I’ve made the decision to shut my eBay shop down.  Earlier in the month they announced changes in fee structures for shop owners.  Most of us smaller sellers have a basic shop at a cost of £6 per month, however from 25 September it’s going to go up to £15 per month.  Lately eBay have been making sweeping changes and it is the little guys who are losing out.  I know of quite a few sellers who have just had enough of eBay, or “fee Bay” as it is now being called, and are leaving it for other auction sites or are building their own shopping site.

Quite frankly, I feel that eBay has lost the plot, and that they are now just looking to keep the big time players on board.  I never did sell much from my shop, but rather from my auctions.  As I have my own site I tend to use eBay as a marketing tool, so I will continue to list my goods as auctions, but with a “buy it now” option too.  At £15 a month it isn’t worth me keeping a shop going.

It is going to cost me more to list and coupled with the fact that the cost of my raw materials and shipping have gone through the roof due to the rise in oil costs and soy prices, I will be raising my prices.  They won’t be drastic, but I can’t swallow the excess any more.  I haven’t raised my prices for 2 years but I’m hoping that there won’t be many more huge increases by my suppliers.  I will be working out my new price list ready for 1 October 2008.

Tags: ebay store, price increase

My new shopping cart is nearly done. Just adding some last final touches here and there. Looks like everything is working fine, however, we’ll soon find out once it is live. Here is a little screenshot of what it is looking like, just to whet the appetite.

I’m hoping to have it all sorted by the end of the month (fingers crossed)

Tags: new shopping cart

What gives with some people!!! This morning I logged into my blog and found 45 comments waiting for approval only to find that they are all spam.

Does anyone else have this problem with their blog? I’m just thankful that I have a wonderful spam application to take care of it, otherwise my blog would be full of comments for viagra and enlargening my penis!!! For God’s sake, I’m a woman, why would that interest me, or do they know something that I don’t. I think my George would have noticed something by now ..LOL.

Sorry folks, but it makes me so mad, I just had to have a bit of a rant and rave. So for all you spammers “nah nah ne nah nah” I have Akismet running. If anyone out there has a Wordpress blog I would highly recommend you install it on yours too.

Tags: spam

Yep, just thought I’d let everyone know that I’m still alive. Things have been quite hectic around here the last 6 weeks. For those of you who may not know I help my hubby run his PC repair business and lately it has been manic. The phone just doesn’t seem to stop ringing and as hubby doesn’t drive, I have to run him all over Basildon and South Essex. I’m thinking of sticking a taxi light on the car, well, I may as well pick up some fares whilst I’m going from one end of the town to the other …LOL!!

Anyway, I have managed to spend some time working on my new website. Still have a few things to sort out. At the moment I’m trying to sort out the loyalty points module. Just need to test it out and make sure it all works when a customer goes through the checkout.

I have nearly perfected my travel tins, so they will be on the new site. I will also be offering some new melts in different shapes. There will be some new autumn/winter fragrances making their appearance very soon, too. I also have some nice oil burners, some are very plain and simple, others are a bit fancier looking. All priced to sell, though.

We may be entering a depression but I feel that is no reason to push up prices unnecessarily. I’m lucky that I have no overheads as I make all my products here at home. All right, it’s confined to a corner of the kitchen, but I’m hoping by the end of winter to have cleared a space in the garden for my own shed that I can kit out as a proper workshop with plenty of room for storing all my supplies. Fingers crossed we can afford to make it big enough so I can start experimenting with soap making.

Just a little update on last Sunday’s charity match. LJ and I had a great time. We didn’t make many sales, but then it isn’t the sort of place you’d expect to find a candle stall! We’re more suited to craft fairs, school fetes, pamper evenings, that sort of thing.

The matches themselves were very enjoyable. It was amazing to see the Pan Disability match against Spurs. When you think that the vast majority of the players were amputees. Some had prosthetic limbs but there were quite a few running, yes running, around on their crutches playing a decent game of footie. We could all learn a thing or two from these inspiring group of people who don’t let their disability stop them from leading a full and active lifestyle.

Next were the under 10’s mini soccer games. It was great to see the younger ones having a good time. If you saw some of them, their shorts s big they came down to their ankles. Bless!!

The main match saw Basildon vs Burma or as it was billed, The All-Stars vs The All-Sorts. Basildon’s line up included Kerry Dixon, Dave Cusack and former Basildon United player, now Southend Utd manager, Steve Tilson.

Attending the event too were members of The Red Cross and local community radio station Gateway FM, with a special guest commentator Sue of Essex FM’s Martin & Sue.

Unfortunately we couldn’t hold off the rain, but luckily it didn’t last too long. It was a good day out and everyone who came along seemed to have a good time. There was a small mention in today’s Evening Echo regarding the event and it looks like £2000 was raised for the Burma Flood Relief Fund. So well done everybody.

Tags: Basildon United, Burma Flood Relief Fund, Essex FM, Gateway FM, Pan Disability, Red Cross

I’ve been asked if I wanted to have a small display at the upcoming International Friendly against Burma on Sunday 3 August. It was a bit short notice. I was asked last week but it wasn’t till I bumped into Paul, their Commercial Manager, in the market today that he confirmed that it was a go.

The match is an International Charity Match but I think that all monies raised are going towards the Burma Relief Fund. The actual match kicks off at 13:00, that’s 1pm for anyone who doesn’t speak 24 hour clock. I’ll be there from 10am along with my daughter LJ. Hubby will be there too but he’ll probably be propping up the bar most of the day.

There are other things going on that day. At 10am there is a Pan-Disability match against Spurs. Starting at around 11am there is the Mini Soccer games for the under 10s. The main match as mentioned earlier is at 1pm against Burma. The day should wrap up at about 3pm-3.30pm.

It’s all in a good cause and should be a good fun day. So if anyone is in the area why not pop down. Entry at the gates is £5 for adults and just £1 for children. Not too sure if it’s true but there is rumour that the Burma team and their families are going to be laying on some traditional fayre. So if you’re into something a little bit more exotic than pie ‘n’ mash there culd be something there to tickle your taste buds.

Basildon United football ground is located at Gardiner’s Close, Basildon, Essex SS14 3AW

Tags: Basildon United, Burma Relief Fund, Pan-disability football league

Yep, that’s right. My creatively talented friend Sara, of Sara’s Texture Crafts, runs a ‘Sweet Home Blogger Award‘ and I was one of 5 winners. This came totally out of the blue as I wasn’t expecting it so it was a nice surprise when I logged into my blog this afternoon and found a comment in my spam filter, of all places!

So sorry Sara, my blog thinks you’re spam

For those of you who may not know, Sara is an extremely talented craft worker from London. She also works hard to raise the profile of DaWanda, which is a handmade craft marketplace. It’s like a European version of Etsy, but with English, French and German speaking communities.

You can check out Sara’s craft blog on my ‘Other Crafty Blogs’ link. The other 4 winners of the ‘award’ can also be found there too. I must say their blogs seem far more interesting than mine. My blog really is a ramble, bit like my brain!! I guess I named it right.

Tags: blog award, DaWanda

Yay!!  Got my delivery the other day, no guesses what I’ll be doing this weekend.  Had a good old sniff.  Mmmm they smell good OOB.  Can’t wait to get them in the wax.

Just need to update my website , my eBay shop and my DaWanda store.  I shall be doing that over the weekend, too.

I will be adding 2 new fragrances in July.   Lilac and Freesia, both lovely floral scents for the summer.  They should be here by the beginning of July

Tags: Fragrances, freesia, lilac

So what is going to be in the testing zone for July?  Well, I’ve just sent off for some samplers yesterday.  As they come from the States it’ll be about 10 days before they get here.  I’ll be testing Green Apple, Honeysuckle, True Lavender, Natural Eucalyptus, Peach, Fresh Cut Roses, Lemon Grass, Raspberry, Orange & Peel, Watermelon, Clean Cotton and Warm Vanilla Sugar.

Some of these I’ll be using for creating more blends, as well as stand alone fragrances.  They’ll be ready just in time for the height of summer.  Also in the testing zone will be the blends I made up the other day.  Just to refresh your memories they were Afternoon Breeze, Hawaiian Breeze, Island Sunset, Jasmine Powder, Lavender Lullaby, Plum & Pomegranate and Winter Wish.

Tags: fragrance testing, Fragrances