Stuck in eBay Hell

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me. Finally things are going well and hopefully the first week of July, I’ll get the all clear.

Still smoking, just can’t grow the balls to quit. Next doctor visit I’ll see if he can give me some medication to help out.

I’m finding out how bad my medical insurance really is. Bills are piling up. Funny how you get one bill from the insurance company that say’s a third of the cost has been paid, but you might still get billed for the balance. A week later you get the bill for the balance. Since 2003 I’ve paid about $150.00 per month for insurance or approx. $8,100. Never used the damn thing till now. To date the insurance company has paid about $700.00 and I’m left with over triple that amount to pay out of pocket. When you think about it, you really only work to get access to benefits. Sure you get a paycheck too, but when you have everything taken off your gross, you’re left scratching your head looking at the net. You think these benefits will cover you in a time of need. BULLSHIT!!! I could have put that money in a savings account and have been better off.

OK enough of that.

Last week HBGOnline entered into it’s 8th year of existence. Seems like yesterday when I first put the site up. I’ve been going through our current version and taking notes for making some changes. So be on the lookout for them over the next few weeks. I want to get the site back to being “edgy”. Have some ideas that I’ll try out to see how they go. Gone soon will be the personal ads and porn flick reviews. With Craigslist and My Space, you don’t have to join personal sites anymore to get your dick sucked.

I’ll also be looking for a few good people to contribute to the website. So if you would like to be considered, send me an email.

I’ve been out of the loop lately and one thing has come to my attention regarding band promotions. What ever happened to email. I don’t go to My Space as much as in the past. It seems lately I waste so much time deleting the spam from my inbox and comments page and when you go to the bulletins area it’s also littered with mindless dribble. So I’m left with our Message Board and my email for band info. I will give props to Herbie, The April Skies, Sherri Mullen, Mr. Greengenes and The Impact Band for sending out regular emails on band updates and upcoming shows. What about the rest of you reading this article? Anyone can do it!!!! You can start out by registering a Yahoo or Gmail email account just for your band promotions. When completed, start out by entering all your personal email addys to the account. You can also have a link on your website (you do have a website?) for fans to add their email to the list. You might also have a contest to encourage more people to add their email to your list. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!! When sending out a mass email, DO NOT put everyone in the “CC” portion of the form. Use the “BCC”. BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. People getting your email will not see who else is on your list. If you use the CC, all email addresses will appear and people like me, that know the value of an email address, will steal all of those email addys. Also when sending out a mass email make sure you include a mention for people to “unsubscribe” from your list. It’s the law plus if they don’t want it, why bother sending to that person.

Not going out and being homebound these last few weeks, has allowed my to focus on my eBay business. Close to $10,000 dollars has been sold!!! We are now Power Sellers too!!! There is nothing more gratifying when someone gives you items to sell and they assume the worst, even calling the stuff junk. Two weeks later you call them and advise the items brought in a couple hundred dollars. I like to personally deliver the checks to the people that expected next to nothing for their items. It’s great to see their facial expressions when you show them the check for a few hundred dollars.

Ebay did a study that showed the average person has about $1,500 in unused items laying around. So take a look around your attic, basement, closets and garage. Give me a shout at 717-649-1330 and I’ll make you some cash!!! Mention you saw this here and a starving musician and I’ll even cut you a break on our selling fees.

We’ll that’s all for now folks. Everyone have a great Fourth of July!!!

Lator Gators - BigJim