• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Ebay

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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I've bought a LOT of stuff off of Ebay over the years, but I swear that now they might just as well rename the site as "Chinabay". The place has been literally overrun with Chinese sellers. Most of then will fake their location by stating they are shipping out of some place in California, but it seems to me that there is just a single warehouse in a location there that they are all selling out of. And I have a real strong suspicion that most of their positive feedback is just one person using MANY accounts passing feedback among the accounts.

I've been looking at a magnetic lifting device for my shop crane, and I happened to ask a couple of the sellers about the physical dimensions of the magnet. Every one of the ads are exactly the same, but heck, I didn't even think that ALL of them might be trying to sell one single lonely item sitting at a warehouse that showed up on some sort of inventory listing. So, all of a sudden, they are all sold out. Every one of them who responded. Now what are the chances? And a couple who "responded" it was obvious they could not understand English and just pressed a button, ANY button, as a response. And DON'T call me "Dear"!

I recently bought some hole saw bits I needed for a job I want to do, and I ordered it specifically from an account that stated they were located in Bushell, FL. I figured I would get it pretty quick, since they aren't more than a 3 hour drive from my house. But it took over a week to show up, and the tracking info stated that it had been shipped out of, you guessed it, California. When I asked them why it was taking so long to get the item to me from Bushnell, they suddenly changed their location info on their Chinabay account to California.

I've got nothing against Chinese, but liars and shifty acting companies, yeah, I don't like them much at all.

I've already stopped dealing with Amazon a while back, because they pissed me off, so I guess I'm going to run out of places to buy from at this rate.
 
Yeah, Fiat bought Chrysler and Chrysler owned Jeep. You can always stick with Chevy and Ford. But you know what they say about Ford (Found On Road Dead). :D
I totally agree with the "Chinabay." Order something and the next month open the box and say "Oh, I forget that I ordered this." I rarely ever order from Amazon or eBay.
 
So I was looking through Ebay looking for some lifting magnets to use with my shop crane, and the ads there are just flooded with Chinese sellers. Some stating they are shipping from China, and others saying they are shipping all from the same city in California, but they registered their Ebay accounts out of China. Most of them had a notable slew of awful ratings from previous customers, so I just kept looking. Finally found a company in Miami, that talked about how their magnets were tested and certified and were their own brand name, and their Ebay rating was a solid 100%. Yes, they were significantly more expensive than the Chinese products (which looked identical, btw), but I felt this would likely be the best choice to make. Hey, it WAS possible they weren't lying to me, WASN'T it?

Well, they came in, and best I can tell, they are the same identical things the Chinese are selling on Ebay. They did come with a certificate, however, so I guess I paid extra for them to open the wood shipping box and insert that piece of paper. Not sure if I actually got anything substantially better than the cheaper selling Chinese products I was looking at. Matter of fact, I rather doubt I did. But not worth the hassle and expense of sending them back for a refund.

Not really a lesson "learned" as it is a lesson "reinforced", I suppose. If it quacks like a duck.........
 
When China just started to become prevalent on Ebay I had ordered a IMAC replacement screen to replace for a customer. I did not notice it was a Chinese shipment till next day. Luckily customer was happy with price and willing to wait. I double check every time now.
 
I'm pretty sure that the greater majority of the positive feedback ratings for many of these Chinese sellers are just all within the same small group of people just creating tons of fake accounts and trading ratings among themselves. Seems kind of odd that the bad ratings are REALLY bad, and seem to contrast so sharply with the good ratings.

Not to say I don't buy from them anyway, depending on what I am looking for, but I do try to avoid the obvious worst of the rated sellers.
 
I recently purchased an aquarium on Letgo with a bunch of extra aquarium pumps, etc. I only wanted the aquarium for Leos and was able to net a profit selling all the equipment on eBay. I never ship outside the US and I selected that again when I sold everything. However, someone from St. Petersburg, Russia was able to bid on one of the pumps. Its a 120V pump. I'm pretty sure they have 240V in Russia. She sent a message saying there was no shipping option to Russia. I replied, "I know, I don't want to ship it outside the US!" Why did you even bid on it! It won't even work. So I checked out the USPS International shipping options and it's actually not that hard. So I sent her a quote and she refused the pay the shipping costs ($21) vice the price of the pump ($0.99). Duh!! So I had to cancel the order to make sure eBay didn't charge me for selling the item when I really didn't. I was still able to turn a nice profit using Letgo and eBay, but I figured I would share my recent fun with ecommerce!
 
I'd never heard of Letgo until you mentioned it. I will have to give it a try now that I have a Smartphone.
 
It's basically a Craiglist app - local pickup only stuff. The search is pretty good and you can expand the search to a pretty broad area if you don't mind driving a bit to get a good deal on something that would be too expensive to ship. It's good for stuff that you would normally just throw away but might still have some value. There are a bunch of aquariums and terrariums so I was able to get a good deal on the 20L aquarium. Most come with equiment, cage furniture, etc. so it's definitely cheaper than buying new if you don't mind negotiating, driving, paying cash and cleaning up the stuff you get.
 
WebSlave said:
I've already stopped dealing with Amazon a while back
Click to expand...
Sometimes, these days, it is difficult to know who exactly one is dealing with. I bought a cart (the Sunnersta, really a handy little cart) recently directly from Ikea and received it today from Amazon.
 
Yeah, every once in a while when I buy something from Ebay, the item will show up in Amazon packaging with a note inside that it is a "gift" from the seller. I have sent a few of them back, explaining to the people that I do not do business with Amazon, regardless of how my business may have gotten to them.

Lately, what I look for is someone charging state sales tax even though they are not located in Florida. Nine times out of ten that is a sure sign that they are just an under the table Amazon reseller. But even then, even from a Florida source, some things will STILL show up in Amazon packaging.

Oh, another thing, a LOT of people on Ebay will just go through catalogs like Harbor Freight, and sell the items off of there for a few more dollars than they are paying. I'm sure other sources of merchandise are being utilized in the same manner. So it pays to really look around for ALL sources you can find of anything you are interested in purchasing.

As for buying from Amazon itself, lately it is VERY rare that I can't find something cheaper from a source other than Amazon. Didn't use to be the case years ago, but that seems to have changed.
 
What do you expect with modern technology? :) To me Ebay and Amazon are getting worse and worse. I’m glad reptiles aren’t sold on Amazon. :D
 
Roscoe09 said:
What do you expect with modern technology?
Click to expand...

Amazon is introducing a technology package with a smart lock and video that will allow the possibility of drivers delivering packages inside your home. For many people that will be a positive move because package theft is so rampant.

I certainly embrace the technology that has led to two day delivery not only for Amazon but for other large sellers like Walmart. I now only go to the grocery store for fresh products like veggies, yogurt, meat, etc. Canned items, pet food, cat litter, etc. are delivered to my door in two days and for the same price as they would have been if I had gone to the store, put them in my car, then gotten them from the car to my home. That is a real plus, because a forty pound box of cat litter despite the laws of physics is heavier now than it was when I was 20 :)
 
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Very true I agree. Amazon has also done tests that show up positive with their drones. I don’t have a problem with shipping methods (I enjoy two day delivery but still get 100lbs of animal stuff at the store- litter, cat food,and dog food) but with the stuff they’re are selling. It seems like they want you to buy cheap stuff so you have to keep getting more after it breaks.
 
Roscoe09 said:
they want you to buy cheap stuff so you have to keep getting more after it breaks.
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I think that is putting the cart before the horse. Consumers look at price many times before they look at anything else. If they would refuse to buy cheap cr$p and demand quality their stuff would last longer. Amazon is going to sell whatever sells, and cheap sells.

The same thing happens here sometimes. Breeders who start with quality stock, who feed quality foods, get vet care when needed, and wait until a hatchling is mature and eating will naturally charge more for their quality product.
And every day some people instead choose cheap animals sold too young, fed cheap food, from breeders in it only to grab as much profit as they can get and who don't care about their critters. And the choice was made only because the critter was sold cheap.
 
Hah! Some driver walking into someone's home to make a delivery might get carried out in a body bag, so I HOPE that technology does not become common place.

As for quality of merchandise, heck, it seems all products are made in China or Mexico, just carrying different brand name labels on them. For instance, used to be I could count on products with the name "Craftsman" on them. Not any more. So if you are winding up paying more for the same product with just a brand name label on it, why wouldn't someone gravitate to merchandise that is identical, just less costly?

And I am just not buying the claim of "Made in China to our stringent specifications." Yeah, right...... :rolleyes:
 
WebSlave said:
Hah! Some driver walking into someone's home to make a delivery might get carried out in a body bag, so I HOPE that technology does not become common place.
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The technology is voluntary and must be purchased and installed by the consumer; the video shows the deliver being made, much like an unboxing video, so there is a record. From what I have read, the driver may use his/her own judgment, if there is a threatening dog or other safety reason that the packages cannot safely be put indoors, they are left outside.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...r-inside-your-home-record-whole-thing-n814276
 
Lucille said:
The technology is voluntary and must be purchased and installed by the consumer; the video shows the deliver being made, much like an unboxing video, so there is a record. From what I have read, the driver may use his/her own judgment, if there is a threatening dog or other safety reason that the packages cannot safely be put indoors, they are left outside.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...r-inside-your-home-record-whole-thing-n814276
Click to expand...

Personally, I do not believe that anyone giving access to enter their home to anyone other than friends and family is a very smart idea. It would be a very cold day in hell before I would do such a thing.

Oh and about Amazon's idea of making deliveries with drones... Well, good luck with that.
 
WebSlave said:
It would be a very cold day in hell before I would do such a thing.
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It took you two years to surrender to the cell phone borg. I'll bet you a dollar that before 2020, you will change your mind about this. Maybe you won't let Amazon in, but groceries, etc. count. It has to be a normal delivery situation, emergencies with medical/fire personnel don't count as far as the bet is concerned.

How's about it?
 
Lucille said:
It took you two years to surrender to the cell phone borg. I'll bet you a dollar that before 2020, you will change your mind about this. Maybe you won't let Amazon in, but groceries, etc. count. It has to be a normal delivery situation, emergencies with medical/fire personnel don't count as far as the bet is concerned.

How's about it?
Click to expand...

You are on!

And as for the cell phone borg "surrender", not happening. I bought two (one for me and one for Connie), but I rarely even turn it on. And NEVER use it for internet stuff. Heck, I turned it on today just so I could glance at the time while we were in Best Buy, as I had an eye doctor's appointment I didn't want to be late for. First time it has been turned on in at least a week.

So heck, you might as well just go ahead and send me that dollar right now. Not even the smoke of a chance you will win that bet. :hehe:
 
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