EBay

"did you do it?"
"yeah, I did"
"how much"
"I don't know yet, but I think some people are "watching" me"
"Oh, that's a good thing"
"is it?, I don't know who they are."
"Thats okay, that's how the bidding starts."
"Ohhhhhh. I get it. "

See. It looks like an illegal deal is going down. =)

I actually finally succumbed to the beast. It's fun......but man, it is slow waiting for the days and hours to go by. Right now I am 3 for 4 on sells. Whoo hoo!

Some things I learned and a few tips about Ebay:

You can sell the first five things every 30 days for free insertion fees. This means, you can sell the items at whatever cost and ebay takes a 8.75% cut of the sell price (not the shipping) up to a certain amount.

You get to post the item with 1 picture (however you could create a collage with picasa or another photo program and post a few pictures as one.)
Take Clear Pictures, with the intent to make the item look its best. Drape a cloth over a table if you have to. Make sure you take pictures that do not have an attempt to deceive. You want to sell your item to someone who really needs or wants it, not trick someone. If you have to be tricky.....I say give it to charity. I am only selling stuff that I like and would buy myself. Be Honest.


You get to write as much about the product as possible. Be Honest and Use FACTS. I have been bullet pointing the Facts at the top and then details.


Shipping:
Ha! This is the part where it gets tricky. You can sell things using the post office flat rate, however I realize (after lengthy talking with postal lady) if you get your own boxes or have boxes lying around then the cost is usually much cheaper to ship the item, by as much as 50%. Now if you are shipping lead weights, then go with the flat rate. Factor in cost of materials(boxes, envelopes) before you do it.

Returns:
I think it is only fair to allow returns for something as long as someone is willing to pay for the return shipping. If the item ends up not being that great to the buyer, then why not allow returns? I pretty much feel it is a good faith buy and sell so lets all be fair. =)

Wish me luck in the Ebay spring cleaning and selling-a-thon!

Antibloggedy

Thank God Its Friday....Aloha friday

Here's a little music to tide you Over The Rainbow to next week. ;0)

Web cams and Chatting

that's my niece, totally into web chatting.....wonder what technology they have in store for them when they are my age? I remember when desktop computers were "tandy's" and the idea of a laptop was still a decade away from being available....now its reality.


For the first time I have exposed myself to the web cam and video chat. I will only do so with my family and close friends, but wonder now, "why didn't I do it sooner?" It wasn't hard. In fact my grandmother went ahead and joined Skype and has been chatting it up with my mom, sisters, aunts and uncles. If she can do it....you can definitely do it. seriously.....she isn't really computer/tech savvy. I don't think she knows what a blog is....she might...but I don't think so.

For those of you who don't know, SKYPE is a free online video chat program that hooks with your computers or separate video camera to connect with others either on a similar free chat or they have other options of calling to mobile phones (for a nominal fee) Google has Google Video Chatting (from gmail to gmail accounts) and works in the same way (all free) I am sure there are more, these are the ones that I use. (you can check it out with skype.com or gmail.com there are tutorials through out the internet to troubleshoot.

There are great benefits to video chatting:

Its like you are in the same room as the person you are chatting with!
I love...LOVE....looking into the face of my sister, mom, niece and seeing their expressions as we talk. It is like being face to face.....It IS being face to face. With us being 6000 miles apart and having to wait a year or more to see each other, this allows us the ability to say, "I just saw her yesterday", "she looks good" or "man, that boo boo looks painful." The kids get to know my family and when we finally see them for real, they won't feel like strangers!

The kids love it:
My two girls were in front of the camera for 30 minutes the first time I hooked up the camera....just staring at themselves in the screen, making faces, and laughing at each other. Its better than a mirror!

Longer, more valuable conversations:
When video chatting it seems as though the conversations are less "blah". I mean, when I talk to some people we typically stay on the whats new...nothing, nice day, etc. But with video chat you can say hey! I got this new shirt "what do you think of it?" Let me try it on for you! or look at this crazy thing my kid is doing!

I can only say that there are probably times that video cams can overstep their bounds, but I haven't found it yet. Maybe because I am kind of a boring person who doesn't have much going on except the kids, hot meals, normal routines and the occasional stop at fabric store.

Tuesday Tunes

Something about Tuesday tunes.....just following Ramblers post suggestion.

Enjoy a little 80's. I was totally into what ever she was into.....sad, but I was the little sister so she controlled the "cassette tapes" and radio stations.

Heres another one:








and the end to fake-ness....I must say though, who ever did sing this, did a good job worthy of some fame.....



And if you made it this far into the past: I love this animation to go with this song. I had a boy sing this song to me on the phone once while wooing me...."weirdo" he even said something about nylon ropes being the only thing to tie someone up with because they couldn't get free?! yup, weirdo!

Top 3 Gifts for Kids.....

So every time I have to get a gift for kids I am always completely torn into a tatter from lack of uniqueness and from lack of understanding of what people really want.

I realized that there are gift standards that in today's world is better choice.

Challenge:
Keep away from bulky plastic toys!
Think Green!
Keep away from video games!

Benefits to staying within challenge perimeters:
Planet Earth lives a fraction longer. The breakdown of plastics is a big problem for health and for the landspace in landfills.
Children are stimulated with things that keep them active and they are more willing to enjoy time with family and nature.

With those things out of the way, here goes.

#1 on my list for any age:
a really good set of books, classics, or activity related books. Think about the books that are most treasured, or most useful....such as an Atlas for boys, with maps or a hard backed Dictionary that the whole family can use. Also of interest is the Book sets: Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Winnie the Pooh, E.B. White(charlottes web) or as mentioned in the movie "You've Got Mail" Noel Streatfeild's Shoe Books. Think about Books that are of interest to you and it will probably be a good buy for them too!


#2 Family oriented gifts:
Think about things that involve people to spend time together like a gift from an inside rock climbing company(like REI) you could even think about finding a museum membership for the family with multiple kids. Board games of challenge (my favorites are Connect Four, Battleship, Monopoly, and Scrabble (I know, I know I said no plastic.....they are still my favorites, but for challenge sake...stay away! except if you find it used...than its okay for Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose!). Also loads of fun are Yahtzee and Uno!
Sports items: soccer balls, volleyballs, footballs, basketballs, bowling balls! you get the drift!

#3 Learning toys:
Flash cards, Music that is stimulating or allows activity or sing-a-long. Books about colors, numbers, states, continents or the sport favorite....you get the drift.

Other options:
Gifts that keep on giving: Donate in the name of a family toward a charity, buy a tree, or purchase a star (I got this once from my sister and I totally cried). Sometimes you can make a basket of unique gifts that are food based like favorite jams, olives, maple syrups...etc. and still add a tree on top of this! Purchase an application for an upcoming run to include an entire group of friends (you of course can't force them, but if this is your thing?! why not!)

Personal Art: If you have kids sometimes the nicest gift can be a large good quality paper with the art combonation of the whole family in form of watercolor abstract. I did this a few years ago framed for all the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles from my 2 year old. It was a big hit!
Also there are the photo books you can buy from places like Shutterfly and Snapfish that are very good quality. I suggest the hard cover book. One year I got the siblings of the significant other to give me all their art work, prof photography, and writings. I scanned it and had the book made in time for christmas....(warning, it is very difficult to get a group of 5 people motivated enough to send you their personal art in a timely fashion....start with plenty of time) I also did one of my 3 year olds arts and under her pictures I put famous quotes and sayings relevant to the theme of the image.....just ordered: