The hot humid Pennsylvania air was alive and well today. I spent the first part of the day working on shutting down what I spent the past few years starting. While deemed “unemployable” by standard hiring practices, I created my own path to earning some income, remaining productive, and feeling like I was contributing something to someone during this legal process. I’ve spent the past several years building and maintaining stores on eBay, Poshmark, and Mercari. Since most of what I sell is lightly pre-owned (pre-loved as we like to say), I’m committed to accepting returns. This week it occurred to me that there are less than four weeks until I surrender. At that point, I’m officially out of service and won’t be able to accept returns. That’s a problem considering I accept 30-day returns and I leave in 24! Operations must completely halt and as nice as it would be to continue selling for the next few weeks, I’m not risking it. Believe me when I say my family has taken on enough of my problems, and accepting store returns isn’t going to be another one of them! I’m not “closing” my shops. I’ve invested thousands of hours building an inventory, creating listings, photographing, organizing, and developing systems… I’m not throwing it all out the window. Plus, I’ve been diligent about providing quality customer service and have achieved a seller status that lends credibility to my stores. I began to panic a few weeks ago when I realized that I had no idea how to halt operations without closing my store through the various platforms. After weeks of research, chatting with other resellers, and losing sleep, I decided on a solution that will work (I think. I hope!). With a deadline looming, I spent part of today going through the process of preserving all my listings behind the scenes. I won’t know if it was completely successful until I return from my mission trip (aka prison sentence). With the opening of new doors upon my release, I’m looking forward to putting my education and skills to use in a meaningful way that embraces my passion. While fun, reselling is certainly not meaningful work. Either way, I’ve come to enjoy it and plan to do it part-time. For that reason, I’m really hoping and praying that my listing preservation efforts pay off. “So much of our future lies in preserving our past.” – Peter Westbrook
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