I've only used Etsy as a buyer, and even that only a couple of times. Anyone here use Etsy for selling their crafts? Share some feedback? 

I need to find a postal scale for a reasonable price- does any of my fellow bloggers carry them? 

My postings today have gone un-commented on- it was making me sad, but then I realized it might be because I changed my picture. Maybe the friends I've just started to make here didn't recognize me? I know it's not bad breath, I brushed & flossed today :p

The change is temporary. I'm going to post an adult auction. I don't intend to post more, just this one mystery adult auction to part with some gadgets I've collected over the years. Figured it was creepy & odd to have any adult auction while having a profile picture of one's children. So the little one's have left the room so to speak, so that I can run that auction.

I've been busy revising some of my auctions. I lowered the start price or the BIN on about half of my auctions by about half. I'm definitely having a 'learning curve' issue here- keeping track of what ebay charges for each chargable part of a listing, if I see a difference when I use those features, what paypal charges for processing & then pricing my auctions accordingly- ehh, I didn't think I sucked at math, but fuk-all if this isn't more complicated than I thought.

Ya know- here's something I am pondering this morning. On one of my revised auctions, a red highlighted box came up warning me about the price I have listed for shipping & that it's against the rules to inflate your shipping fees. OK- fair enough, I don't inflate my shipping. I offer FREE shipping on some of my auctions. The auction in question is for a hand quilted, 20ish year old quilt. I probably could ram it into an oversized bubble mailer & send it for $5ish anywhere in the country. I wouldn't do that to this quilt if I were giving it away, I'm certianly not going to do that to someone paying for the quilt. It'll be wrapped in tissue, I include delivery confirmation in the number I listed,  it will be shipped in a flat rate box (it fits nicely)but I put in the body of the auction that I will adjust shipping if it works out better to ship it based on weight & location. I live in New England- if it happens the winning bidder is in Maine, I can ship it there for far less than if they live in California, obviously.
I'd like to have red highlighted boxes that we can send to ebay & paypal to flag them back about their own fee gouging, inflated fees for minimal service & failure to stand behind their sellers who are the ones paying their bills. Like the option of highlighting an ad- what's that $3 or $5? Whatever it is, it's absurd. It's an automated system, it's not like they're paying someone to take an actual highlighter pen to an ad & manually highlight it. If they're concern is over use of the feature, thus the fee makes buyers less apt to use it- a reasonable way to address that would be to give each seller X number of available highlighting for every Y listings they post. Paypal- charging a fee one each incoming transaction and then charging another if you omigod wish to access your money by them sending you a check- what BS- if my bank wanted to charge me a fee for DEPOSITS- (money I'm trusting them to hold & use as they see fit until I need it- that is at a base level how banking works) I'd tell them to ram it.

I'm done venting now. Back to your previously scheduled Good Morning...

I've decided to list my pendulum bracelets with free shipping once again. My customers have all left glowing positive feedback. Check out my auctions & buy with confidence :)

Sometimes I clearly have the worst timing. I have been a registered user of eBay for almost 6 years now, but a very inactive member. I occasionally sold things that I wished to part with, and whatever I earned here was of little consequence- just more money in my paypal account to spend here, kwim? For months now both my partner & I have seen huge drops in our businesses. We're both self-employed; he's a tattoo artist & I am a clinical hypnotherapist. We both have an outstanding loyal, repeat customer base- which helps some, but in this economy we're drowning. If a person is worried about job security or losing their home, getting new ink or getting over their fear of spiders isn't going to be real high on their priority list. So in addition to all the budget cuts we've made, becoming an active seller on ebay seemed a logical idea. Ebay has a worldwide customer base, ergo not dependent on the failing US economy. I have a few product ideas that I think will do well here. I know how to give outstanding customer service to ensure repeat clients and I can  afford (barely afford but thankfully can at all) to take my time & slowly grow a successful business here. My goals are realistic. Now, just as I am debating the value of an ebay store, and building up my presence here (and I hope my reputation) all of these changes are being made and none seem like good ideas to me. Even if they are good ideas in the long run, there are bound to be some wrinkles in them while they are new policies. I had previously never had a non-paying bidder, of course I did very low volume like I said before, but I am still relatively low volume & I have had 2 non-paying winning customers in the past week. I was thinking of doing a mystery auction- a generous & very hyped mystery auction- fully planning on taking a loss on it just to generate some friends, watchers & perhaps future customers. I can either do that right now, before I was quite ready or forget the idea since in a couple weeks there mystery auctions will be banned. I'm babbling, I'm sorry. Just debating outloud the merit of contining with my plan or scraping it entirely and taking a chance on any of the lesser known other auction sites. I've seen so many blog postings from other planning on leaving. There doesn't seem to be one place attracting new sellers, it seems everyone is taking a chance with different places. Which makes each of them look less viable to me. All feedback & thoughts are appreciated folks and while you're here- why not eat this Big Crumbs spam....it really is a cool site. You won't become a millionaire, but it does help promo your ebay stuff & it's painless to join :) 

Hi All- just doing some spamming...
I listed two gorgeous hand quilted baby quilts today- not made by me, my attention span is too short for quilting. I love to sew, but these were way more work than I would sign up for...
I'm also thinning my midwifery & birth books- home birthers & crunchy mommas should add me to their favorite lists.
More pendulum bracelets will be added soon. Several of my customers have said they wished they ordered more than one- so I guess a multiple listing is in order.  

Good morning fellow bloggers-    I had been planning to open an eBay store soon. I'm working on a project, that when completed I plan on offering through eBay. I'd still offer my craft items, and the other eccletic items I occasionally offer; but this new product would be the focus of my store. I'm pretty close to being ready to offer it- but now I am having second thoughts about creating a store account. It seems some of the new eBay policies aren't as small business friendly as they once were. I also wonder if the average buyer doesn't assume that if you have a 'store' you're bigger than you are- kwim?  

Hi All-
  Could someone who's been using eBay blogs longer than I help me out some? I'm not a newbie blogger, just new to eBay's blogs. Is there a way to be notified when your favorite bloggers update? Like I use an online diary site, and there's the option of adding someone to your favorite list or with blogger accounts you can use the RSS feeds (or whatever they're called) for email notification. Is there a way to do either of those with these blog entries? I keep finding cool bloggers here, who I'd like to read whenever they update.
 Thanks in advance :)

I've been offering lavender rice heating pillows here on eBay for a few months, and I just don't see the response I think I should. I also sell them through another venue, where they move like hot cakes. I want to streamline my business, I'd prefer to sell them here- if only they would sell...I had a brainstorming session & the light bulb moment hit. I think the shipping fees were scary away potential customers. I first tried offering calculated shipping, then I tried offering a flat rate; but I think both just seemed to high to customers who might be thinking "I can pop off to the mall & buy these without any shipping". Forgetting of course that gas prices have gone up & up & up, and the mall kiosks that carry these charge far more I list mine here... So for a limited time, I'll offer them with free shipping. They are a great product. I keep one in my freezer at all times for my little dare-devil's boo-boos, and another in the medicine cabinet for when I need to heat one up for my aches & pains. I'll foot the shipping because I know the positive feed back will follow....
While you're here- if you haven't already- be sure to click the link below & check out "Big Crumbs". Earn cash back on all your eBay purchases and join a great, friendly community to help promote your sales.

Attention mommys of little boys- I have a large lot of infant boy clothing (and shoes) ending in less than 24 hours with no bids & no watchers. Low start price, no reserve- you don't want to miss this bargain....

I decided to take advantage of the eBay special on fixed price listing fees & try offering my pendulum bracelets as a buy it now item. I tried listing them this way when I first listed them here. They didn't do so well that time, but I'm hoping now that my feedback shows many happy buyers of the bracelets they'll do better.

Check them out & tell me what you think (please). Also check out Big Crumbs & earn cash back on all your eBay purchases. Earn cashback on all your eBay purchases, click here to learn more!