eBay On Location - Philadelphia - NEWS ALERT!!

Reports out of Philadelphia seem dire... lots of brains are aching from all the information gathered at eBay on Location.  Held at the Marriott in downtown Philadelphia, it made it easier for attendees to find TOOO much food, drink and fun! And shopping!!

And for this "reporter" at least, a fantastic wealth of information, ideas, new methods, new sources and new friends...

Kathy Moretti, Carmie and Danni Ackerman

MY haul from the shopping trip to Goodwill

More to follow in the "real news" channel...right here, over the next few days..

Whitewater Rafting in Maine

2 weekends ago my husband Donald and I took 2 of our Grandkids North to Jackman ME for the first time.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackman,_Maine

We had always talked about "someday" going Whitewater Rafting .

Well someday finally happened :>)

We drove 6.5 hrs. to get there, but it was well worth it

Jackman is a VERY small town about 1 hr.North of Skowhegan  It`s filled with small country stores and surrounded by Mountains and LOTS of small town hospitality

We had made reservations at the Mountain View Resort which is a BEAUTIFUL Lodge http://www.innseason.com/isr/RD_R_Mountainview.aspx part of the inn season resort properties

We had a Gorgeous View of the mountains just behind the lodge and inside the Lodge was just as pretty

After a Peaceful nights sleep, bright and early Sunday morning we met up with the Bus from the Windfall Rafting Company http://windfallrafting.com/ which took us to the Kennebec River Dam where our rafting trip started.

After a smooth raft ride down the river for a bit, we started hitting the rapids !  Class 2 , 3, and then the mighty 4 http://windfallrafting.com/

Grandpa and I had as much fun and excitement as the Grandkids did !  We definitely wished we had done this sooner but very glad we got to share this with the kids.

LAST CALL! Ebay on Location in Philly

Are you an eBay seller? Are you local to Philadelphia? (local meaning can you drive here in 6-9 hrs???)

Are you registered for eBay on Location in Philadelphia next week?
Well what are you waiting for?? Go here http://www.ebayonlocation.com and sign up. 

You can't be part of the fun if you're closed out and the slots are filling up.

Hurry up 'cause,  Sept 5th is the Opening Ceremony and Sept 6th is when all the "games"  happen, aka seminars, training, sprinting from one room to the next, the handshaking marathon and the "cramming stuff is overtaxed brains" test.  

No Gold medals for you if you stay home.  

Now seriously, I went to Orlando last year, I went to Chicago in 2008 and to New Orleans in 2004 (thank God they didn't pick New Orleans or the South for this year's event..and prayers for those of you swimming around in waterwings this week... )   and I can honestly say:

I ALWAYS LEARN SOMETHING THAT PAYS FOR THE EVENT.

I can't always tell what it is but in 2004 I learned to re-write my return policy and to make other policies more "buyer friendly" in 2008 I Learned about Item specifics. I'm still processing 2011 but I did learn a bunch of "push you up higher in search ideas".

So, will I see you there?? I'll be the short round person with white hair... this year I'm not limping as I've gone All Bionic All the time...next year's replacement parts are on order now but this  year I'm entered in the sprinting from class to class event. (my sprint is your slow mosey).  If you see me, introduce yourself!! (and hand me a business card, that's a whole OTHER event.)

Look Up and Be Amazed

Secure Packaging..the seller's BEST friend

Shipping Tip !!

Double boxing, while effective is expensive and annoying and hard to cost-justify on less expensive but still fragile items.  SO try my method (well actually DH devised this with input from me... and it WORKS!)

Peanuts will move..they will wiggle out from under heavy objects leave your fragile item sitting on the box bottom. Then when the box falls off the 200 ft high conveyor belt at the USPS or UPS etc. guess what hits the cement floor first??  YOUR FRAGILE item protected by? one or two layers of ?? CARDBOARD..NOT GOOD!

SO put your packing peanuts in one of those ubiqituous plastic shopping bags, tie it shut and put THAT on the bottom of the box... FILL it (the bag I mean) over full so they can't move in there...they are Packing peanuts, they don't need room to breath... Tie it shut.

NOW put your item right on top of the bag.  put cardboard pieces cut to size all around it...all sides..put loose fill in between the cardboard and the box wall... put another "bag" of peanuts on top of the item. fill the box to the top or over with loose fill ... bump it up and down gently to settle the fill and add more to get it back up to the top... NOW seal it.  

No double boxing required cause you  just created an "internal double wall" less bubblewrap wasted, no "meandering packing peanuts"  and less broken stuff.   (we've had 2-3 items broken in the last 5.5 years..)

Check Your "NEW" Seller Dashboard

So have you check your NEW seller dashboard yet?

     I was explaining the "back end" operations of an eBay store to a new seller yesterday and noticed as I did that the Seller Dashboard has changed..down in the middle where you get your performance information and your "upload" time on your tracking.  

If you haven't seen it yet..here's one to look over 

 

The best part is that center won where it says CREATE A REPORT so now I can see which exact listings eBay says I didn't ship and upload tracking on in a timely basis.  Go check out yours. (and if you figure out how to get the report? let me know. I created one and it said it would be ready soon? that was last night and so far no word on it.)

Stinky Boots

We love our dogs and they bring us pleasure it so many ways. One thing we differ on though is what smells good. We have a mostly black, some white, part australian shepherd named Boots. Boots is my special pal and about the only one I'll let outside our large yard fence because he never fails to come when I call to come in. He is a smart dog and seems to watch me almost constantly. BUT, one of Boot's chief joys in life is rolling in donkey poop! I went out to pick books to mail tomorrow and he went with me. I'm sitting at my computer and he is lying close beside me with a slightly wet shoulder. He is exuding peace and pleasure and pride in himself... that's not all he's exuding. The smell, wafting up to me, is a cross between donkey poop and wet dog. How can I scold him - he's so proud of himself. Carol -- Carol AT Abbyz Attic http://www.amazon.com/shops/strayspay

Ebay On Location - Orlando Sept 8, 2001 - a little bit late

So I went to Orlando back in September for eBay's On Location event.  The one that was been promised to be in the NORTHEAST Quadrant of the US for the last 2 years.... yeah - don't hold your breath waiting for that.

So the mountain went to Mohammed.  And I had a darn good time. I met folks I only ever got to talk to online, including Granny Annie, Karen Locker (who was busy busy busy all the time) John Lawson, Larry Phillips, Melinda Jackson, Bev England..and those are the names I remember.  (pictures will get added as soon as I figure out where they are filed. I'd already met Kat Simpson but we got some "together time" - not as much as we needed for all the things we wanted to discuss but..hey we made do. 

I mention this now, a month later, because ?? Because eBay just posted the videos from there.  And the webinar content is great.  Here's the link..http://ebayonlocation.com/sessions2011.htm  I'll add my commentary later -

EBay on location

Education Specialist Day

Posted via email from katskloset's posterous

Sometimes The Emergency Doesn't Look Like An Emergency!

So what if "an emergency" doesn't look like an emergency? What if you're just rolling along doing business and something shuts you down?

This week I got a notice from one of my venues and fixed the thing they were complaining about. But I didn't realize that, the venue decided I was "ignoring" their warnings and so they shut me down. As of Tuesday night, I was involuntarily on vacation. Now what do I do??

It's a little discouraging to realize "I'm addicted". Doesn't matter what you're addicted to, it's just shameful these days to admit to any addiction (chocolate and ice cream seem to be the only allowable addictions). eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Farmville, etc..Not so socially acceptable.

So for 3 days now, I've worked on all my alternative venues, negotiated some deals for merchandise and services and read a book.

WHAT A THOUGHT..READ A BOOK!

You could have also gone swimming, fishing, calf-roping or plowing the south forty. (not me..I'm not doing any of those) but reading has always been my favorite pastime..bar none. So I read THE HYPNOTIST by Lars Keppler..murder, horror, intrigue ..very very good...go read it...and if you have to buy a copy, please use this link...