Proofread Those Listings!

I'm usually pretty good at proofreading my listings, but every once in a while something slips through. Recently I had to raise the prices I charge for shipping due to increased operating costs, and so I had to go through and make changes in many of my item descriptions.

Recently I made a sale to a customer who pointed out, and rightly so, that it said "in the description" of the item that the shipping cost was $5.00, even though this customer was charged $10.00. Well I was pretty sure that $10.00 was the actual shipping charge, but when I investigated, I found that I had indeed forgotten to change the wording in the description of the item. Since it was my fault, I only charged this customer $5.00 as in my opinion, arguing the point was not worth the bad feelings that would have been created.

The bottom line is, I am once again combing through my listings and looking for errors. A second pair of eyes would have been a big help, but as we all know, that's not always possible. Even though I've been doing this for a few years, incidents like this remind me to slow down a bit and take my time. Lesson learned...until the next time.

Trying to Sort Things Out...Not Having Much Luck

I haven't written very much as of late. It's been a very busy last couple of months; more so than usual. As of this Monday last I have retired from 38 years of teaching science. I didn't know how I would feel about that when the day finally came. Now that it's here, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's kind of an odd sensation. On the one hand, it hasn't really hit me yet that come August, that little packet of information that always arrives in the mail from the school will not be in my mailbox. It just seems like the start to a normal summer break. On the other hand, I know that this won't just be any normal summer...how I'll react to that in a few months will also be an unknown.

I do know I've been looking forward to being able to spend more time building my on-line business. It's still going to be a few weeks before I can really dive in. I'm cleaning out almost 40 years of educational material from my office, and reorganizing. It's a bigger job that I thought...no surprise there I guess. In any case, I hope to be up and running in just a few weeks. See you then.

Once upon a time, there was a fledgling auction site called eBay

Once upon a time, there was a fledgling auction site called eBay. The site became popular very rapidly because of a number of reasons...mainly, because you could sell just about anything and have fun in the process. Ebay insisted that it was simply providing a place where a buyer and seller could come together and make a deal on just about anything. If there was a problem, well they couldn't get involved..it wasn't that type of site.

It soon became apparent that eBay had very little competition out there in the online world. It became apparent to eBay also, because soon the rules began to change. Changes happened slowly at first, and then accelerated rapidly. As change occurred, so too did the amount of money eBay charged to do business on the site. People began to see what was happening, eventually, but it was too late. Today eBay is the overlord of the online auction world. They call the shots...they charge the fees. Don't like it? Go somewhere else...and many people did. But the fact remains that no one generates buying traffic like eBay.

Now let's take a quick look at another online giant, Google. Google seems to have partaken of the same cool aid as eBay. Like eBay, it appears Google is getting too big for its britches. It's the only game in town at the moment, and therefore you'll play by their rules..or you will "disappear" altogether from the internet market place.

The implementation of this latest requirement of "unique product identifiers" is going to cost sellers hours and hours of labor trying to get compliant. If for some reason you "get it wrong", they'll tell you, but you won't get the details. You'll have to figure it out for yourself. Oh you can always file an "exemption", but no one really knows what that means. An exemption for each item? An exemption to cover your entire feed? There's still some debate about that, apparently.

I've been reading the forums on other sites, and the good folks who have literally thousands of items apparently have to change each one individually. Personally, I don't think it's worth it.

I don't think I have many items that need product identifiers. I sell mostly collectibles, which I understand are exempt. Question is, do I have to file for that exemption, or do I have to do anything at all? I've been reading some debate over that point also.

Bottom line for me is this...as I add items for sale; I'll add product identifiers when I can. I have no intention of spending hours and hours trying to research items to find their identifiers, if indeed they have any in the first place. Last time I looked, there were other search engines out there that, as far as I know, are not making folks jump through these hoops. So I'll continue to submit to Bing and the like, and let Google crawl over my site for the organic feed. But for a seller like me, a part timer, I just don't have the time or the inclination. Sorry eBa....I mean Google.

Open for Business on Addoway!

My new store is open for business on Addoway.  Addoway is just over a year old, and already it's generating quite a buzz.  I have about 40 items for sale in the new store.  More to come in the coming months.  Please drop by and browse a bit.  I think you'll like what you see!

My New Store Opening Sometime This Week

I'm extremely excited to announce that I will be opening my new store on Addoway sometime next weekend. I'm in the process of organizing at the moment, but I should have some very nice collectibles for sale by next Saturday afternoon, hopefully before that, if possible.

Although there's not much there yet, please feel free to visit my new location on Addoway by clicking here.

With the opening of this store, I will be giving my customers more of a choice as to where they would like to shop. My Bonanza store isn't going anywhere, of course, and each store will have slightly different items. I haven't decided which store will have what items just yet. We'll see how things go before I make that determination. Stay tuned.

Oil Prices and the Cost of Shipping

Sometimes I think that we, as a country, have a very short collective memory. Once again fuel prices are on the rise; this time not due to a shortage of any kind, but rather to "speculation" regarding troubles in the Middle East. Once again the rise in prices is beginning to take a toll on almost everything we do day to day, and of course, with the economy only now staggering back to its feet, we should definitely be concerned as to the affect rising prices will have.

But right now, I want to briefly talk about what this situation can and eventually will do to those merchants who sell on-line. Shipping services like UPS, FedEx and the Post Office will naturally have to raise their prices to compensate for the cost of fuel. There's really not much else they can do; after all, these are not non-profits we're talking about. The problem, of course, is that merchants will once again either have to bite the bullet and absorb these increasing costs, or they will have to pass those costs on to the consumer.

There was a time when I provided free shipping for all of my items. Unfortunately, that isn't the case anymore. I try to keep the shipping costs as low as possible, and will charge slightly under the actual shipping costs. With this latest round of increases in fuel, I don't know how much longer that will be feasible.

There are a lot of merchants out there who sell large volumes of relatively inexpensive items, but I question how much longer they will be able to continually do so. When the cost of shipping becomes equal to or greater than most of your inventory, somethings got to give. Customers are only willing to pay for convenience up to a certain point. After that, they'll jump in their cars and drive to to the nearest mall to purchase more inexpensive but necessary items.

I think what this may do is to eventually eliminate the ability to purchase low cost items on-line. Eventually, you may only be able to find the rarer or more expensive item on-line, as the profit margin for these items will make selling them on-line and shipping economically feasible. Regardless, an increase in shipping costs is rarely if ever a good thing. For on-line merchants, it can only be a cause for major concern.

Well That was Certainly a Fun Couple of Days!

We had some "interesting' weather here on the East coast for the last couple of days. In fact, the weather has been "interesting" all winter so far, and there are still at least 6 weeks to go.

Although we didn't get the "epic" ice storm where we were, it was still enough to close down schools and cut power to over 100,000 people (we were not one of them, thank goodness!).

I don't mind driving in snow all that much, but there's just no way to drive on ice. I am definitely ready for spring, although I will admit the scenery this morning was quite striking!