Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thanks for the tip!  Karen

Hi Tina, Hi Louise,

These instructions work for people that are currently using blogger.  Deb and I both started with the brown and beige template (same one Tina is currently using).  It has a brown floral background/wallpaper.  Louise . . . your first step is to change your template to the brown and beige option . . . as this template has the HTML codes we are tinkering with.   Go into Layout and use the "select different template" option.  Now we are all on the same page, so to speak.

Step 1:  Find the wallpaper you want to replace the brown floral, that is currently on this standard template.  You can do this by using google to search for FREE wallpaper/backgrounds.  Download the one you like (right click and save). . . . or scan some pretty paper to create a background.

Step 2: Upload your new wallpaper choice (.jpg image) to an online source (Deb and I used Auctiva.com).   ***The blog needs to access the image from an online source. 

Step 3 -  Copy your url name for your desired background.  . . .(you will need to "paste" it into the html codes).

Step 4 -  log into your blog.  Click the Customize link at the top, then click Layout, then click "edit html".

Step 5 -  You will see all of the html codes for the blog template you currently have.  This is the tricky part  . . . don't touch anything else!  You are looking for the codes called "Default settings"

It looks like this:

/* Defaults
----------------------------------------------- */
body {
margin:0;
padding:0;
font-size: small;
        text-align:center;
color:$textColor;
line-height:1.3em;
background:#8E9D69 url("http://img.XXXyour_new_wallpaperXX.jpg") repeat;
}

Step 6 - You are looking for the line that says background.  Delete the url that is shown in the brackets and replace it with the .jpg image you want  (the url details you just copied in step 3)

Step 7 - IMPORTANT ~ there is a Preview Button. Try it to see if it worked . . . before you press save.  If you like what you see, press save. 

It worked for me and for Deb  .   If you are a bit nervous about tinkering with your blog . . . you could always create a practise blog and try it out there first.  That way you won't be doing any harm if it doesn't work out.

Let me know how it goes     ~ Karen

Hey Deb! 

You are up and running   :clap:  and I left you a comment  . . .the comment button is now available for your second post. 

I love your color scheme.  Looks great !   I too will pass the credit over to my husband Steve for helping me figure out how to change the background/wallpaper.   I even wrote it all down so I wouldn't have to bug him next time LOL.    I'm off to help with dinner right now, but will post the technical details later this evening.   

~ Congrats on your new blog  :dance:   :hug:   Karen

Too funny !   

Thanks Mom!  (Brenda's sister is my Mom)

~ Karen

Hi TT'ers

I will offer my two cents on this sensitive subject.   I did my University Thesis on "International Law of the Sea and The Tragedy of the Commons"  some twenty years ago.  Sorry to say the issue has not changed a lot since then.

The Tragedy of the Commons means there is no incentive to conserve a resource (eg. fish/Cod) that is commonly owned .  . . . . because someone else (i.e, fisherman from another country) will just go and take what remains, even if you do not.    How to conserve the salmon stocks that cross the Canada/US border has the same challenge. 

Yes, there are 200 mile limits near shorelines but the majority of the ocean is common.    The over-exploitation of common fish resources in the sea is an on-going issue.   I agree with the view that human exploitation and mis-management of the Cod stocks is the primary reason the stock is low.  Our politicians just like to blame the seals.  Culling the herd may very well help the Cod stock in the short term, but I do not believe the seals are the original problem.  Humans are.

~ Karen

Hi again, I just changed mine to the global map.   Come visit me Jenny!    . . . so we can see if a dot in the UK appears : ).  ~ Karen 

p.s. Hope the Lurgi  :crackup:   :crackup:  (never heard that term before) leaves you soon.

Hi Jenny, Hope you feel better soon.

Do you think people won't come back if they know they pop-up on the radar?  Maybe I'll switch to the other selection that feedjit has . . . a map of the world.  It puts a dot on the globe, re: the country you live in, when you stop by for a visit.  Still has updates, but not quite so personal.  I'll try that instead.

~ Karen.

I choose my words very carefully now on my blog.  I used the title "Girly Bear" for my shabby chic pinkeep and the undesirable comments were very quick to appear.  I changed the title of that post to pin cushion or pinkeep and they stopped visiting.  It certainly does make we wonder if the titles we use to name our bears bring unwanted attention.

~ Karen

Hi MJ,  I just figured out a new way yesterday  :dance:  , after almost a year of having a blog (a little slow I know).   I was previously relying on the list of favorites in other blogs,  to blog hop.  There is another way . . . .

When you edit your own profile you will see categories such as: Interests, Favorite Movies, Favorite Books etc.   I noticed that each item I typed in a list format (separated by commas) became a link.  What could those be for I thought?   When I clicked an item in my own list, up popped all the other bloggers who have identified that same Interest.   So . . . . If you list Teddy Bears as an interest, you will see there are not very many of us out there in blog land!  If you pick something more common like Cooking, Gardening or Travelling . . . you will see several thousand bloggers that have an interest in each of those.   Then you surf the choices.   

The more interests you identify, the more your blog will be discovered.  After I updated my list of interests yesterday the number of people viewing my blog jumped by a 100 in one day. 

I also added the viewers link that Brenda mentioned.  It shows the last 10 visitors and also shows a country/flag.  Yes, it is a little off (my city was wrong, but the province and country were correct).  I think it is neat to see a foreign flag on your blog.

~ Karen

Good idea, but unfortunately I don't think this will help to prevent a Paypal charge-back.  Only a tracking number will prevent a paypal chargeback.  Proof of posting isn't enough.   I've tried and lost 

That is the dilemma,  low shipping costs do get you more customers . . . but you, as the seller, are taking the risk that the buyer will be both honest and patient.   Claiming an item without tracking did not arrive is the biggest scam on ebay right now .    Paypal is indeed facilitating fraud.  It is the main reason I am no longer a power seller.  I sell many small items.  Paying $18 to track a $15 item just won't be happening .   I am tired of people filing claims against me via paypal and getting both the item and shipping for free. Certain countries seem to be worse than others at this scam.

I think ebay is very worried about their current reductions in sales. In the last week I have been sent:
- a Paypal Survey (which is owned by ebay),
- an ebay Survey, and
- I have been offered a 20 minute free telephone consultation with an ebay expert to "market my ebay store and increase sales."   

I have had these 3 emails and 2 automated telephone messages!  Never before have they been chasing me down to make sure I get my Power Seller status back.   I am basically a "Winter Power Seller" and let my status lapse over the summer.  Ebay has never been that interested in the success of my ebay store before.  It certainly makes me think the boycott has worked to some degree.   I think they are scrambling !

Karen

There is always someone who has more . . . . snow that is !  I drove my daughter to her friend's house today and was shocked at the state of this local street.  Note the height of the snow beneath the street light.  It must be over 10 feet high !  The tiny path to the front door of our friend's house was a wall of snow.  Pretty hard to shovel when you can't reach the top of the pile.   :doh:

~ Karen

Hi Daphne,   

Now we know why so many Ontario residents flock to Florida for March Break.  I just hope they left before Saturday.   My neighbors are flying to the Dominican today (or so they hope).     

There is a cute TV ad here that shows grown adults crying like toddlers . . . until they get their vacation in the sun.  It is a really good ad.  It is how most of us feel right now.   

Don't need any more snow ~ thanks though    ~  Karen

Ya beat me to it . . . . I was just about to start a similar thread.   We have 5 foot drifts from last night's storm.  That is a 6 foot pool fence that is almost covered.   We have a big white dinosaur drift on our pool. 

I thought I would include a summer shot for contrast.  . . . . and when might that be?   It will take a long time for this snow to melt  :doh:   Even my dog is shaking her head and crying   

~  Karen

I did send her a small good luck bear ~ hope she arrives soon!   ~ Karen

I want one 

Hi Jenny, re: post 100. 

Yes, you can block potential buyers.  If you go into "my ebay" ~  Preferences . . . there is a "blocked bidder list".  This is where you can block future bids from certain buyers . . .  based on past personal experience or based on word of mouth (from other sellers).   

You can also cancel a current bid. This option is mostly used by sellers who do not ship internationally, but have a foreign bidder.  Cancelling a bid may become more attractive in the near future, for other reasons.  Sellers will be more likely to observe the feedback left by new buyers.  You just click "feedback left for others" and see what kind of feedback a buyer leaves.  If someone is overly impatient or critical the seller may just cancel the bid.   

With the new feedback rules (only buyers can post a negative)  sellers will be more likely to snoop and see what kind of feedback a new buyer leaves.   If the person leaves a lot of negatives for other sellers, it may be wise to just cancel the bid and add that person to the blocked list (thus preventing a high risk transaction and avoiding a potential negative).  This preventative action is being talked about a lot more on the ebay discussion boards.   

~ Karen

Wow  . . . over 2,000 hits on this thread  :hug:

Update ~ Auction Listings on ebay ~ February 25, 2008 ~ 9:30pm EST

That's one very confused looking graph 

Auction/Listings Graph ~ February 24, 2008 ~ update

Maybe it's trying to make a teddy bear since the 21st.  Looks like a left ear to me 

Hi everyone,

A thread on Seller Central called "ebay admits technical issue with DSRs" points out that some buyers can only click 1, 2 or 3 and do not have the option to click 4 or 5 when selecting star ratings (because those options do not appear on their screen).  This is due to browser setting and the size of the computer screen.

Here is a portion of the dialog with PS live Help:
Helen L.
Yes, I am. I apologize, I am speaking with a technician about this now

Helen L.
The technician is saying that they have had some reports of this, but it is based on the settings of the browser. If you change the firefox settings to 1024 x 768 then the box is far enough over that they can leave the feedback

Helen L.
They said they are working on getting this corrected, however, in the mean time, they can only recommend that you adjust the resolution to see if that will help

antiquem
You all don't seem to understand this issue is affecting every seller the average user/buyer will not know how to change browsers / or resolution nor will they care to. It is not their problem it is your problem and it is negatively affecting sellers

Helen L.
I understand your concerns. However, if they can't leave the feedback at all, then it doesn't affect you at all. it isn't like they are only allowed to leave negative feedback

Helen L.
We do have technicians that are working on this

Helen L.
They are researching it, trying to find a solution for it

antiquem
A casual buyer will not realize that they should or could leave 5 stars they really don't know I just got of the phone with a GF and she just bought 6 items this week and didn't have a clue as to the ramifications

Helen L.
If you would like to send in screenshots of the issue, you are more than welcome to. The technicians said that would help me

antiquem
which means that there are sellers all over the place that are getting there stars dinged because of your coding not for any other reason. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE

Helen L.
I understand, however, we are working on this

Auction Graph ~ February 23, 2008 ~ update,  10:00pm EST

Analysts are saying that one possible reason for the increase in listings is due in part to unsold items being re-listed .  (re-listing allows the seller to get the same rate as the discount rate).  Ebay has a 45% "Sell through rate" which means less then half of the items on the site sell the first time they are listed.

Auction Graph ~ Friday February 22, 2008 ~ update

Approximately 12,350,000 listings at 8:00am and 2,500,000 at 9:00pm EST.  Numbers seem to have gone back up.

Hi MJ,  All comments welcome.   

I went lurking on some of the UK ebay discussions boards yesterday to try and understand why so many people in N.America are upset by the changes vs. why many in the UK are not.   The one thread that was started by a US seller (on a UK discussion board)  in support of the boycott was shot to threads.  I left one comment and ran     

It seems that the whole fee structure on UK ebay is quite different. The percentages haven't gone up as much and the possibility for a seller to get a discount in fees based on the star ratings is more generous than it is here.  The final value fees have not changed as much in the UK, so people are hopeful that their monthly expenses on ebay could go down.  I really don't think that is the case on ebay.ca or ebay.com.  Here is the link for the UK fee structure if other people are curious.

http://web.ebay.co.uk/businesshub/index … ges_uk_fee

~ Karen.

Hello Denise,

Thank you for the comments.   The fees for Featured Plus have changed (effective Feb 20, 2008).  It used to be $19.95 for everything.  Now there are four price points, based on the starting price (and reserve) of your listing.  Some Featured Plus listing fees will be less:

0.01 - $24.99  . . . . . . . . .  is $9.95

$25.00 - $199.99  . . . . . . . is $14.95

$200.00 -  $499.99 . . . . . is $19.95

+ $500.00 . . . . . . . .  . is $24.95

I don't know if the first category would be used very much . . . . unless the seller had a lot of small items listed at the same time and wanted to use one listing to high-light them all.

~

Karen