Saturday 19th April

Unfortunately I've had to spend the better part of today revising all of my Ebay listings to comply with what appears to be a change in the rules regarding 'business' listings. I'm not even sure that I have to do this, but I've read their postings about the requirements, and I appear to fall within the category of those who have to 'become' a business. Admittedly, I have to speak to them before I go the whole hog, but I make and sell items so therefore I should become a business.
Heavens but this is really giving me quite a bit of jip. You see, when I started doing all this, I definitely had it in mind that I would sell these things for profit - and I pretty much sort of cover my costs. Yes well, reading that, I guess you can figure that I don't. Thing is if I calculated everything to the very last penny, and charged things appropriately, I'd be in a devil of a bind. I don't think I'd sell very much for a start, or certainly a good deal less than I do - I've even had emails off people suggesting that I should lower my prices as it is! Actually I have to say that I think they - these people that send such emails - clearly are living in cloud cuckoo land, and should go take a running jump. I'm not a professional jeweller here. I enjoy making things, but I'm not under any illusion that I'm running some kind of successful business - you might conceivably call it a micro-business, and I do make a little bit of extra money that comes in toward the end of the month when I need it to tide me over to next payday. But if you tot all of this up, the fees, the supplies, the time (and I've had endless discussions with people about what exactly if anything should be charged for time!) - add on to this the costs of the packing materials, the postage - I'm shelling money out over this. Not enough so that I can't afford it, but I do quite resent Ebay telling me that I have to become a 'business'. What I really resent most about this is that there are privacy implications in this, and I also have to put up that I'm prepared to refund anyone who returns items within 14 days of receipt, for any reason whatsoever. Ye Gods, it's not like people are spending a fortune with me.
Don't get me wrong here, I've always accepted returns. Especially if something arrived damaged, or if it broke or whatever - it's just putting this down in writing makes me feel that I'm suddenly going to be deluged in people buying stuff off me, it arriving with them, and they're using it, and then deciding to send it back. Especially things like earrings. What guarantee do I have against being ripped off? It just all makes me feel a bit less enthusiastic about what I do. It's so bureaucratic - I see my 'business' as a permanent electronic craft stall, not some kind of 'business'. Maybe that's my fault, maybe I should be more business-like about it, but I'm not. And this whole rule and regulation bit has got me quite riled up.