Monday, October 15, 2007

eBay Shows Off Shipping Deals To Holiday Shoppers



eBay is changing the way shoppers see the shipping costs for items for sale. The buyers will no longer use the price sort option in search results. The buyers can now see Price + Shipping in most categories. eBay is now organizing search results by the item's price plus the cost of the shipping and handling.

Wow!! It is about time that it will be easier to see the total you are actually going to pay for an item. I think this change will only help those of us sellers who choose to charge actual shipping charges along with minimum handling.

Along with this change eBay is also can search exclusively for items that offer one of three options:

  • Free
  • Thrifty
  • Expedited Shipping

This page will let the shoppers know that eBay has combed eBay to find the best shipping deals so you can focus on shopping not shipping. You can find more about this on http://pages.ebay.com/shippingdeals.

I think it only tells me very loudly to go into my eBay Store to change all shipping to FREE.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Sharing Holiday Gift Ideas

For everyone's convenience, I have decided to start my blogs with my eBay Store. After all, it is fast approaching the holiday season! I can notice the difference in sales recently. Buyers are finding just the right gift for their friends and family.

I am a nut for browsing magazines and books to find new products and things to make. I do this after a day of listing on my website or on eBay. It doesn't take too much brain power because I want to let you know, my brain is dead after a full day of internet work! I often have my doctor's office make a copy of a certain page and I gather old magazines from our local library. I then take the articles and pictures I want. I must take at least 10 publications myself and do the same. Browse, rip, browse, rip and then recycle. Today, I will share some of what I have found hopefully helping you get some gift ideas to purchase or something to make.

  • Lauren Bush and the United Nations World Food Program has a really cool feedbag selling for $50.00. It helps feed children in developing countries around the world. You can see a picture and purchase the bag at www.worldfeedbag.org. In the same venue, The American Red Cross has a new line of retro 1930's looking T-shirts. I especially like the one that reads, "Handle With Care". Go to www.redcrossstore.org to see their complete selection of fun and altruistic gift ideas. I found these ideas in Country Home Magazine.

In that same magazine I found some cool junk gift ideas or even for your own home:

  • They took three fluted metal pans that sell for about $3.00 each or 25 cents at a yard sale. They took a large nail to punch three holes evenly spaced around the edge of each tin. You then prime the tins, then spray paint with your favorite color. You then attach a small chain with "S" hooks through each hole, squeezing the hooks shut with pliers. Gather the chains at the top with your larger "S" hook and hang from the ceiling. This is great for fruit, veggies or even a collection of grapevine balls, sea shells or another treasure. I can see it spray painted then sponged with a contrasting color to give it an antique look. I'd like to see it just sponged with that liquid that makes your metals look all weathered and green. Why couldn't you even put one by your kitchen desk to hold all those small office what nots that get spread out all over the place?

  • Being into rustic, I especially loved their idea of using vintage bisquit cutters (those usually have a green or red wooden handle. You take a jar lid and metal glue it into the cutter. Use these new lids to cover jars of tea or dried spices and even a jar of nuts. I know I have some of those cutters in my bin of cookie cutters that I have collected for the past 40 years! Wow! I sure don't make many bisquits.

  • I also ran across a lovely bird house to decor perfect because I have lots of sticks! You buy a birdhouse from a craft store or find one at a garage sale then gather a bunch of sticks. Using a handsaw or pruning sheers, but branches or thick vines no larger than 1 inch in diameter. the legth of each depends on the size of the birdhouse you buy. Attach the twigs using hot glue. Layer and overlap to be creative. Secure twigs with nails so that when you put the bird house outside, the glue won't leave you twigless! Make sure the nails are short enough not to protrude into the bird's house. Take one or a couple of U hooks and nail them to the back of the house and thread a wire through each. You can then attach it to a post or fence. Wouldn't a collection of these be great on your back fence! I'd like them attached to my pump house. This is even a project fine for kids....well be careful with the hot glue!

  • Want a really inexpensive project? Take some of those plastic thubtacks that come in multiple colors and then search out your button box. Find the really neat buttons that you no longer know why you saved them and take some Gorilla Glue to the tops of of the thumbtacks, place the button and let dry.

A few years ago, a friend gave me some of these that she created. I remember opening them and being so pleased to get such a nice pretty gift. I use them on a cork bulletin board attached to my desk right here where I am typing. I have sissors hanging from one, my watch from another and a list of birthdays on a small calendar sheet held in place with a lovely crystal button covered thumbtack.

  • Did you know that you can take one of your vintage lunch boxes, fill it with sand and then put in some candles? Wouldn't the kids love to create a winter scene in one of these lunch boxes? I think so. I can see white sand looking like snow, or sand covered with artificial snow, red and green candles and some of those small figurines that go with Christmas villages to place for an action filled holiday scene. My children would have had a hill with a sled going down, a little pine tree and maybe even some deer or dogs...a couple of small candles to light and wow! You have Christmas on the table that the children can claim as their own. Kids do love to be an important part in decorating the house!

I promise to go through my treasure box of magazine articles again to share with you some great fun ideas that don't take too much work. I have no time, but I love to create. I imagine most of us suffer from the same problem of no time!

Don't forget to check out my husband's electric fishing kayak. I know, it takes time to build a kayak, but it is fun to see and just maybe it would fill a need for just that perfect gift. www.jimskayak.com . You can buy the plans, the kits, or a finished kayak.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Trying New Ways to Introduce Rustic Decor!

eBay has come up with some innovative ways to let us give viewers an opportunity to see our store that might not otherwise find it. I have now posted all the contents right here on this blog for all to see.

I am excited about this Christmas selling season as I have already put into action a Christmas in October Open House in conjunction with 3 other business women in my area. We are giving a percentage of our sales to "His Haven of Hope"; which is a program for homeless women and children here in Brookings, OR. Along with giving some money to them, we have also given out a list of needed items that we are providing a barrel to fill so that we can provide some of their basic needs like toliet paper, canned veggies and coffee.

I have also been busy listing on eBay being careful to fill that catagory: Holiday Gifts! I am still concentrating on high quality rustic decor that celebrates our lifestyle here on the Southern Oregon Coast.

I have also recently joined our local Chamber of Commerce and will soon have a link to their website. We are forming a committee within the Chamber for website owners in our area for the express purpose of letting everyone know we are here and eager to do business with the local community. We have already purchased the domain name, lookwhosonline.com that the Chamber will let us use. We needed to join with an existing non-profit group so that we would not have to run this group on our own. We have four founding members. We all have websites with no time to collect money, run advertising campaigns and counsel people on how to do their business. This will be a self help committee within the Chamber so that we can all meet together speaking our particular form of "English"; which others cannot understand and hopefully grow our individual businesses.

I am back teach eBay Basics at the local Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOC) here in Brookings. This is always fun for me. I swear, I learn more each class than do my students!

I hope you enjoy visiting my store with this new link! If you have any comments, please leave them. I'd love to get some feedback...good or bad!

Karen

We Welcome You to Our Blog!



We blog about our rural area in the Pacific Northwest . This blog is all about my life and the places where my mind wonders from day to day. Have fun reading and looking at pictures. We welcome comments.

Be sure to watch, just above this blurb, my husband, Jim, using his 10 foot hands-free electric fishing kayak

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Electric Powered Hands-Free Fishing Kayak

Be sure to check out the separate blog to find out about our electric kayak, Kingfisher 10! You can find the blog at http://electrickayakkingfisher-10.blogspot.com . You can also read the features list on this kayak and purchase building plans and building kits at www.winchuckriverstore.com .

About Me

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We moved to our current home on the Wild River Coast of Southern Oregon from San Jose, CA. Our family consist of Jim and Karen, two dogs and two cats. Karen's passion is gardening. Jim's obsession is building electric powered fishing kayaks and fishing.