Paypal now has a card reader… competition for square? And where’d my ebay sellers go?

WHERE’D MY EBAY SELLERS GO?

Today I was looking at my list of favorite eBay sellers (eBay keeps a nice little list for you called “Saved Sellers” whenever you mark a seller as someone you want to… save).

I have 47 on my list. According to eBay, 32 of the 47 state: “This seller currently has 0 items for sale.”

68% of my favorite eBay sellers no longer sell on eBay.

I suppose some of them have gone on to more profitable online venues, while others have just decided to stop doing whatever they were doing (lampworking, making jewelry, selling supplies… most of my favorite’d sellers were lampworkers).

eBay’s fees ARE significantly higher than Etsy, Artfire, IndiePublic, etc. That’s too bad for us (jewelry and bead makers). We were, however, a mere drop in the bucket to eBay so losing us in order to gain many (MANY!) more dollars was a no-brainer.

And yet, I can’t give it up. Although I make the majority of my sales through my own website (thank goodness), I still sell significantly more on eBay than I do on Etsy. I don’t advertise either one, so I don’t know what the deal is.

Now I’m going to go look up all these old eBay sellers and see if I can find out where they’ve gone. I only mark a seller as “favorite” if I REALLY liked their stuff.


PAYPAL NOW HAS A CARD READER… COMPETITION FOR SQUARE?

First off, if you’re not familiar with Square (or Square-Up), it’s a small device that you can plug into your smart phone so that you can swipe people’s credit cards during shows. You can also use the service to enter the data online, but the real attraction is what’s called “the cube” (the phone attachment).

Here’s an article about PayPal coming out with a similar device.

The article states: PayPal has launched an iPhone-friendly credit card reader and plans to enter into direct competition with the well-established Square ecosystem.

Well, right off the bat, that discounts me. I have a Droid, not an iPhone. But it’s an interesting article and if you do shows and have a smart phone, it’s definitely worth looking into either one of these devices.

Updated to add that a friend notified me that it IS compatible with Droid. 


NEW LISTINGS

Although I’ve been working on some rather labor-intensive projects lately, I have managed to get a few other things listed (click a photo for more info):









“Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own inner reason and your own common sense.” -- Buddha

Tilt-Shift Photography and New Listings

Click a photo for more info.

Here’s a colorful bracelet created with Bali sterling silver, Swarovski crystals from Austria, and Ruby, Iolite, Carnelian, Amazonite, Amethyst, Citrine, Peridot, Garnet, Chalcedony, Ametrine, Serpentine, and Prasiolite.




Here are a pair of earrings added to my Ancient Artifact line.




A gorgeous glass art bead by Vickie Lee.




Tilt-Shift Photography

Do you know what it is? I figure all you creative people who read my blog could probably really appreciate this new art form.

Tilt-shift photography (as far as I can grasp it) refers to the use of tilt for selective focus, so that you end up with what appears to be a miniature scene… turning real people, items, and places into what looks like a scene from a doll house.

Here’s is the example from the wiki page on the subject:



Now check out this whole YouTube video of tilt-shift photography of a carnival in Rio.



The parade starts at 2:20… you have to see these little animated dolls doin’ their thing. 

I’m intrigued by things (other than drugs) that alter our perception.

“When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. I told them they didn’t understand life.” -- John Lennon

Shrinky Dink Jewelry Tutorial Link and Bubble Watch Steampunk Necklaces

A Cool Tutorial I Found

Make Photo Necklaces, Earrings, Magnets and More Using Shrinkable Plastic

Looks like a fun tutorial. Let me know if you end up trying it. I will someday, but I have so many projects on my tables I hate to commit to anything new.


New Listings

Made three new necklaces that feature these cool steampunk-esque bubble watches (yes, they are working watches). I’m having fun with these because I am finding a good pairing with the watches and my stash of vintage beads.






“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

New Jewelry Listings including Multi-Strand Items, Hollow Lampwork Beads, LOTS of Sterling Silver

So the other day, I’m going through a really old stash of beads and I’ve got this one sterling silver bead that’s rather tarnished. I start to shine it up and guess what?



Wow, makes me wish I remembered who I bought that from 12 years ago. Hmph! (In case you can’t tell from my photo, that’s copper under a rather thin coating of silver plate… so not sterling silver at all.)

I only have two sources for sterling these days. The above is one of the reasons I’m so darn selective.

Anyway, I’m a little behind on showing you some of the new listings (click a photo to go to the listing).

First up is a three-strand necklace made from hollow Lampwork beads.




And a necklace of bright Lampwork beads and decorated sterling silver.



A five-strand bracelet of Zebra Jasper, Swarovski Crystals, and Sterling Silver.



A bracelet of large Jade beads, decorated Sterling Silver, and Swarovski crystals.



And a simple bracelet of byzantine sterling silver chain and a single but stunning boro Lampwork bead charm.



“What other people think of me is none of my business.”

A Few New Creations and Some Meandering Rambling

Finally finished and listed that pair of wire-wrapped earrings (click on the photo for more info).



I noticed that I, the hardcore bracelet creator, have been a little skimpy on the bracelet front lately. So I pulled out some heavy gauge sterling wire and a handful of lovely boro beads and made this (click the photo for more info):



Those of you who know me well may not believe this next bit but… I’ve been working with seed beads this week. It helps to have a friend come over and show you how to do certain patterns. I’m half-way through my first project. Can’t wait to show you.

I went to Oakland yesterday to watch a hockey game and catch up with friends. Had a great time (and even squeezed in a fabulous lunch with Gabe). It was a good distraction for me... Mon’s team is in Fairbanks for the end-of-season Regional Championships. The final game is later today. No matter how it turns out, I think Mon’s team rocks! They are hard workers, great hockey players, and really nice girls. Also, I couldn’t be more proud of Monica; her stats in the first four games were:
95% (22 shots)
96% (27 shots)
97% (38 shots)
96% (26 shots)
That’s just wicked awesome!

Oh, finally picked up a small disk cutter. Haven’t tried it out yet, but hope to get to it soon. Gotta clean up the out of control work room… and then I was thinking of working on the book a bit.

My experiments with adding color to resin are still not going well, but I’ll continue, trying different techniques.

Okay, I’m going to admit a really bad habit I have now. As I’m doing stuff on my computer, I’ll come across a recommendation for a site to check out or a youtube to watch or I’ll open a news story and there’s a link I want to follow or anything like this. Here’s where the bad habit comes in… I open the interesting item in a new window so I can check it out later… and later is always filled with other things to do. So at the end of the day, I end up just bookmarking all these pages.

Well, you can imagine how this accumulates. Eek! Maybe you just can’t do everything you want to.