Disclaimer: what you’re about to step into is really depressing and discouraging with no inkling of hope whatsoever. הוזהרתם.
So remember that time I bored you people to death with the chronicles of my sufferings as I attempted to purchase a Michael Kors and a Balenciaga from eBay?
גם אני לא.
But it happened, and the story only got a lot more convoluted thereafter. first off, the much-anticipated yellow Balenciaga never arrived. Presumably (from what could be traced from its tracking information), it reached the UK safe and sound from Greece, and then the us as well by means of the royal Mail, after nearly three full months of individual waiting. In the us it was handed over to the USPS, who delivered it at the post-box of my agent’s warehouse, and, wait for it, from there, it got stolen! somebody got really lucky. Or really unlucky, as we’re about to find out.
Balenciaga gigantic 21 part Time Bag
via Fashionphile
$492
Now, you might remember why I’d embarked upon this bizarre journey in the first place, which was to initiate a startup in Bangladesh for pre-owned handbags, and my parents called me crazy for even imagining it would work. They still do. למה? We’ll get to it presently, but first, to continue where we’d left off, I’d become pretty much broke from getting the BBag and the MK, and now that the Bal had ended up dematerializing, how was I to navigate the troubled waters of e-commerce with only one purse? Well, weirdly enough, I have two people to thank for it, the first of whom was my (generally erratic) agent, who was gracious enough to lodge a problem to eBay about the product’s non-arrival. As can be expected, the seller of the Balenciaga was perfectly horrified at the idea of a refund. Eventually, however, he (my agent, not the seller, who is probably a really kind and easily-agitated Greek lady) was able to haggle with the USPS and get the money back! and that is the reason I continue to use his services to date, despite his various idiosyncrasies.
After that, however, I’d ended up with a Michael Kors Riley, roughly $111 (yes, that’s what the £49 Balenciaga eventually ended up costing), and an Instagram page with barely 4 followers who weren’t my (equally broke) service partner’s various aliases. how would I be able to purchase a lot more handbags and promote my page? Well, that’s when my mommy stepped in. given her natural penchant towards shiny, colorful handbags, and the fact that out of sheer stress, I was scrolling through eBay all day (which frankly wasn’t that terrific of a stress-buster because who wouldn’t like to see all the bags that they can’t afford? Me, apparently), she came across and was right away enamored by, two handbags from Dolce & Gabbana denim (a short-lived diffusion line of the Italian fashion house).
Unidentified D&G denim Handbag, someone help me ID this!
And thus began a new era (for my business), one in which my mommy invested in sixteen a lot more handbags from various fashion brands, ranging from instructor to Michael Kors and Prada to Marc Jacobs. and with my mommy taking charge of the investment, my partner and I began doing promotions, sponsorships word-of-mouth marketing, and even a campaign called flaunt Your Bag featuring a handbag giveaway! and while we’re at it, we got to explore a lot of different avenues for getting resale as well: we came across another agent who could actually purchase from the us for less, while we ended up sourcing eleven of our sixteen bags from Vinted UK thanks to a UK-based agent!
However, as we only continued getting a lot more and investing more, one thing became clear – the Michael Kors Riley wasn’t selling like crazy as I’d originally anticipated. In fact, none of it was selling at all. Talk about bleakness! alongside that, another danger mainly loomed. The first time I’d purchased it, I’d thought that the Michael Kors was in a questionable state. Boy, was I wrong. As the handbags kept pouring in, it became evident exactly how mistreated handbags could get. From cracked handles, peeling leather and stains to grossly misrepresented colors and sizes, it seemed like “never used” handbags rarely indicated that the bag was intact.
However, the greatest letdown by far was the Prada Nappa easy carry Bag from Vinted UK, with a much darker color and a sadder, droopier outlook than the web site displayed. true story – the purse came folded in a 6” x 6” package, and the flap has got two minuscule fang marks on it from what I assume was a careless packing worker’s stapling spree.
Prada Nappa easy carry Bag
via The RealReal
$492
In fact, it might be highly possible that the Greek seller’s Balenciaga wasn’t in that terrific of a condition either (as I like to console myself by saying). I often hope that the “borrower” would be so dissatisfied with a possibly dirty (but unbeknownst to him, easily restorable) BBag that he’d return it to my agent’s post box. Needless to say, my prאיירס נותרו ללא מענה.
ככל שהרבה יותר מהתיקים הללו התבררו כפגמים רבים, למרות שהמוכרים קבעו אחרת (וזמני המסירה הארוכים לבנגלדש, מה שמצביע על כך שהם היו מעבר לתאריכי החזרה שנקבעו), אמא שלי איבדה במהירות את העניין ברכישה נוספת. חוץ מזה, כאשר התקשרנו עם קונים פוטנציאליים, נראה כי הסטיגמה נגד קבלת בבעלות מוקדמת הפכה להיות הרבה יותר ברורה: הם מעדיפים לרכוש זיופים חדשים ולא מקוריים בבעלות מוקדמת, והערך הכספי והאמנותי של המעצב נראה ללכת לאיבוד עליהם!
מכאן שההורים שלי משוכנעים למדי עד עכשיו שהסטארט -אפ הזה לא צפוי להסתדר, בעוד שבן זוגי לשירות, עם השקפותיו השמרניות כלפי דגמים ועיצובים גרפיים גלויים, בין המוני דברים אחרים, מכניס הרבה יותר אילוצים מאשר יתרונות בשלב זה. אפילו עבורי, עד עכשיו, המסע של סטארט -אפ זה מפחיד, בודק ומייאש עד כדי כך שתרצו לקרוע את השיער, אבל בסופו של דבר, יש את התיקים בידכם בסוף היום נראה היה שהכל כדאי. עם זאת, בעמדה הנוכחית, מכיוון שהתיקים עצמם מתבררים כחסרים ופגומים, יש לי מחשבות שניות בעצמי.
אבל בסופו של יום, ההפעלה הזו היא משהו שאני באמת רוצה להמשיך לעשות. אז עכשיו כשאתה יודע איפה אני עומד, מה היית מציע? האם סגירה וחיתוך הפסדים האפשרות הטובה ביותר?