A new USPS price list was announced yesterday....check it out here:
http://pe.usps.com/Notice123_June_24_2012.pdf
Monday, June 25, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
I've Been Planning New Classes!
This morning I've been working on my Fall Classes at our local Central Community College...it just doesn't seem possible--I'm still in the middle of summer!
Looks like I'll be busy in September & October, and a bit into November!
I'll be offering a new class in September: Thrift Store Shopping (we will take an actual shopping trip the second night!).
My basic computer series, Fearless Computing starts September 14 and continues every Friday for 6 weeks. It's an afternoon class--seems like many people enjoy coming out during the day.
Two other new classes will debut in October: When Junior Returns Home (October 1 7-9pm) and How to Organize your House in One Easy Book (October 15/22 7-9pm).
I'll offer my 2-night blogging class again in late October & early November. I'm calling it Blogging Your Days, it will be on October 29 and November 5 at 7-9pm.
My eBay Beginner Class this time will be a Saturday afternoon in a Seminar style--date to be announced.
Looks like I'll be busy in September & October, and a bit into November!
My basic computer series, Fearless Computing starts September 14 and continues every Friday for 6 weeks. It's an afternoon class--seems like many people enjoy coming out during the day.
Two other new classes will debut in October: When Junior Returns Home (October 1 7-9pm) and How to Organize your House in One Easy Book (October 15/22 7-9pm).
I'll offer my 2-night blogging class again in late October & early November. I'm calling it Blogging Your Days, it will be on October 29 and November 5 at 7-9pm.
My eBay Beginner Class this time will be a Saturday afternoon in a Seminar style--date to be announced.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Free Shipping Options for your eBay sales
eBay's new Fast 'N Free lets buyers know at a glance--in search results and on the Item page--when an item ships for free and, based on their shipping address and the item location, that it will arrive on their doorstep within 4 business days.
The eBay Fast 'N Free logo appears on listings when all the following conditions are met: •Both the buyer and the item are within the 48 contiguous states.
•The listing includes a free shipping service and offers 1-day handling.
•Based on the buyer and seller’s geographic location, seller’s past delivery performance and the carrier’s performance, eBay can estimate with a high level of confidence that--using the free shipping service--the item will be delivered in 4 business days or less.
eBay says their statistics show that listings enhanced with the eBay Fast 'N Free logo sell better than those that don’t.
The eBay Fast 'N Free logo appears on listings when all the following conditions are met: •Both the buyer and the item are within the 48 contiguous states.
•The listing includes a free shipping service and offers 1-day handling.
•Based on the buyer and seller’s geographic location, seller’s past delivery performance and the carrier’s performance, eBay can estimate with a high level of confidence that--using the free shipping service--the item will be delivered in 4 business days or less.
eBay says their statistics show that listings enhanced with the eBay Fast 'N Free logo sell better than those that don’t.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Newest Pinterest Feature
The update gives you greater control over the appearance of your profile page:
You can now edit a board cover by hovering over it with your mouse. An “Edit Board Cover” button will appear (see below, left); click on it and you’ll be able to rotate through all of your pins to select a cover image.
It’s also possible to adjust the position of the thumbnail for a better fit, although you can’t crop or resize it. Click “Set Cover” to finish. And you can choose board covers within each board by mousing
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Searching Craigslist
Do you have something you constantly search for on your local Craigslist? Well, I've just discovered a great FREE Craigslist searching tool - CLGenie.com. It’s easy to do: you save specific searches, and whenever there are new listings that match your saved search, you get an email - how great is that? Did I mention it’s Free?
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Print postage online
Starting January 22, USPS will be offering free Delivery Confirmation on First Class postage purchased online, so that's one more reason to ship using eBay Labels! It's built into the eBay selling process, so paying for postage, adding insurance and printing shipping labels is very easy. Plus, USPS tracking numbers are automatically uploaded to My eBay and emailed out to buyers.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Completed Listings
Attention Students: One of the more important things I taught in week 1 of the basic eBay classes was how to use “Completed Listings.” (If you want to see what an item sold for, you can search for completed listings. Completed listings are listings that have ended within the last 15 days, whether or not the item sold.) The information you get from reviewing closed listings goes a long way to help you price your own items to sell.
Remember, do not assume! Completed Item data is more reliable than active listings - if you're looking at a current listing and assuming the item will sell for a certain price, you may be sadly mistaken! Listings can end without being sold or can sell at a different price than currently listed (for Auction-style or Make an Offer listings).
Last Fall eBay announced it was extending Completed Item data for Collectibles from 15 days to 90 days in certain categories.
And now, more good news—now the look-back time for sold items has been increased to 60 days (up from 15) for sellers in the Art, Antiques, Coins & Paper Money, Dolls & Bears, Entertainment Memorabilia, Sports Memorabilia, Stamps, and Toys categories. Sellers in the Collectibles category will continue to have 90 days of information on sold items and 45 days for unsold items.Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Not the best news from UPS...
Effective January 2, 2012, UPS rates will increase as follows*:
UPS Ground services will increase a net 4.9% through a combination of a 5.9% increase in rates and a 1 percentage point reduction in the UPS Ground fuel surcharge.
UPS Air and International services will increase a net 4.9% through a combination of a 6.9% increase in rates and a 2 percentage point reduction in the UPS Air and International services fuel surcharge. Rates for UPS Next Day Air® remain up to 4% lower than our largest U.S. private competitor for similar services.
UPS Next Day Air® Freight and UPS 2nd Day Air® Freight rates for shipments within and between the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico will increase 5.9%. UPS 3 Day Freight® rates will remain unchanged.
UPS Ground services will increase a net 4.9% through a combination of a 5.9% increase in rates and a 1 percentage point reduction in the UPS Ground fuel surcharge.
UPS Air and International services will increase a net 4.9% through a combination of a 6.9% increase in rates and a 2 percentage point reduction in the UPS Air and International services fuel surcharge. Rates for UPS Next Day Air® remain up to 4% lower than our largest U.S. private competitor for similar services.
UPS Next Day Air® Freight and UPS 2nd Day Air® Freight rates for shipments within and between the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico will increase 5.9%. UPS 3 Day Freight® rates will remain unchanged.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Quick Trick on Facebook
I've been busy listing mugs on eBay today. But, I thought I'd take a peek at Facebook to see if my friends were doing anything interesting....and there was a note from my daughter Samantha, who lives in Colorado.
Sam wrote: So I put in my search box "mom" because I wasn't thinking and it actually came up with you. Odd. But the reason I am writing on here because you are never going to believe what I got...
Wow--I guess I didn't realize you could do that! I tried it myself: I typed "daughter" in the search box, and there are all of my daughters listed! How neat!
Sam wrote: So I put in my search box "mom" because I wasn't thinking and it actually came up with you. Odd. But the reason I am writing on here because you are never going to believe what I got...
Wow--I guess I didn't realize you could do that! I tried it myself: I typed "daughter" in the search box, and there are all of my daughters listed! How neat!
All that fuss over $10...
Yesterday morning my email box had a note from a customer who thought the book she bought was "not as described," so she was asking for a refund. I thought I had described the negative parts of the item well enough, but in the interest of customer service, I agreed to refund her money--she even asked me to refund the amount it was going to cost her to send it back. I don't usually do that, but didn't want to spend time discussing it with her, so I also agreed to that. After sending that information back to her, I received another note--this time she said, "I would be happy with half the purchase price refunded. 10.99/2=$5.50.
Does this sound fair to you?"
Yes, it sounds fair to me! I immediately refunded the $5.50 and wrote her a quick Thank You/apology note and forgot all about it until later that afternoon. I was checking my sold lists looking for an item I needed to leave feedback for....and, I discovered she had left a neutral feedback for the transaction! Needless to say, I was not pleased since I had tried to accomodate her earlier in the day. The one neutral did not affect my 100% feedback, but still I didn't want it there for everyone to see! So, I went into eBay where you can request a revision of feedback (feedback forum/request feedback revision), filled out the required information, and where I could leave her a note, I wrote:
I tried hard to fix the problems in our transaction per your wishes. I was willing to pay your postage to return the book to me, but then you said you would accept a refund of ½ the original price- I immediately did that. In many people’s eyes, a neutral is just like a negative. Could you please change the neutral to a positive? Thanks so much! -Rae
Originally I had written a longer note, but eBay only lets you use 500 spaces. I wanted to include the entire story so eBay would understand the details in case I had to discuss it with them....
So I went about my business for the rest of the afternoon, hoping for the best outcome...a couple of hours later I got another email from eBay saying she had agreed to redo the feedback! Whew!
Does this sound fair to you?"
Yes, it sounds fair to me! I immediately refunded the $5.50 and wrote her a quick Thank You/apology note and forgot all about it until later that afternoon. I was checking my sold lists looking for an item I needed to leave feedback for....and, I discovered she had left a neutral feedback for the transaction! Needless to say, I was not pleased since I had tried to accomodate her earlier in the day. The one neutral did not affect my 100% feedback, but still I didn't want it there for everyone to see! So, I went into eBay where you can request a revision of feedback (feedback forum/request feedback revision), filled out the required information, and where I could leave her a note, I wrote:
I tried hard to fix the problems in our transaction per your wishes. I was willing to pay your postage to return the book to me, but then you said you would accept a refund of ½ the original price- I immediately did that. In many people’s eyes, a neutral is just like a negative. Could you please change the neutral to a positive? Thanks so much! -Rae
Originally I had written a longer note, but eBay only lets you use 500 spaces. I wanted to include the entire story so eBay would understand the details in case I had to discuss it with them....
So I went about my business for the rest of the afternoon, hoping for the best outcome...a couple of hours later I got another email from eBay saying she had agreed to redo the feedback! Whew!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
A New Site to Watch
Check out Craftgawkers.com....This site has so many great ideas--all in small pictures that are linked to other individual sites that give more information or instructions on how to make the item yourself.
As an example, these cute decorated pumpkins are found in the blog Glorious Treats, written by Glory, a housewife in northern California. (She's got other great ideas, too!)
Monday, September 19, 2011
I Changed My Mind!
This is a "Heads Up" notice for all my former eBay students....
Previously I always told you how I like to make my titles in Capital letters--I told you it was just my personal preference, and you could do it any way you like.
But now I have found that if you use all caps your items will not show up in the Google products search for fixed price. Google disallows all listings that do not use standard capitalization.
Previously I always told you how I like to make my titles in Capital letters--I told you it was just my personal preference, and you could do it any way you like.
But now I have found that if you use all caps your items will not show up in the Google products search for fixed price. Google disallows all listings that do not use standard capitalization.
So now, I'm going through my listings, changing titles that need to be upgraded. And now that we're allowed the 88 spaces, I can add to some of them, too.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Keyboard Shortcuts
Sometimes the keyboard is faster than the mouse. If you know a few simple ways of using the keyboard instead of the mouse, you will greatly enhance your computing experience, but you will also amaze some of your friends!
Right Click
Before we get into the keyboard shortcuts, here's a tip that will open up a completely new world of ease of use and power to your computing experience and mark you as "in the know:" Use the right button on your mouse. The right click offers you extraordinary possibilities most people don't know exists. The next time you want to do something and it isn't obvious how to do it, try right-clicking and see what happens. You will be amazed. Experiment with this at other times, to see what you might want to do later. Now let's discuss the keyboard itself...
Before we get into the keyboard shortcuts, here's a tip that will open up a completely new world of ease of use and power to your computing experience and mark you as "in the know:" Use the right button on your mouse. The right click offers you extraordinary possibilities most people don't know exists. The next time you want to do something and it isn't obvious how to do it, try right-clicking and see what happens. You will be amazed. Experiment with this at other times, to see what you might want to do later. Now let's discuss the keyboard itself...
Enter
It is extremely easy to spot a neophyte with a computer. They use the mouse when they shouldn't. And the most frequent misuse of the mouse is to click on the Enter button on the screen instead of touching the Enter key on the keyboard. In either case the function is the same: to get the computer to accept what you just typed. In a scenario which happens countless times on a computer, you have just typed something on the keyboard (your name, a word or two you want to do a search on...) and now you have to tell the computer to "Go do it". Almost always there will be a button which can be clicked with the mouse make the computer go do it. This means you need to take your hand off the keyboard, position it on the mouse, determine where the mouse shows up on the screen and then move it over the button and click. Or, you could simply touch the Enter key, usually the second biggest key on the entire keyboard.
It is extremely easy to spot a neophyte with a computer. They use the mouse when they shouldn't. And the most frequent misuse of the mouse is to click on the Enter button on the screen instead of touching the Enter key on the keyboard. In either case the function is the same: to get the computer to accept what you just typed. In a scenario which happens countless times on a computer, you have just typed something on the keyboard (your name, a word or two you want to do a search on...) and now you have to tell the computer to "Go do it". Almost always there will be a button which can be clicked with the mouse make the computer go do it. This means you need to take your hand off the keyboard, position it on the mouse, determine where the mouse shows up on the screen and then move it over the button and click. Or, you could simply touch the Enter key, usually the second biggest key on the entire keyboard.
People have been conditioned into thinking that they have to use the mouse for everything. But now you know, and now you can start building a new, more productive and very professional habit by using the Enter key more often.
F1
Most people know about this key, but they don't use it when they need it most!
Hit Function key F1 to get help in almost any windows program.
It's amazing what you can learn when you use the F1 key.
Most people know about this key, but they don't use it when they need it most!
Hit Function key F1 to get help in almost any windows program.
It's amazing what you can learn when you use the F1 key.
Ctrl-W
to close the current window works in MSFT Explorer, but use "Esc" in Outlook
to close the current window works in MSFT Explorer, but use "Esc" in Outlook
Alt-F4
This immediately quits the current program.
It's a whole lot faster than clicking on that little box in the upper right!
This immediately quits the current program.
It's a whole lot faster than clicking on that little box in the upper right!
Esc
to Escape from the current document or window without updating or changing anything.
to Escape from the current document or window without updating or changing anything.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
More Facebook Changes Coming
Beginning Wednesday, Facebook will make it easier to share photos, posts and links with smaller, isolated groups of people. While the site has allowed users to separate their friends into lists since 2007, this option took quite a bit of work and only a small fraction of Facebook users took advantage of it.
Now, Facebook will automatically group your friends based on whether they live near you, went to your school or work with you. You can read posts or share updates with specific groups instead of dozens, or hundreds, of "friends" at a time. Facebook will use the colleges, workplaces and geographic locations that users share on the site to organize people into groups. Called "smart lists," the feature is optional to use, and the lists are customizable.
In addition, you can create your own friend groups with as few or as many as you would like, based around hobbies, work projects or relatives, for example.
Listing people as "close friends," will let you see the posts and photos from the dozen or so friends you care about the most. Updates from these people will feature more prominently in your news feed and you can opt to receive email notifications every time they post something on Facebook.
Conversely, those categorized as "acquaintances" will feature less prominently on your Facebook page, and you will see just big news, such as marriages and new babies.
Now, Facebook will automatically group your friends based on whether they live near you, went to your school or work with you. You can read posts or share updates with specific groups instead of dozens, or hundreds, of "friends" at a time. Facebook will use the colleges, workplaces and geographic locations that users share on the site to organize people into groups. Called "smart lists," the feature is optional to use, and the lists are customizable.
In addition, you can create your own friend groups with as few or as many as you would like, based around hobbies, work projects or relatives, for example.
Listing people as "close friends," will let you see the posts and photos from the dozen or so friends you care about the most. Updates from these people will feature more prominently in your news feed and you can opt to receive email notifications every time they post something on Facebook.
Conversely, those categorized as "acquaintances" will feature less prominently on your Facebook page, and you will see just big news, such as marriages and new babies.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Life Lessons
1. The first pancake always turns out badly.
2. You don’t have to get along with everyone, or make everyone like you.
3. Love makes you stupid.
4. You always have at least 2 choices, even if you don’t like your choices.
5. When people show you who they are, believe them.
6. Most people operate out of selfish motivations.
7. It’s rarely about you.
8. Soda is evil.
9. It’s okay to break the rules, as long as you are good enough not to get caught, and you aren’t hurting anyone.
10. “Be kinder than necessary ’cause everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”
11. There’s three sides to every story- his, hers, and the truth.
12. Time doesn’t heal anything- it’s what you do with that time.
13. Complaining and blaming other people doesn’t help anything, and makes you miserable company.
14. Everything in your life is your responsibility.
15. You train people how to treat you.
16. There’s always hope.
17. You can always be grateful for something.
18. If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough.
19. You never really become an adult. You just get more responsibility, and become wiser.
20. Showing emotion is not a sign of weakness. Knowing when it is appropriate is a skill.
21. Google can answer anything.
22. Being silly is one of my favorite qualities in a person.
23. Honesty is always the easiest route. Even if it’s not in the short term.
24. You should never stop learning, or trying to be a better person.
25. Worrying is useless, unless it motivates you to take action.
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