Second Hand, Second Thoughts

So, I'm trying to hire some help with my eBay store and to get my Etsy store up and running. I thought I was offering a kind of nifty deal: you get to work at home, when you want. Decent hourly pay with a percentage of profits. It's not really difficult work. I mean, after all, I do it. And I've done most of the tedious work of photographing, weighing and measuring. It just needs to be listed and shipped. But good help seems to be very hard to find.

It's kind of funny to get messages from eBay buyers about how they feel "deceived" because the item I sold them said it was in "excellent condition," or "3/4 sleeves" and they thought it was "poo-poo condition," with "long sleeves," and now the entire experience has become a "complete nightmare" and their faith in humanity is pretty much lost. Kinda funny, but also not. Let's think about this, now: I'm this one, weird-looking, slightly ditzy person in Naples, Florida, selling used clothes on eBay. Oh, yeah--I'm here, rubbing my hands together like some evil villainess, plotting to "deceive" you into paying 15 bucks for a pair of vintage Lilly Pulitzer capris pants. So I could enjoy hearing how I've ruined your life with an ancient rust stain that I missed? Because I secretly need a pen pal so we can send skirts back and forth and debate if the elastic is brittle? If I was truly clever enough at...

Many bricks and mortar antique dealers have claimed that eBay has killed the quaint little antique store.     "Nothing's rare anymore," one laments. "People just type in what they want, they find it, they buy it."          Isn't that a good thing?      I mean, the thrill of the hunt, aside, wouldn't it be a good thing to have a choice about having to lurk around in your leaky building in a blighted neighborhood waiting for that one twisted soul who collects Precious Moments Santa Claus /John Deere figurines to stagger in and find yours that you squirreled away between the Holly Hobbie 1978 Christmas ornaments and the Playmobil nativity set? Oh, certainly, you can stay in your cluttered curiosity shop, if you wish--re-stacking your vintage Playboy magazines and dusting your lead-based glazed Fiesta Ware, if you must, but wouldn't it be better to make a sale? After all, with the knowledge that the unopened six pa...