My kitty, Mina, has a layer of very hard plaque on her teeth. If it is removed, her teeth will be ok. If it is not, they will be damaged or even destroyed over time. In order to remove the plaque, the veterinarian will have to anesthetize her. This procedure is rather expensive.

I can’t make the appointment until I save up enough money to pay for it, and I’m struggling right now. The longer I wait, the more damage her teeth will suffer. The sooner she gets proper care, the healthier her teeth will be. She’s only two years old. I don’t want her to have problems for the rest of her life because of this.

Mina needs this procedure as soon as possible.

So, I’m offering four of Mina’s whiskers to the four highest bidders. The whiskers will be gently and carefully snipped with scissors. I will take pictures of Mina after the whiskers are snipped, to show that they are the real thing.

Please check out the auction to read Mina’s story; and please mention it to other people. I’m really hopeful that this will work!

 

Does anyone sell on eBay as their full-time job and main or only source of income? If so, how common is this? I know that there must be plenty of people who would LIKE to do this, myself included, but is this practical, or just a pipe dream?

You know what I love? Running with my dog. Him with his tongue lolling and his tail wagging, me laughing out loud with the sheer joy of it, both of us running full out, just as fast as we can go.

Is there anything on Earth better than a dog?

My sister is a traveling occupational therapist. A couple of months ago, while she was in North Carolina, she took her dog, Neesa, outside for a walk. A patch of bushes growled at them as they passed it. My sister stopped to investigate and found...a puppy! He was scared and bedraggled-looking. Naturally, she scooped him up and took him home with her. She spent two weeks trying first to find his owners and, failing that, to find a forever home for him. But there were no takers. My sister learned that large breeds aren't popular in that area, and he was quite a large pup. She called the local animal control officer and asked what would happen to a puppy turned in to him. The answer was that he would spend two weeks in the animal shelter, then be put to sleep unless someone claimed him. Naturally, that was out of the question.

When she told me this story I said that I would take him.

My father sells hay and shavings for horses all over the country. He and some employees deliver them by tractor trailer truck. When Dad heard about the pup, he arranged a relay of truck drivers to transport him to Maine, without telling me!

I was visiting my parents' home one Saturday night, and waiting for Dad to get home so that we could have dinner together. In walked Dad, with a puppy under his arm! Surprise! Dad announced that the pup simply HAD to be named Rufus, and so he was. His full name is Sir Rufus Huxley, and he's wonderful.

The day that I adopted him, he weighed 22 pounds. He's black, with a small white patch on his chest, and thick, rough, slightly wavy hair. Less than a month later, when he had a checkup at the veterinarian's office, he weighed 34 1/2 pounds. That's 12 1/2 pounds in less than a month. When he went back two weeks later for a booster shot, he weighed almost forty pounds. That's 5 1/2 pounds in two weeks...

The vet said, "He's going to be big," with a grin.

I said, "I know."

She said, "No you don't. Buy a saddle."

!!!

She told me that he's a Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix. This breed, for those who don't know, was created directly from another breed: the Newfoundland! Have you ever seen a Newfie! They're frickin HUGE! Now he's growing like a weed, and I'm madly in love with him, and he'll never be hungry or lost and afraid again.

He, along with the other rescued animals I'll be telling you about in future posts, is the reason I'm trying my hand at selling on eBay. The more successful I am, the more animals in need I can take into my home and care for, forever. My dream is to someday open my own no-kill animal rescue sanctuary, but that's a story for another post. Anyway, thanks for reading Rufus' story, and Rufus and I thank all of our eBay customers from the bottoms of our hearts. Your dollars are saving lives, and the animals and I thank you and love you for it.

Tonight I've been browsing the internet, reading the fine print on the sites of wholesalers who offer drop shipping. I've learned quite a lot, but it can all be summed up in one statement: drop shipping costs customers a fortune! Sure, drop shipping sounds good on paper: list any item you like and don't pay for it until after the customer has paid you! However, once you read the fine print, it's a bad deal. Firstly, it seems that these wholesalers charge more for their items than regular wholesalers-MUCH more. Then they tack a fee onto each drop shipped item. Next, they charge quite a bit for shipping and handling. Many of them even require monthly membership dues! By the time they're done, the merchandise ends up costing more 'wholesale' than I'd be willing to pay for it retail! No wonder the pretty things I see on eBay are so darned expensive!

I'll stick to doing things my way: I invest the time and energy it takes to find great bargains, then pass the saving on to my customers. I'll leave the drop shipping to the sellers who want to take the quick and easy (and costly) route!