that unless you were some kind of sugar daddy with deep pockets and a Titanium seller to boot, you were going to end up paying more and more fees to ebay. Again.

So today I finally managed to clear up all my inventory off of ebay (so that my local stock control database is up to date) and:
* canceled my ebay store subscription (whose monthly fees are also going up with ebay's new "improvements")
* cancelled my Selling Manager Pro subscription
and I am FREE!

I do confess that I still have a couple of auction items running on ebay but no store. Which is where the killer fees are from hereon in. My ebay fees at one stage were in the thousands per month and that was really hard to take. With their latest "improvements", it would have turned me into a charity - me paying "charity" to ebay and working like a dog.

As you can tell, I am happy to be away from ebay now.

Another confession: I have "left" ebay before following their multiple controversial behaviour in the last few years. But like a sick dog, I always returned. But this time, I am quite determined that this is my final farewell.

And as it turned out, in the intervening years, some sites have grown and flourished. And I have joined them by opening an Etsy store and an ArtFire store. And I have yet to read or hear from anyone about how disgruntled they are with the management of either of those 2 big outlets. Fingers crossed.

Ta-ta for now from a contented ebay leaver :)

Handmade Winter Accessories

I am just right now into making winter accessories. In Oz right now, it is winter. It is winter. And our thoughts turn to warm and fuzzies while our fingers, necks, and shoulders shiver with desire for warm cuddlies.

All new items are detailed in My Gallery Scarf Necklets 2010

They are being available either directly from ClearlyChosen webstore or from my ClearlyChosen Etsy outlet.

Out with Ebay, in with Socexchange

Out with Ebay, in with SocExchange

to rival Ebay (yay!)

I have just come across a bit of news that feels pretty exciting and could prove to be profitable. A new buy and sell site has opened up that hopefully will challenge ebay's undesirable dominance.

www.socexchange.com.au

(Excerpt from Washington Business Journal, June 2009)

Important Facts - the Fees

Unlike the greedy ebay, this site charges only AUD$1 per month or AUD$10 per year. That is it. No string of endless fees like ebay - i.e. no listing fees, no final value fees, no store fees, no gallery/ photo fees, no thumbnail fees.

And unlimited listings ....

So come on Aussies .. it is time to give ebay the boot!

Ebay once had the plan that worked - for everyone. Since then they are just grown complacent and greedy and have not changed with the times and needs of their customers. Finally we have a chance to save ourselves and our striving businesses.

Please note: socexchange.com.au is not just limited to Aussies. It is an international site as well.

Other Aussie Alternatives

Yes indeed there are other Aussie alternatives. The most notable being oztion.com.au
I have been with Oztion for a number of years and to me, it has been a disappointment. Despite all the chances that ebay threw its way in the last few years (ebay puts up their fees or imposes restrictive demands on their customers and a whole flock of ex-ebayers will go over to Oztion), they still have not managed to grow to any viable extent and their market reach is still dismal.

Then there is the newer Madeit.com.au - which looks very good and is devoted to:
* only Aussie sellers
* only handmade items (i.e. no supplies)

That sounds good but I think very limiting. By limiting only to Aussie sellers, it immediately cuts the market reach to a small proportion of available sellers AND buyers. Think about it - how many overseas buyers would specifically search out an only Aussie site to make their purchases?

And purely from a personal preference, I like the convenience of being able to sell AND buy from the same market place .. and if I am a handicraft maker kind of person, one of the things I need to be constantly buying is supplies. As madeit.com.au does not cater to that, I immediately feel less of an inclination to be a seller with them. Maybe that is just me.

Summary

I will devote some time today to check out socexchange.com.au and maybe join up today as well. If I find out more interesting facts, I will journal it here.

Addendum

I am now registering with socexchange.com.au and reading their Terms and Conditions (from https://thesocexchange.com.au/soc.php?cp=terms). Here are some more salient facts:

• Auctions: SocExchange is also an auction site, just like Ebay.
  Note: this may be true for the future or in their plans, but this feature is not yet avaiable at the moment.
• Despatch of sold items: "unless you have agreed otherwise with the Buyer or stated otherwise on your shop-front, ordered items must be dispatched on the same business day, or on the following business day if the order is completed after 4:00 pm."
• Australian residency: "you must be a resident of Australia in order to be a Seller on the Website. "
• Additional Fees? "Additional fees may be payable for additional benefits that we choose to provide from time to time. We will notify you prior to any increase in fees. "
• External Websites: "If you have an external website, you may create a link on your listing that connects to your external website.." (Yay!!!!)
• Payment methods: PayPal, Bank Deposits/Transfers, Bank Check, Cash, pickup
• External Links: you can link to your Twitter account, Facebook, and other social networks in your seller account setup
• HTML: will accept HMTL (unlike Etsy and Artfire). Just use the "source" button when entering details (like product description)
• Speed: Listing is quick and fast and easy.
• Inventory control: the inventory management leaves something to be desired. If you have a lot of items, there seems to be no way of puttng them in categories for easier find. All listed items are just in one long list.
• Close store: I have yet to find any easy way to close store temporarily - e.g. for vactions. Which really is a must-have.

Addendum added: 28 February 2010

Out with SocExchange as well

.. at least for me. I did try socExchange and even paid for something or other to make it easier to list there. I can't tell you how good their back-end administrative features are (so necessary to a seller) but I can tell you that for me, it was A Waste of Time and Effort. Virtually no traffic.

Recycling for Steampunk Components

Recycling for Steampunk Components

Some weeks ago I raided my neighbour's trash.

There was this old radio (it was so old it had no option for CDs .. only the old fashion tapes!) lying lonely and discarded on a heap. I walked past it and then on reconsideration, I realized it could be a goldmine of component goodies - specifically for steampunk components. So back I went, rescued it, and then pulled it completely apart.

And it was a treasure house!!!

Unfortunately, the choice copper core that looked so tempting .. that I had to discard. There was nothing I could do to get those beautiful, shinny copper wires out. :(

Sellers and Integrity

Companies Should Stand Behind Their Mistakes

We have heard that "The buck stops here" and in recent times, they have been applied to presidents and top CEOs. I also think that similar ethics should apply to those millions of small sellers and companies that have sprouted up around the world, in large part due to the continuing success of the internet.

Of course if you stand behind your mistakes, it sometimes hurts and it could cost you money. That is why it shows whether you do have an/some ethical bones. It takes ethical strength. And integrity.

In the last few months, I have encountered two such incidences from the viewpoint of a buyer.

A couple of months ago, I made my first buy on Etsy. For a set of knitting needles. I can't remember the name of the brand now and I am not going to disclose the seller's name. However that brand of needles, when sold in a set can go up to hundreds of Aussie dollars. This set was very old (her grandmother's) and she was selling them for US$19.95 or something. I was overjoyed and bought it.

But I never got it. The seller wrote to me saying she had made a mistake about the shipping cost she listed with her items. The real shipping cost was XXX, which was many times what she had advertised. She said she was sorry for the mistake as she was quite new to selling and to Etsy. She asked if I was willing to either pay the high but real shipping cost or if I would like to cancel the order.

Note that she did not offer to bear the loss of her mistake and send it to me anyway, as per listed conditions and the conditions under which I had made the purchase.

I chose the latter option - to cancel the purchase. I could not bear the cost of the real shipping. But I did not mind. And I did not blame her. She had written and explained things nicely to me and she was sorry for the mistakes and I know that, especially when you are starting out, these mistakes can happen.

I don't think she showed lack of integrity and I know that if I was a nasty buyer (of which there unfortunately are) I could have made a fuss and demanded her to send anyway as it was her mistake. But honey goes a long way and does not leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

As for my second example: a long established company in China and fairly large. (This is not going to be about bashing a company just because they are in China as some trends seems to do). What's worse, I have been a buyer with them for the last few years. And my purchases are often between US$1,000 and US$4,000. So I may not be their largest customer, but they are not puny amounts either. I mention that not because they should have treated me better because I have bought in substantial amounts from them over the years, because I believe sellers should treat their customers with equal doses of integrity no matter how long they have been shopping with them and for what amounts. No, I mention that to show that in spite of my past history with them, and I imagine what they hope will be my continued business with them in the future, they would not stand behind their mistakes.

I had purchased 2 items (call them A and B). And for each of those items, the items were listed as US$XX per kilogram. I ordered 2 kgs of each item.

What I got (after much delay) was 1 kgs of each item. Now A and B are very small beads so there are many many small beads in each kg. When I told them that on arrival, I was short of 1 kg per bag of items A and B, they told me to please count them to make sure - i.e. count the millions of beads!

I told them that was impossible. And anyway, they were sold to me, as listed, by the kg.

Then after more to-ing and fro-ing, they came back and said that they had listed it wrongly. They should have been sold for US$XX by the number of beads; not by the kilogram. (And they have now rectified the error listing on their website).

I pointed out to them that:

1. it was their error
2. the purchase contract between us had been US$XX per kg


3. (worse! the dollar amount in dispute here is not large. (less than US$50)

I told them that given these facts, they should honour the original contract and send me the missing amount or just refund me.

And their answer? They are so sorry. Hope I can understand. Hope I can forgive them. But no, they will not make good on their error!

That to me just smacks of lack of integrity.

Personally, I have been on the other side - as a seller. And a very small one at that in the scheme of things. I once listed a bulk lot of Sterling Silver chains that was supposed to be priced at AU$199.95. But I had mistakenly listed it as AU$9.95 (typo error). And let me tell you, for me, that is a big difference. Way, way, way under what I myself had to pay for them.

But because it was my mistake, I still stood by that purchase and sent the customer the full bulk lot for the AU$9.95 she paid. But I did tell her about my mistake. I admit, there was a small hope in me that she would understand and say to cancel that order as she would not have wanted me to suffer such a loss. Some great buyers have been known to be that kind and considerate and understanding. However my other more logical reason for telling her was so that she would know the real value of the goods she had purchased. We all know how people can tend to undervalue the things they have if it came to them too cheaply.

This customer was just overjoyed at her good fortune. And I sent out her good fortune to her. To this day, it still hurts - that loss. But I am still glad of the fact that I stood by my error (why should customers have to pay for my mistakes?) and I know that though there have been times, especially lately when I feel the economy slow-down in my sales, I still would not do any different.

I say this not to state that I am such a great great person. Rather it is when you have that integrity bone in you, to do anything against that grain would cause huge self-discomfort and even pain. So to those sellers who don't stand by their errors and make good on their mistakes, AND don't take care of their customers .. well, I suppose they just don't have an internal ethical, integrity bone. And all I can say is, if you cannot keep away from them at the present time (e.g. they are the only ones who can offer you the price, or range, or specific items you need) - keep looking HARD for alternatives anyway. Keep looking constantly. Because these sellers/companies don't deserve to keep on succeeding on their weaknesses and at your expense.