Happy Holidays, Folks!

Shalmar, Mijmy, Ave, Weldon, and Grand,

from my family to yours:

Happy Holidays!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Can you believe it is almost here!

Tomorrow I will be in a crazy frenzy as I rush from place to place doing Pet Sits (in my other life I am a Professional Pet Sitter) and last minute shopping as I fight traffic and wonder if I'm forgetting anything or anybody....

So - today as it is the calm before the storm --- I wanted to take a deep breath - relax for a moment and wish you all a very happy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Let the festivities begin!

The Soap Opera comes to RADIO near you!

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29246&cmd=tc

Tuesday 12/23 at 1 PM EST.

For the first time ever, the bloggers of this soap opera will appear live in your computer! We're talking about YOU, and us and ebay and other venues and the SOAP OPERA THAT IS OUR LIVES!! Come on in and get out of the cold, grab some hot chocolate and brainstorm with us for an hour.

Bonanzle - Look what I Found!

I hope most of you have discovered BONANZLE by now! It's my favorite NEW selling venue and is growing by leaps and boudns! Today I discoverd that they have a BLOG for Bonanzle fans to keep up with the new features it seems they are adding Daily! Bonanzle Blog and, the exciting announcement that led me there? Bonanzle now enables sellers to offer COUPONS to their buyers!
Read Here: Coupons on Bonanzle So sellers, check it out and let's bring the buyers to us!

The weather outside is frightful...

It's 12 degrees at Shelmars and Mijmy's. It's so cold, Weldon can not get downstairs to the Way station, 'cause there closed!!!

Poor Ave is at Kribcers, the cafe' where she works...it's only around the corner, but we hope she doesn't get frost bit on this cold, dark night...

The grand is snuggled all comfy on the couch, while Mijmy flipped through channels...just like a grouch! Now, why be grouchy when it's almost Christmas day?

Well, he's upset 'cause there isn't enough money for Christmas; again! Yea, sure, Shelmar has made each family member something; but Mijmy could not give Shelmar any money for extras: (in other words, he's getting nothing for Christmas THIS year!)

Shelmar is in front of her 'puter, all cosy and warm, 'cause she has a secret caught in her heart. Even though there ain't much to go round now, soon, very soon, the stockings will be full of good cheer!

You see, she also was in this contest mentioned before, and won the listing Queen crown...for listing, of course!

What happens when you list? Well, you sell, sell sell! You make money for presents for your loved ones to get. Then you wrap them all in silence... with a smug feeling of glee, 'cause you know you've got what everyone wanted to see!

The grand, with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head, said "Pappy, what is Nana doing with all the presents she has hid at my house? Well, Mijmy arose from the couch with such a clatter, Shelmar sprang from her computer to see what was the matter!
"What PRESENTS do you have hidden at Ave"s" he ask in a hush.

Why, the presents I bought when I got paid for my sales! You did not ask me if I had had sales, you just told me I'd have to figure out something to make for most of our gifts...

They where all so happy later that night, when Mijmy declared" Shalmar saved our Christmas! What a delight!

Because sometimes we all need a smile :)

Just eBaying along when...

Shelmar was listing like a crazy person, when all of a sudden...the computer died!Now, the day before, she had spent the ENTIRE day cleaning it out, running tests, etc. Why, well because, eBay was running a half price special for two days.

She wanted to be able to list fast with Auctiva free listing , so she cleaned out her cookies, run all sort of tests. Then, she told everyone in the house NOT TO TOUCH the computer!

Do you think they listened? NO! When the computer died, Shelmar roared "WHO was on the computer? It Crashed! Crashed like I'm gonna crash your heads"!!!

Mijmy ran to the van; Ave ran back to work; Weldon came up from the Way Station and said" What's the matter with Mom?" The very plants where quaking in there pots.

The pore grand, who ave left standing when Shalmar roared, started crying, " Nana, it was me and mommy" she said. "What? You and Ave where on the computer after I asked you all not to be?" asked Shalmar, in a tightly controlled roar.

"Yes Nana. Mommy said it will not hurt, we where only going to plat candy land. It's all my fault!" She cried. "Please don't crash my head, Nana!".

Shalmar, grumbling, hugged her grand, and promised to let her and her mom live. BUT, she needed Weldon to take her out of the office, so she could work on the computer in piece.

It took 2 days, and several downloads of virus cleaners, before Shalmar was not able to go back on eBay and list. But, she's listing them on Bonanzle right now!

And so, goes another day in the life of an online seller.

A Day in the Life of the "Listing Queen"

MOTIVATION is everything, right? So, some friends and I decided to have monthly contests and declare a 'Listing Queen' each month (this was BEFORE we had a few token (LOL) Male members). THIS is the crown and this is a day in the life of the Current Full-Time (we have different divisions in our contests!) Listing Queen!

the first Photo shows our Beautiful Listing Queen at the latest James Bond Flick with her dearly beloved celebrating date night!

And here is our Busy (body) Queen chairing a meeting of the local Online Sellers in Colorado Springs - looks like she means business with that sceptor, er club.

Here she is diving into today's incoming mail pile - what is that saying about a messy desk?  


Now, here she is in all her glory trying on the royal crown and sceptor for size - Look out world!

Wanna join the contest?  Email for details and YOU could win this fabulous crown for your very own (well, for a month, anyway!)

The Thanksgiving Calamity

this is the story of a real family  . . . . . although names have been changed to protect the . . . not-so-innocent. Once upon a time "Daughter-Who-Still-Lives-At-Home" came back to tell "The Mama" that she decided to clean the oven on the Day Before Thanksgiving. TM saluted her ingenuity and said Thank you. Later, DWSLAT came back to see TM and told her that the oven wouldn't open once the cleaning cycle ended. TM calmly told DWSLAT to wait and the oven would open once the temperature got low enough and not to do anything. As DWSLAT stood in TM's office door, shuffling her feet, TM became worried and asked as calmly as possible, 'Dear (or something like that) What Did you Do?' to which DWSLAT replied 'I was worried so I asked 'Friend-Who-Might-As-Well-Be-Living-Here' to get it open. TM, as she buried her head in her hands asked slightly LESS calmly, 'Are you telling me that you had FWMAWBLH force open the latch?' and of course DWSLAT replied in a squeaky voice, 'yes'.  At this point, TM decided the best course of action was to _calmly_ wait. So as TM tried lamaze Breathing and Meditation, we all waited, and waited, and waited. But it was no use - the oven was broken. The door would not open . . . . So, The-Husband-Who-Wanted-Thanksgiving-To-Be-Perfect and DWSLAT went to the local Wal-mart (thank G** for Wal-mart!) to purchase a large toaster oven and the Son-Who-Is-charming-but-A-Slob was sent to the shed to bring in the electric roasting oven. All was well and things were cooking along. TM was working her 'calm' magic over the house (if you want details of this chant, email me privately),  THWWTTBP was working hard on all those perfect dishes fitting into the tiny pans the fit into the toaster oven, DWSLAT was helping out and doing lots of 'grunt work' for us all, the Son-Who-Loves-Google was searching for a solution to our problem through Google and Son-Who-Is-A-Hermit was in his room (as usual) with his one and only true love (his computer). Suddenly DWSLAH had a thought (The Thanksgiving MIRACLE has occurred!) and took a knife to try and dislodge the broken latch. WALA, it worked! and the story, of course, had a Happy Ending. So, Calamity or not, have a great Day After Thanksgiving and remember to laugh every day - even if at yourself :) 

The Crushing Feeling of TOO MUCH STUFF

As a dear friend would say AAAAAACCCCCKKKK

So if you are new to eBay and wondering how to find STUFF to sell - email and ask!

There are SO many ways to get inventory to sell on eBay! Sometimes, my mind just spins at the sources out there. And I can't say NO! unfortunately, THIS is the result of not being able to say No!

The names have been changed to protect the guilty...

Shelmar and Mijmy where at it again! She wanted a booth at Bonanzle, but he wanted to stay on eBay. Shelmar tried hard to get him to understand they can do both, but, no! He has to be MALE!

Shelmar did it anyway. "He never comes near the computer anymore, he'll never know", she told her son, Weldone. Weldone is real good at finding good things to sell.

Well wouldn't you know it, the truck broke down and the van needed new rotors and brakes. Mijmy was upset, because there isn't much money...so he thought! BUT, remember? Shelmar went to Bonanzle, and stayed on eBay. She had made enough money to buy the parts to fix them both!

Mijmy was kind of mad because she did not tell him the truth, but he was also happy that he could get both vehicles fixed. So it all worked out in the end. Just goes to show you, you can make anything work if you try.

It's the trying part that's hard...sometimes you have to take a risk, and risks are hard. That's why Shelmar decided to do Bonanzle...it was a good risk. It's free to list until something sells. And it's so easy to use, for both the seller and the buyer.

The NAMES have been changed to protect the innocent......

DW (darling wife) retired on the witching day of Halloween 2008 and now is home and under foot. House-husband, now needs a vacation away from DW. Altho the Sewer pipe isn't needed as of yet, one never knows whether it's needed down the road. All pension paperwork was completed on Thursday the 6th so that is forth coming......

Darling Sister "Wilbur" still hasn't gone to see DD (Darling Dad) in the home for Fire Fighting. DD has been there since May 16th, 2008. By my calculations, that is almost 6 months. Wilbur hasn't called me in two months, but I know she is still kicking, so to speak.

I sent in my "Vona" order last nite so that should be here next week. Sales are down there too, as are the ones on "Baye". (use pig latin - the names have been changed to protect the innocent)>

Are you an ebay seller? Do you use the GBSC?

Well, if you too are a ebay seller, you have probably been using the GBSC? (it's like the "Easy" button from Staples but for ebay sellers and for people with online stores. ).

It ain't working. It's been brought to my attention, after much complaining to my one remaining contact at eBay, that the GBSC aka The Googlebase Store Connector, "scrapes" your listings from eBay's website. And consequently, if you use calculated shipping, about 25 % up to 50 or 100% of your listings are probably conking out.

Why you ask? (well, you did right?)

It's because the GBSC is not integrated into the eBay API. The better method is to make a manual feed, using the feed url supplied by ebay on your "MANAGE MY STORE" page. That' works 75% of the time or more.

So go copy your url (the one that ends in .xml and says it's for Googlebase) and go set up your googlebase feed. Try it, you'll like it.

Sales Tanked and Time to find a bigger hole.......

Just like the title says....sales have tanked....I am used to getting at least one sale a day, most days more.....but, googlebase store connector has been down...now we all know that makes a huge difference in our sales...I had only speculated before how much it was helping and hit that button each time I listed. Now I am pretty sure it was what was helping my sales. How could I not? Nothing has sold since it went down..do you think they are in a hurry to fix it? Heck no..I think they are like our husbands..you know the ones..they say they will fix something that is broke around the house..we all know men dont ask for directions, but we know they ALL think they are handymen too!! NOT!!
We wait and wait and finally learn to do it ourselves or we end up calling in those professionals who advertise in the yellow pages!
Now for the bigger hole part...my group knows what this means...we wont go into it further in case someone else does not understand that its a joke...well its meant to be...some days!
The economy isnt doing real well right now, our 401 k's are being drained, we dont have enough money to pay all the bills....so..I use ebay sales and my paypal account! Now my dear hubby knows this and enjoys spending it to buy beer, or anything else he might need..or I pay bills with it...
Now knowing that he enjoys this benefit, you would think he would support the time and effort it takes to list on ebay...I mainly sell glass..so, I have to take fantastic pictures so my buyers can see just how wonderful it is without holding it in their hands...they appreciate the time I take..and it does take time..sometimes 200 photos of one piece..and then there is the time it takes to measure and describe it..we all know, buying on ebay that we have to make our listings the very best they can be..it takes time..
Then there is the time I am taking to learn how to use Auctiva..its free..right now, free is good!
But no............dear hubby does not appreciate the time taken..always complains that I am selling our life away...does he not know where that beer money comes from? I think in the back of his mind he does, but does he think that money just appears there as if by magic?? Some days ..yes..I think he does....others he just complains that not only am I listing all day..his comments of" I only see the back of your head while you are on the computer!" Well........someone has to do it..it does not do itself!!
So, then we just ignore each other or get into an argument with me explaining for the hundredth time that the paypal money he so enjoys being there is because he sees the back of my head when I am listing.......
Time to find a bigger hole ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way past time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know what I mean!! Wink! Wink!

As Sands Through The Hourglass...

WELCOME To Our Blog!

If someone ever tells you that making a living by selling things online is easy - then rest assured that person is telling you a lie.

Whether you sell on EBay or Amazon, ioffer or eBid - learning the ropes and figuring out what you're doing is hard. Very hard.

That is why it is almost impossible for me to imagine my life before finding the OB Posse! (Online Business Group)

Headed by our fearless leader, Beth - this group has inspired me to reach for the Stars (as in the five STAR (DSR) rating that EBay holds its Sellers to!) - OR at the very least the group has burned the motto into my brain, "LIST MORE - SELL MORE"!

Anyway, we created this blog because selling online is like a Soap Opera. There are good days and bad days. Up days and down days and sometimes days with lots of stuff that happens in between.

We invite you to come with us on the journey. You'll laugh, you'll cry and if we've done our job right - you'll tune in for our next episode because as sands through the hourglass....

So Our The DSRs Of Our Lives....