Brandi the Engineer

I use to go to one of the drop-down menus in the upper right-hand corner of the home page just to the left of the shopping cart icon. I tried all 4 drop-down menus (My eBay, Sell, Customer Support and Notifications) and it is not under any of them. I believe it use to be under Customer Support. The link for the forums was there a few days ago.

I've been looking all over the website with no luck.

I have an item listed on eBay right now and several people have asked me the same question. When I respond, I check the box to post the question/answer to my listing, but when I scroll to the bottom of the listing it says that there are no questions about the item.

I tried revising my item description to answer this question, but I cannot click inside the description box. It is like it is locked or something.

I tried on 2 different computers and through my phone. I have bids on the item and I know I can update the listing once someone has bid because I have done it before.

Everything else seems to be working fine with eBay as I have been able to do everything else with no trouble, just cannot post answers to questions are edit the item description. Anyone else having this problem? I'm not sure if it is a problem with eBay or just my listing.

For example, a US seller will ship to all countries except for Canada or will only ship to China and Italy. I know that some items are prohibited in some countries, but the items being sold are not prohibited in the countries on the seller's exclusion list.

I ship worldwide, and regardless of what country I've shipped to, the customs forms and process has been the same every time, so I do not see a reason to exclude any country. As far as language barriers, I get US buyers all the time that can barely speak English, so I ruled that out as a possibility.

So, any specific reason for excluding certain countries?

I have my YouTube set up so that every time someone comments on my videos, I will receive an email. My email inbox on the computer will show that I have an email and my phone will alert me, but there is never anything there. I recently scrolled all the way to the bottom of my emails and found that all my YouTube comments were at the bottom and unread. They were all dated for 12/31/1969 at 7:00PM. Only the YouTube comments that people leave me are dated like this, all the other YouTube emails are dated correctly and appear at the top of my email.

Does anyone know why this is happening? My guess is that something is wrong with the settings, but I am not sure if it is YouTube, Yahoo or my phone.

I am asking this question for people that have children that still believe in Santa.

I do not have any children, but with the economy being bad, I couldn't help but wonder. So what happens when Santa does not come to visit, but the child goes to school and finds out that Santa visited their classmates? The child that didn't get anything would probably feel as though they had been bad all year and weren't deserving. How do you explain this to a child?

They are many Bachelor's Degrees that have the word "Science" in them but are non-science degrees. A few examples: A Bachelor's of Science in Philosophy, A Bachelor's of Science in Architecture and a Bachelor's of Science in Business Management.

When I think of Science, I think of the subject (Physics, Chemistry, etc.). So, if the degree is not a Science degree, then why does the work Science appear in the title?

Or, are a Bachelor's Degree and a Bachelor's of Science Degree really the same thing and can be used interchangeably?

Why do some college students get grants to attend college for free and then receive a check for thousands of dollars to do whatever they want with? This money does not have to be paid back. I am curious as to why the government allows some students to receive up to a few thousand dollars more than what they need for college each semester and then deny other students any help at all because the government is "out of grant money"?

Don't get me wrong, I think grant money is a great way to help people attend college, but I feel this money should be better regulated. Just think of how many additional people could attend college if this leftover money went to another student in need. I think each student should only be allowed to receive enough money each semester to cover tuition, books and supplies. If any student has left over money, it should remain in the student's school account and be applied to the next semester.

Sure it would cost the government money to monitor how much money each student is to receive, but the money the government would save by not overpaying each student should more than cover this cost.

When I mentioned this around someone that got these grants, they went off on me and said that they are entitled to what is left over because it is "their" money. Actually, it is the taxpayer's money. I go to work 5 days a week and work my butt off so that I can pay for someone else to go to school. I don't mind helping someone get an education, but you are already getting to attend college for free, what more do you want? Yes, the student will often use the the leftover grant money for food, rent, a car, etc., but if I want a roof over my head, food on the table and transportation, then I go to work and earn a paycheck.

In no way am I saying that people fortunate enough to receive grant money are not deserving. I feel that it needs to be better regulated so that more people can have the opportunity for a better future. Why should Suzie get her tuition paid for AND a few thousand dollars in spending money while Johnny gets absolutely nothing?

Here are my top three excuses I have received just recently:

3. Several people have told me that their child accidently bid by bumping the mouse which in turn just happened to be hovering over the Place Bid button. I don't see how this is possible with an auction item (please see my other question if you want to know more about this).

2. A buyer told me that she didn't want the item she won because she didn't realize that it was a Juniors Size Small. She said that she didn't have time to read the item description. She told me this almost 2 weeks after the auction ended! 2 weeks and you can't find time to read the auction TITLE that clearly had "Juniors Size Small" in it? Also it was clearly stated in bold font and underlined in the first line of the item description!

1. This one has stupidity written all over it. My auctions clearly stated that I combine shipping for orders outside the United States. However, if the item is shipping within the United States, the shipping will be FREE and there is no way I can combine shipping to get a cheaper shipping rate because shipping will be $0.00 regardless of how many items are purchased. Someone sent me an email after purchasing multiple items from me and asked if I can combine shipping within the United States to give her a lower shipping rate (this was after I sent her an invoice that had $0.00 for the shipping). I told her that the shipping was FREE and that no matter how I combined the shipping, it would still be $0.00. She replied back and said that it wasn't fair that I combine shipping for International orders but not for orders in the United States! She then went on to say that she couldn't afford the FREE shipping because it was too expensive and I should be able to give her a shipping discount! To make her happy, I canceled one of the items per her request so that I could "lower" her shipping from $0.00 to $0.00.

So, Ebay sellers, what was the dumbest excuse a buyer gave you for no longer wanting/paying for an item?

I have been having a lot of problems lately with people "accidently" bidding on my auction items, winning them, and then saying, "My child was sitting on my lap and accidently hit the bid button."

Last time I bid on something, I had to click to bid, numerically enter a minimum bid, numerically enter a maximum bid, and then had to click again to confirm the bid. Now how in the world can someone "accidently" do all those steps? Sounds like some Ebay members have very talented children.

I could see if it was a Buy It Now because I have purchased some items this way and after clicking the Commit To Buy button, the Confirm Bid button did not appear. Instead it said something like, "congratulations, you just purchased this item". I did find that kind of odd, however, this "accidental" bidding is occuring on my auction items.

Also, when I cancel these transactions for the buyers, does Ebay keep track of how many times a member has had an item canceled? I do not want it to affect me as a seller by constantly having to cancel a transaction. Also, I don't want to be selling to people that consistanly back out of something simply because they just do not want it.

There is this song that is played all the time at Kmart and it sounds like it is some girl group. My guess is that the song is from the 90's but I am not sure. It uses the chorus of Ricky Nelson's Garden Party song as the chorus in their song.

But it's all right now

I've learned my lesson well

See, you can't please everyone

So you've got to please yourself

It is one of those up-beat dance songs. I can only make out the chorus, as far as the rest of the song, I cannot really understand what they are saying. I've tried to google the chorus and searched on youtube but cannot find this particular song. Does anyone know what song this might me?

I am trying to convert a block into a dynamic block. The book that I am learning from says to do the following:

From the menu bar, choose Edit ---> Copy with Base Point; then use the Insert osnap to select the insertion point of the block as the base point. Select the block, and press Enter. This copies the block to the Windows Clipboard.

I do not see Edit anywhere! Every time the book says "from the menu bar, choose (name of command), the command the book is asking for is always along the bottom of the ribbon. For example, under the Home tab, across the bottom of the ribbon reads: Build, Draw, Modify, Layers, Annotation, Inquiry, Section & Elevation, Details and View. I have gone through every tab and Edit does not appear along the bottom of any of the ribbons. I tried typing Edit in the command window but it is an unknown command.

The book is for AutoCad 2010 but I am using AutoCad Architecture 2010. I also could not find the Edit command on AutoCad 2010 (non-architecture version).

I listed an item on Ebay and the auction clearly stated that the winner bidder is to pay within 7 days after the end of the auction. It's been two weeks now and the buyer still has not paid or contacted me. I have send two invoices during the two week period.

I want my selling fees back and I want to relist this item. However, I do not want to do anything to harm the buyer's feedback score. I viewed her profile, and she has 100% feedback, over 100 transactions, and most of the people that left her feedback mentioned that she pays quickly and communicates great. She has not left anyone feedback in about 3 weeks, and all her current feedbacks received were from items she purchased weeks ago. From what I am seeing, she is definately not an Ebay deadbeat, so I am worried something happened to her. I would feel horrible if I take action against her and later found out she was hospitalized or something.

So, how can I go about getting my fees back without hurting her feedback? Is canceling the transaction like a mutual agreement? Can she leave me negative feedback if I cancel the transaction? I heard that an unpaid item strike hurts the buyer so I definately do not want to do that.

I thought about just relisting the item and forgetting about the fees and take a loss, but if she is still around, I don't want her to decide to pay after I resell the item to someone else.

So, how do you quantify "lot" items on customs forms, keep it as one item or break it up? Also, does the maximum items per box refer to 5 auctions or 5 individual items?

I sold 4 of my "Buy It Now" auctions to someone outside the United States. When I was creating a shipping label through Paypal, it asked me to list the items on the customs form and give the value of each of these items. Ebay/Paypal automatically filled out part of the form as though I sold 4 items (each Buy It Now item was listed as a seperate item) and it listed the selling price of each of these 4 items as the value. However, I really sold 17 items (2 single items, a lot of 7 items, and a lot of 8 items). The items are diecast toy cars similiar to Hot Wheels. They shipped to Russia.

Anyways, I left the 2 single item auctions alone, but changed the quantity on the one lot to 7 and the quantity on the other lot to 8 to reflect the true number of items, however the form assumed I had 7 lots of the one item and 8 lots of the other item and was multiplying the quantity by the value columm! The value than exceed the allowable maximum amount. So I decided to list each of the 17 items individually and divide the value of each lot by the number of items in each lot to get the value of each item individually (basically I itemized everything), but once I got the first 5 items listed, I was out of lines and could not add the other 12 items because only 5 items are allowed per box! I gave up and went back to how Ebay/Paypal originally filled the form out: 4 items with each being a quantity of 1. I ended up putting all 17 cars in one box, but each auction is wrapped individually making it look as though there are only 4 items in the box. When I dropped the box off at the Post Office, I told the lady that I wasn't sure how to do the quantities and she acted like it wasn't a big deal. I am worried that if the box gets inspected and I quantified incorrectly that I will be in some sort of trouble! Thank You!

This may sound like a strange question, but I have had three different buyers that recently won my items through Best Offer but claim they never made an offer on the items. I explained that I have the Best Offer option set to automatically accept the first offer over a specified amount, and that they must have submitted an offer that Ebay automatically accepted, therefore causing them to "win" the item. All three people claim that they found my items on their "won/purchased" tab eventhough they never viewed these items. I find it strange that this happened three times to three different buyers within a two week period. The first time this happened was with a new member so I figured he just didn't know what he was doing, so I just ignored it. But the other two people are both Ebay Powersellers that use the Best Offer feature on some of their auctions so I know they are aware of how Best Offer works.

I have been watching some electronic items on Ebay, and people are bidding way above retail value on easy to find items. These items can be purchased online from places such as WalMart, Toys R Us and Best Buy at retail price with little to no shipping. So why would someone be willing to over pay for an item on Ebay and pay outrageous shipping charges rather than ordering directly from the store? Stores have return policies, while many Ebay sellers do not accept returns, even if the item is defective. I realize that stores charge sales tax while many Ebay sellers do not, but the cost of sales tax is often insignificant when compared to what was paid for the item.

Are people just stupid or am I missing something?

My friend posted a picture on his facebook wall using his Blackberry. I made a comment on it. Now everytime he posts a new picture on his wall, my comment automatically reappears on every one of his wall pictures but with the original date. It looks as though I copied and pasted the same comment all over his wall. When I comment on other people's pictures, this does not happen, it only shows up on the picture that I actually commented on. All of the photos are from the "Mobile Upload" album. I though that maybe I commented on the album rather than the picture and that is why it keeps reappearing since the pictures are all linked to the same album, but I tried this on another friend's "Mobile Upload" album and my comment did not reappear when they posted more pictures to their wall with their phone. Does anyone know what is going on?

I have the Motorola Droid (original) and was prompted on the phone to install an update. I updated, and my blue and white globe icon with "browser" under it disappeared off my home screen. There is now an empty space where the icon use to be. However, there is now a gray globe icon at the bottom of the screen, but it does not work. When I click on it, I keep getting a message that there is no app. I tried looking for the browser in the android market thinking that would solve the problem, but when I go to open the Android Market app, it opens, then says "force close". My others apps that require internet access open but gives me a "force close" message as well. Is anyone else having this problem? I want the browser that was on my phone before the update, but I have no idea where to find it since my Android Market does not work and my laptop no longer recognizes my Droid when I use the USB cable. I have had my phone for about 3 weeks and have not had any problems with it until the update.

The project we are working on is being funded with stimulus money, so products used must show a Made in America certificate. However, many of the products that the architects and interior designers specified are manufactured outside the United States so we cannot use/install them. Therefore, we have to research these products before ordering them and inform the architects and interior designers if the specified item is made in a country other than the United States so that a substitute can be selected. We have to research all these products and get letters from the manufacturers verifying the item is in accordance with the Buy American act. This is slowing the job down because many of the manufacturers are ignoring our calls and emails for documentation. We don't have time to sit around all day researching this stuff and making phone calls when we have a schedule to follow. Shouldn't the architects and interior designers be familiar enough with the products they specify to know where the products are manufactured, especially if the Buy American Act was in effect during the design phase? If they picked American products to begin with, we wouldn't be behind schedule while waiting on letters and approval of substitute items. Funny thing is, our contract states that it is the contractor's responsibility to make sure the products meet the Buy American Act. I find this very odd because the contractors buy and install, not select products.

I plan to buy a new laptop this fall and the most powerful program I will be using is Revit Architecture. I need at least 4 GB Ram to run Revit and plan to have my laptop for 3-4 years. I was thinking I should go higher than 4 GB Ram in case I have to add more powerful programs in the future. I have heard that gaming laptops are really good, because of their fast processors. Any Suggestions? Brand does not matter, but I would like to stay under $1500 if that is even possible. Thanks!

I will be a senior studying Construction Engineering and have to find an internship to graduate on time next year. Every time I go to a job fair or send out resumes and cover letters, I hear the same thing: "You don't have any related work experience" I have tried contacts, professors, the co-op office, even the internet, but I keep hearing the same thing. I have competed in Engineering competitions and joined clubs to make my resume more appealing, plus I get excellent grades, but nothing is working.