Dear Uncle Griff and Dear Aunt Flossie

The following information is provided to educate and inform. eBayTM and its employees are not liable or responsible for any type of damage or loss caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information below.

eBay's kindly old Uncle Griff has agreed to answer questions for some of our members. If you have a question you would like to ask him, email him at unclgrff@ebay.com. NOTE: Not one to be left out of anything, Uncle Griff's mother, Aunt Flossie, loves to meddle in her son's business. Aunt Flossie offers "helpful" replies to questions also (email her at unclgrff@ebay.com).

Hi Uncle Griff,

I would like to know if you have any advice for me. I really wanted to dig my heels in deep and make a go at paying the bills via eBay. I have a sharp eye for picking out things that do well, and love to shop for them from the seemingly infinite sources around my home town. I started out with zest, established a vast inventory ,and really enjoyed the whole process, even the shipping part! I quickly amassed a large positive feedback file in a matter of months. But lately, for some reason, after setting my goals of getting a certain number of auctions done per day and attempting to do this full time to achieve the income I desire, I’ve found it so hard to actually do the work of listing the auctions. I have everything I need except for motivation. I’m unmotivated. Meanwhile, my bills continue to pile up, and I try not to shop for more things if I’m not going to sell them. How about a gentle shove in the right direction to get me listing (and earning money) again?

Sign me, Lazy

Hello Lazy,

Sure thing. "Knock knock...."
"Who’s there?
"Bill Collector/Bank Foreclosurer/Repo Guy..."
How’s that for motivation?

Regards, Uncle Griff

Dear Uncle Griff,

Why do so many auctions end in the middle of the night? Oh, by the way, I am writing from Australia.

Alan

Hello Alan,

Quick. Go grab a globe and a flashlight. Now shine the flashlight on the U.S. side of the globe and take a peek at Australia on the other side. There’s your answer! Your night is our day and many of us in the U.S. tend to do mundane tasks like working, eating, and listing items at eBay in the daylight while you are fast asleep. As we continue to receive more international auctions, there will be more folks shining their own little flashlights on their own little globes and we will have more auctions ending at all hours.

Regards, Uncle Griff

Hi there,

I’ve known for some time, that typing in all caps is considered rude, and I vaguely remember reading something on eBay about using this practice for item descriptions. I have a very dear friend who has just started listing and is using uppercase exclusively. She says it’s only my opinion that all caps is rude. Is there something written that I might forward to her? If so, where do I find it? Worse yet, could it be that it actually IS just my opinion?

Thanks, Mary

Hello Mary,

No, it is not just your opinion. If there is anything that Uncle’s dear old mother taught him early on in life, it is to keep a civil tongue in one’s head and to never ever shout in public unless absolutely necessary. (Shouting, "Look out! There is a piano falling from the 50th floor!" to your fellow pedestrians on the sidewalk is acceptable.) Using all caps online whether it’s in an email or in an auction, is considered shouting, and shouting is rude. Not only rude, but a strain on the eyes as well. If your friend wants to know where she can read this netiquette rule, send her to this page.

Regards, Uncle Griff

Hello Mary,

Thank you for bringing up this question, dear. It does Aunt Flossie’s heart good to hear that her son occasionally does pay attention to motherly advice!

Toodaloo, Aunt Flossie

Oh mother!

Regards, Uncle Griff

Dear Uncle Griff,

I have been an eBay member for about 6 months now and I really enjoy it. My question to you Uncle is, why is it that some sellers charge so much more money to ship than the actual shipping cost? I email asking the shipping charges and they claim that’s what it costs to ship and then I receive the package and it didn’t cost that much at all. I have received so many small items put in a 79 cent envelope with a 33 cent stamp on it and charged anywhere from $2.50 to $4.05 to ship. And the sellers claim that this is only a shipping charge and not handling nor insurance! This is an outrage!

Also why doesn’t eBay make sellers list their shipping charges in their descriptions? This would be so much easier for the bidder. There are a lot of times I don’t bid because I have to waste time emailing to get the price for S&H. And I won’t bid in fear of paying high shipping charges on small items. Any answers that you or Aunt Flossie can give me would be appreciated. Keep up the good work! Love reading your answers!

Regards, Peeved About Shipping

Hello Peeved,

Uncle calls this practice "nickel and dime" and it is distasteful in the extreme. If a seller must resort to such petty thievery as jacking up the shipping costs a few dollars, then perhaps they should consider a career in purse snatching or breaking into pay phones. In the meantime, Uncle suggests that no one ever take such a shellacking lying down. Stand up and just say "No, I will not pay inflated shipping charges if they are not posted in an item description." Uncle supposes that eBay could require sellers to state their shipping terms explicitly but that may be too restrictive for some sellers. Any seller worth their salt will always state their shipping terms clearly and accurately and would never stoop to picking bidder pockets for a few extra nickels. Uncle hopes he has made his point.

Regards, Uncle Griff

Dear Uncle Griff,

Can you please tell me what the term "crazing" means? I’ve seen the term used to describe Hummel figurines on eBay.

Thank you, Barbara

Hello Barbara,

"Crazing"... wasn’t that a tune by Uncle’s departed old friend, Patsy Cline...no, wait...I think not. "Crazing" is a type of pottery glaze defect and it usually occurs in the firing process within the kiln. It can manifest itself by bubbled, charred, or crackled glaze on the pottery itself and can be considered a blemish or a blessing depending on the type of crazing and the aesthetic sophistication of the viewer.

Regards, Uncle Griff

Uncle Griff,

Aunt Flossie sounds a lot smarter than you do. I’d love to hear more from her. Just a thought.

-- Taz

Hello Taz,

Uncle is sorry... he cannot hear you. Could you speak up?

Regards, Uncle Griff

Dear Aunt Flossie,

I just received a dress that I purchased off of eBay. It is a really beautiful dress, only one problem ... it reeked of cigarette smoke. You could smell it as soon as it was taken from the bag. And the dress is "dry clean only" which wasn’t mentioned in the add. So now I will have to have it dry cleaned before I can even wear it. All in all, the transaction went very well. But should I leave her neutral feedback because of this?

Thanks,
Freckils

Dear Freckils,

Cough, gasp, choke! Yes dear, Aunt Flossie believes you would have good cause to leave neutral feedback for the seller of the stinky dress. Whether an item has been worn by the Marlboro man, run over by a truck, or abducted by aliens, condition should be stated in the listing. On the positive side, a nicety such as "recently dry cleaned" should be mentioned too!

Toodaloo, Aunt Flossie

Hi Aunt Flossie,

Can you help me? I have three pictures of baby chickens. They are almost the same painting, except by three different artists: Ben Austrian, Cambril, and CL Von Verdenberge (if that is the correct spelling – its signature is kinda hidden by the frame). They appear to be very old. Do you know anything about the painters?

Thank you for your time,
Rooster Lady

Dear Rooster Lady,

Aunt Flossie is sorry, but the only thing Aunt Flossie knows about chickens is that they are wonderful fried, baked, or chopped in pieces and tossed with a Caesar salad! Perhaps you can see if there are any current or completed auctions on eBay that might help. Search by each of the artist’s names and read the descriptions of all items that come up, for more information.

Toodaloo, Aunt Flossie

Dear Aunt Flossie,

I am new to eBay and I have a lot of basic questions. For example, how do I pay eBay? What happens if my item doesn’t sell? Can I edit an item listing after an auction has started? What is a Reserve Price auction? Why doesn’t my item show up right away? How much does it cost to sell?

Thanks,
Question Mark

Dear Question Mark,

Where can you find answers to the questions you posed, and many, many more? On the eBay Basics page in the Help Section, dear! You can get there by following this link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/index.html

The Basics Help page is also available from the navigation bar. Click on Help in the navigation bar at the top of every page, and you will see a sub-navigation bar appear. Then click on Basics, and you're there!

Aunt Flossie would just love to answer questions for you until the wee hours of the morning, however, right now she needs to go back to the listings and find a new dog sweater for her beloved poodle, Baby! So give the Frequently Asked Questions page a try!

Toodaloo, Aunt Flossie