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Trying to be more financially responsible


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It's been difficult trying to be more financially responsible the last couple of months (a chain reaction of Terrible ever since that whole PayPal thing) putting off buying anything I wanted until coming out ahead of my bills 

I'm still not quite where I would like to be, but I'm getting there and for me the biggest thing I think I can do is minimize my risks to not end up in that kind of situation with PayPal again

Unfortunately since every attempt I have made to try to break away from using them has failed because nobody seems to want to risk using anything else, I cant just say "no PayPal" unless I want to make no sales when I get back into my card hobby

So that means limiting transactions and selling for a Smaller % to hopefully get 1 or 2 bigger buyers, rather than a multitude of smaller buyers

That also means I am not gonna sell the lower priced cards, I will probably just bundle them into deals with the higher priced cards, get the deals done with and move on with 0 lingering inventory (whatever someone does with those extra cards I don't care, if they choose to sell them and risk getting screwed over, that's on them)

I didn't mind having more customers and to start seeing sales happen with little resistance and to see "trusted" being commented instead of having to relist things many times over and hope someone saw what they wanted/needed and decided to buy from me

I just neither have the money to make big orders that are necessary to have many customers, nor am I so willing to put myself at a great risk; where i am sure somebody is gonna decide they didn't get as much as they should and decide to abuse "buyer protection" to get more than they paid for.

Anyways, any general tips for being more financially responsible?

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2 hours ago, beallucanb said:

The best tip I can give you is don't buy anything you don't need, or can't afford.

 

Pretty vague, but I get it

I had a credit card once, not doing that again because i had been ripped off by a fraudulent scam and the CC company did nothing to help me and expected me to pay a hefty bill

Prior to that I was keeping on track with it and was never late enough to have to pay interest on it

That's where scaling back on my card hobby comes in, sure I would love to buy a full case and not to have to buy extras later on

But I realize that's not realistic, so I am gonna have to scale it back to where I used to be at and just slowly fill in the blanks whenever I have a little spare money to spend

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Well this is my opinion of the business you are in, there are way too many people trying to make a fast buck off collecting cards.

If I were you I would work a temporary job to get enough money to get yourself out of debt, this is the main thing crushing you right no

 I would only work the card business as a hobby nothing else, just do it to amuse yourself

You don't need to make a ton of money,  just enough to keep yourself afloat,  when you have enough money you can play your card game the way the others play it as a hobby.

 

 My advice would be find a job working outside those  jobs that pay the most, paving crews or quarry work it is hard  work, but you get to sit on your ass for most of the winter or working on your body like I used to do when I was laid off for the winter.

For now flip burgers for Mc Donalds,  they paying 15 bucks an hour to start, its better than being deep in debt and getting depressed over it.

 

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3 hours ago, beallucanb said:

Well this is my opinion of the business you are in, there are way too many people trying to make a fast buck off collecting cards.

If I were you I would work a temporary job to get enough money to get yourself out of debt, this is the main thing crushing you right no

 I would only work the card business as a hobby nothing else, just do it to amuse yourself

You don't need to make a ton of money,  just enough to keep yourself afloat,  when you have enough money you can play your card game the way the others play it as a hobby.

 

 My advice would be find a job working outside those  jobs that pay the most, paving crews or quarry work it is hard  work, but you get to sit on your ass for most of the winter or working on your body like I used to do when I was laid off for the winter.

For now flip burgers for Mc Donalds,  they paying 15 bucks an hour to start, its better than being deep in debt and getting depressed over it.

 

My main problem isn't whatever debt I owe to some debt collectors based off of some debt I owe some company 

Its household bills, primarily taxes

I'm not too far from being caught up, and the trading card hobby was never meant to be a "for profit" thing, but I tried too hard to sell "bulk" cards and people assumed I knew the value and purposely asked too much (which was a horribly wrong assumption, I just didnt have time to add in hours extra to find extra prices on sets of 90 cards, times 4 cards each to make a set, and calculate that all out)

I have moved on from.Bulk Sales, next time I will throw them in with more expensive cards, give them away, or even throw them in the garbage before I risk attempting sales for a small "profit" (even though it would have never been profit anyways)

Which leads to people assuming I am terribly unfair and some people refuse to buy from me

Oh well, I dont need a pool of 8000 buyers anyways, I only need a few to buy my extras, even if it's at a rate they can make profits at (the profit margin would likely only be 10-20% anyways)

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  • 1 month later...

As someone who now works in the financial services industry, credit card debt is an awful thing, as is PayPal (who somehow established themselves as "Not a Bank™"), without any regulatory body caring.

Having PayPal as your primary source of revenue, unless you do extremely high volumes and can take the odd whack is extremely risky, as PayPal will almost universally resolve all disputes in the purchaser's favor, with sometimes devastating consequences to the seller. So expect this, and ensure that you positively never screw anything up, OR charge a premium for PayPal over direct credit card payments via a merchant service. (Their terms and conditions prohibit this, however it is unenforceable if done transparently at the time the payment method is selected)

On my other point, the interest rates charged on credit cards should be criminal, however it is based based on an an unsecured loan that could be lost at any second. They make up for this with extortionate interest rates, fully expecting a certain percentage of defaults. It's just a mathematical formula to them.

If you happen to be in serious credit card debt, see a debt consolidation advisor immediately, this will often reduce the interest rate by over 50%, however you will lose the freedom to make new purchases on borrowed money. Work out if you can afford this practically before doing such a thing. Credit cards have seen a lot of people through tough times, and can be repaid once your life is back on track. There is nothing inherently wrong, or evil about them, they are what they are, and you know what you're signing up for. They're a tool, and you can use them properly or improperly.

Let me also assure you that there are no "get rich quick" schemes offered to the general public, the only person who may "get rich quick" is the person or people who invented the scheme, so please save yourself the heartache of finding that out the hard way.

Collections of commodity items (such as cards - regardless of how "rare" they are) generally don't appreciate in value at all, and if so, do not do so sufficiently quickly so as to make a substantial profit in one's lifetime for it to be a worthwhile investment.

If you're looking for an investment, simply buy the Dow Jones index, which has shown consistent average growth over the long term.

Unfortunately, there is no substitute for hard and smart work. Always look for a position which maximizes your remuneration, and try to save. Even it's a simple regime of $20 per week, this will add up quickly, and give you a buffer against hard times, and a sense of financial security and control.

I know this may sound obvious, but always pay off the debt which attracts the highest rate of interest first, and proactively negotiate payment plans with larger entities such as the IRS or Medical Providers.

My final piece of advice is, do NOT try to start your own business when in this position. Starting a new business is risky enough on it's own, requires capital and an extremely comprehensive knowledge of a particular market. Find the best job you can, and work hard, but work smart. Take the best remuneration you can, and exercise some self-denial in terms of consumer goods for a while.

You can and will beat this, and when you do, you'll come out of it with so much more confidence and self-respect. 

 

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