In today's issue of the Hot Finds I thought I'd share some adventures on Facebook I've had recently. Some of you are well aware that there is a 24/7 TOR going on in the Scout Patch Collectors Facebook Group and sometimes it gets interesting.
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Vintage Boy Scout Memorabilia Up First
I ran into a mess with a package that was shipped with delivery confirmation but it all turned out roses in the end. I sold a guy some patches and the delivery confirmation showed it was delivered. Eventually he went to the post office and they ran it down and came up with the package. I don't know where the package was but he got it like a month later. I'm glad it all turned out well. The lesson is we were patient and kept communicating and nobody jumped to the conclusion that somebody was not being trustworthy.
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Order of the Arrow Auctions Live on eBay
The other neat thing that has happened has been been finding collectors that I had never met who are from my area. I can't tell you how many people I've done deals with I've never met from the Carolinas. One guy in GA has me on the lookout for everything from his lodge / council that I come up with. Building a network of contacts was not something I thought about when we started the group four years ago.
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Scouting Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
Now it's not all roses on FB. One issue that has stung me the last couple of days is people backing out on deals. This almost never happens on eBay as people see it as a binding transaction. But on FB people buy things on a whim and by the time you try and push them to send payment often they change their minds. I don't guess there is anything that can be done but it sure is frustrating.
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Patchblanket.com eBay Store Santeeswapper
The other interesting thing people are doing is using FB as a bridge between live action TORs and eBay. A lot of guys will promote what they are taking to a show and begin to initiate in person deals. Then with eBay guys are promoting their auctions as they are about to close and talking up promotions. The FB group filled a hole in the hobby that I don't even know most of us realized we needed. It's been a fun ride.
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I think March was the 4 year anniversary of the group and it passed without much fanfare. We are creeping up on 10,000 members which will be a big milestone. If you are not a member head over to the SPC Facebook Group and request to join - it's free! Yours in Scouting,
Jason Spangler
Santeeswapper LLC |
