Disapearing "Watched" Auctions On Ebay...

[JunkMan]

MadJack,

I wish I had Domino's stores all across the Dakotas and Montana, unfortunatly, I just have them in the Rapid City area. Hopefully not for much longer though. I'm trying to sell, so I can have more time for camping and such. Been doing this most of my life, and it's time to slow down and do something else. I opened up here in 1984, started with Domino's in 1981, when they had less than 500 stores (over 8000 stores now, in over 60 countries). Also spent some time working at Pizza Hut, and several independants before hooking up with Domino's

Podunkfla,

As far as food costs, we usually run closer to 30%. Cheese has been pretty bad in the last several years, and is on it's way up again. But you are right, it's the other costs that really add up. My delivery costs have gotten crazy since the price of fuel has passed $3.00 per gallon.

Some people complain because most of us have added a delivery charge in the last couple of years, but with the price of fuel, the delivery charge doesen't even cover the additional costs that we have incurred. Pizza prices have been pretty steady for the last 20 years, while all of our costs have gone up, making our profit margin smaller than it has ever been. I'm working harder than ever, and making less, so I figure it's time to do something else.

CocaCola Teardrop,

I too am a seller on ebay, been buying and selling for almost 10 years, so I am quite familiar with the PayPal rules and such. I've never had to use their guarentees though, I still prefer to pick up large items myself, and pay for them when I pick the item up. I have paid for hundreds of smaller items via PayPal, and have luckily never had a problem that I wasn't able to work out with the buyer. Unfortunatly, as a seller, I have had a couple of buyers file bogus complaints against me. Even thought they got their items, because I don't get delivery comgirmation on all of my items, I lost out. Luckily the items were small, and I wasn't out much.

[Podunkfla]

Podunkfla,
As far as food costs, we usually run closer to 30%. Cheese has been pretty bad in the last several years, and is on it's way up again. But you are right, it's the other costs that really add up. My delivery costs have gotten crazy since the price of fuel has passed $3.00 per gallon.

JunkMan... I'm not surprised you're up to 30% food costs. I bet Pizza Hut is way more than that now with the food/salad bar and all the entrees they are serving. I am amazed my friend can run a Golden Corral at 32%... Then again, He's the best manager I have ever known. I'm glad I'm in the fixit business these days.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

MadJack,

I wish I had Domino's stores all across the Dakotas and Montana, unfortunatly, I just have them in the Rapid City area.

C'mon Jack,
Pay Attention!!!

Jeff,
I really do feel bad for Michael Waltrip... He DNQ'd again at Pocono today.
At least #00 made the field...

[dakotamouse]

I do contracting work now for Huddle House chain... Food cost: 18 - 21%.

We got to try Huddle House when we went to Florida. I liked them. The food was simple and good, prices low and the portion sizes were realistic. When we finished our meals we actually had room for dessert and could still afford it.

[JunkMan]

Jeff,
I really do feel bad for Michael Waltrip... He DNQ'd again at Pocono today.
At least #00 made the field...

I'm not a NASCAR fan, so I don't pay too much attention to it, But a lot of our franchisees are not real happy with the NASCAR sponsorship. Although it is good for some areas of the country, it is very expensive, and we really don't think that we are getting a very good return on our investment with it.

Michael is a great guy, just not having a lot of luck the last couple of years. Of course, that kind of follows the trend Domino's has had sponsoring drivers. It seems like every driver we have ever sponsored over the years, has done well after our sponsorship has run out, and them oved on to someone else

[RKH]

If you pay for an eBay item via Paypal you are protected.

This is true ONLY if there is still money in the payee's account to make the refund.

Sorry to jump in but I've been burned on this one. Paypal investigates and decides but will only refund if there is sufficient funds in the account to do so. Ever since, I use my credit card to fund my paypal transactions because the credit card company REALLY will refund.

[asianflava]

For some reason my PayPal account defaults to my bank account. I prefer it to draw from my checkcard because I can dispute the charge.

I did dispute one charge, I waited 2 months and never got my items. After I disputed the charge, it showed up. I sent it back certified mail but they didn't sign for it and it came back to me.

All I had to do was go to my bank (Credit Union) and tell them that I wanted to dispute a charge. There was a box to check for "didn't recieve goods" so I checked it. A week later it was reversed on my account.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Hey this is getting interesting...
A while back I bought a 1700s spider skillet on ebay.
It showed up with a cracked wall, a very old crack...
I wrote the seller back and informed him of the situation and after a volly of emails back and fourth, he told me to ship it back to him and he'd refund my money.
According to the delivery confirmation, he got it about a week and a half ago.
I've been checking my Paypal account, but not seeing a credit as of yet.
I'll give him a few more days, then shoot him an email and ask what's up before going straight to Paypal.
I'll let you guys know how this pans out...

[RKH]

Mine defaults to my checking account as well but I now change it to my credit card. Of course, Paypal uses the opportunity to remind me of the benefits (including "protections") they could give me but although I learn slow sometimes, I usually learn good.

[Gaelen]

Hey this is getting interesting...
A while back I bought a 1700s spider skillet on ebay.
... I'll let you guys know how this pans out...

You're going to follow up on your skillet purchase/refund with a seller, and you'll let us know how it "pans" out?

arrgggh...Dean...have you got a license to pun, or was that just an accident?

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Total accident...
It's a local term... Gold mining country.