October 2003

my window was open just a tad, enough for me to stick my hand half way in it... but certainly not enough to get my arm in it.

i was in the middle of a pizza delivery, i had just got out of my car to take a pizza to someone's door. when i got back to my car, the door was locked. that surprised me, because my door doesnt open up unless its already unlocked (pulling the handle doesnt unlock it). so it was unlocked when i opened the door, but somehow was locked when i closed it. i looked around to see if i saw anyone (one fear ive had when i leave my car unlocked and running when doing a delivery is that someone might run up to either steal my car or lock the door to fuck with me).

i was at the customer's house for a long time. i had made a phone call to work saying that i was locked out of my car (and i still had a delivery to go). the guy who lived there said he use to be a cop, and he had this device that unfolded that he stuck inside the door to try to unlock it that way, but he didn't have any luck. i took off my belt and tried to hook it around the little handle to try to roll the window down some more, but that didn't work either.

i found out that i could pull my window up, and out some - just enough to fit my arm inside to reach the lock. i dont know if that damaged anything, but the window seems to work fine.

once i sell something on eBay, shipping is usually pretty easy. i just go to the post office, pay for Priority, get a box, and then package and mail the item. depending on size, i sometimes use bubble wrap. also, if the item is worth a certain amount, i sometimes pay for insurance.

things get a little harder when the person buying the item is in another country. first, the price of global priority seems to more than double in cost compared to shipping in the US. second, i've been told by the post office that they cant insure global mail (once its out of the country, they cant be held responsible for it or something). and third, eBay doesn't allow a dual listing of local/foreign shipping cost (that i know of).

after finding out the hard way that things cost a ton more to ship outside of the US, i started pointing out in all my auctions that world-wide shipping will cost double the listed shipping cost. i thought that would fix things. however, i've still been paid the US cost of shipping from someone in another country. they seemed to ignore my instructions on paying double the listed US price, and refused to pay anything more than what they already did. after a few days of waiting to see if they would change their mind, i just shipped the item in a standard padded envelope. it was the only thing i could afford without cutting into the cost of the item. i wouldn't know what kind of condition the item would arrive in since it wasn't in a hard box, but hey - it wasn't my problem.

another thing that bothers me about selling on eBay - when i say i accept PayPal and money orders/cashiers checks only - that's what i mean. if they try to pay with a Credit Card, they wont get anywhere. if they send me a personal check, then im going to hold on to it for around two weeks to make sure it clears before sending their item.