Purple Star Party!

Hello, I'm celebrating my eBay Purple Star today. This means I have sold over 500 items on eBay since I started selling in 2005. On my eBay Summary page I scroll down to see my feedback score. The next color star that I can shoot for is only 500 transactions away!

498 of my transactions have been drama free. I’d like to believe it’s because of the positive energy I’m putting out. But as many of you know, it’s a lot of hard work and good customer service. I may also be a bit lucky. After the first 100 stars I didn’t worry too much about reminding people to leave feedback. I’ve let my feedback grow organically. This means that I didn’t ask for feedback in the package and I didn’t remind people to leave feedback for me. People might say I was not being proactive in soliciting feedback. Could it be that I did not “ask” for drama?

So I will recognize the big 500 as my accomplishment today and celebrate. I somehow managed to turn this fun past time into a small business and people have noticed along the way! I plan to celebrate with my small staff that includes a husband and a teenage daughter. I want to include all the blog readers here at RunDramaRun in my Purple Star Party. Many of you can relate to the star feedback system and the rewards of hitting milestones as you sell on eBay, get Twitter followers, or reach new heights in blog traffic. So please join me in a toast of whatever you are drinking. Cheers!

5 stars = 5 happiness!

I get happy when I get 5 star feedback from an eBay customer! Today I heard back from a nice customer who gave me 5 stars all the way. That means she was 5 star happy with my item description, my communication, my shipping time and my shipping and handling charges. I promptly thanked her for leaving feedback because I like to do that for all customers who take the time to leave feedback. Then I started thinking about 5 happiness!
Five Happiness is the name of a traditional Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. I started going there in the eighties, about the same time I took my first trip to China. The food was good and it was a family owned place with great customer service. Well I haven’t been there in years but I still remember the name. I always wondered what it meant. Chinese culture has a complicated philosophy that includes good luck symbols and lucky or unlucky numbers. So I figured the name was based on the family’s good fortune. The number 5 in Chinese culture is important because it is associated with the 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. It seems important to keep these elements balanced. I'm not sure if there is a direct translation for 5 but it is close to (self, me, my) in Cantonese. So 5 happiness could be "my happiness". I know a Chinese saying that I really like: “Good things come in pairs.” This is what Chinese people call Double Happiness. It’s good for weddings, anniversaries, and twins. It’s also good for days when you get two eBay customers that leave 5 star feedback!