Securing your PayPal account with simple solutions.

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Between The Weeds: LRStudio

Recently I have been in the middle of fixing my account with PayPal and all connections to my PayPal account because the PayPal account was hacked. The culprit found access through Facebook. Once established this person proceeded to charge all my accounts with felonious fraudulent charges of 152.04EU. I just happened to be checking my emails when this all started and contacted PayPal immediately. As I explained to the customer service representative we watched as it unfolded. There were thousands of dollars being charged. My stomach sank. It is a horrible feeling to have someone invade your space even if it is in internet space. I have to applaud the CSR dept. at PayPal for they worked diligently and we stopped and then blocked access to my accounts. Credit cards passwords and security codes and features have all been reinforced and I am back running with as much safety as anyone can during these days of ever-changing rules and platforms.

I want to first say that if you are running an Etsy Shop you have a PayPal account or if you buy at etsy.com please know all your information is very secure. Etsy works with PayPal on a behind the scenes secure connection that is not easily if possible to breach. All your transactions from PayPal to Etsy and Etsy to PayPal are very secure. I have extensively asked both PayPal and Etsy this question both reaffirming there is no security issue.

The problem is we need social networks to help market our work. So which social media networks should you use? Look at which ones are working for you and pick the top five and stick with those. I suspect Facebook will not be in the top 5. It was not for me. Web site posts, Blogs,Twitter, Pinterest, LinkIn and SEM or SEO‘s have helped me be seen over all else. Through all this upheaval I did find Facebook is now an advertiser market place and is far from social. Facebook has not yet contacted me in the matter of being breached which allowed the window for someone to hack my PayPal account.

The solution is simple. If you are using PayPal go and log in to your account. Click the Profile button and on the left side you will see My Money. Click it and then click Approved Accounts. You will see all the different accounts linked to your account. Remove all that are not needed.

Now go to Facebook and if you have a cell mobile phone with text (SMS) messaging set it up to be notified if someone is trying to get access to your Facebook account from an unknown devise. You receive a text with a security code to input. Unless you don’t have a phone this is fabulous to catch hackers.

All very simple steps to do and even us very simple brained old timers can do.

People asking for wholesale and final prices on handmade artist work.

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Between The Weeds: LRStudio

Farmhouse Cottage Chic from Painted Furniture Collection

Painted Wood Tray from Painted Furniture Collection

If you sell handmade items online you have definitely come across people asking for wholesale prices. I have dealt with this off and on for years. Set up a guideline, what pieces you are doing, the bottom line charged on those pieces, add any restriction to the pieces such as color variety size… and minimum order amount. Adhere to these guidelines for yourself so there is no confusion with the buyer. Recently I did a wholesale order and forgot my set of guidelines, I may end up regretting this decision.

There are also the people asking for your final asking price. These people are pet peeves of mine. There is nothing wrong with asking this question when dealing with certain items such as vintage. It follows the trend a throw over from antique shows to see if a dealer can give you a better price. Simply put you have your cost, your profit and your price. Want to sell at a lower profit fine.

Asking an artist this question is wrong. Back when crafts were made up of people selling at country craft fairs and everything was country we all know the stuffed goose in calico print or the cut out hearts. Again people felt they had to ask to dicker for a better price. The shows were inexpensive to enter and you could afford to lower a price. Today is a very different market, it is competitive and the product is as diverse as the people are who create. It is a machine run by young, middle-aged, and older artist who because of the economic cloud are being forced to diversify. I am one who thinks this is a good thing. Gone are the days of mind numbing country. From around the world there is a new breed of artist being born. They are skilled, educated, business minded, and proficient in their craft and art. Most of the people I have come across are serious business owners, working full-time producing their work. If it can be made by hand there is an artist somewhere creating something beautiful special and uniquely one of a kind. There is a price to pay for this kind of work. They have spent years studying fine arts, taking workshops to improve their skills, and always diligent in the quality they offer to the public.

So why ask any artist can you do better on the price? Would you ask your accountant? or doctor? or realtor? If you think of the time and education needed to create what the masses can not should you not be ashamed you haven’t paid more? If you want something cheap China who is more than happy to oblige. With technology controlling every need people have this same ever-growing society is losing the basic skills that have been mastered for centuries. Ah, but the artist who has worked keeping the tradition alive and creating with their hands and minds may be the greatest societal commodity. If we lose our networks that run our machines who will build the houses, make the dishes, furniture, windows or even the soap to bath with, the artist. The artist you are not willing to pay. You will then but knowing the creative soul as I do it will be fairly.

Are you serious about being creative?

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Between The Weeds: LRStudio

Detailed Illustrated Keepsake Box at Etsy

Over at Etsy there is a thread about can I make enough only on Etsy? It caught my eye and I read the post. What stood out were the remarks mostly saying you need to do other things to attract buyers to your shop. This I really agree with and if you are not creating you are marketing.

Underlying the remarks was a sentiment that crafters (I dislike this description) can never make enough to support themselves unless there is a husband supporting the family or you. One, these statements were obviously made by women probably mothers and married. Making this generalized observation about crafts is simplifying the real business of creating handmade quality product and the average crafters is not serious about their work and this is why it is a craft. The creative artist is extremely serious and looks at their work as a business. Their quality highly different work overlooked because Etsy and other sites are being overrun by the I like to craft people. Not everyone at Etsy are in this category and many are serious artists and serious business people. It is impossible for Etsy to filter the not serious crafters from the serious artist.

Maybe it is up to the person to ask themselves if you are not serious than move aside and allow the serious artist show their work. There are church fairs and local outlets for those who just dabble. For some of us it is our livelihood and there is no one else picking up the tab and we could not be happier. This is our chosen profession and we work every day at our jobs. Having your own business is not for those that look at it as being part-time. Art is serious business and artist are serious business people.

So I ask you are you serious about being a creative artist or are you a part-time crafter?

Opening Shop!

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Between The Weeds: LRStudio

In the past couple of days I have gone from observing to making it happen in a matter of 24 hours. I thought the only way to make things improve was to do what I have always done. For me it was the grass is greener someplace else syndrome. These times, a statement I am beginning to dislike, have to make creative artists think outside the box. Once I really looked at my situation and started to see it from a completely different perspective the answers started to unfold. After making a few phone calls, one being the Chamber of Commerce, I found that though in the past the city or town frowned on artists opening up their studios to the public they now realize the great benefit to the community, to tourism and the wine growers in the area. Lets face it if you see 2-3 people a week you are not making any negative impact at all to your neighborhood. Think of a house with teens and there are people always going in and out. Plus the clientele artists attract usually are nice upstanding people. I also made the point that I am building a business and would like to expand eventually to the town center and open an upscale gift gallery of hand painted found items. Right before the economy went plummeting down the town had wonderful expansion plans but have since been put on hold.

This is the area I am converting to the shop and studio. The back for painting and the front area plus access to my entry hall and side screened porch while the rest of the house is easily shut off to any customers

My point is to look at your situation and maybe you have the space or layout in your home to set up your studio shop. You can still offer all the things you would online. If you were placing them in shops and galleries you would be paying the commission fees. No one has more at stake than the artist at making a sale and customers love to buy things from the person who actually did the creating. If you are a working artist and already working out of your home than maybe you would be happy doing what I am starting in my little cottage in Elkin, NC. What is the worst thing that could happen you fail? You will anyway if you don’t start approaching your business from all angles.