Shopping For Pre-Owned Car Online

Although I am an online seller, I buy almost as many things online as well. One thing that I have not bought online before are used cars but I am in the market for one and have checked a couple of used car websites on the internet.

One site that I went to is a Used Cars Victoria, Texas company that has taken the business of buying and selling used cars to the internet.

Just like buying other things online, people who buy used vehicles online are also people looking for convenience. They love to save time by browsing for their desired items online from the comfort of their homes.

Quality Auto Group has made it so easy for people to shop for used cars and to trade in their current car at a fair price without the hassle.

What Are They Trying To Prove?

I received a newsletter from Lelong about a contest that their sister site, Pretty is running. According to the newsletter, to win some prizes, we have to buy something from one of the auctions or sale on the Pretty site, wear the item, take a photo and post it on a dedicated page on Pretty. The photo with the most votes win the top prize and so on.

Now, I truly understand why such a contest was held and the main reason is to drive sales. But then why subject people to publish their photos on the web in full view of everyone?

Sure you can argue that people have been publishing photos on the internet for years but then why you throw in prizes for the best photos as determined by the number of votes, you will never know what people will do just to get their hands on a Sony Ericsson K770.

Stage Your Home Before Selling

According to my sister, real estate is a very competitive market in the United States. There are practically millions of homes for sale at any one time and when she was buying her home, she had so many choices.

A homeowner who put up her home for sale by herself on a FSBO site told my sister that "for sale by owner" is very popular because they do not have to go through an agent and lose a little money on commission and service fee.

With FSBO, selling a house has never been easier because of the tools and features provided by the website. She thinks that anyone who wants to sell a house should use FSBO.

However, selling a house by ourselves is not that easy. Studies have shown that if a house has been staged by a professional, it has a better chance of selling at a shorter possible time. Houses sell better too if they have been staged BEFORE being listed for sale! There are many professional stagers in the United States but do you know where to look for one? Fizber.com has a directory of professional home stagers across America. If you want to find a home stager before you put your home up for sale, then check out the website of Fizber.

*** This post was brought to you by http://www.fizber.com/ ***

If You Have Missed It...

Well, if you have read my blog, you would know that eBay Malaysia was in town recently. if you have missed it, then too bad for you. A bird told me that eBayers from across the country attended the free short workshops and participated in the other activities that were organised from November 17th to 25th.

If you did not attend then I am sorry to say that you have missed out on a lot of valuable information, knowledge, tips and tricks of being a better eBay Seller and which were freely shared by Malaysian eBay PowerSellers and certified eBay education specialists.

And not forgetting, you have missed out on winning one of the EON MOL Freedom cards worth RM65 each! So don't miss the chance if ever there is a second eBay event in town!

Creating Customer Loyalty

Retailers have been offering benefits to their customers for years now to create loyalty. I have asked a few of my friends if offering discounts upon reward points would make them stick to a particular retailer and they all said that it would.

Similarly, this trend has been adopted by retailers that are plying their trade online. I feel that it is a bigger challenge for online retailers to create webloyalty among their customers as opposed to a brick-n-mortar retailer because we could just take our business at the click of the mouse.

It is Webloyalty's business to think of innovative marketing campaigns to secure loyalty from their client's customers by rewarding them when they shop at these places.

Sourcing For Christmas

It's going to be Christmas in less than a months' time and I've been very, very busy trying to get new stocks in, in time for Christmas but I don't think I can make it. I have already got my order set and it will be shipped over anytime soon but I have to allow time for it to be delivered and pictures to be taken. I would also have to get the description written up and uploading all of the new products to my Store.

All these take time which I could not afford this year to my online trading activities, much to my regret. In fact, I have not been devoting too much time to my store due to real life work.

I believe that when I have my new consignment up, I would be soliciting for sales like a new trader, starting all over again. Well, life's like that. It's not always that we can have the cake and eat it, right?

Projecting The Right Brand Image

I remember when I was in school, we were told to collect labels and stickers of products and my classmates and I had to peel off the labels from whatever bottles and cans we could find at home. I don't remember what lesson it was anymore but it has something to do with branding.

We all know that branding is very important and labels and stickers are two very basic things that bring the message across to consumers.

Frontier Label which has a website at http://www.frontierlabel.com is a company that prints quality custom stickers and labels. From what I understand, Frontier Label is the preferred custom printer thanks to their print quality and their speed in delivery. Their website states that they can print and ship orders within ONE business day only and that is mighty impressive.

Frontier Label is able to uphold their print standard and quality because they do not compromise on the printers used which has won prestigious awards before. Also, they keep their pricing competitively because they allow customers to combine their order, hence getting volume pricing.

If you are looking for quality custom labels and stickers and want them fast, Frontier Label is the company that you should check out. Labels and stickers are very important in projecting the right image of our product. This is where Frontier Label could help and keep cost within budget too.

So I've Got The iPhone

It's quite funny that when you want something badly and then the item is in your hands, it doesn't feel that great anymore. Told you I have high standards, didn't I? LOL

So just now, I synced a few tracks to my iPhone just to check out the features. Let me tell you, the learning curve is great. Somehow, I got the music playing but there was no way I could stop the music. Don't tell me I am so dumb that I don't even know how to operate the player gua.... so I did a search on the internet and there was someone asking the exact question as well. LOL I think Apple thinks that to Pause is to Stop and that we don't want to charge our iPhone every time we sync it! GGrrr geramnya!

I think there are quite a few flaws as well and the major set back to me would be the missing 3G feature. Bah!

Stylish Wigs and Hair Pieces

If you are in Malaysia, I am sure you have heard of rumors that a certain politician wears a wig. I don't know how true this is but I have seen him in real life and he doesn't look as if he wears a wig as much as he looks like when he is on TV. Well, if he really wears a wig, then let's just say that he is giving us a wrong impression that wigs are ugly and has no fashion!

This afternoon, I stumbled upon the website at http://www.wigsalon.com. Check it out and you can see for yourself how stylish wigs could be.

Did you know that some wigs were made from real human hair? Each time I get a hair cut, my stylist would ask me for permission to use my hair to be made into wigs. She said that the wigs would be used by student stylists to practice their hair cutting skills. For all I know, she could be selling them and my hair could have been made into Eva Gabor wigs.

I have to say that all the selection of wigs at Wig Salon are so real that if I come across someone who wears a wigs like those, I would never have suspected it. Also, I was surprised to note that they have wig shampoo for sale. It never crossed my mind that people would shampoo their wigs like normally do for a real head of hair! Now I know better!

Online Selling Is More Than That

I read a couple of articles recently from people who sell online and they said that it's so easy to sell online and all we need are an internet enabled computer and stocks. And they proceeded to say that it's just clicking here and there and then we can wait for our first sale.

I beg to differ because to be a successful online seller, it is more than just clicking here and there with our mouse! There's market research to be done to ensure that the product that we will be procuring and selling is the product that people want!

There is no point trading in something that we love but yet nobody else does. The best is to look for something that we have the passion for and yet loved by others as well. The ability to cater to the needs of our Buyers will drive our sales volume.

Also, I'd just like to add that market research is not just a one-off thing as it revolves according to trends of of the times.

IT Outsourcing

There's no denying that companies need to embrace information technology in order to be competitive in today's business world. With IT, a company would be able to smoothen the daily running of business, communicate better between headquarters and branch offices, between staff of all levels and also between associates.

The problem is that although IT is an integral part of a company, not many companies are able to incorporate IT into business in a cost effective way. This is very apparent in small and medium sized businesses that may be unable to cope with the high cost of IT and maintenance.

The good news is that there is no need for a dedicated IT department in a company and raise the overhead of the company. Outsourcing is the key nowadays in keeping cost low. Did you know that in America, companies outsource many aspects of their day to day work to other specialist companies? Outsourcing IT consulting and support is no different.

One of the companies that I came across that provide IT outsourcing solutions is a New York and Boston IT Consulting company with a website at http://www.icorps.com/.

With IT networking taken out of your portfolio, no longer do you have to face the associated problems that come with that and you will find that you have more time to concentrate on the business aspects of your company.

Logo-ed Products

I was told of a free gift being given by a major apparel company. The gift is a large bag but it is covered by the logo of this company. Obviously, I am not going to link to the company or post a picture of the bag here.

I remember a long time ago when I was still in school and our teacher asked us, why do we love to get these "free gifts" and give free advertisement to these companies?

Come to think of it, her logic is sound. Why are we do dumb to give them free advertisement just by USING their "free" products? Wouldn't it be more logical if we were PAID to carry such a bag or wear clothes that are tagged with their label or embossed with their logo?

Why are we so proud to carry the branded bag when we are actually giving free advertisement to companies that could well afford advertisements in all forms of media? Just think about it!

By the way, I am currently exploring home based business opportunities. I can't depend on my job alone, or my lingerie business alone. Neither can I depend on blogging anymore. The other day, I may have won $100 in a sweepstakes but that was pure luck and certainly I cannot hope Lady Luck to strike me time and again!

Hope I can find something that could generate me revenue every month.

To Be Your Own Boss

A friend of mine asked me if it's viable to open a beauty salon. I don't know because I personally know people who became very successful with their salon while I also know of people who were forced to close their business because they did not receive support from their clients.

I checked a few beauty schools, one of them being regency beauty institutes, and I think that graduates from such institutes can have a chance to become their own boss because all they need is a little capital to set up their own salon.

If my friend had attended a beauty school, I would ask her to go ahead with opening her own salon but if she depends solely on her staff to run her business without her being hands-on then I think it's not that wise to open her own salon.

Losing Weight

From my talks with a friend, I know how hard it is for someone who is already fat to lose weight. Perhaps the fat has already solidified or something. This friend of mine has tried many methods to lose weight. He is not looking to shed his weight drastically but at least to slim down a little because it is becoming a burden to carry so must weight around and I figured it is not helping his back.

If you have read a post in the past week, I talked about his decision to get banded. Well, I don't agree or disagree but I did let him know about the hoodia patch that many people have found effective.

I am not sure how it works but it seems that if he has the patch on, he would lose his appetite and would not feel like eating. I hope that he would at least give this a try before going for a band!

VS Signature Cotton Sleep Shirts 2 For $30

I came across this Victoria's Secret promotion for their signature cotton sleep shirts. Do you remember my post on winter pajamas? Well, it look like many companies are having promotions on their line of pajamas for winter only, specifically. At least I never noticed promotions for summer pajamas or spring pajamas haha!

Anyway, for this VS promotion, you can buy two signature cotton sleep shirts for $30 only when selected styles were sold at $22.50 each on normal days. That's a $15 discount.

If you are buying pajamas, I would just like to ask, "What happened to last year's?" This is just a joke!

Custom Garden Furniture Cushions

A couple of days ago, my sister sent me a stack of photos of her new home to view. She has already decorated most of her home except for the garden. She told me that she was looking for cushions for her patio. I was curious and asked her if there are any Garden Furniture Cushions that would be suitable for outdoor use and she told me to check out the website of Custom Cushions.

I went to the link she provided me at http://www.customcushions.net/chair.aspx and yes, it looks like these cushions could be used outdoors as well. These aren't just normal garden cushions, mind you, but custom made ones where firstly, we are guided to select our preferred cushion style. There are four different chair types available and each chair has two different cushion styles.

Once you have selected your style, you will get to select the thickness of the cushion from one to three inches thick. From there, select your width, seat and back. Once you have selected the fabric where you will have plenty of choices from solid colors, stripes to floral pattern, you will be given the price of your custom cushion. Ordering your custom garden cushion has never been this simple.

In The Market For Oregon Mortgage Refinance

I had the chance to talk to a friend of mine last night and he told me that he bought property in Oregon not too long ago. I was rather curios on why he should buy property there because he is from New York City but he told me that he has plans to start a branch office in Oregon so a home there is a good investment to make.

However, according to him, interest rate has fallen lately and he is now in the market for Oregon mortgage refinance. I can understand that although the savings may seem little on a month to month basis, add up the little sums and it would be a significant savings. That's why my friend is quite desperate to apply for refinancing as soon as possible.

My friend told me that if he is successful in his application for Oregon mortgage refinance, he would still be repaying the same amount of money monthly to service his refinancing schedule but that would mean that his 30-year repayment term will be shorten significantly.

I did show him the website of Oregon’s Best Mortgage and hope that he will gain an insight into remortgaging and see how best he can take advantage of the services offered by the company.

Contraceptive Survey - Part 2

A friend received an invitation to participate in the same contraceptive survey as mine. Only her survey company is no the as mine. I think this "condom company" (for easy typing) assigned different survey companies to try to reach as many people as possible. I think they failed to realise that many consumers who are interested ion participating in surveys have probably joined more than one survey company. In my case, I signed up with more than a handful.

Anyway, to get back to the survey, so I was out when I selected "No, I do not have a partner" and it is not surprising.

In my friend's case, she said that she has a partner (and I am not going to tell if that is a fib). The next question she received was, "Have you had sexual intercourse with your partner in the past ONE YEAR?"

My friend replied in the positive. If these two "partners" did not have sex in the past year then there must be something wrong with them, don't you think so?

Next question was: What is your monthly income? And there were a few options from less than RM2000 per month to RM10000 per month and the last option was "Prefer not to say". My friend selected this, and was kicked out of the survey and not allowed to proceed anymore.

Wahseh.... don't tell me only people who disclose their income will be allowed to participate in the survey??? So people who do not disclose their income DO NOT HAVE SEX... hahahaha! Where is the logic???

Brand Identity

The other day, I wrote a post on branding and my observation that some people are changing their trading ID to reflect their niche products. This was also one of the tips given by a so-called guru. I agree that with a user ID that reflects our products, we would appear more easily on searches made by potential customers. However, do we want to forever be known as our product just like how we stop the bread man by calling out "BREAD!!!"? Hence, we don't even need to know his name and he will forever be known as "Bread" to us even though he also sells other things.

I believe that in order for us to survive independently out of the auction marketplaces, we need to create and establish a unique branding.

From the many branding websites that I visited like http://www.brandidentityguru.com, we must first identify our strengths and evaluate our brand. When it comes down to this, of course we require the help of branding and marketing professionals like Brand Identity Guru.

Therefore, I think that we have to look at the bigger picture. It is not a good idea to change your ID to reflect your niche product if you want to expand your business beyond the auction platforms. What do you think?

For Sale by Owner On Fizber

Over the past year, I have visited a lot of real estate websites. I as helping my sister look for her first home purchase so we tried to check as many properties as we could online before contacting the Realtors or in some cases, the owners directly.

This afternoon, by chance, I was shown the website of Fizber at http://www.fizber.com/. This website is a platform for homeowners to showcase their home directly on the site to potential home buyers. On the other hand, buyers get to view the properties online and gather as much objective information as possible from Fizber, like the location, neighborhood and convenience to certain establishments.

For Sale By Owner is a very popular concept because homeowners and buyers can deal directly without going through a Realtor, who may charge up to a five-figure fee. By selling through Fizber, homeowners will be provided with Web 2.0 tools and services which makes listing properties a breeze. You can think of this as a classifieds site except that you will receive so much more features in any of the packages that will only enhance the chances of selling your home as quickly as possible.

All ad packages will also include submissions to various property and social networking sites and a video on YouTube. Can you think of better usage for the money saved from selling your home by yourself?

Braving The Sale Crowd

The other day, my friend asked me to join him shopping at a furniture mart. This place carries imported goods that can't be cheap but they hold promotions all the time and the items will be sold at great discounts.

This friend of mine would always wait for promotions like this to buy whatever he wants. He would rather fight the crowd to get that little savings. I would understand if a woman did this but a man?

Anyway, I did accompany him and we braved the crowd even though I dislike crowds but you know, it's great to get away from work sometimes. After a couple of hours, all he bought were a couple of tv trays. Tell me, is that frustrating or what?? One would think that with so many things on offer, he would have better things to buy, considering the trouble that we went through, wasting time just looking for a parking spot, shopping and queuing up to pay for his purchases. Bah! LOL

I WON US$100!!!!

This morning, I wrote about a piece of good news that I wanted to share. Well, no guessing because it's already stated in the title of this post! When I woke up this morning and saw an email from Phil of Contest Blogger, straight away I could feel the good vibes.

Actually, last night, I told myself to check out Contest Blogger to see if a winner has already been selected because the Romance Tracker Love Contest that I participated in closed on 15th November, 2007. However, after I got done with some work, I totally forgot about it. See, I am losing my memory!

Anyway, I shot an email to Phil providing him with my PayPal address and was sent my prize of US$100 cash within minutes. HAPPY!!!!

Phil is a great contest organizer and facilitator. What can I say, easy contest with almost NO requirements, attractive mostly cash prizes, hassle-free prize giving and a link back from his PR5 blog (priceless). Wooohooo!!! What more can we ask for, right?

I've got an insider's news that Phil will be running another easy cash contest soon. Check out Contest Blogger or better still, subscribe to his RSS Feed like I did. Can't let those prizes run away, can we?

Furnishing The Entertainment Room

I mentioned before that a friend of mine is building a large house. Here in Malaysia, we call it "bungalow" but if you check the dictionary, it is not the right term to use. Anyway, it's a kind of double-storey detached house, only larger.

It's almost complete now and he is spending most of his time looking for fixtures and furnishings. He is currently on a mission to furnish his entertainment room. However, he is not prepared to spend too much money and would rather spend a little more time looking for discount home theater seating for the entertainment room.

I can't wait fir his open house invitation. I think I will be spending a little too much time over at his house soon!

Medical Supplies Online Store

Having visited so many online stores in the course of research, I am no longer surprised to note the many different products that each store sells. There's an online medical supplies store that sells home medical equipment. I would not say that it's an online pharmacy because they do not sell drugs, only equipment.

I think that although medicine is very advanced and people are living to an older age than the previous generation, this does not mean that people are getting any healthier. Most elderly people would still need medical aides to help them in their daily living.

If you know of people who require medical supplies on the long term, perhaps you should direct them to this store so that they could buy online directly to achieve the most savings.

I Think I Found It!

If you have been following my blog, I am sure that you know that I am looking for a laptop. Well, I think I finally found one that meets my requirements. I don't have great demands except that I wanted one that is small and light weight that comes with long lasting battery. I also prefer a matte screen over the current glossy screen laptops.

So I think I finally found it in the Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo U9200. This has a 12.1in screen only and weighs in at 18kg. Not exactly light but it is lighter than many other laptops. It uses the new Santa Rosa chip and the battery is said to last about four hours but it has an extended slot for a second battery pack and with both inside, it will be a little heavier, of course, but could last a total of eight hours.

From what I read, it is a wide screen unit. My friend told me that I am ulu to still look for matte screen but that is what my eyes are comfortable with compared to glossy screen and I do not want to buy something that would hurt my eyes so much I don't want to use it.

The only set backs are its design (it's so 1990's with its sharp edged design and black colour) and its price. It's selling at MYR4188. However, it has built in 3G connectivity because it is basically a business model. The price is not too steep if you think that it's a Fujitsu and Siemens collaboration, both very reputable brands.

Solution To Kick Drug Abuse

A couple of my neighbors are drug abusers last time. I don't know where there are so many here. It could be because this is an old residential area where people settle down here early or it could be because this used to be an affluent area where kids have spare cash to spend, and spent on drugs they did.

Or perhaps this area just had pretty awful feng shui or the parents were too busy working to to bring home enough money to support the family. In any case, we have a high population of druggies.

However, I have seen many cases where these drug abusers successfully kicked their bad habit after enrolling in an effective drug treatment and rehabilitation program.

This just shows that if there is a will, there is a way. it is inaccurate to say that once a drug addict, always a drug addict. Don't you think so?

Contraceptive Survey

I was invited to participate in a contraceptive survey. Naturally, I was not accepted but I think that they erred in their judgement of humankind.

First of all, they wanted people who live in the capital city only. Are they going to tell me that people who live in other states do not have sex?

The next question that I had to answer was "Do you currently have a partner?" which I selected NO from the options. It's kind of funny because they did not want me anymore, just because I answered that I do not have a partner.

So, people who do not have a partner do not have sex lol I'm not talking about me personally but in general, OK... I'd just like to tell survey companies that hey people who do not have a partner and yet have sex will have lots more to tell you about contraceptives!

This reminds me of a survey which my friend did on my behalf just so that I could get a novelty condom hahaha!

Shedding The Excess Fat

A friend of mine has been battling with his weight problem since I knew him. I think this is because he could not resist food and he sometimes tells me that he had a fight with the food. I found that rather funny, the way he puts it but then the underlying associated medical problem is not funny at all.

My friend told me that he has tried many methods in losing weight previously. However, despite knowing that exercise is the best method of all, the heart may be willing but the body is weak and the mind gave in.

The next best option, according to him, would be to go for a lapband surgery. Yes, this may sound like a huge step to take but if you have seen his physical size, you would understand that desperate times call for desperate measures.

Zombified

Last evening, I went to the photo studio to take a photo for an official document. Eeewww I knew I had to do it so I told myself that I have to get some rest and not look like a zombie when I go and shoot that photo. Well, guess what? The closing date drew nearer and nearer and I had no chance to get some must needed rest at all.

In the end, I went "as is" and got the photo done but do you know that I told the guy to burn it into a CD for me but till now I did not open it to view lol I hope I don't look too bad or my document would look like shit.

I remember last year or was it the year before, I told my friend that I hated the photo in my MyKad because the photographer did not give me a chance to retake so it turned out like shit once again. My friend asked me if I wanted to pay the RM100 penalty so that I would be forced to redo my MyKad. Haha I am vain but not up till that level!

Free Victoria's Secret Slippers Worth $25

Get a free pair of slippers from Victoria's Secret when you purchase any of the qualifying Victoria's Secret Pajama set from the VS Flannel, Silk & Satin, Thermal, Fleece or Pajama Gifts collection. Shop as usual by placing your purchase in your shopping bag and enter the promotional code PJSLIPPER when you check out.

This offer is only valid a pair per customer while stocks last. Offer ends on 10th December, 2007 and only available for shopping at VS Online.

If you are already buying pajamas from VS this winter, why not grab this freebie? Just make sure that you are buying from their qualifying collection and within the stipulated promotional period. Remember, the promotional code is PJSLIPPER.

To Be A Parent

The other day, I had a chat with my friend. She is younger than I am but is already a mother of two. She told me that mothers from the older generation think that parenting is a gift that all adults are born with but the modern parents think differently. They go out to seek knowledge, read books, surf the internet, participate in support groups or discussion boards and learn as much as they could so that they could bring up the children as best that they can.

With this in mind, the website, Lila Guide, was set up to cater to this new breed of parents to provide an avenue for them to share their experiences as parents, to talk about places where they managed to buy a certain baby product at a great bargain and stuff like that.

Thanks to the internet, we can now reach out to more people and conveniently look for information like this without hassle.

No More Relisting Blindly

If you are like me selling on eBay and find that you do not really have the time to manage your business except to relist your items over and over again every day, with the new eBay fees, it is high time for us to change our ways. I know I am guilty of doing that because I can't seem to find the time to spruce up my listings or think of new strategies. I would have loved to shoot new photos but all these would take up too much time. At least that was the excuse I gave myself.

Now, I need to take care of my listings to try to ensure that each item has the best chance of selling so that I do not have to expand my cost. The fees may be cheap if you are listing an item or two buy if you are listing a bunch of items daily on long term, it just adds up.

So, now is a good time to think of new ways to bring in fresh customers. I would have to get down to taking new photos so that my older listings would have a new look.

PayPal Glitch After All?

A couple of posts back, I wrote that PayPal has a new fee structure that will charge us 3.9% + 30 cents for every incoming payment. They do normally charge amount but when one is paying by mass pay, it should be free.

Last week, every single payment came with a deduction so I was thinking that it is rather ridiculous to have to pay through our nose to accept funds. 3.9% + 30 cents is a high rate to charge and I don't mind paying that once in a while for added benefits of a Premier account.

The good news is that PayPal admitted their error and have refunded all the monies that were deducted. SO I am thinking now that it is a glitch. Thankfully so. I am richer by US$10 now :D

Job Placement For Executives

This morning, I went to an executive job placement site to help a friend look for risk management jobs. Suddenly, I had a feeling of déjà vu because a year ago, I was visiting all these middle to senior management sites helping another friend of mine look for a suitable job.

You see, once they are out of job, they don't even have access to the internet or even a computer. I had to help the look for a job AND apply for it. I don't mind because I understand how difficult it could be to be out of a job.

I find that the higher they climbed, and when they fall, it's not as easy to look for a job. In fact, it gets harder and harder. Middle and senior management posts are also difficult to come by and age is a vital factor when it comes to placement.

Luckily there re quite a few positions that may be suitable for my friend. Let's see how things go.

PayPal's New Fees

Did you notice that PayPal has started to charge new fees for receiving funds into our Business and Premier accounts? Well, I think it sucks and it does not sit well with me because they did it quietly without making an announcement. If they had sent out an official notice, then it would be different. Some of us could have avoided the fees.

But no, we would not even have noticed a change if not for the deductions that were made for all our incoming funds from 11th November onwards. Bah.... do you know that we are paying 3.9% + 30 cents just to ACCEPT funds? How ridiculous can that be?

Sure, you can say that this amount is only "chicken feed" but I say that this all ADDS UP and soon you will see that you are losing a lot of money, your OWN money.

Once again, this does not site well with me. What about you?

Unuserfriendly

Of all the new features available now on eBay Malaysia, I am surprise that the Discussion Boards have remained just as unuserfriendly as it was since day one.

If you are a regular forum user or REAL forum boards, you will notice that eBay forums are so primitive without real features except to POST haha!

I don't see that they will have plans to do anything about this lack of features considering that their discussion boards in more established platforms have no development whatsoever for years. Check out the boards in eBay USA and UK for example and you will see that we have similar boards as them.

I think it is bad. I think they need to step up this side of the marketplace. At lease give us the option to EDIT so that the boards will be neater. Don't you think so?

Promoting With Holiday Gift Certificates

I mentioned before that a couple of my friends, who run ecommerce sites, and I will regularly meet up for a chat and to discuss business strategies. One of my friends told me that he is planning to run a promotion on his store but he has no idea yet what to give away that would excite his customers.

We held a little brainstorming session and the other friend mentioned that it's very popular to give away travel packages and vacation certificates. These are always very well received because it looks like every one needs to take a break, you know?

We went to the website of Holiday Travel of America at http://www.holidayways.com/ to see the tour packages that are available and they have plenty of holiday gift certificates at unbeatable prices for cruises, theme parks, island vacations and vouchers for airlines, accommodations and other holiday goodies. To stand out with a great promotion, we could even customize our vacation certificates too.

Holiday Travel of America of better known as HTOA, runs two different kinds of incentive programs. There is one for our clients and one for our staff. Now, this is surely a great motivator for them and spurs them to work harder in the coming year. I remember the excitement we had during our company's annual were the lucky people managed to win holiday certificates in a raffle and I believe that if a promotion is run giving these away, our customers will be excited as well.

My friend is very receptive of our suggestion and he already has an idea on which direction to take his promotion. He is also thankful that holiday certificates will not take a large chuck out of his budget thanks to the competitive pricing of HTOA. I am very curious to see how successful his promotional campaign will be. If it’s well received, I may run a similar promotion. What do you think?

Effective Email Marketing Solution

As my database of Buyers get larger, it is getting more difficult to manage. I have to place them into different groupings like Star Buyers, First Timers and Opt-in, people who opted in to my mailing list but have yet to make a purchase.

The reason that I have different groups is because I sometimes need to send out different email newsletters to the different people as my promotions sometimes have a different target market.

A friend, who runs an ecommerce store also, only larger and more successful, told me that he is using iContact Email Marketing Software which he found to be very cost effective and reliable in his email marketing strategies. It isn't only good for email marketing, though, because it is more like a communication tool which he could use for his business blog and take care of his blog subscribers with the occasional email newsletters and track his RSS Feeds also.

While my database is not yet that huge to warrant a full-featured solution like this where the smallest package caters to five hundred names for $9.95 per month, it is great to know that I have this solution on my hands should I require it once my mailing list pushes five hundred names.

And it is true when my friend told me that this is very cost-effective thanks to the competitive pricing, which you can check out at http://www.icontact.com/. 16000 users can’t be wrong!

Wedding Planning Inspirations

My friend, Julie, who helps bridal couples with their Wedding Planning said that although she does not earn a penny from her work, she finds joy in helping the wedding couple. The couples are all very thankful for her help as well since they are inexperienced in handling their wedding plans and do not have the budget to hire a professional wedding planner.

Julie said that although she is learning on the job, her work and creativity is much appreciated by these couples. She tries hard to check for new ideas on the internet so that each wedding that she plans will be special and unlike the previous one that she has planned.

According to Julie, she finds inspiration on the internet especially from wedding sites like The Wedding Channel where she says that she gained rather insightful knowledge in planning a memorable and successful wedding.

USD1 - MYR3.33776

The Ringgit has been fluctuating like crazy against the USD the whole week. Since yesterday was Sunday and Friday's rate was used, I received a lower rate. The USD rose a little today compared to Friday but then my money is already in my account. Haihhh I guess with currency fluctuations like this where we have no control, we sometimes win some, sometimes lose some.

I was totally surprised that my withdrawal was cleared to my debit card even on a Sunday. I thought that I would have to wait till Monday evening, which is totally fine with me and I would even have gotten today's rate. Never mind, I am just darn glad that everything is smooth sailing so far.

The Ringgit has strengthened against the USD quite significantly over the past two years. As a trader who imports my stocks from the United States, of course this is good news to me but then I am losing money from my other concerns that bring in USD.

We’ll just have to see which direction the currencies go in the coming months. I hope that they will stabilise a little, though!

Stepping Up On Your eBaying Strategies

Now that eBay Malaysia has started to impose fees like many of us expected, we can only expect the fees to go higher and higher like what Americans experienced in the mature eBay USA platform.

No longer can we be lackadaisical with our selling strategy, if at all we had one in the first place. No longer can we be complacent and wait for a Buyer to drop by when we relist and relist. We have to think of ways to maximize the exposure of our items and think of more ways to minimize our cost.

Having said that, eBay is still only one of the handfuls of companies that provide an opportunity to just about anyone to venture into global business. Therefore, it is up to us to make the fullest use of it, or spoil the market for everyone by running scam schemes in the platform.

I feel that it is the duty of all members to keep the marketplace as safe and business-friendly as possible.

The Quick Turn Over Of Replicas

Do you know that it's part of my homework to check out the auction marketplaces even though the products may be nothing that I am selling or intend to sell? One of the items that I notice selling like hot cakes is Sunglasses. I know that they do not require a huge capital to start selling because there are ways to get them for cheap.

Moreover, these fashion sunglasses come in so many different designs and colors that people just love them to accessorize their outfit. I know someone who owns more than a dozen pairs of sunglasses and she told me that she is thankful for replicas because she certainly would not be able to own this many pairs if she were to buy the real deal.

I believe that traders of sunglasses have connections to buy Wholesale Sunglasses at very attractive prices so they could afford to sell them cheaply as well.

If you are thinking of indulging in business on a small scale basis, this would be a good product to sell.

Automobile Radiator Specialist

Just now, a friend showed me the website of an automobile radiator specialist. Since I am not a car enthusiast, I hardly ever visit sites that have anything to do with cars and their accessories but since I was sent the link, I thought I would check it out to see what's so special about it.

Well, I was caught by surprise by their large collection of automobile radiators. It seems to me that no matter what car model you are looking for this is the place to start and most probably end your search.

If you are looking for a Ford Mustang Radiator, no problem. Datsun car radiator? No problem either! I tell you, these guys have radiators for ALL car makes and models. That's who huge they are!

So if a car radiator is in your shopping list, check out Radiator.com now. I believe you will easily be able to find what you require.

Listing Currency vs. Billing Currency

Now that eBay Malaysia has started to impose fees on added features on our auction items. Some of our local Sellers are getting confused that their listing currency is in Ringgit Malaysia but the billing currency is in American dollars.

Well, eBay is an American company so what can we expect? Moreover, Ringgit Malaysia is not an internationally recognised currency. Did you know that nobody wants Ringgit when they are in America?

There's this Japanese girl who once gave my sister all her money in Ringgit left from her visit to Malaysia because she could not find a money changer who would accept her currencies.

Between the listing and billing currencies, we may lose or gain slightly, depending on the performance of the Ringgit against the USD. The difference may be slight but if you are a bulk seller, the difference WILL add up. If you are planning to use any of the extra features, you may want to take this into account in your start price.

eBay Listing Preview

If you have already tried out the new layout of eBay Malaysia, I wonder if you noticed something missing.

Check your listing preview page and you will see that they are not showing the TITLE of our item. I wonder why!! The title is so important and as someone who has so many items to list and prefer to do a mass relist, I would like to know what description I am reading for which item!

And without it showing up in my preview page, I actually have to click on my Back button or click to "edit" my page. That is a total waste of time. I wonder none of the developers noticed something as crucial as this??

I hope that somebody will raise this issue. I know that sometimes eBay staff will come by to read, so hopefully, they pick up this suggestion and forward it to the developers.

Popular All Inclusive Vacations

I didn't even know how popular all inclusive holidays are until THREE friends told me that they will be going on all inclusive vacations at the end of the year when just about everybody seem to have plans for the annual leave except me. Heck, I am not even sure if I have the luck to get my annual leave this year!

Anyway, one of them told me that she has heard how nice All Inclusive Cancun Vacations and decided that she deserves a holiday like that as well. What a lucky devil she is!

Take a look at the website of Karisma Hotels. Don’t you wish that you will be going there as well? While I am not sure what my plans will be, I told them to enjoy themselves but don't forget about me. I'll be waiting for my souvenirs right here!

RM3 Forfeited

This morning, I was reminded of this post that I wrote at the end of October, 2007. Well, I gave that guy three days to respond and provide me with his banking details so that I could return him RM3. Unfortunately, it's already two weeks and he failed to do so the money is forfeited. Mind you, it's not as if I don't want to return the money to him but Sellers do not have ESP even if Buyers tend to think that we do.

I have returned smaller amounts of money to Buyers even if it's more trouble than it is worthy but I believe that I should only receive payment for the Buyer's purchases plus shipping and nothing more.

If this guy has responded, I surely would have returned his money pronto but now that he seems to have written it off, I may as well forfeit it because it's too much hassle to keep remembering that I owe somebody RM3. Bah... I hate it!

Getting Instant Insurance Quotes

I have been looking for an insurance plan for a few months already. I remember getting quite a handful of insurance quotes but they were all quite expensive. One of the reasons that I did not commit myself to a policy is because I am still confused over the various different insurance plans and what benefits each will provide for me and/or my beneficiaries. Moreover, I would also like to save money on insurance so that it will be within my budget.

Yesterday, my friend told me that she found a website where I could compare insurance plans pros and cons and that after reading it, I should have a clearer idea of what I will be getting from my insurance plan.

I am going to go through the article and look forward to finding the cheapest insurance plan that will still meet my requirements and needs. I have procrastinated long enough, anyway!

The Group Is Dead

I am sure if you have read my post a long time ago that I thought and still think that the Malaysian eBay Group is a redundant platform for us because we already have the Boards. Why do we have to make things exclusive like this when time is so precious that any serious seller would not have the time to participate in the public boards, the group and also other international Q & A boards. And it's not as if we needed the Group or have that many serious Malaysian Buyers and Sellers in the first place.

See, I have continued to log in to the Group every now and then and the site is stagnant. Sure, I could have post a new topic but I did it and the response was so bad, I don't want to do it again and waste time checking the thread for new responses so that I could reply.

I say, remove the Group and consolidate all discussions on the Public Boards. Everyone should be privy to all our discussions and chats anyway. There's no secret or whatever and even if there was, it makes no difference as anyone could register with the Group.

Groomsmen Gifts in Cuff Links

I mentioned that my friend Julie helps bridal couples prepare for the wedding because her husband is a wedding photographer and she enjoys helping them without charge. She told me that while she was looking for wedding ideas to help a new bridal couple, she came across a website that sells a wide range of cuff links. According to her, these would make great groomsmen gift. Moreover, they are not expensive at all, less than $30 per pair.

She said that although she may consider them cheap, she would still have to speak to the bridal couple and see if they could spare some money from their wedding budget. I hope they can because it would be a pity if they could not get something special for their groomsmen.

Meeting Quotas Easily

I have a few friends who are in the insurance industry and they tell me selling insurance is not as simple as it looks. They have a high sales quota to meet monthly and failure to meet it for a few consecutive months will mean that they will have to leave the company. It's shocking that an insurance job is so insecure and one is pressured to perform all the time or else!

These friends tell me that they have to do a lot of Insurance Marketing even over the weekend.

Well, perhaps I should introduce them to Quotes Auction, a company that specifically caters to the needs of insurance agents like my friends. They have plenty of leads to sell and make sure that these leads are positive and have a high chance of converting.

With leads like that, it will be easier for the agent to target a specific group of potential clients instead of approaching clients from scratch over and over again.

Even as I am writing this, I sent them this link http://www.quotesauction.com/content/insurance-marketing.htm and hope that they will make full use of the information available. I am sure that with a little help like this, they will see a better turnaround next month.

Looking For Unique Wedding Favor Ideas

My friend, who helps her husband assist wedding couples, where her husband is the photographer while she is the unofficial wedding planner told me that part of her job is to inject ideas to the bridal couple to help them make the occasion as memorable as possible.

According to my friend, Julie, she spends a considerable amount of time surfing the internet for unique wedding favor ideas and introduced them to the bridal couples. She said that the locals are not very well versed in wedding favors because it's not part of the local culture but they are very receptive of the idea and even welcomed Julie's ideas and asked her to give them a budget so that they could incorporate it into their wedding.

I think Julie’s got a great part time job in making wedding couples as happy as they could be!

VS Coupon Code: GIFTSET

I received the latest email newsletter from Victoria's Secret and know many people would love to know that Victoria's Secret is giving a set of hat, scarf and gloves with a total value of $38 with any purchase of Victoria's Secret sweaters. You can say that this is a promotion in anticipation of winter.

So, I have no use for this coupon code, unfortunately.

Check out this screen shot of the poster in my email newsletter. It's PINK in color and if you don't know yet, most of Victoria's Secret promotional emails like these are in pink.

Guess What I Saw???

Just now I was at Greentown Mall and guess what I saw? I saw this kampung house there!!! Yerrrr don't tell me they are so cheap that they have to rent the house from Ipoh Parade????

It's so funny that the shoppers and tenants at Greentown Mall were so fascinated with the kampung house without realising that it's a recycled house! What a pity. I am sure though, that whoever has seen this kampung house will be able to recognise it immediately.

I told my friend that I wanted to drive to Ipoh Parade straight away to see if the house is still there because the last time I was there, just a week ago, it was there, still on display long after Hari Raya.

And my friend was like, "No more lorrrr. Still got meh?? Came here already mah!" LOLOLOLOL

Tobi, Online Boutique

I was blog hopping when I came across a post on nudie. Well, I have not heard of it before so I decided to check out the store and was surprised to note that nudies are actually jeans, though not just any pair of jeans, mind you.

According to the website, Nudie Jeans Co, the company behind nudie jeans, know that the reason people love jeans is the comfort they provide, but that kind of comfort is only achievable over time after numerous washes.

I used to think that there is not much fashion that could be made out of a pair of jeans but I am wrong. If you look at the website of Tobi.com, you can see that each pair of men's or women's nudie jeans sports a different design and cutting.

And then there is the Seven for all mankind label, which is more popularly known as Sevens, which refers to the average of seven pairs of jeans that Americans own in a lifetime. I think it's great that we no longer have to make do with ill-fitting jeans anymore.

If you are looking for stylish apparel, hop over to Tobi.com. It’s an online boutique that has more to offer than jeans, of course! Don’t know what will look good on you? Don’t worry, ask the stylist. You can do so by phone, email or even live chat. This is a really good added feature to the store, I think.

Do You Need Another Credit Card?

I am sure that most of us hold at least to credit cards. Sometimes I wonder how many would be enough for us. Two is enough for me but I know of friends who have a whole string of them!

However, I was checking out a website when I came across the card loyalty terms for Sports Credit Cards and I think it's a great card and something that I would find useful.

I remember reading about this card a few months ago and I told myself the same thing but I did not apply for it. Now that I come across it again, I am also asking myself, do I want it or do I need it? Obviously, I don't need it because I already have two other credit cards but like I said, it would be great to have!!

Brand Loyalty

I wonder how many people have brand loyalty. I know quite a few people who are adamant of using particular brands even if they are slightly more expensive though comparable in terms of quality with other brands that are slightly cheaper.

I know for a fact that my cousin brother is very fixed in his mindset about the products that he uses. For example, he MUST use X brand toothpaste even if it's expensive.

On the other hand, I do not have brand loyalty at all. I am always open to try out new products and it is just my luck that normally new products are being sold cheaper because they are trying to break into the market.

Also, do you notice that products that have a new packaging will also be sold cheaper? I read a long time ago that consumers need to be reintroduced to the new packaging because most people would think that it is a new brand even though the brand is the same but the packaging is not.

Never mind that they think most consumers are this stupid. As long as we get to enjoy the products are a lower price!!!

Getting A Loan?

The other day, I was talking to my friend about loans and being in debt. I personally think that getting a loan from family and friends would be a better choice as these do not come with an interest.

However, my friend told me that she would rather apply for Payday Loans or take out a cash advance from her credit card. She said that to avoid all the talk within the family or friends, she would rather suffer from the high interest rates.

Well, it is fine if she thinks that she would be better of applying for payday loans. By the way, payday loans or payday cash advances are loans that help you bridge the financial gap between pay checks. I told my friend that if she ever has this need, then she could do herself a favor by comparing payday loans that are available from different lenders. They all come with different interest rates and terms.

One of the best places to start making this comparison would be at Payday Loan Quotes which has a website at http://www.paydayloanquotes.com. They even have an online calculator for you to do your Math. So use it and make sure you know what interest rate and APR you will be committing to.

Also, do understand that payday loans should be just short term loans to tide you through the tough days and should be repaid as soon as you receive your next paycheck.

How's Business?

One of the most common questions that I am asked when my friends see me is, "How's business?" The other most common question would be, "Do you wear your own products?"

A friend asked me the first question above after losing touch for some months. So I told him that I am busy though not as busy as I was in the past year.

So he deduced that this year, there are fewer people who want to wear lingerie as opposed to last year but there are still people wearing them, though not as many as previously.

According to my friend, the fewer ladies who wear lingerie, the better the sale of men's underwear would be because they can't go without anymore so that people won't notice their perpetual hard-on.

Eeeekkk don't spank me. That was my friend's theory!!!

Signing Up To Mailing Lists

How many of us actually sign up to Mailing Lists? I do it intentionally at some sites because I would like to be updated on their new products or store happenings even when I do not have any plans to buy anything at all in the near future. Perhaps you can call me a busybody!

I have an email address which I use specifically for this purpose which I use to sign up with stores, like I mentioned, and also internet marketing sites, competitions and such.

I know that many times, I have forgotten that I already signed up with a company and then end up thinking that I have been spammed. However, if I do find the information useful, I would not think that it's a spam mail.

Companies reach out to their potential customers via mailing lists. By using a targeted mailing list, they have a better chance of securing a sale because these are interested people who are looking for exactly the information that you provide for specific products or services.

Great Reminder

I notice that when we are about to log into our eBay page, there is a small light bulb with a reminder on the steps to avoid being a victim of phishing. Upon reading it, I realise that these are the tips that are very basic and most people already know but it's always good to be reminded as sometimes we may suffer from a lapse in judgment.

The gist of those tips provided are as follows:

Account Protection Tips

Never share your password. Use a strong password that is a combination of letters and numbers. Change it often and try not to use the same password for all accounts. eBay (or PayPal) will never ask you for your password either via email or on the phone.

If a message was sent to you from eBay (or PayPal), do not click on the links. Log into your account and if the email is official, you should see it in the inbox of your My Messages in My eBay or you will receive a pop up alert as soon as you log into your PayPal account.

If that message is not in your account then it's a phishing attempt. Forward the full email including the header to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com

Download the eBay Toolbar with Account Guard. This is a free eBay utility which lets you know when you're on an official eBay or PayPal site. It will also warn you when you are giving your password to a non-eBay or PayPal site.

See, actually these are so basic that most of us already have in our minds but like I mentioned, it's a great reminder!

Price Increase of Flour

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I order my supper of noodles on the phone on some evenings. One evening last week or so, I called them up to get ready a packet of noodles for me and I would pick it up in ten minutes' time.

When I reached the stall, the boss told me that it's now RM3.20 and no longer RM3. So that's fine with me.

However, I was thinking if they should have let me know of the increase when I was placing my order on the phone them. To me, I did not make a fuss about the price hike but what about others.

You may think that it's only 20sen. Yes, for this dish it is 20sen but from what I understand, another dish is 50sen. That's a very steep increment if you ask me considering the normal price was only RM3.

Some people may make a fuss, you know?

Password Management

The other day, I told my friend that I am very afraid that one day, I would forget some of the more important passwords. That was after I got my online bank account locked for security reasons as I keyed in the wrong User ID and password combination for three consecutive times.

I told my friend that if I have more passwords to remember, I would most probably need a password keeper to manage them all. There's only so much that I could store in my brain.

Of course, I was only joking as password keepers are not for individual users. However, my friend suggested that I buy a pen drive that is password locked so that I could store all my passwords in there and should I forget the master password, I could just throw away the pen drive.

An Option In Nursing Homes

During the final years of my grandparents life, I have seen how lonely they could be if the children and grandchildren do not visit. The problem was that the children are too busy making a living and do not have the time to send the grandchildren over. The grandchildren, meanwhile, are too young to make those visits by themselves.

If I could turn back time, of course I would love to spend more time with my grandparents but now that they are no longer around, the only thing that I could do is to make sure that the same thing does not happen to my parents.

Sometimes, it is better to send the old folks to a nursing home for better care and attention because they would have more friends and companions. This may not be an Asian culture but more and more people are doing so.

Although this is more common in the West, there are still many people who do not have the information on better care for the elderly in the family. If you know of someone in need of better care or nursing home placement in the United Kingdom, do check out the website of BetterCaring.com

The Extrememly Talented Brice Carrington

This morning, someone asked me to check out the website of Brice Carrington. Actually, this he knows that I was looking for sound effects for a project that I am doing so he wanted to show me what the kind of sound effects that could provoke the imagination of listeners.

So I went there and there are a few sample work of Brice Carrington and whoa, I did not expect the sound effects to be so rich. I understand that Brice went around the world just to capture with microphone and record the real sounds and using software, put those sound clips through different processes to come up with his final product. I listened to all the available samples and although the biography says that Brice uses the African lion in all his recordings, I did not hear him in all the samples. Perhaps Brice blends it in so well that an untrained ear like mine is not able to pick it up.

Brice Carrington's sound effects have been used in the production of many TV shows. I believe I may have watched one of the shows before even though I do not watch TV that much. After listening to the sample clips of the work of Brice, I think that he is very talented to always come up with so many different and original sounds.

Quick No Fax Payday Loans

A couple of friends were in a financial fix all because of credit card misuse. Well, I shall call it abuse instead. They asked me if they could get their hands on a little quick cash to pull them through. I could think of payday loans but I wouldn't recommend it to them because they are not good with money management.

They insisted on applying for payday loans just as a short term temporary measure. They found that they could get Faxless Payday Loans which do not require them to provide any documents or go through a stack of paperwork or red tape.

This is of course so convenient for them but I asked if the interest rate would be higher. They were not sure. See, people who need payday loans are always not careful with the fine prints. Like in the case of these two friends, they got into trouble with the credit cards because they don't even know the terms when they applied for them.

When committing yourself to any financial bond, make sure you have read and understand the terms first before signing on the dotted line.

The Ease Of Being Found

As a pioneer seller on both eBay and Lelong, I have been through a number of website facelift, revamp and whatever you call it. And I cringe each time because both Sellers and Buyers would have to learn the navigation of whole site all over again.

Did you knwo that when Lelong underwent a revamp about a year ago, many Sellers were complaining that their sales items took a nosedive in terms of hits. When people are not even LOOKING at your products, do you expect to be able to sell them? I don’t think so!

Also, the more items in the marketplace, the harder it is to garner attention to your products. Look at the sea of products available now on eBay, it really is too competitive for people who do not have a niche product. Yes, just like in blogging, we need a niche too.

I hope that with the new look eBay Malaysia, we would all quickly learn the navigation of the site as fast as possible so that we could move on to real transactions.

Earn Legitimately From Home

My friends, upon learning that I work from home, want to know how I could earn my keep. Well, I am also still searching for an answer. Just now, I came across this webpage on LegitOnlineJobs. Apparently, they have a proven method that would allow us to earn serious money at the comfort of our home without even hard selling. It’s like a typing job and we get to work at our own pace. How much we earn depends on how much we want to earn, if this makes sense!

I think I know what kind of job this is and yes, it is totally legal. I discovered it a couple of years ago but I did not participate because I thought that I could look for a free program but I have not been successful.

Now that I am presented with this opportunity again, I think that the promotional price of $49.97 is very reasonable. I mean, we get all the support and information required to start earning right from home wherever we may be, what more can we ask for, right?

New Links Updated, Almost, Hopefully

I spent the past hour updating all my old eBay links from my blogs and websites. Well, it's quite tedious backtracking the places where I left my old links. So far, I only edited my string of blogs and personal sites.

What I don't like about this new link to our sales page is that it has too many jumbled up letters that it's not easy to market.

Granted, this new URL is a whole lot shorter than the old URL but it's still not easy enough to remember. I wish that they could give us something like a USER ID at the back of ebay.com.my/ or something like that. Ya, wishful thinking, I know but they could at least make it easier for us to market our sales page by word f mouth!

Burden Of An Adult

It looks like mortgage is a responsibility that adults cannot escape from. There are no two ways about it if we want to own a home. According to my sister, a mortgage is very burdensome and it is scary to think of a 30-year mortgage. That's almost half a lifetime!

However, if and when we do have a home in our name, it could be a very fulfilling achievement. Although many people are homeowners, there are still many who never had the chance to own a home.

It could be a very daunting experience for first time homeowners. Many commit themselves to a mortgage that is not that attractive and end up seeking remortgages when the interest rates fall. I think that it would be a wise move only if savings in time and money is significant.

Before I myself commit to a long term home loan, I thought I would check out the industry news from http://www.ukpersonalloanstore.co.uk first. of course, I did check a few other resource site as well since we can never have enough of knowledge!

Update On The New eBay Malaysia

Further to my post on the new eBay Malaysia portal this morning, I had the chance to explore the site later in the afternoon. I find that the site is now almost a copy of other paid eBay sites. In fact, eBay Malaysia has started to provide paid features to Sellers except that we could still list our items for free if we do not take up any of those features that require fees.

Also, we now have the eBay Store that some of us have asked for. The first thirty days is free but there will be a monthly charge in the subsequent months. I will not be opening an eBay store, though. Not right now, not for the time being because I don't have time to take care of it yet.

I do not quite like the new site mainly because it has too many links and look very crowded to me. And visited links have no demarcation. I don’t know why they don't show up as my default purple for visited links so it's kind of hard to keep track of the items which I have already relisted and those that I have not.

Other than that, it's not easy to differentiate one eBay site from another unless you look at the domain name.

Going Teak Wood For The Garden

About a month ago, I talked about my friend buying teak garden furniture for his newly built house. Well, I had the chance to visit him during his housewarming party a week ago and I musts ay that I am very impressed with his set up. You would too if the garden looked so classy with the intricate teak wood designs in the dim light under the night sky.

That got me thinking that I should perhaps buy something for my own garden as well. My friend suggested teak benches. So I tried looking for them online just to see what designs are available for me and the price range.

The online store, Teak Wood Patio Furniture, has some of the best selections of teak benches which I think would be great to place in my garden. I am glad that they are not as expensive as I anticipated! I will be discussing with my family and see what they think. I believe that once they went through the products from the store they too would agree that we should have some teak furniture in the garden too.

Seriously Looking For Computer Furniture

As you know, I would rather shop online than to visit a retailer, deal with sales people who stick to my like my shadow, fight with the crowd and then struggle with bringing home my purchases. Shopping online eliminates all these problems. I intend to do the same for my computer furniture shopping. I don't know about you but for me, nothing is off limits when it comes to online shopping!

So far, I have been using school computer furniture that was left from my old school days. I think that now that I am working from home in my small office, home office, I should get proper computer tables and chair for myself. I have a couple of computer sets and office automation that all demand a proper place of their own and I feel that I should get them sorted out or my room will look like a pigsty!

For the past few months, I have been chucking them all on my study desk and it looks so messy and not a conducive working environment at all. I need to be more serious in shopping for computer furniture.

The All New eBay Malaysia

How long has it been since eBay Malaysia was launched? If not mistaken, it was in November 2004. I remember that I was one of the pioneer members. After three long years and going through a couple of hiccups now and then, eBay Malaysia has received a face lift, finally. It's a very refreshing WinXP face lift, if I may say so Ha ha!

A couple of weeks ago, I did write that we will be getting a new site soon and the day came today where it is open to everyone. Previously, it was only opened to a handful of people to test the site out.

Well, this morning, I am sure all members have received an email with the notification. If you are an eBay member and you did not get a notice, then you may want to check out your email with the system.

Over 4000 Bathroom & Kitchen Products

If you are looking to bathroom accessories, the place you should check out is Taps4Less.com. You will be amazed that they have more than four thousand products for your bathroom and kitchen at very attractive prices too.

I had the chance to check out this site when I was looking for bathroom furniture for my aunt which she says she could not find locally and asked me to check if it's available online and guess what? I found it on Taps4Less.com

My aunt wanted a beautiful set of ceramic basin furniture and Taps4Less has four very beautiful sets. I am going to show my aunt and let her decide which she wants but I tell you, all four would look perfect in her bathroom.

While I was checking the site, I thought I would see if I could find suitable taps for my own kitchen. Once again, they have such a wide selection that of bathroom and kitchen taps. I trust that I would get to save more money shopping here than at a local retailer!

Ride The Blogger Wave

If you have not heard of BloggerWave, then you are not too late. This is Europe's largest blog for pay marketplace and they are back with a slash. Granted, they faced a little glitch previously but don't worry, I believe that bloggerwave will have more exciting things for us, their members.

So far, I have posted a few jobs for them and believe me when I say that they are one of the easiest to work for. I know what I am talking about, as an active member of more than ten paid blogging marketplaces.

If you have lost a little green in the PR toolbar, don't worry, it's not the end of the world. Register with BloggerWave right now for a new opportunity in paid blogging.

Foreign Currencies Or Precious Metals

I was talking with a fiend last night about investing in foreign currencies. I told him that I understand that this would bring better returns compared to investing in local currencies. I was also made to understand by a coin dealer that more people are investing into gold and silver coins.

Right now, I don't know if investing into precious metals would be better in the long run or in foreign currencies. I do know that precious metals will always be more stable and will not fluctuate as much as currencies. For example, the USD has weakened so drastically this past month that if you are holding USD, you would be losing a considerable amount of money.

During my grandparents’ time, people would prefer to keep gold and silver coins instead because these will be their money in times of war. I believe that they are still relevant in today’s economy.

A Cloud of Confusion

I just came from the trading forum that I frequent. It's amazing that after such a long time that PayPal has allowed us to withdraw our funds to a Malaysian credit/debit/prepaid debit card, there is still a cloud of confusion.

Like I always said, the best thing to do is to be hands on. If people keep reading and reading different sources which may or may not be accurate, then they will always be going around in circles.

Many of my friends who are proactive have already received funds from their PayPal account over and over again since we have the facility. Why wait around for others to experiment when we can go by trial and error by ourselves and LEARN in the process, right?

I don’t quite understand people like that, because I personally prefer to do everything myself and learn from my own mistakes.

Pissed Off At Goog!

I read that not only are bloggers pissed off at Goog for dropping our Page Ranks drastically, another group of people who are pissed also are AdSense publishers. Now, there are some bloggers who are publishers as well but there are large publishers who are not bloggers but website owners.

I don't quite understand why they are pissed, except that they are are not getting as much revenue as they should. It's been said that Goog's head is getting larger than the hat but I believe that what Goog giveth, Goog taketh and there's nothing we can do about it.

I personally am also very pissed because all my blogs, sites and store went down by two ranks each, despite having no paid links in some of them. I am thinking that I may have been blacklisted or something. I don't know but it could happen. I like to think that I am "safe" because I am not even "big" enough to warrant any personal attention from Goog but then shit happens.

Maximizing Profit & Minimizing Loss From Options Trading

I am sure you know that I tried my hand dabbling in options trading but to tell you frankly, I dare not invest too much because the market has been too volatile for my liking. On the other hand, some of my friends have yet to pull out from the market because they said that even if they do lose, their loss would be minimal because they are using iron condor. Well, I have heard of that but have never used it because I did not quite understand how it works.

According to my friends, they are taking up four different positions on the same options but at different prices. This ensures that their loss will be kept low should it happen. Iron condors are great in lowering the risk in options trading.

My friends told me that should I want to go serious in my investment, I should subscribe to the newsletter of Condor Options. At only $139, it will be money well-spent.

Buying Theme Park Tickets Online

When my cousin told me that he has made plans to Orlando, I told him that based on my sister's experience, he would have to obtain his theme park tickets first before going there. This is because that these tickets sell like hot cakes and not easy to get his hands on closer to the holiday season.

I told him that should he purchase his tickets online, not only would he be ensured that he would be able to enjoy the theme parks, he would also get them at a discount, way cheaper than if he had bought them directly.

My cousin told me that the thought never crossed his mind! But never mind, he will try to buy a pair of Sea World Tickets and hopefully, he could get them from Orlandofuntickets.com.

Email Piling Up!!!

Some of you may know that my computer needed a format yesterday. It could not load windows so I tried to load it to SAFE mode in an attempt to roll back my OS to the last known working condition. But dang, it did not help. I could not even go to Safe mode so I had to take it to the computer repair shop so that they could help me to safe my files. I did not even manage to back up my files. Luckily, my files were all in one place so it was very easy to safe and the technician did not need to go through all my folders.

Now that my computer is back and after all the programmes have been restored, I can only get down to replying to my emails after I have cleared some work. I receive almost 30 emails every day and each day I do not clear my email it piles up and get overwhelming.

I did, however, read them on my mobile device, just that I did not reply to them yet. If you sent me an email this past couple of days, please be patient. I will get back to you shortly!

Roses For Weddings

A friend of mine who works as a wedding photographer showed me photos from his latest assignment. He told me that the bridal couple bought so many wedding flowers, especially red roses and you know why? Just so that they could peel off the petals and lay them down the isle of the church!

It is so romantic isn’t it? And if not for copyright purposes, I would have published the photo here on my blog. However, if you would like to view the photos or are looking for a wedding photographer for your wedding, do drop me a line. I know what my friend is capable of and you will not regret my recommendation!

MYR3 Shipping Forfeited

If you have read one of the earlier posts, you would know that there's a guy who "bought" the freebies that I displayed on my store. The fact that there are greedy people checking out of my store with freebies only in the shopping cart galls me but what can I do? If I were to take off these freebies, people would not be as interested to drop by anymore.

Anyway, this guy paid me MYR3 which is supposed to be shipping cost by Pos Ekspres. I cancelled his order but it was too late because he transferred the money to me almost instantly. Eemm he must have thought that it's a very good deal that was why he paid promptly.

So I wrote to him and told him to provide his banking particulars so that I could return the money to him but until today, he has yet to respond. So does that mean that he wants the freebies or he does not mine forfeiting the money?

I think I will forfeit la. MYR3 could buy me a bowl of ABC haha!

Online Marketing Degree

I have thought that I should get a paper qualification. In my line, I could do with a marketing degree. I previously enjoyed my marketing classes in college but due to circumstances, had to forgo my studies to work and earn a living.

However, since I am working full time now, I am thinking of studying online. I saw that capella university also offers marketing degree as well and I am contemplating pursuing my course through them.

A year ago, I tried going to real marketing classes but ended up not being able to physically attend most of my classes so I decided to drop out. It was a waste of money and time too!

I still need to check if I could budget my finances and meet my new commitments. I don’t want to drop out again due to financial constraints this time!

Let's Go To Hawaii!

My sister invited me to go to Hawaii together with her. Frankly, with such short notice, I can never make it. My company requires me to give an advance notice of at least one month if I were to take one week leave. Well, what can I say but to decline her invitation? Hopefully, we can enjoy a Hawaiian Vacation Kailua sometime in the future.

According to my sister, she has already made reservations for one of the very beautiful Kauai Vacation Rentals. I have heard of this island before but have not been there myself. However, I have also read much about it from the Kauai Travel Blog. I think that my sister has made a wise choice in her of travel destination!

I also get to browse through lots of photos of Hawaii, the people and the places. I think that Hawaii is a very beautiful place with plenty to offer us tourists!