What NOT to do as an eBay Buyer (1)

Lesson #1: if a seller does not have the "make an offer" button on their listing, DO NOT MESSAGE THEM TO MAKE AN OFFER.


I'm selling Japan/DokiDoki Crate mix boxes right now on eBay, with some extra items thrown in from Asia/the 80's. They're mix boxes, lots, meaning you do not get to pick what you receive. You can tell me if you like or dislike certain things in general, and I'll try to accommodate, but it's not a "pick what you get" listing.

I even have this detailed in my listings (in bright red to make sure folks see it) as such:
I do not barter or split auctions!

This means what it means: I don't accept offers if the listing doesn't have that button, nor do I sell "part of" one auction for "less". Okay. Now that's out of the way, on to one of the many messages I received about this popular listing.

Message #1: Hi, buy any chance can you do $25.00 for the listing? I will buy right away! Thanks🙂

I ignored this and did not reply, as I'm losing money on these anyway to sell this low and paying the shipping completely out of pocket. It's an actual bargain at the cost. (I updated my listing eventually to add info about this and ask that people kindly do not ask for lower prices as I'm damn near being harassed by a lot of kids). The next PM came as follows:

Message #2: Hi, if I buy this could I have all this stuff, Pokémon Purple plush, hello kitty stamp, loom the loop, some sort of candy, both hoppe charms, somiko garshi stickers, sushi sticky notes, washi tape, breadu squishy, rillakumma squishy and the slipper squishy. Thanks! Let me know if you don't I have the stuff I want in the box. Thanks

I blocked the buyer from bidding on my auctions. Many buyers are shocked this happens to them. I will try to explain why this happened from my (the seller's) point of view.

This buyer:

1 - ignored my very bold, red-colored statement of "I do not barter", which tells me they cannot read or pay attention to details

2 - ignored the general idea about the auction "a lot" of "mystery" things, some of which are depicted in the photos but I clearly explained that the photos were NOT the only things available

3 - asked me to cheapen a deal that is already listed at too cheap for me to make my money back on a lot of these things

4 - misspelled a ton of things, appearing illiterate, in their haste to demand what they wanted

5 - demanded I do what they want, when I have what they want

6 - asked for all the most expensive things they saw in the photos (again, I have lots more that's not pictured)

These warning flags tell me that they most likely will not understand the nature of the listing, and it may lead to them screaming they want their "money back", to screw me out of everything. It has the feeling of a too-young teenager that is demanding while thinking that adding a "thank you" makes it okay to insult me. I need money to pay bills. I will not make money off of these; I need to clear space in my home, and I thought it would be fun and make others happy.

When you sell for a long enough amount of years, you get a cold feeling about the buyers that will cause trouble the moment they contact you. This one had "I'm going to screw you over" written all over them - even if I had caved in and given them even more money's worth of items in their box.

Cultural Appropriation & Halloween

*sigh*

Okay, so on my Google news cards today was a story about Halloween, so I clicked it. The article poo-pooed the "leftist" society* that is screaming that kids that aren't Hawaiian can't be Moana for Halloween because it's - you guessed it -- "cultural appropriation". It's stealing from their culture and it's the worst thing ever.

Oh, and that's NOT the rant, folks, ha! Of course! Because, while I believe this is bullshit PC crap (she's a freaking Disney Princess character for god's sake, let the little girls look up to her and want to be her for Halloween)... the article turned sour. It started off just fine, as I despise people that get too politically correct. There's a thing as taking stuff too far, and if a white girl wants to be a Samoan Princess, then you all should be thrilled that the little white girl WANTS to be her, because she doesn't see that the character has any difference to her. It's how we want society to move - as a whole, not seeing colors, sexual orientation, gender, etc., as anything that separates us. We are all human.

So I'm thinking, 'okay, huh. This seems to be something I agree with...'

The asshole writer says that if he wants to dress up as Harvey Weinstein it's okay.

[ *insert facepalm image here* ]

I mean, I'll defend your desire to do as you wish to the death, sir. Don't get me wrong. But there's a difference between wanting to dressing as someone you look up to although your culture is different and dressing as someone who has destroyed the lives of countless people while remaining of the thought that their lives do not matter.

Dressing up as him to make him look bad, ie., a social commentary on how much of a monster he is... eh. That's a different story. But I think this moron meant actually going as the man who is unrepentant about the terrible things he did.

Again, if you want to be an asshole, that's up to you. But I would hope that whatever party you go to the folks have the common decency that you seem to lack, and boo the shit out of you.




* wik: honestly, the way we split ourselves up is ridiculous, there's not just "black" and "white", "left" and "right" people - and that's the basic problem, and for another rant

* also wik: by the way, I'm dressing up as a sea cow for Halloween! Hooray!

Screw you, movies (Kingsmen spoiler)

...and sometimes books.

But this is about movies. My husband was so psyched for this Kingsmen movie he was watching - so psyched that he didn't finish it so we could watch it together. I had my misgivings, but he said he asked someone and the dog in it didn't die.

I SHOULD HAVE CHECKED THE "DOES THE DOG DIE" site.

The dog does not die, but in another room this bitch has a STANDARD POODLE as her companion, and she freaking pulls the trigger! Yes, it was loaded with blanks, but I don't care. I'm upset, and I'm predisposed to absolutely hate women anyway, so this makes me absolutely upset and FROTHING AT THE MOUTH WITH RAGE - I want her character to die a terrible, messy, slow death.

This will now torture me for years.

I own poodles!

I have always owned poodles!

They're my special babies!

That couldn't have touched me more.

So frack you, movies.

This movie gets a negative score from me for doing that scene. There is no reason for it. It's like a "hey, kill your baby" scene. A huge trigger for me, an even huger that it was the dogs I always own that I CONSIDER MY CHILDREN.

The worst part is the asshole character is all like, "at least the girl had balls". No, idiot, no she didn't. The dog was not a threat, someone just told her to do it. It's a yes-sir-military mindset, and I didn't think spies were supposed to have that.

Also, frack spy movies. I MIGHT have went along with this one - I always disliked all of them I've seen -- but you know what? This sucks, too.

Toreba Crane Machine App

Hey, I haven't posted here in ages!

That isn't to say I haven't been pissed - a part of being The Angry Nekomata is constantly being pissed, like Bruce Banner says in that one movie -- I just haven't been pissed enough to post.

Until now.

If you are considering trying the hot new craze "Toreba", please read this first! 

I love crane machines. That's what this is all about, by the way, those prize machines with the claw where you can win a stuffed animal or some kind of prize. I used to live on the shore, and I'd regularly empty those MFers enough to ask the guys and gals behind the arcade counters for bags to carry all my loot in. I'm the gal others would ask "Here - please take my money and win me that for me/my husband/kid, etc" .

No problem. I can do that. I would always walk away before the machine was empty, because I felt bad if I emptied one. Don't get me wrong. But that's how good I am. So when my husband found out there's this app where you play these machines in Japan on your phone, in real time, and actually win plushes and stuff - wtf?! Of course he let me know.

I hesitated (I have big problems with buying too much online and on apps) but eventually gave it a try. $35.98 later, I have absolutely nothing to show for my efforts. I gave up and bought one of the biggest plushes I wanted (for less than that, by the way). And that's the lesson here. Unless you can be content with the "free" tries or earning TP (the cash used to try your go at a crane/fishing/lotto machine) by completing offers - DO NOT INSTALL THE APP.

Just go to this website: The Otaku Mode (yeah, I do have a referral link, but hey, we both get more stuff if you sign up and it's free. Also, I'm not doing this just to promote this site. Honest.) The site sells the exact same shit (and more) you'd ever want from Japan. Candies, snacks, anime/manga, kawaii plushies and squishies, more. You can see it's cheaper, even with the shipping from Japan, to buy from there. Most of the prizes are around $5 or so USD - but they'll take you hundreds to win. It's damn near impossible, trust me.

But - yeah, yeah, I couldn't win a single thing. I compensated for lag, trust me. Because the game lags like crazy. The camera also blacks out sometimes (really fun, let me tell you).

The point is, I actually got the claws wrapped 100% perfect a large number of times (because that's how I win all the time here, duh) but guess what? They're too weak. It's rigged. Did you know in the States there's inspectors that go to the arcades and test the strength of the claws? They have to grip a certain percentage or it's illegal. I'm not so sure about Japan.

The other way to win is either pure chance (ping pong lottery/fishing game) or waiting. Because, you see, others know that you'll spend $100 edging that plushie down the ramp... and when you either rage quit or run out of money, they dash in and poke! One push shoves it down. So if you're good at being a douche, by all means you can try this. Or just plug away at it, poking it, until it falls in. But that also will cost far too much than just buying the damn thing!

Thanks, but I lost again

Yeah, I submitted a ton of these. I won't ever again, due to obvious reasons (democracy my ass), but while they're up, why not take a peek and maybe vote? :)

Vote link:
https://www.squishable.com/opensquishp/opensquish_meat_224415/

Voting over, thank you!

Yep, I'm at it  I lost again.

I submitted a lot of these, and am hoping one makes it! So please, if you like original, interesting stuffed animals, consider voting for my "Grumplestump" today? I'd appreciate it!

Vote here: http://tinyurl.com/h282lsp
Or direct!: https://www.squishable.com/opensquishp/opensquish_stump_219340/

This is the little guy right here :)