Etsy Insight

Before listing something, I research it on Etsy and Ebay to see what similar items are selling for.  I don't want to under-cut someone else, but I want to sell it.  So, if I see an item for $10, I may try to sell it for $8.  If something is listed for less than $4, I set it aside and wait a few months before listing it.  It's not worth the time, effort and costs for me to list it.

Next, I photograph the item, trying to show it as many ways as possible and as artistic as possible. I always use all 5 photos, even if it is the same photo with just different backgrounds (see listing for doily below on  different colored back grounds.
 
This is a listing page where you identify everything about the item--its use, the title, its age, materials it is made from and "Tags".  We are allowed 13 tags which I always use.  So, for this doily, I might put "doily, doiley, doilys, doilies, round, 13 inches, 34 cm, pineapple, star, crochet, crocheted, white, cream".  Yes, I misspell some tags and use plurals for one item, because that may be how a potential customer searches it.  I also use synonyms so a "table scarf" may also be listed as a "panel", "placemat", "table runner".
 
This is how my page looks today:  Oma's Trunk.  The top 4 items are "featured":  I pre-selected items I wanted in that spot.  The items below are the ones I have most recently listed.  Although I have 5 patterns I wanted to list, I try not to list too many at the same time, but spread them out so they appear on the search pages in different places.  I have 10 draft items at this time---I just need to press a button to publish them.  But, I want to spread the publishing out during the course of a week, thus getting more exposure also.
It helps to have a good scale to weight items.  Shipping fees are based on weight of the item, the wrapping, the shipping container. I go to the post office web site to get rates.  There is a wonderful feature on Etsy called shipping profile.  For example 1-2 oz. items, I have priced at $2 for the United States $4.75 anywhere else.  I have pre-entered all of that, so anytime I have an item that weighs that, it will automatically appear.
Due to the nature of the items, I sell (antique, fabric, paper), I wrap everything in acid-free paper, and slap a sticker on from my vast sticker collection.

Then, I write a thank you note, slide the sold object in an envelope, write the name and address (from my iPad), use one of my kazillion free address labels and take it to the post office.  There is also an option which I use from time to time in which I can print a label from PayPal which includes postage. It costs .18 extra, but is a great option.  I don't have any sticker paper, so I have to tape it down.  But, then I can just put the package in the mailbox rather than sending it with Dave to the Post Office.

So, how have I done?  Pretty well, I think.  This page shows clearly when my shop was closed for several weeks of trips.  It looks like I am going down, but this isn't the middle of the month yet.  And, I have "made" almost $1000.  I do need to deduct the cost of listing the item, using pay pal to collect the money, the envelope and the cost of the item sold (which usually was in my closet, basement and bought years ago).  I do occasionally find items at thrift stores which I turn around and list (sewing patterns and scarves), but most things are really part of my cleaning out/down-sizing.  All in all it has been a profitable enterprise for this retired lady.

St. Mark Presbyterian--50 Years!

Our church is celebrating its 50 years anniversary this year.  I am the historian of the church and have been busy for a year getting photos together, helping with a new history book,

Writing articles for the newsletter and attending meetings. With the celebration Memorial Day Weekend, we are all pitching in cutting place mats, picking up balloons, setting tables.

Handmade with a Purpose

 

Our daughter Rachel is selling art this month to support a language program for her son (our grandson) Brett.  Brett is one of many on the autism spectrum and has difficulty with language.  Rachel has found a language program which helps him, but his school doesn't have it at this time.  In honor of Autism Awareness month, she hopes to raise funds to purchase this program for Brett and the other children at the school with language problems  Her work can be found at her Etsy site.  

Her friend has organized several crafty people who will be donating portions of their sales to a favorite charity---Rachel's is a part of this.  Check out this site "Handmade with a Purpose"!

7 Things

My daughter Rachel tagged me on her blog. So, here are the rules:
1) thank and talk about whoever gave you the award
So, Thanks, Rachel, for selecting me. In the spirit of the blog, I decided I would upload the first photo I found of you---here it is! Eating lunch at one of the restaurants in Brookside (Kansas City) last year. Rachel is my middle daughter---tall (for us), hilarious, artistic, a great mom and helpful daughter (she loves to re-arrange/re-decorate my house even when I do NOT ask her to----like the time she decided my wallpaper was "tired" and she started ripping it off days before her sister's graduation party. . .but I digress).

2) share 7 facts about yourself

1. I used to have a phobia for palm trees---I think I had a bad experience with one in another life time.
2. I can NOT just listen to music. Music is for dancing to, swaying to, tapping a pencil to, but not sitting still and listening----listening to music in the car drives me C-R-A-Z-Y.
3. I have problems with foods which stick to the roof of my mouth---bananas, peanut butter sandwiches.
4. I do NOT like extremists---I am very much a centrist---I no longer respond to people's extreme view because they are usually way too close minded to even have a discussion.
5. The only alcohol I drink is/are beer and wine---I'm not even tempted to drink anything else.
6. I'm a little on the hyper side and don't understand how people can teach while sitting at a desk.
7. I'd rather work outside than inside---my house may have dust but you won't find many weeds in my beds.

3) give the award to 7 other bloggers who rock!

My daughters Rebecca and Leah; my nieces Lynn and Christi---DANG, I don't know 7 bloggers!

Christmas Newsletter 2008

As I was writing my annual newsletter this year, it occurred to me that with blogs, this may be a passing trend. Then after I spent $150 on printing and postage, I realized, this may be my last mass-produced newsletter. I'll probably continue to send them to relatives who aren't very computer savvy, but. . .


So, here may be our last newsletter:

Morgan – Long Family Update 2008

Holiday Greetings to Family and Friends!


Dave and Jaclyn Morgan are both retired now, and traveling frequently. Recently: Rome and a Mediterranean cruise, Dallas, and Kansas City (often). Jaclyn’s love of teaching keeps her substituting frequently. She also has two blogs which keep her busy: http://jaclynmrgn.blogspot.com/ and a family history blog: http://longmorgan.blogspot.com/



Tom and Donna Morgan are still in the Westborough, MA area, with their three kids (Meredith, Glen and Dale) also in the Northeast. Tom still works in the info technology field at EMC. Harry Morgan and Karen Morgan are still working in the Jacksonville, IL area, with their two sons also in Illinois. Their grandson Christopher Todd Morgan has a new baby brother, Noah Erik Morgan.



This summer we went with Jaclyn’s brother Jim Long, and wife Deb, on a 10-day trip to Rome followed by a cruise to Athens, Crete, Ephesus, and Sicily. We had a great time!
Lynn (Provost) and husband John Hrisco reside in the Ft. Worth area where Lynn recently graduated from Embry-Riddle University. Jane (Long) and Richard Robison live in the Dallas area. Doug and Christi Provost now live in Tuscon, AZ.
Jason and Rebecca (Morgan) Lewis are in Parkville, Mo (KC area) where Jason has his own homebuilding business, in which Rebecca assists. Early in 2008, they completed the adoption of Roman Daniel Lewis, from Russia. He’s two now, and a real live wire! http://jasonandrebeccalewis.blogspot.com/



Kyle and Rachel (Morgan) Twenter live in Kansas City, MO where Kyle is a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Rachel has a website with her art and creations: createbyRET.blogspot.com Brett is 7, Davis is 4, and Libby the blue-eyed redhead is 20 months. The family’s website is: http://twenterfamily.blogspot.com/

(Roman, Brett, Davis and Libby—Kansas City, November 2008)


Todd and Leah (Morgan) Warren live in the St. Louis area, in a remodeled 100-yr-old 3-story house in Maplewood. Their son is Elijah James Warren (below, with Grandpa Dave) now 17 months old. Their website is: http://web.me.com/leahwarren/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Sadly, early this year Louise Long (aka Mom, Gigi) passed away. She is greatly missed by her children, grand- and great-grand-children. What can you say about an 87 year old woman who went to Glamour Shots and sent this Christmas card last year?
Finally, our sympathies to the families and friends of Jaclyn’s relatives who passed away this year: mother, Louise Long; uncle, Bob Delaney; cousins Bob and Ginny Guinther.



Dave’s family lost his uncle Garner Morgan in December and his aunt Janice Morgan in early 2008.


Happy Holidays to You All!

Long Ago and Far Away

I love this Norman Rockwell picture---being a genealogist, it always "spoke" to me. I knew that being from one of the border states, I had Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers on both sides of my family. I also knew that I had saints (ministers) and sinners (gamblers and bootleggers) in my family---in fact, they were first cousins!

Genealogy programs have a place for family stories, but it's not in a prominent place. I had all of these wonderful stories, buried on my computer. Even the little stories like how my great grandmother (Mary Reiter Long) had guinea hens that roosted in the trees fascinated me. When I started this blog, I knew I wanted a blog that centered on some of those family stories.

As I explored "Blog World" (using the Next Blog feature), I learned that blogs could have multiple authors/contributors. My hope is my new blog called "Long Ago and Far Away" would provide a forum for cousins to tell their family stories.

In some cases, I have e-mails from cousins, family members which I may use to re-construct stories, but I'm hoping that family members actually will contribute.

So, this blog will continue to be about my life, but my new one will be about our family stories. Click here to go to the new blog.

Next Blog II

I enjoy hitting the Next Blog button to see what other people have "out there." I am naturally curious, but also, I can see what makes a good blog to make improvements on my own.

The first time I did it, I hit an Asian blog---written in Kanji? I was stunned because I was expecting to see my daughter's next blog (not realizing at the time that it would not be the next POST).

So, I routinely started hitting the button. I am the kind of person that could waste a whole day doing that, but I put limits on it. First, I had to read the blog until I figured out 1. What language it was in. 2. What country it was from 3. What the age, demographics of the blogger was. Then, I could hit the profile and see if I was right. My other rule was, I had to stop when I found an American blog.

So, here are some interesting blogs I have found. These were all Spanish language!

http://elcorraldelmanel.blogspot.com/
horses and hogs in Spain. I loved the map that showed where all of the visitors were from. So, I added it to mine, hoping to see where in the world viewers were from-----I'm still waiting for someone from outside the USA.

http://elpeztelescopio.blogspot.com/
female, Spanish, 30 something, (Wallis and Futuna in South Pacific!)

http://7gtr.blogspot.com/
NASCAR, Spanish, Argentina?

http://ashran92.blogspot.com/
Spanish, male, Spain---right on!

http://blogdelpincha.blogspot.com/
Spanish, South American, cool slides, soccer (Argentina)

http://craftsmakers.blogspot.com/
Spanish, cool paper mache--see the cow below!


So, go ahead, take a chance---hit that "Next Blog" button and see what a small world it is --- NASCAR fan in Argentina?

Tag Sale

My daughter and an "Etsy Friend" are having tag sales on their art and crafts this weekend. Great deals---you don't have to pay for shipping. Plumtreestudio has onsies and T-shirts appliqued. Createbyret has painted bags, plaques, canvases. Be sure to stop by. Click here or go to--

http://www.createbyret.com/TAGSALE

Next Blog

OK, I'm relatively new at this Blog Stuff and I do have some time on my hands, but I really think my natural curiosity is more to blame. I really enjoy hitting the "Next Blog" button. At first, I thought it would get me to another page of my daughter's. I was quite shocked the first time when it put me on another continent---Asia, I believe. I became something of an eavesdropper, snooper and just enjoyed seeing what people were putting out there. So, it is part curiosity, but it is also part research to make mine a more interesting Blog.

My daughter says that leaving comments on people's pages when I don't know them is a little "over the top." But, I just had to set the record straight on a visitor to St. Louis who thought we still hadn't cleaned up the flood debris from FIFTEEN YEARS AGO! Hello, we just flooded again this summer.

Then, there was the woman who lived in West Palm Beach and was soooo lonely. She wrote something about waving at a car from Missouri and no one in the car waved back. So, I had to write her a cheery note to let her know that not everyone from Missouri was unfriendly.

So, whereas my daughters have regular features on "Flashback Friday" or "10 for Tuesday", I'm going to have an occasional post on fun stuff I find on "Next Blog."

Please leave a comment if you are a "Next Blog" Spy, too.

Tag! You're It!

How it works:
1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers questions about themselves
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and post their names, then goes to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read the players blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers

Where were you 5 years ago?
We were right here in Missouri, but I was probably back in school.

What are 5 things on your to do list for the weekend?
1. Rest after the church rummage sale.
2. Update the Deacon Handbook.
3. Laundry
4. Vacuum
5. Clean up toys from grandchildren's visit

What are 5 favorite snacks?
1. Popcorn
2. Hot pretzel at Auntie Anne's
3. Pita chips and hummus
4. Cheese, Crackers
5. Chocolate chip cookes

What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. Give 10% to charities
2. Set up trustfunds for the grandchildren's college funds
3. Print off some pictures of our grandchildren and update our Brett collection
4. Take an around-the-world cruise on a private yacht with close family & friends
5. Buy a Smart car or a Vespa.

What are five of your bad habits ?
1. Not updating my photo collection
2. Eating too much
3. Not thinking I have 5 bad habits
4. Why doesn't anyone ever want to know my GOOD habits?!
5. I'm in my 60's---I've whittled the bad habits down to two. . .or three

What are five places you've lived? (these are not in order)
1. St. Louis, MO
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. Ballwin, MO
4. Cape Girardeau, MO
5. Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO (and Memmingen, Bayern, Deutschland)

What are 5 jobs you've had?
1. Lifeguard & Swim Instructor
2. Waitress and Hostess at Howard Johnson's
3. Mailroom clerk and Snack bar Associate in College
4. High School and Middle School Teacher--German, Reading, English
5. English as Second Language Teacher (K-Adult)

Five people I tag.
1. The first person who "Next Blog"s me
2. The second person who "Next Blog"s me
3. The third person who "Next Blog"s me
4. The fourth person who "Next Blog"s me
5. The fifth person who "Next Blog"s me