Nancy Drew #56 The Thirteenth Pearl eBay Listing with Insane AI Description

I recently saw an eBay listing for Nancy Drew #56 The Thirteenth Pearl that had a wildly bizarre description of printing points.  I couldn't figure out where the seller got the information.  Later, I realized that the description must have been generated by eBay's AI.

First, here are the seller's photos so that you can see what was offered.

Here is the bizarre and mostly fictitious description of the printing points:

Up for sale is a rare 1979 second printing of Nancy Drew #56, The Thirteenth Pearl – a must-have for collectors seeking unique misprint variants. This copy is the notorious "Triple Hoax" edition, featuring several key printing anomalies that set it apart from standard editions:

• Missing Yellow Bar on the Front Cover: The originally intended yellow bar that appears on first printings is absent, a primary indicator of this variant.

• Replacement of Unique Interior Imagery: Instead of the two distinctive Nancy images on the inside front cover pages, this copy displays the standard generic stamps found on other volumes in the series.

• Plate Substitution Error on Interior Covers: The specialized printing plates for #56 were inadvertently swapped with those from the next publication in the series, resulting in a uniform design that strips away its intended individuality.

• Dark Top Page Edge: An additional subtle feature is the darkened edge along the top of the pages—a recognized marker among collectors of this misprint.

Additional Details:

• Edition/Printing: 1979 Second Printing (Triple Hoax variant)

• Collectible Appeal: This edition is highly sought after by Nancy Drew enthusiasts and collectors due to its unique misprint and design anomalies.

Whether you’re a seasoned collector or a fan of the classic Nancy Drew mysteries, this rare misprint variant is a standout piece that perfectly encapsulates the quirks and charm of the series. Don’t miss your chance to add this unique copy to your collection!

Thirteenth Pearl never had a yellow bar at the top, and what's up with the idea that the yellow bar on any Nancy Drew book would make it a first printing?

The AI description mentions "two distinctive Nancy images on the front cover pages" that are "Unique Interior Imagery."  Apparently the AI is describing the double oval endpapers as "Unique Interior Imagery."  I believe most collectors would agree with that assessment, however odd it sounds.

I don't understand any of the paragraph that mentions the plate substitution error.  AI on crack, maybe?

Where does it get the idea that this is a misprint?

This serves as a good example of why eBay sellers should refrain from using eBay's AI to write their item description. 

The New eBay Feed and More eBay Complaints

I had gone years with minimal eBay complaints.  I used to complain all the time, and then eBay went for a long stretch where they did most everything right.  Now they've fallen apart again.  Someone must be justifying their paycheck by changing everything they can.  Instead, they're breaking everything.

Here is my last post on eBay's ineptness:

My Complaints on the New eBay Feed Page

Prior to that post, I wrote this one:

The eBay Feed Situation and Other Grievances

I have even more grievances to report!

But first, let's recap everything that's wrong with eBay.

1.  Thriftbooks has dumped its entire inventory on eBay.  This ruined all of my saved searches, and I had to create new ones to try to remove Thriftbooks' inventory.  Inexplicably, the nuisance persists.  eBay is so determined to ruin our searches that many of Thriftbooks' items still filter through even though I've blocked Thriftbooks' multiple IDs.

Just wait until all of eBay's inventory is dumped on Facebook Marketplace!  Yes, indeed.  If you haven't heard, this is going to happen.  eBay might as well ruin all marketplaces while it's at it!

2.  My store categories don't show in my eBay store unless buyers go through multiple clicks.  What's the point of having categories?

3.  eBay continually changes its feedback page with each change making the page even more difficult to use.  The latest obnoxious change causes a pop-up window asking if I want to save the seller.  I most certainly do not!

4.  The eBay saved feed has been ruined.

Here is another complaint I made to eBay on the new saved feed (complaint #5):

The feed page is now intermittently broken.  Sometimes I can only get 18 items to load.  Other times, more items will load, but slowly.  It's not my high-speed internet since all other sites load quickly.  Remove the watched items from the page.  We ONLY want to see newly listed items sorted by newest first.  Please give us the old page back! 

eBay and sellers are losing money while buyers are struggling to find items, since they must now complete dozens of searches manually in order to find items to buy.  It's a headache and not worth doing when we also check other online sites that are working properly.  eBay is now a slog to check.  It was the easiest site to check until the original feed page was removed. 

You have significantly downgraded your site.  This new page is woefully inadequate.  The old feed page was the single most important site feature for buyers, and it worked beautifully! 

When I wrote this, my goal was to make my complaint as strong as I could to make it more likely that I grab their attention.  This time I included my email address in case they decide to send a survey.  I'm not holding out much hope that they will listen, but I'm going to keep complaining.

Later, the page stopped at 88 items.  I complained again (complaint #6):

The page cuts off at 88 items.  Please fix it!

Ina Steiner has now picked up the story.

eBay Made ‘Saved Feed’ Feature Harder to Navigate, Buyers Complain

Through the article, I learned that eBay has now altered the mobile feed as well.  This proves to me that this isn't a glitch; it's by design.  eBay ruined the feed on purpose.

Ina also mentioned that this could be part of eBay's winter update, which will be announced in February.  If so, then eBay has made a mistake.  Features that are significantly changed and degraded should be beta tested first while the bugs are worked out.  They shouldn't just change an important feature to a buggy new version that is very hard to use. 

And now...

Complaint #7:

The page is broken!  "Oops!  There seems to be a problem serving the request at this time.  Please check back later."

I actually had a small amount of hope after the page broke completely.  Maybe they'll reinstate the old page.  I checked the URL, and it still redirects.  If the new page is completely broken, then eBay should let us have the old page back.  Right?  No?  We can hope...

The new page came back later, but does it matter?  

I thought of some additional mistakes that eBay has made in recent months.  The list goes on and on!

5.  eBay is sending emails to buyers telling them that their packages are delayed when they aren't!

On December 17, a buyer sent me this message:

"What is taking so long for my item to get here? It should have been here days ago. i keep getting delayed messages. This really  isn't great service. The shipping fee wasn't small either. I certainty  hope I get it soon, as this is very irritating."

There wasn't a problem.  The package had been mailed one week before, which was just two weeks before Christmas when the postal volume is extreme.  The package had gone from Oklahoma to Michigan and was at the distribution center closest to the buyer's home.  

I reassured the buyer, and it worked out fine when the package arrived the next day.  I knew why the buyer was overreacting.  eBay had originally given a fast delivery estimate.  Two messages were sent out in the following days saying that the package was delayed, and the result was that the delivery estimate was changed to a realistic date.  That's it, but the buyer had gotten upset because of the supposed delays.

eBay didn't use to send out messages like that.  By doing so, they are alarming buyers when there is no reason for concern.  I was quite annoyed in this case, and not with the buyer.  I was annoyed with eBay.

6.  eBay sends messages telling buyers that they have been refunded, making it sound like they have been fully refunded even when the refund is partial.

I send partial refunds for postage overages.  This usually happens when a buyer makes two purchases separately, and I plan to ship the books in one box.  I send a partial refund on the postage for the second book purchased.  I say why I send the partial refund.  

The problem is that eBay now sends a message to the buyer with the title "Order --------- has been refunded."  The message tells the buyer that they have been refunded.  If the buyer scrolls down, they can figure out that it was a postage refund, but eBay doesn't say that.  Buyers then misunderstand.

In just the last week, I refunded postage on the second transaction made by a buyer.  The buyer immediately sent a message asking why they were refunded.  They said that they still wanted the book.  I reassured the buyer that I was just refunding the postage overage.  

I feel like eBay and I are working at cross purposes.  

My Complaints about the New eBay Feed Page

I previously wrote about the new eBay feed.

eBay Removed a Perfectly Good Feature This Afternoon

The eBay Feed Situation and Other Grievances

It's now over two weeks later, and we are still stuck with the new feed, which I still feel is a permanent change.  I was getting used to it, but I saved an item to my watch list early Saturday morning.  Now it's the first item I see every single time I go to the feed.  I just want to see the final selling price without having to leave myself a note on my computer monitor.  I don't need the item flashed in front of me every time I go to eBay.  I seriously want to remove the item from my watched items list.  I'm sick of seeing it!

I sent eBay another complaint in the feedback form that is linked from the feed page.

First, here are my previous three complaints to eBay.  I complain each time the new feed does something I don't like.

Complaint #1:

You removed the eBay feed page?  Why?  It was perfect the way the items flowed.  Stuff I wanted was easy to spot.  Instead, it goes to this awful saved searches page that loads slower and has so much white space everywhere.  You're just driving customers away, and I've been buying since 1997.  This will decrease how much I spend on eBay.  I am not someone who complains.  This is unacceptable.  Return www.ebay.com/feed to what it looked like before today, PLEASE.

Complaint #2:

This page could work if it were changed to where ONLY NEWLY LISTED items show up on top, not the dreadful mess that it is right now.  Please give us the old eBay feed back!  It was perfect.  It didn't need to be changed.

Complaint #3:

I listed a bunch of items for sale, and they are not showing on this page.  This makes me not trust the results.  What else is being filtered out?  I want a feed that shows me everything that appears when I run the search manually, not just what eBay wants me to see.  Let me decide what I want to see.  This page is so bland and uninteresting compared to the feed page that existed until late last week.  We need this new page to do EXACTLY what the feed page did.  Anything else is unacceptable.

Here is my latest complaint, #4:

Items from my watch list don't need to be shoved in my face at the top of the feed each time I go to the saved items feed.  Most of us place items in our watch list because we are just curious about the final selling price.  

Items we intend to buy are placed in our shopping carts, and the notification icon at the top of our screen reminds us to check out.  We don't want to see watched items at the very top of the saved search.  

Please make this page function as it did in the previous feed.  I already removed all of my saved sellers because their items took up most of the page.  I will quit using the watched items feature as well if the watched items aren't removed.  Thanks.

I put "Thanks." at the end of my complaint to be... how do I say it?  I guess I did it to indicate annoyance and not to thank them.  Something like that.  I am annoyed, for sure.

The eBay Feed Situation and Other Grievances

Yesterday, someone at eBay flipped a switch, and the eBay feed became this new eBay saved searches feed page on the desktop version of eBay.  What I saw yesterday was completely unusable, and I was rather upset.

As far as I can tell, the saved searches feed has not yet been added to the eBay app, so this change does not impact mobile users at this time.  

Now that I've had time to think, I have some additional thoughts on the situation.    

The first question is whether this is a glitch or whether this is a permanent change.  The saved searches feed is a new section of My eBay that is now present in the dropdown menu.  The page has been added by design.  The timing is very odd, so much so that its appearance yesterday might have been a mistake.  It's bizarre for a website to launch a buggy new feature on the day after Christmas.  Why would they do that?  Maybe they hope we are so distracted by other stuff that we'll let it fly without saying anything.

Significant changes to a site's interface are normally done with a lot of beta testing to just some users.  I don't think this is a beta test.  eBay foisted it on us yesterday without warning.

If it was a mistake for it to go live yesterday, then they could roll it back.  However, the timing is in between major holidays, and eBay's corporate headquarters is probably short on staff until after New Year's Day.  Even if this is rolled back, it probably won't be done for a week or so.

If the buggy page going live is permanent, then it will likely take at least several months for eBay to fix the problems.  eBay is notoriously slow about fixing glitches.

Yesterday, my saved searches feed was a mess.  I had a few saved sellers, and their listings were most of the page.  It was completely awful.  I solved the problem by removing all of my saved sellers.  Now I just see the saved searches feed on the saved searches feed page.  That's how it should work:  The saved searches feed page shouldn't be a saved sellers feed page.  

I also went through my list of saved searches and removed the ones no longer of any interest.  That cleaned up the terrible saved searches page some more.  My page is now decent, although I still don't like it.

I dislike all the white space where unnecessary information is provided.  Click on images in order to see them better.

eBay does have a place in the upper right whether users can toggle to see less information.  It does improve the appearance some, although it doesn't make it like the old page.

The trouble is that the selection to see less information doesn't stick.  When I reload the page, it reverts to the version that shows the names of the searches.  Ugh.

This next image shows where the saved feed is now listed in the menu in My eBay.

And don't get me started on Thriftbooks.  Thriftbooks is degrading the eBay search experience.  Thriftbooks is dumping their entire inventory on eBay, single-handedly ruining searches with their millions of listings that contain no photo.  And yet the little people like me are required to have pictures of our items in our listings.

While I'm at it, I might as well air every eBay grievance.

eBay has rendered my store categories to be pointless.  Who is ever going to click on them?

I see where it says "categories," but it's not that noticeable.  When I click on it, I only get some of my categories.  I have to scroll down and click again to see the rest of them.  Buyers don't want to do that! 

I hate that Etsy only gives me 20 categories, but at least Etsy shows my categories all the time.  I'd rather have just 20 categories than have my categories hidden.  

Let's see... what else is eBay doing wrong?  Oh, yeah!  eBay keeps changing its stupid feedback page.  That's why I seldom do feedback anymore.  I can't stand it!  Each change makes feedback take longer.  I see they changed it yet again.  Now the page creates a pop-up each time I want to leave feedback, then it asks me if I want to save the seller.  Why?  I do one-off purchases most of the time.  I see something in my feed, then I buy it.  I don't need to save the seller!  Besides, I just removed all my saved sellers yesterday due to the clunky new feed.

Please give eBay feedback on the new saved searches page.  Let them know how they can fix it so that it will function like the old feed page.

https://www.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/myebay.watchlist.desktop

eBay Removed a Perfectly Good Feature This Afternoon

This apparently happened previously to other users in the last two weeks.  It has now happened to me.  eBay has removed the feed page.  The URL www.eBay.com/feed now redirects to the My eBay saved searches page, which is not the same.  This is a dealbreaker for me. 

I'm not being dramatic.  If eBay doesn't give me my feed page back, then I will be buying less from eBay.  This is just a fact.  I've already submitted a complaint, and I'm posting this here in hopes that this will help bring attention to what they've done.

It probably won't do any good, but there's always a chance that eBay will figure out that there was no need to remove a perfectly good working feature.  If you use eBay's feed, please submit a complaint via the saved searches page that eBay now lands you on.  There should be a place to give your opinion somewhere on that page.  It shows in the upper right on the web version of eBay.

The eBay saved searches page doesn't place all newly listed items up on top as the feed page did.  The saved searches page mixes up the recent listings with ones from up to at least two weeks ago.  That's not what I want to see!  I can't use the saved searches page.  It's awful!

To make this easy, if you need the feed page back, please fill this form out.  It's the link from the saved searches page, which is now the landing page for the removed eBay feed.  Thanks!

https://www.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/myebay.watchlist.desktop

It's pretty clear that they're making us use a new feature that we don't want.  I want my eBay feed back!

eBay, Reading, and Autoimmune Update

eBay is attempting to trick sellers into purchasing its ShipCover insurance whenever sellers use a service that doesn't not include insurance.  This new practice is shady and obnoxious.

Beginning recently, whenever I purchase a media mail shipping label, this is what eBay presents to me before the purchase goes through.  Click on the image in order to see it better.

I must make a conscious effort not to click on the blue box that says "Add extra protection."  I know I'm going to mess up eventually.  When it finally happens, I will then void the label and create a new one.  This is a blatant cash grab by eBay, since the ShipCover insurance is their insurance and is not from the post office.  This is one of the lowest things that eBay has ever done.

It's important for eBay store sellers to end their listings periodically and then list them again using the "sell similar" option.  I've been too busy, tired, and distracted to mess with that in recent months.  This is why my sales slowed down.  Around the end of October, I ended all of my listings and used "sell similar."  This image shows what happened.

It does help to give listings a fresh start.  Many people search by "newly listed" first, and this gets their eyes on the listings.

On September 10 in my post Book Reading Milestone for This Year, I wrote:

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

The last few months have been rough with multiple events causing increases in inflammation.  School started, we have new books, I got my Covid vaccine, and I caught three or four viruses in September and October.  The viruses ran together, so I'm not sure how many I had.  The one from late October caused a terrible cough which I still have.

My struggle with dryness continues.  In my post from August 25, I wrote in regard to my summer autoimmune flare:

I feared that I had Sjögren's syndrome, which causes excessive dryness.  I have suspected Sjögren's syndrome for years, but I tested negative in the past.  Most people with Sjögren's syndrome do test negative, so that doesn't rule it out.  I plan to be tested again later this year, just in case the test shows something.

I was tested two weeks ago.  I tested positive for Anti-SSA/Ro antibodies, which are autoantibodies present in around eight different autoimmune diseases, most notably including Sjögren's syndrome.  I am being referred to rheumatology, but I know it is Sjögren's syndrome.  I have the hallmark symptoms.

As a result of everything, I haven't read much, and I continue to struggle to focus on following through with any reading that I attempt.  I did finally restart reading KotLC, and I'm now on #8.  The number of books I've read in 2024 currently stands at 56 and will reach 60 once I finish this reading of KotLC.  Even though I'm unable to read much during the week, I will make it through #9 by the time the new book is released on December 3, so I'm on schedule.  Thanksgiving Break, which begins Friday afternoon, will give me enough time to finish up.

This post was supposed to be finished up early last week.  I forced myself to finish this morning, or else I was never going to publish it.

Flaky eBay Three Investigators Situation

I wrote this post back in September and delayed publishing it until the listings expired from eBay's search results.   

This post is a summary of the events surrounding an eBay listing of scarce high-numbered Three Investigators Gibraltar hardcover books.

First, here is an explanation.  The original Three Investigators series consists of 43 books.  #1-28 were issued in both hardcover and softcover trade editions.  #29-43 were only offered in softcover trade editions.  They were also available as Gibraltar hardcover editions, but these were primarily sold to libraries.  The high-numbered hardcover editions are extremely scarce and almost always surface as library discards with at least moderate wear.

#29-43 are highly coveted in the hardcover Gibraltar binding.

In late July, a seller offered a bulk lot of 12 Three Investigators books, including seven of the high-numbered hardcover books.  The listing sold via Buy It Now at $125, which was an extreme bargain.

(Click on each image in order to view in high quality.)

Right after the listing closed, someone posted about it in the Facebook Three Investigators group, saying that someone just barely beat them to the listing.  That post is important, because a large number of Three Investigators fans then knew what had just happened.

Unfortunately, some people like to meddle.  Apparently, someone immediately contacted the seller and let them know that they had just sold a valuable group of books for $125.  The seller relisted the books with a starting bid price of $1,850.  The books sold for $2,025 to the same person who had purchased them for $125.  It should be noted that whoever meddled didn't get the books. 

The seller then reneged on the second sale.  This is the negative feedback that the buyer left for both listings.

The seller then went with individual listings.  They also decided to remove the library markings, thus damaging the books.

The seller switched to another user ID for the new listings, likely due to the negative feedback on the other ID.  Regardless of what happens next, this won't end well.

The seller is greedy, unscrupulous, and lacking in judgment.  They should have honored the $125 sale.  Sometimes sellers take losses, but in the long run, they will do better when they avoid bad behavior. 

The person who meddled in the situation is also at fault.  Because of their actions, the seller has damaged the books by removing the library stickers.  They should have stayed out of the situation.  

It is understandable why the seller chose not to honor the $125 sale.  After all, many people would struggle to honor the sale after learning of the true value of the books.  It was wrong not to honor the sale, but I can see why that decision was made.

The subsequent decision to renege on the $2,025 sale is astonishing.  That price might not be the top value possible, but it's quite a good price to get for the books.  The seller made a bad decision in failing to honor the second sale.

Bulk Lots and Buyer Unawareness of Shipping Costs

The secondhand market is soft these days.  It's hard to sell many kinds of items that easily would have sold 15 years ago.  I take a loss on certain items just to move them.  I'd rather sell the items at a loss and get them into the hands of the right person than donate them to a thrift store and risk them going into a landfill.  Much of what is donated to thrift stores goes in the trash.

Here's an example of something that would have had a high chance of being trashed by a thrift store.

(Click on images in order to see them in higher quality.)

The lot sold for $14.99 with free shipping.  I can't remember what I paid for the subscription to Toy Collector.  After all, it's been three decades.  I did likely pay at least $15 total for the magazines.  It cost $7.32 plus the cost of packing supplies to ship the lot.  Even though I took a loss, I'm pleased that I got the magazines into somebody's hands.  That was my goal.

I use bulk lots to move inventory and sell books that aren't fit to sell individually.  I also use the bulk lots to sell books that are problematic to sell individually.

These books are ones that I pulled out as ones that are too risky to sell individually.

The books aren't bad at all; it's just that each one has some sort of condition problem that a buyer could miss if they don't read the description.  Each book from this lot has a problem like a text block detached from the binding, a piece torn from the edge of a page, a piece missing from the back cover, a few creased pages, or something similar.

I avoid trouble by selling slightly flawed books in bulk lots. I know I have because of the trouble I've already had.  I have a recent case to share. 

Sometimes old tweed Nancy Drew books have water stains to the top edge.  The ink stain can look rather bad at times.  I tend to place those books in bulk lots.  In this recent case, I listed one such book on Etsy, and even worse, I didn't photograph the top edge to show the water stains.  I ended up with an unhappy buyer.

They sent me this photo of the top edge and wrote, "I was aware of writing inside the book, but not the moldy looking page edges at the top!  Ugh."

I replied:

I'm sorry that I overlooked this. It's actually not mold; it's past water splashes that made the top stain ink look bad. I agree though that I should have mentioned this in the description and should have photographed the top edge.

Media mail has gone up so much in price that it's not worth me having you return the book. I will fully refund your purchase price. If you don't want the book because of the top edge water stains, then you can donate it.

I saw no reason to have the buyer return the book.  The book sold for $9.99 plus $4.95 postage.  I had to refund that amount regardless.  Having the buyer return the book meant that I would also be out the return media mail postage plus I would have placed the book in a bulk lot and gotten nothing for it.  There was no way that I would risk selling it again in an individual listing.

I recently decided to send 10% off offers to the people watching my eBay items.  One of the lots was this one.

The prospective buyer contacted me, telling me that they were only interested in Twisted Window since they have the rest.  They wanted to know if I would consider selling it individually.  Normally, I ignore these requests, because I know the buyer wants the book for less than what I can do.  In this case, I felt that I should reply just to be polite since I had sent an offer. 

I considered what my costs would be.  I decided that I could sell that book for $4.99 plus $5.95 postage.  The buyer declined.  They wanted to pay no more than $7.00 total for the book, including postage. 

The one-pound rate for media mail is currently $4.63.  My packaging supplies cost over $1.00.  This means that my cost to mail one book is around $6.00, which is precisely why I now charge $5.95 to mail a book.  A $7.00 total price for a book is way too low.  Not only is the shipping cost at $6.00, I have to pay eBay fees, which would be around $1.00 on a $7.00 transaction.  Also, I didn't get the book for free.  It makes no sense to offer a book on eBay for $7.00 with shipping included.

Buyers want to purchase from sellers who photograph the books so that they can get their desired format.  However, they also want those sellers to ship for the same low prices as Thriftbooks, which has a sweetheart deal with the post office. 

You have to expect to pay more when purchasing from an individual seller.  In return, you get exactly what you want.  If you want the cheap shipping price, then you can buy from Thriftbooks with the understanding that they will send you any format with no regard for what you want. 

Sadly, media mail has become very expensive for people like me.  The cost probably hasn't gone up for Thriftbooks, but the postal service keeps raising the retail rate.  We are paying the postage cost for Thriftbooks.  

Buyers must decide whether accurate photos or low postage is more important.  They can't have it both ways.

Selling Hiatus Continues for Now

I do not expect to reopen my online stores anytime soon with one exception:  I will be selling Christopher Pike books on eBay beginning around October 7.  The Netflix horror series, The Midnight Club, which is based on Christopher Pike's 1994 young adult horror novel, will drop on October 7.  The Netflix series will also feature content from some of Pike's other books.  I fully expect a run on Christopher Pike books to occur as a result of the show's premiere.    

The Midnight Club: The Strange Story Behind Netflix's New Thriller

I have quite a few extra Christopher Pike books that I would like to sell.  The best time to be selling those books will be when the new series drops, whether I feel like selling books or not.  I will make sure that every extra Pike book that I have is available for sale by October 7.

I definitely am not ready to begin selling again and do not plan to sell anything else anytime soon.  If selling the Christopher Pike books turns out to be manageable, then I could reopen sometime later in October.  Going by how I feel mentally at this time, I don't expect to reopen until either Thanksgiving break or winter break.  I also could stay closed until at least January or February.  I am not even slightly interested in selling books currently.

I have some Nancy Drew library editions that I don't feel comfortable selling in fixed-price listings.  I have been selling my extra library editions at too low of prices for the last few years.  I don't want to price the books high without seeing exactly what people are willing to pay.  I want to test some of the books in auctions, pricing moderately and then letting the bidders decide if the books are worth more than that.  

The Nancy Drew library editions seen in the above photo are my current extras.  The three at the left edge are patterned bindings.  Most of the books are the Cameo binding.  I have two green APC editions, and the last book on the right is a BTSB edition.  The BTSB edition will not be auctioned since I have a firm grasp of its value, which is not high.  The rest of the books will likely be auctioned a few at a time in individual listings.

Since I don't know when I will be fully reopening, I don't know when I will feel like running the auctions.  My current thinking is that I could keep my stores mostly closed until at least the end of the year.  I could run auctions between the middle of October and the end of the year as I feel like it.  I could also end up waiting until early next year.  

I have thus far managed to avoid having to box up extra books.  I am moving perilously close to needing to do that, but I think that some rearranging of my extra unlisted books will help me to avoid boxing up books for a bit longer.

2 Important Updates for Online Sellers

If you sell on an ecommerce site, then you are likely already aware of two important developments, one of which has been in effect since January 1.  The other will go into effect on July 1.  If you sell person-to-person online, you may not be aware of both developments.

If you live in the United States, hopefully you have been reporting your gross annual earnings to the IRS.  If not, then you will be doing so beginning with tax year 2022.  The threshold for sites to automatically report gross earnings to the IRS has been lowered to $600.  This low threshold will capture nearly all online sellers.  It does include earnings on sites like Facebook as well as funds received through PayPal, Venmo, and all other services.  Here is a screen capture of an information page on eBay.  Click on the image in order to see it clearly.

The other development concerns shipping to Germany.  Beginning July 1, sellers will be required to license their packaging.  In order to be compliant, packaging must be recyclable, and sellers will be required to pay an annual fee of 39 Euro.  Sellers who ship to Germany without licensing their packaging could be fined 200,000 Euro.  So, this is important.

I sell infrequently to Germany, and I am not willing to pay an annual fee of 39 Euro for the privilege of shipping no more than one or two packages to Germany per year.  eBay has made it clear that they will disallow sales to Germany for any seller who doesn't comply.  However, I have already blocked sales to Germany so that I don't have to worry about it.

Etsy will likely also block sales to Germany, but they are being more vague about it.  I believe that Etsy will block my sales to Germany on July 1, but I don't want to take the chance.

Sellers must use calculated shipping on Etsy when they wish to block individual countries.  I have reasons for not wishing to use calculated shipping.  Since I'm not willing to change my flat rate shipping, I had to remove worldwide shipping as an option.  I then entered specific international shipping options for Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.  I seldom ship outside of those four countries.

If you live outside of those four countries, I am still willing to ship to you, so long as you don't live in Germany.

25 Years Ago Today

I cannot let today go by without acknowledging that I registered on eBay 25 years ago today.  I registered in order to bid on a tweed copy of Larkspur Lane that had a rather chipped dust jacket.  I lost the auction since I bid under $10.  In those days, I considered that a bit high, since I was used to cheap books in local stores.

I had been lurking on eBay since around January 1997.  I didn't jump into online activity instantly.  I checked eBay out for around two months before I finally started bidding. 

I have written posts about my eBay anniversary several times, since that day was an important day in my life.  I would not have what I have if not for eBay.  I don't know exactly how many of the books in my collection were purchased on eBay, but it has to be at least 90% of them.  

Here are links to some of my past posts which share interesting information about the early days of eBay.

Twelve Years Ago Today

The above post goes into some detail as to how I became a series book collector.  It also has a scan of the first listing I won on eBay.

Here's another post.

20 Years Ago Today

I also found the post where I go into greater detail about how I became a series book collector.

Where It All Began

Finally, here's a post about the most exciting find I ever made in an antique shop.  

Remembering My Best Find

A Postage Dilemma + Many Books Listed

I have a lot of time right now for listing books since we had a snowstorm Wednesday and Thursday.  School was closed beginning on Wednesday, resulting in an unexpected five-day break.  

I have listed quite a few books on eBay.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

I am in the process of listing many books on Etsy.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I really need to raise the postage I charge for a single book.  I have been charging $3.95 postage since 2008.  $3.95 does not cover my cost even for lighter books like a Grosset and Dunlap picture cover.  I take on even more of a loss when the book is thick, since the weight ends up at over one pound.

I ought to raise the amount to $4.95, and I took the time to think about this thoroughly yesterday.  The problem is that many sellers continue to charge under $4.00 for postage.  I ran a search for "Nancy Drew" yesterday and looked at listings that offered a single book for sale.  Many of the listings have just $3.19 as the postage charge.  This is the one-pound media mail base rate that is charged by the post office.  These sellers aren't even charging for their own supplies, such as tape, an envelope or box, paper for the postage label, and ink to print the label.  This makes no sense!  Sellers need to quit undervaluing themselves.  

That's where my problem is.  My supplies add over $1.00 to my postage cost.  When I mail a package media mail for $3.19, my actual cost is around $4.50.  However, that is not even my total cost.  Whatever I charge for postage on eBay or Etsy is assessed a fee by the site.  Yes, I pay a selling fee on the postage charge.  This means that when I charge $3.95 postage, I'm not even getting that amount.  Factoring in the site's fees, my actual cost to mail a single book is around $5.00, if the book can be mailed at the one-pound rate.  Heavier books end up costing over $5.00.

Each year that the media mail rates increase, my loss on the $3.95 charge worsens.  Yet I cannot raise my charge when so many sellers charge only $3.19.

Actually, I could raise my postage charge.  I thought about this at length yesterday.  Some sellers do charge $5.00 to $6.00 postage for a single book.  A somewhat higher postage charge usually doesn't stop me from buying a book, at least not for a single book and certainly not for an expensive book.

I have decided not to purchase some bulk lots because of high charges.  Some sellers will only mail via priority mail.  For a heavy lot, priority mail is way too expensive.  If I see a $50 shipping charge on a listing that I know could be mailed for under $20, then I tend not to make the purchase.

Even though I usually will not back out of single-book purchases where the postage is on the high end, I believe that the average buyer of an easy-to-find book might very well back out.  I believe this because of how many people try to get me to take less for inexpensive books.  I have had people contact me trying to get me to lower a price from $5.00 to $4.00 or something similar.  Those people will balk at a $4.95 postage cost.  Of course, those people probably won't purchase from me anyway. 

I also often have people want me to break up a lot so that they can get one item.  Here is a very recent example.  

A buyer contacted me wanting me to sell just the ABBA issue.  I didn't respond, because I was pretty sure that I knew what they expected.  They probably wanted to get the ABBA issue for one-fourth of the current price, or at least for one-fourth of the current price plus a reasonable amount for postage.  From my end, that would not be logical.  It would be great for the buyer.

I am giving the four issues away as it is.  I may even take a loss.  I just want the issues gone, since they were extras in with other purchases.  I never wanted them.

I also hope that the ABBA issue sells the lot.  That's why I have that issue fully visible in the photo.  I know that ABBA is the most desirable of the artists featured.  If I sell the ABBA issue separately, then I won't be able to sell the rest.

Going back to postage, I finally decided not to raise my postage charge.  I instead will expand upon what I have just barely started doing, which is to add one or two dollars to the item price of single books to cover the postage that way.  Expect to see more and more of my $9.99 books priced at $10.99 or $11.99.  I need to cover it somehow, and that is the best way.

eBay Forces All Fixed-Price Listings to Good 'Til Cancelled

Rumors began last year that eBay was planning to force all fixed-price listings to Good 'Til Cancelled (GTC).  The rumors began when eBay's mobile app quit allowing sellers to select any fixed-price duration other than GTC.  No word came from eBay on what was up, but sellers knew that they had just cause to be concerned.  eBay has a nasty history of abruptly forcing unwanted changes on sellers.

Late last week, eBay gave sellers about two-weeks' notice that all fixed-price listings will have to use GTC beginning in the middle of March.  How nice of them to give us just two weeks to try to figure out what to do.

This change is a big problem for many of us, and I have not seen such a large seller backlash about an eBay announcement in many years.  Sellers are upset and furious with some talking about closing their stores or leaving eBay.  In my case, I am dismayed and quite at a loss as to what to do.  I really do not know, and I do not have much time to figure it out.

Why is this change a problem?  

The change is a problem because many sellers float more than their allotted monthly free listings.  I tend to have between 250 and 300 listings that I float on my 250 free listings.  I do this by not renewing some ended listings until after my free listings reset at the beginning of each month.  I end up with extra listings when I take advantage of the occasional eBay free listings promotion, which gives me extra listings.  I guess I will never be able to take advantage of one of those promotions ever again.

The reason why is because GTC listings will auto-renew, taking away my control of when the items get relisted.  If the listings auto-renew, I will no longer have the float.  I will be forced to pay listing fees on all listings above 250 items.

Forcing sellers to use GTC is also problematic because listings go stale due to the auto-renewal.  The GTC listing will never show as a new item in search except for when it is initially listed, and it will never show as an item that is about to end.  Most of us who understand how eBay search works sort by "newly listed" and "ending soonest" so that we can make sure we spot everything.  GTC permanently keeps listings out of those results.  The only time a GTC listing will ever show in "newly listed" is when it is first listed.  Each subsequent month will be an auto-renewal which does not reset the start time.  The GTC item will never end, so it will never show up in the "ending soonest" search results. 

I have read anecdotal reports by sellers about how their sales increased when they changed their listings from GTC to 30-day fixed-price.  Other sellers reported that their sales went down when they changed their 30-day fixed-price listings to GTC.  This change is not good, even though eBay is trying hard to spin it as positive.

I have not followed the eBay message boards closely in the last few days, but most threads are about this change.  I read some comments about how eBay employees are shutting down threads and deleting them if they are too negative.  

My hope—which is most certainly in vain—is that somehow eBay management will realize in the next 10 days that this change is a very bad idea.

I am quite glad that I have been working on reducing my stagnant inventory and am now down to around 230 eBay listings.  At least I am not over 250, so this looming change is not an emergency.  However, I cannot abide by my listings being GTC, so I will have to figure out a schedule where I cancel them at day 29 so that I can relist them to keep them from going stale.  This is going to be very tricky and will require me to keep close track of my listings in the coming weeks. 

The easiest way to manage this is to get my listings on a schedule where I cancel and renew all of them in batches, like half of my listings on the 10th and half on the 20th.  In order to get on that kind of schedule, I will have to let ended listings remain ended until I am ready to relist the first batch of listings.  If I take this approach, I will likely have low listing numbers at times in the next month or so.

I have some books that I need to list on eBay, but I am completely unmotivated.  I am glad that I have a shop on Etsy, because it looks like Etsy will have to be the place where I list most of my books.  I need to consider closing my eBay store in the next six months.  I cannot do it immediately without penalty, since I am just halfway through the subscription that auto-renewed on September 1, 2018.  So, eBay has me trapped for now, but I could end the relationship in just under six months.

If eBay would just let sellers run their businesses how they want without trying to micromanage everything, sellers would have better sales and be more productive.

For a look at my online stores, visit these two links.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

New Listings on eBay and Etsy + Site Strong-Arm Tactics

I moved a bunch of books into bulk lots on eBay.  Some of the books came from existing listings on eBay and Etsy, and others are books that I had not previously listed anywhere.  Since some of the bulk lots came from existing listings, not all of them are showing as new listings.  Take a look at the "Bulk Lots" category to see all of the bulk lots, and be sure to check the lots that are down near the bottom of the page, since some of them are new.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Some of the books listed in the eBay bulk lots came from Etsy.  I deactivated those Etsy listings when I placed the books in the bulk lots.  Some of the deactivated listings still had a month to go, and I did not wish to lose those listings completely.  I have changed the deactivated listings to other books and have reactivated them.  This means that I have a number of new books listed on Etsy that are not showing as new listings.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Check the following categories in my Etsy shop to find the new listings, and keep in mind that they may be showing towards the bottom of the category pages.

Nancy Drew Blue/PB/Other
Nancy Drew Library Ed
Old Girls' Series

On June 1, I wrote about how eBay was tightening control of whether sellers could run promotions.

As is typical, eBay is tightening its control over sellers, ostensibly to give buyers a better experience.  Beginning in late June, eBay will only allow sales to be run on items that have been listed for at least 14 days.  eBay says that this is so that buyers will have price transparency.

New items cannot be included in a sale, because the buyer doesn't know if the seller artificially raised the price before listing it.  So eBay feels it is better for new items not to be on sale, since the seller might be trying to pull a scam.  How about letting buyers make the decision on whether the seller's price was artificially raised before the item was put on sale?  But then, eBay doesn't think buyers are smart enough to figure that out.

I do not use eBay's "Good 'Til Canceled" option for my listings.  This is because I typically float more than 250 listings each month on my allotted 250 free listings.  If I were to use "Good 'Til Canceled," then I would lose control on when my items get relisted, since eBay would do it for me.  This would cause me to pay listing fees on some items where I can avoid the fees.

I was amused this week to learn that eBay backed off that promotion policy for now.  According to eCommerceBytes, The policy has been reversed at least through the holiday season.  I still probably will not run any eBay promotions for the foreseeable future.

I mentioned on June 1 that I float more than 250 listings per month and that I cannot use "Good 'Til Canceled" for that reason.  There is a rumor that eBay is trying to force all sellers to switch to "Good 'Til Canceled."  Apparently on the mobile app, sellers now must use "Good 'Til Canceled," and many sellers are concerned that eBay will soon force PC users to switch to "Good 'Til Canceled."  eBay always has a plot afoot.

eBay isn't the only site using strong-arm tactics.  Etsy has begun to implement some of the same restrictive policies that eBay has had in place for years.  I find the messages that display on my Etsy Dashboard to be somewhat concerning.

The middle message is the one that concerns me.  Etsy is now giving better placement to listings with lower shipping prices.  I notice that the message "Lower your shipping prices" is grayed out for me, so I may not be impacted.  However, I am still concerned about what this could mean in the future, especially should Etsy ever decide to take it further.

My listings are set at $3.95 shipping, but I do have a free shipping promotion on orders of $35 or more.  I feel like my shipping promotion is good and does bring results.  I am concerned that in the future Etsy could insist on free shipping like eBay does.  That would not work for me with my pricing method on Etsy.

I have some books priced as low as $1.99 plus $3.95 shipping.  If the books are purchased in an order of $35 or more, then those books would cost only $1.99.  If Etsy were to insist on free shipping, then the $1.99 books would have to be priced at no less than $5.99, which means that the shipping wouldn't be free when part of an order of $35 or more.  I hope I don't ever have to change my pricing method on Etsy.

Finally, some of us have seen the end of our Internet tax-free experience, and I have no doubt that the rest of you will follow in the next few years, so prepare yourselves.  Those of us who live in Washington, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma now pay state sales tax on most all online purchases.  eBay is pretty much the lone holdout.  However, eBay will start charging sales tax for buyers from those three states beginning in 2019. 

I have to pay 9.1% sales tax on my online purchases, and I must say that it hurts a bit.  Midwest City, Oklahoma, has the highest city sales tax in the state of Oklahoma.  It really hurts when the book costs over $100.  Ouch.  I keep reminding myself, though, that the Oklahoma Internet sales tax law is paying for my own pay raise of $6,657.  I am still ahead by quite a bit.  I remind myself of that each time I see 9.1% added to an online purchase.

The True Cost of Selling on eBay

I followed a link in my eBay account to a pie chart that I had never seen before.  It presented clearly what I already knew.  I decided to share the information, since it shows that the cost of selling on eBay is indeed high.

The data is for September 14 through October 14.  My sales have been quite bad for this time period.  This is partly due to me putting far more effort into Etsy than eBay.  I have not listed many new items on eBay, and my sales always suffer greatly when I do not list new items.

Here is the breakdown of my eBay sales and fees for September 14 through October 14.  Click on the image to see a larger version.

One part of the data puzzled me greatly, which is the $43.90 in subscription fees.  I finally figured out that since my yearly store subscription renews each September that I was charged for both September and October on September 30.  I pay $21.95 per month for my eBay store subscription, which is $43.90 for both months.

Aside from that, everything makes sense.  My total sales were $590.57.  My prices are set as free shipping, so I pay for shipping.  The cost of shipping all of my items was $87.01, but that does not include my supplies.  $87.01 is what was sent to eBay to purchase the postage. 

I received a whopping $6.68 fee discount for being a top-rated seller.  What an insignificant discount.  I earn more in eBay Bucks each month for my purchases than I get as a seller for being top-rated.

The net sales of $373.95 is what eBay says I get after all fees are subtracted.  It sounds great until I consider what I actually paid for the books.  I suspect that most buyers don't think about that when they ask sellers for huge discounts.  The books sold during this time period cost me $234.40.  I also had to pay for shipping supplies, which is probably around $25.00 for boxes, tape, and paper for the shipping labels.

That leaves me with $114.55.  Wow, I made a profit!  But then, my time is worth something, isn't it?  I'd say that my time is easily worth at least that much.  So what did I gain?

I gained the pleasure of helping people acquire books for their collection.  I do enjoy it. 

Even though the profit isn't much, it still is a profit.  Every little bit helps me afford the books I want to purchase for my collection.

Now you know why I am putting more effort into my Etsy shop than my eBay store.  The fees are not as high on Etsy.

The next time you consider asking an eBay seller to take their $50 book and reduce it to $20, think about what the seller's true cost of selling on eBay is.  The seller did have to pay something in order to acquire the book.  The book wasn't free, and those eBay fees add a lot to a seller's cost.

The same goes for Etsy, even though the fees are lower.  I recently had a prospective Etsy buyer offer me $50 including postage for a group of books that altogether were priced at around $144.  Um, no.  I won't do extreme discounts like that.  The books actually cost me more than $50 total.  After the buyer persisted and asked what I would take, I came up with an amount I could live with and only responded because it would have been helpful to have had all of the books taken off my hands.  The buyer didn't respond.

Even on Etsy, keep in mind that the sellers had to pay for the books and that the sellers do still pay Etsy fees.

Books Listed on Etsy and eBay Observations

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

My enthusiasm for Etsy is increasing.  I have risked listing some scarce books and books that have not typically been known to do well on Etsy.  Enough have sold that I feel comfortable further increasing the number of listings that I have on Etsy.  I now have more listings on Etsy than on eBay.

I do believe that something is wrong on eBay.  I feel like my eBay listings are mostly stagnant.  I continue to lower the prices of bulk lots, and it's like they are invisible.  I have ended two more bulk lots and moved many of those books to Etsy.  When I do this, the price per book goes up, but buyers are able to purchase the books individually at what is still a reasonable price.

I have written recently of some irritating eBay changes.  Another one is how eBay has changed the manner in which feedback is left.  The new process takes more time than the old process.  I have to submit every feedback individually and wait for it to save instead of filling out all of them before submitting.  Even worse, on the new page the transactions are listed in a somewhat random order.  I prefer for my transactions to be listed chronologically instead of randomly.  Exactly who has eBay set loose in programming and design?

Since the eBay interface has become significantly harder to use in the last few months, I suspect that eBay has also tampered with Best Match search and has probably made items harder to find.  This does not affect me as a buyer since I always change the sort to newest first or ending first.  However, buyers who are not aware of eBay's many problems are likely missing out on great purchases.  This is why I believe my eBay sales have plummeted.

My sales on Etsy have been higher in the last two weeks than my eBay sales.  I have a promotion for free shipping on Etsy orders of $35 or more.  I am getting some good results from that promotion.  It's also helping tremendously that I have increased my Etsy listings and have listed many harder to find books on Etsy.  I will continue to do so.  I expect to list additional books on Etsy in the next few days.

One drawback on Etsy is that I am allowed only 20 categories in my shop.  Since this is too limiting, I am having to place some books in general categories.  I have created three categories for general children's, girls', and boys' books.  Make sure you check those categories since I cannot give an individual category to every series.

I have recently listed some books by Capwell Wyckoff and L. P. Wyman.  I have also listed many Hardy Boys picture covers and Hardy Boys Digest library editions.

More Books Listed and More eBay Grievances

I have increased the number of listings in my Etsy shop to where I have as many listings as on eBay.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

I have listed some really good books on Etsy, including some high-numbered Rick Brant books.  I have a nice variety of Nancy Drew international editions and many nice Dana Girls and Cherry Ames picture cover books. 

I also have some books that I have been trying to sell for several years, but for some inexplicable reason, nobody will purchase them.  Why will nobody purchase desirable first printing Judy Bolton books?  This is in part why I have grave concern that our hobby is dying.  The lack of interest in nice books, even when priced low, is shocking.

I have four first printing Judy Bolton books.  Originally, they were listed on Etsy at around $50 to $60 each.  I decided to try them on eBay after some months with no success. I changed to a bulk lot of four books on eBay and kept reducing the price all the way down to $44.99, which is too low.  The books should be worth $35 or more each, even in the current market.

I went back to my original Etsy listings but lowered the prices to $19.99 for three of the books and to $14.99 for the remaining book.  I hope the Judy Bolton books find a home, because they are nice books. 

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

I need to move some books out.  I have many bulk lots, and I recently reduced the prices of some of them yet again.  The lack of interest is quite disturbing.

I have two Augusta Seaman books on eBay that might sell once my reviews start. 

Look at the lovely Norwegian Connie Blair book seen at the right, which is up for sale on eBay.  It is extremely hard and typically expensive to find Norwegian series books.  I have this extra because of a purchase made in 2015.  I do not understand why nobody will purchase it.  I have raised and lowered the price back and forth several times, but it stays unsold and unloved.  The interest is no longer there.  It's a shame.

I have some May Hollis Barton books in a bulk lot on eBay.  The books are in rough shape, but they are quite readable.  They are great stories!  The books need a home.

As always, I have a large variety of different series books listed on both sites. 

Now for my eBay grievances, which is probably why you made it this far.  eBay is now also annoying me as a buyer.  I get eBay Bucks for my purchases.  I just noticed a message in my eBay messages about an offer to get 8% back on eBay purchases for two days only, starting June 26.  Argh!  I made a big purchase on June 26.  But, because I did not activate the offer two days ago since I did not know about it, I only received the usual 1% back.

Why does eBay only send the offer through its own message system instead of also to the buyer's personal email?  I would have known about the offer if it had been sent to my email.  It's like eBay didn't want everyone to get the offer, but then isn't that counterproductive?  The point of the offer is to increase sales, but sales will not increase when buyers do not know about the offer.

eBay is so inept.

My other grievance is that eBay is removing the ability of people to see sold listings almost immediately.  The sold listings still show in search, but when someone clicks on the sold listing, eBay informs them that the listing is no longer available.  Instead of showing the listing, eBay helpfully shows one that is currently for sale.

@#$&*&*(%^$!!!!

I used sold listings to get an idea of how to price listings.  The condition matters, which is why I want to see the listing.  I can't do that with this latest nonsense. 

The Hideous eBay Seller Hub and Other Random Thoughts

eBay sellers have a selling manager that presents data in an organized fashion.  It's great.  eBay thought that they could improve it and came up with the seller hub.

I was switched to the seller hub earlier this year, found it awful, and followed the link to opt out.  Last month, eBay placed me in the seller hub again, but this time, no link to opt out was present.  I couldn't believe it.  The seller hub is truly awful.  Nothing can be found easily, and useful links that were prominent in selling manager are nowhere to be found.  It's another example of company employees who don't use the site thinking that they can make it better for those that do use the site.  

I thought I had to stay in seller hub and have been tortured by it for several weeks.  I finally noticed a link to the seller hub message board.  I went to it, where I discovered a bunch of unhappy sellers who hate the seller hub.  You would think that eBay would get a clue.  Why force us to use something that everyone hates and is unusable?

The good news is that I learned that we can opt out, but in a difficult to find fashion.  Go into your account settings and find "subscriptions."  The seller hub subscription will be listed.  Click on the link to cancel the seller hub subscription.  After that has been done, go back to the subscriptions page.  Scroll down until you find "selling manager." Click on it to subscribe to it.  You will have the selling manager back.

The selling manager has a prominent link at the top to switch to seller hub.  It's rather interesting that the awful seller hub has no link to switch to selling manager.  eBay does not want us to use selling manager, which is a far superior product to the hideous eBay seller hub.

This screen cap shows my selling manager.

Click on the image to see a larger version.  I did remove the sales information from the right side, but otherwise, you are seeing the information from the top part of my selling manager.  The links along the left side are extremely useful and include my buying information.  I am not just a seller, and I like to be able to get to my buying activity just as easily.  All buying information is missing in seller hub.  Furthermore, the useful seller links along the left side are all missing from seller hub.  I use most of them often.

That's why I cannot stand seller hub.
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I ended my 10%-off promotions on both eBay and Etsy.  I apologize to those of you who actually appreciated the promotions.  Unfortunately, many people apparently felt entitled to a greater discount than what I offered, so I felt that the promotions were encouraging bad behavior.  An increasing number of people have contacted me in the last couple of months to ask for a "larger discount."  Since this behavior makes me stubborn, now I have no discount at all.
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After some comments, I want to clarify my remarks from my last post.

My goal of 365 books by the end of the year was set because I expected to read many short, modern books this year.  I thought I was going to be reading Sweet Valley High by June, but that didn't happen.  I wanted a difficult goal because I wanted to be driven to read through that lengthy series as fast as I could.  That's why I set the goal.  But sometimes plans don't go as expected, and I ended up reading some very long books.  Now I'm back on my original planned track since I am currently reading Sweet Valley High.

Some of you feel that my reading goal is causing me stress.  Not at all.  If I don't reach my goal, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.  When I lost interest in reading 2 1/2 weeks ago, it was because I got annoyed with what I was reading.

I had purchased a small number of Baby-Sitters Club books to try out.  I wanted to read every book that I had purchased to get a good sample of the series.  I greatly enjoyed the first few that I read.  I then read a few that I didn't like as much.  I next read one that had an excessive amount of background information done in the style of Girls of Canby Hall, obviously designed to take up many pages.  I became so annoyed that I quit reading.

I was at a loss as to what to read, and I had some other things that took my interest instead.  I wasn't stressed by the reading; it's just that I lost interest in reading temporarily.  I then forced myself into Sweet Valley High, and I'm set again, reading along at a good pace.  I love to read more than any other activity, so my reading goal does not stress me one bit.
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Let's mention what does cause stress:  Facebook.  In the last month, I have been told off twice.  I was called a "dumb broad" and told to "f--- off."  Another person told me that I didn't have the right to close threads in my own group and that I didn't have the right to remove members from my own group.  Excuse me?  Group membership is a privilege, not a right.  If you cause trouble, you will be removed.

I am actually getting really good at taking the attacks in stride.  Being called a "dumb broad" made me laugh, since it was so stupid.  I wasn't aware that men still call women dumb broads these days.  I consider it an old-fashioned term, since I remember it from childhood when I watched reruns of old television programs from the 1950s and 1960s.

What gets to me is the amount of time spent on Facebook moderation.  It's taking up way too much time that I would not lose if others were careful about their actions.  We have rules, and multiple times in September, new members did not read the rules and immediately broke them.  I have to decide when to kick the person out and when to warn them in an attempt to salvage their membership.  In both cases where I was told off, I warned them in as kind a fashion as I could instead of kicking them out. They both reacted belligerently, and both were kicked out.

I also lose time when I have to explain rules to new members.  New members cannot post links, and I was asked for clarification.  Here is a screen cap of the thread, with the name of the other person removed.

Having to explain the rules over and over takes up a lot of time.  I have other tasks that I wish to complete, yet I lose a lot of time having to answer questions, clarify rules, and deal with various situations on Facebook.
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Some people don't understand the blog post links on my Jennifer's Series Books Facebook page.  This has been a problem for quite some time.  I use the website IFTTT to automatically post to my page when a new blog post appears here.  I have had the feature set to place "Just Published:" in front of the title of each blog post.

I have had several users suggest that I change my Facebook page's category to "book publisher," and I finally realized that the text on the blog post links may have been the cause.  I have even been congratulated on having a post published.  This is a blog that I control; there's no need to congratulate me for hitting the "publish" button.

Additionally, the below Facebook post caused confusion.

And again, the "Just Published:" part caused the confusion.  It was thought that the two Mary C. Jane books had just been published by a publishing company.  I have now removed those words from the IFTTT application so that only the blog post title appears.  That should help prevent people from thinking that I am publishing books.

It won't help with the people who don't understand how to use Facebook.  I have been asked quite a few times where my blog posts can be found.  They see a post, which looks like the picture seen above, and have no idea that they can click (or tap) anywhere on the image to get to the blog post.  I have had to explain that several times.  I'm not sure what to do about that.