When I’m looking for a “deal” I always check Ebay first prior to hitting the dealership and paying full retail. I’m also a PowerSeller on Ebay with a storefront titled Texas Twins Treasures and sell my refurbished flips and trades worldwide to generate income for Dream Events of Weddings, Funerals, Baptisms, Memorials and Event Services.
Creating unique designs from the unwanted furniture taken in trade takes patience and money. My fabrics are imported and of the highest quality hand loomed silk as I’m very articulate regarding my designs and have no interest in a “quick flip” when it comes to furniture.
I believe that furniture should last many years which is something that cheap home furnishings will never accomplish due to the fabrics, fill and construction. Using my imagination with coordinates, banding and reverse welt- I put a lot of thought into each piece and almost always use the coordinate for the reverse side of cushions to give you a “quick change.”
Quality furniture is an investment because you can buy it once or keep buying it until you’ve exceeded the cost of buying a quality item in the first place. Knowing the value of a trade and what it will cost to “flip it” is the key to any successful barter.
Several weeks ago, my Hyundai Santa Fe aka Wedding Warrior Wheels suffered a minor hickey when my mirror was hit by another car door at an event. My husband, Matthew Wortham asked what I wanted to do to get it fixed and my answer of shopping around surprised him. He has never made an online purchase and hates the internet. He’s also 12 years older than I am and “old school” he prefers a brick and mortar establishment and worries that online shopping is the basis for identity theft. I think this theory is ridiculous and I find great deals online! His “quick fix” involved a $3.00 mirror and roll of duct tape after calling several dealerships and realizing the part itself was approximately $478 painting of the part which comes unpainted $149 and installation at $127. Shocked at the prices involved, I advised him that I would find it on EBay. “How will you find a car part that works?” Hmmm, by looking at junkyard salvages in Ebay that’s how?!
This ghetto fabulous “quick fix” made me the butt of jokes from other drivers laughing as they passed me or getting into their cars while I spent a few days shopping eBay for the entire mirror assembly because I was well aware that the back side of the mirror was cracked which was why the mirror itself had blown out driving down the highway. After using the contact seller tab to ask color codes and exactly what I was purchasing because the “junkyards” aren’t very savvy regarding the description of parts listed, I found my paint match and the entire piece for $85 plus $15 shipping- thanks Ebay!
Today I plan to make a call to Cindy Daniel’s buddy at Trinity Paint and Body to get a price on installation. It will be nice to once again be able to drive through a car wash and not be concerned about my duct tape coming unglued and the mirror flying off!
Many of you wonder why my twin and I love duct tape so much. No we don’t own any stock in this product and we learned at a very young age that this stuff is amazing, durable and CHEAP!
Why do we often refer to a “quick fix” as our Redneck Reality? Well friends, when you are at an event and don’t have time to run out and make a purchase in order to resolve an issue- you’ve got to “figure it out!” Redneck Reality is our way of resolving issues while “saving the day!”
Do I plan to sell my Texas Twins Treasures on EBay forever? Well, the truth is that I’ve never expected to be a seller since 2009 and frankly, I’ve spent far too much keeping a seller account to make this a lifelong commitment with Ebay since they now put buyers first and sellers last in the order of customer service. Take the vestment I sold recently that was over 60 years old, I listed numerous photos of the fabric shredding and listed the damage in the description, the buyer complained regarding the damage- if folks are too lazy or crazy to read the description AND look at the photos, the seller gets kicked with less than stellar feedback that includes an item as described “knock” too! You see the buyer made an offer of $65 dollars without reading the entire description and hurt my seller rating through no fault of my own. When you leave less than a 5 star rating, you’ve hurt the seller. Believe me that for 6 years Cindy and I have effectively “jumped through hoops” to exceed buyer expectations and you cannot keep 100% feedback if you are unwilling to do this yourself! The same guy that gave me 4 1/2 stars for item as described gave me 4 1/2 stars for communication. Ironically, I answer all questions quickly and consistently and never had any contact from this buyer. Selling on eBay can be distressing when you have a buyer that doesn’t fully comprehend what they are buying.
No dearest friends I don’t. I purchased the website Texas Twins Treasures last year and plan to open a storefront in the near future. Frankly, I CAN’T WAIT to close this storefront?
Buying on eBay is far easier than selling on eBay and doesn’t cost you anything in fees other than PayPal expenses for the transaction.
Selling on EBay is remarkably different than buying for a number of reasons. First you have the listing fee, second you have a final value fee, third you may be a victim of feedback coercion or sellers remorse, fourth you may accept an offer and have a non paying bidder and still incur the final value fee of selling when you were never paid along with the relist fee and spend months fighting with Ebay to get the fees back fifth you spend a lot of time on photos and description information and finally, buyers hate to pay for shipping with Ebay encouraging you to offer free shipping worldwide which is very expensive for the seller. I do not ship my Texas Twins Treasures for a very good reason, I’ve been burned by having to pack the item which is VERY expensive while the buyer “got away” with only paying freight. This will never happen again because the end result was that I lost money on the transaction all around!
My repeat customers are saavy regarding both packaging and freight from Los Angeles to New York and are always pleased with their purchase because my Texas Twins Treasures designs could easily sell for 100 percent more if I had a storefront.
While I will most likely always be a buyer on eBay, I look forward to the day that I can close my eBay storefront and save thousands in the fees charged to sellers.
If you’re looking for a deal on auto parts, check eBay out! I’m glad I did and my husband was shocked regarding the money I saved by taking my time driving around town like a hillbilly until I found the “best deal!”
Happy Shopping to all of my twins, friends and followers.
Wendy M Wortham
Comments by Wendy Wortham