Saturday, December 17, 2011

Should I hire family?

That question always weighs on my mind. As a business owner, I figured it would be best to hire family for a number of reasons and Im learning now its not such a good idea.

I have not 'hired' anyone officially but my kids 'work' for me when I need help. I even get my mother here to help me out! Its free labor I call it, but they do expect something. Most of the time I buy them lunch. Its not like they are doing a job for me, they call it hanging out. The may run around or give me tips or make a trip to the post office. I dont give them 'official job'. Sometimes when Im away they may open the store and ring up sales, or help with my online store.

The good things about it:

I dont pay them and I know they would help me out if I asked.

The bad things:

They dont like working for free, the do huff and puff when I ask them to help me out, they really do a lousy job, and they do the bare minimum!

I had to go away and I couldnt get anyone to open the store for me so I had to be closed for a few days, it really sucked and hurt my bottom line. I should have hired someone for that.

Family came in and packed and shipped my online orders and they didnt do it with 'care'. So I had a few items damaged along the way, which ended up costing me more money. Maybe I should have just closed the online stores during that week but with the store closed I needed something operating.

Nothing bothers me more then the huffing and puffing. When they do this I just dont want to ask them at all and I know its their way of saying they dont want to. When they do this they usually call me the whole time they are at the store 'working' with questions. Its not a hard 'job' but it takes thought and working the bare minimum wont work here.

I had someone walk in to my store asking if I was hiring and I said not right now. He left and bumped into one of my kids, and they told this person ' oh my mom would hire me first." I was shocked and I said no way!

So tossing the idea of hiring someone, Id have to write a description of the job, figure out rate of pay, hours needed, can this person be trusted.. you get the idea.

I know when I seriously hire someone it wont be family.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Buyers not following the rules

So I like to write about my adventures on eBay and Amazon to give others the feel on how it is to sell in these platforms.

Just the other day I got a complaint from a buyer on Amazon - the complaint was the item they purchased exploded in transit and spilled all over them. They wanted a refund and they wanted me to pay for their dry cleaning! I was so mortified I was not sure what to do. Amazon is so strict and if this person filed a compliant I was sure to lose the money anyway. So I refunded the amount they paid, sent a replacement AND give them money towards dry cleaning! Yes I believe I was taken advantage of but I believe it will be a done deal and this person would 'go away'. Its been a week and I have not heard anything new and Im hoping it stays that way.

Now I get another complaint from someone on eBay this time. The complaint was the item they received was damaged. They complained about how I sent the item in a polybag and not a box and I am not a good seller, you get the idea. Well I ask for am image of the damaged item. The book had some bends in it but was not totally damaged. I asked that they send it back and they refused. They said its unusable and they demanded a refund without a return. They also said that they would give me such negative feedback if I didnt 'do the right thing' . I couldnt believe the nerve of this person.

Now eBay policy says I do not have to issue a refund until the item is returned. It also says if someone threaten to leave negative feedback & demands a refund without returning an item I can report them for feedback extortion! So what did I do? I reported them. They have not left feedback as of yet, but they gave me 7 days to refund the money before they do. And when they do I will report it again!

Now I wondered if this really does work and it does. I had someone a few months ago do the same thing and another seller told me about feedback extortion and well this persons feedback was removed. Had I knew about that sooner I would have used it and had another removed.

Too many times buyers say that they will refuse to send something back and demand a refund. Its against the rules! Dont let anyone do that to you!