Simply Shiny Life

Sometimes I can be a little slow to catch on to the obvious.  To catch on that selling unwanted items doesn’t feel as good as giving them to folks who want them. To catch on that it is WAY easier for folks to come to me to carry off stuff versus me having to schelp it somewhere else.

I”ve been a Craig’s list fan for ages…but just hadn’t discovered Freecycle. Do you use it? Freecycle describes itself as “a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.”

Since we’re moving, we’re trying to reduce the amount of stuff to move to our new house. I’ve placed 3 things on the Wichita freecycle list tonight….3 are spoken for already. One was picked up in less than 2 hours after I listed it. Awesome. And I’ve not even dented the amount of stuff I’d like to find new homes before the packers arrive.

If you haven’t checked Freecycle out yet… do. It’ll make you feel good. I did.

It was a day of inspections at the new house yesterday.  The pest guy, our chosen general inspector, and the stucco guy. No big issues, just a couple of smaller items we’d like the seller to take care of. But, the very amiable pest dude did confirm that there were brown recluse spiders in the basement. Dead ones. But. Still. ewwwwwww.

Normally, bugs don’t bother me. I”m much more grossed out by toddler bodily fluids. But brown recluse? Ugh.

I was bitten by one when I lived in Texas. Still have the not so gorgeous scar on my leg to prove it.

Now where did I put that pest controller’s number……………….

New treasury on Etsy, featuring bright spring colored items.  You can click on the image to link to leave comments.

Shiny Spotlight Thursday

We’ve purchased a new house and we’ll be moving soon. Well, as long as the inspections are clear. Keep your fingers crossed for us. This week I thought I’d search for house warming items to see what was returned in my results.

Clicking on each image will link you to the seller of each item, if you decide you simply must purchase it.

Enjoy!

Watermelon Brie Baker from Karin Lorenc

Artisan Carob Wood Wine Stopper from Spaeny Wood Studio

Artisan Handmade Organic Cotton Modern Floral Coasters from Rohmer

Artisan Custom Mosaic Address Sign from Pear Tree Mosaics

Artisan Rust Oil Can Pottery Teapot by Alina Hayes

Artist Print Home is where the heart is from Jenn Ski

Happy Shopping everyone!

Look for the Shiny Spotlight every Thursday.

There’s been a thread on the Artfire Maven forum this week about a seller with a less than stellar record on the interwebs.  Some of the discussion was about this seller’s behavior, communications with other sellers and buyers, copyright issues and about this seller’s flagrant disregard of it’s prior customers.  It’s not one issue with this seller, but several that would directly impact other sellers as well as unsuspecting buyers.

It got me to thinking about what I think responsible venues should do to protect its seller and customer base. Is it the venue’s responsibility to ensure that its potential buyers are protected in some fashion when it has knowledge of a seller’s misdeeds in other venues? Should the venue take a wait and see attitude with respect to its own Terms of Use?  Should the venue approach the seller and ask some basic questions about some of the information swirling the interwebs?   Should the venue ask the seller directly if the accusations have any truth to them? Should the venue ask the seller directly if their intentions are honest?

My nature is to gather facts before making a decision; talk to people involved, conduct a little research, noodle on a possible solution for a while. Basically gather data from several places as well as the source. THEN make a decision. I don’t generally take a position of wait and see. I think doing so doesn’t generally help anyone involved, and connotes apathy.  Plus, if I were a buyer that purchased from this shop, endured a bad experience, and then found out that the venue had prior knowledge about the seller, I’d be more than just a bit annoyed. Wouldn’t you?

Admin’s stated position in this particular situation was not to approach this shop and ask questions; rather to wait and see. The seller has since closed up shop. I don’t know if it was because of Admin’s actions behind the scenes or something else.

This isn’t the first nor the last time a potentially harmful seller will set up shop on Artfire. And while I was disappointed, Artfire’s stated response wasn’t dissimilar to what I’ve witnessed from other venues.

What is your opinion? What are your expectations of a venue’s administrative team? How do you think future situations should be addressed? What is Admin’s responsibility to you as a Seller or a Buyer?

Lurve him….

and if you are missing Cap’n Jack, check out this blog post from After Elton

http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2010/03/exclusive-john-barrowman-pics-desperate-housewives

Did you catch this post in the etsy forum from Rob Kalin?

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6459105

Looks like changes are coming……I noticed the header had changed and wondered what was going on.

There are a couple discussion threads about it too. Guess I’d better check out what the fora are saying.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6459104

Wow. What a weekend! We had a whirlwind morning of looking at houses, made an offer Sunday afternoon and the offer was accepted Sunday night.

Oy! The list of things to do in the next 30 days is a bit overwhelming.

If you don’t see much from me over the next several weeks, you’ll know why.

Artfire rolled out a new promotion called Friends and Family

Here’s what the site says “The month-to-month rate of a Pro membership on ArtFire.com now costs $15.95.  As of Monday the 1st, every Pro member on ArtFire received five invitations via a code that will allow a new Pro member to sign up at the old locked $12 rate. ”

If you are interested in joining Artfire, contact me and I’ll hook you up with one of my codes.

A post redux

http://shinyadornments.com/simplyshiny/2009/04/etsy-teams-expectation-vs-reality/