New shop on Folksy.com

I decided to make a shop on Folksy.com today

It's like etsy.com, but it's a british site. It's still in it's early days i think, which is exciting to be there at the beginning of something. ^_^ It also means I can list in £'s which is good for any UK customers!
I've been reading it's good not to have all your eggs in one basket, so it's all good ^_^ so Heroine Industries is now on etsy, ebay and folksy. I'm thinking about maybe selling on misi.co.uk aswell, but we'll see!

Click the button below to go to the new shop on folksy;

100 Fans on Facebook :D

I reached 100 fans on facebook this week :) and would like to say thankyou so much to everyone for their support, it's really appreciated! I've also found some great sellers and shops myself through facebook fan pages!
I also *finally* changed the name of the Heroine Industries fan page...I'd been struggling for a while to figure out how to change the url for the fan page and not my own personal facebook profile.
Here is the new url for anyone who would like to take a look(much easier to remember now);

www.facebook.com/HeroineIndustries

Next milestone.......40 sales?

Ever since I opened the shop on etsy I've kept having a goal number to reach in sales, from 5, to 10, to 15, etc... now I've reached 30! :D which may not sound alot to bigger sellers, but it feels great to hit each little milestone!
So now I have 33 sales on etsy, I guess my next goal is to hit 40!

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

-Lao-tzu, Chinese philiospher

Seeing Red

I decided to dye my hair (bright) red last week, after having it bleached blonde for 3 years. Mostly just because I wanted to give my hair a break from bleaching as it's made it quite weak and fine. I'm naturally a dark blonde/mousy light brown colour, so i needed something that would cover that as well as bleached hair :s (I used to dye it bright red, and i mean proper crayola/letter box red! But I had to bleach it to get it that colour, and was tryin to find a red that would still get a bright colour without bleaching...)

First I tried a bright red from L'Oreal (recital preference - 7.6 Incadescent pure red), and I was pretty scared b4 I did it (i remember havin to wait ages for the red to fade last time i had it b4 i could lighten it) It didn't come out too great, it had made the bleached part of my hair a bright red/orange but the roots hadnt really taken the dye as well and you could still see my roots :s The colour started to fade after only a week, and I was paranoid it was looking orange...
So yesturday I went and got a darker/deeper red from the Live Color XXL by Schwarzkopf (43 passion red) and it looks much better! It actually managed to turn my roots the exact same colour as the rest, so it finally alllooks one colour and is alot brighter! I just hope it isn't gonna fade as much as the L'Oreal!

If i thought I could dye it pink and it wouldn't effect my chances of looking for a job I would have done it!!! Think I will prob go backto a blonde in the spring, and if I'm lucky enough to have found a job by then that won't freak out about me having pink hair i'll do it pink!

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day, and even though I was just at home I sat for the 2 minute silence at 11am and remembered those who gave their lives for our freedom. I thought about all those who haven't made it home.
I think 2 minutes of your time every year is really not alot to give. I really do not understand workplaces that do not uphold this tradition. This is my favourite WWI poem;

The War Sonnets: V. The Soldier
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

- Rupert Brooke

Flanders Field WWI

Can't recommend Mookychick.co.uk enough!

I stumbled across Mookychick.co.uk a while ago, whilst looking for info about looking for work with brightly dyed hair/piercings etc... (there really isn't alot of info out there)
If you've not visited mookychick before, it's basicly a girly site for alternative girls (finally!!!) that has stuff about fashion, makeup, manga, feminism, work/interview tips/alternative jobs, craft and diy stuff, music reviews, spirituality, riot grrrl stuff, tattoos, piercings etc.......

In there own words;
"Your source for Riot Grrrl, Goth, Emo, Burlesque, Geek, Feminist, Gothic Lolita, Wicca, Harajuku, how to tips, makeup tips, beauty tips and undiluted joy - Mookychick"

click on the link below to go to their site ^_^

Mookychick.co.uk

OOAK Hand Painted Dinosaur Necklaces

Here are some new items I put up recently :) Hand painted dinosaurs! Which are covered in clear varnish. Due to the hand painted nature of these items, each one is totally unique and One Of A Kind.

♥ OOAK Hand Painted Leopard Print Dinosaur Necklace ♥


♥ OOAK Hand Painted Glittery RAWR Dinosaur Necklace ♥

♥ OOAK Hand Painted B-MOVIE Dinosaur Necklace ♥

More dinsoaurs are available in my shop :) Rawr!

Closed my Ebay shop today :(

I closed it today and I have to say, it might sound a bit stupid, but I actually felt quite sad :( I've had that shop since 2005/2006. It helped me make pocket money for myself through uni.
But I guess I have the etsy shop now, I'll save money from ebay, and i can still list items on there.

I think I'm going to close my Ebay shop!

I've been thinking about it for a while, mostly because of money reasons. But also I've noticed for a long time now Ebay have been targeting their sellers and making life hard for them and I just give up! And after looking more closely at it today I'd say it's definitely something I have to do, unfortunately.

I went on today and saw my fees were £22, which I was a bit surprised at given I've hardly listed anything and only payed it a short while ago. I just can't afford their fees every month! I end up spending the money I make on etsy on paying my ebay fees! They've deliberately made ebay as over complicated as possible, especially for sellers! I had a look at some of thees new sections in the myebay section and came across these "detailed seller ratings" and it says i am "below standard" on 'performance' which I really don't understand because I have a feedback score of 1446 that is 100% positive?!!!!! n it says they might enforce selling limitations if it "continues" but i don't know what I've done wrong!? It almost feels like Ebay don't want sellers on their website?! Like they're trying to trip you up every step of the way. And even though lots of other kitsch jewellery makers have left I've stuck with them, but no more.

Here's a list of the reasons that really tipped the scale for me;

1) In September I made £59.02, but ebay and paypal fees were £32.94! More than half the money!

2) I realised where those huge fees came from today.....when I signed up for a basic shop a couple of years ago it was £6 a month. It is now £14.99! This has gone up without me even knowing about it!!! I have two shops on etsy...both are FREE, how can Ebay justify charging £14.99 a month just for the privilege of a shop!? And sneakily put the price up without notifying you!

3) Sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback. They can only leave positive feedback! Even when buyers don't pay for the item!!! Totally unfair and just another way they have targeted sellers.

4) It's much quicker and easier for me to list on etsy. I personally find etsy alot simpler to use now.

5) Their seller fees (for listing an item) have gone up so much since I first started selling on there in 2005. They got greedy and started charging sellers such huge amounts many have left.

I don't know what ebay is thinking, but who ever is in charge needs to realise that if they don't have any sellers there won't be anything for their buyers to buy = no buyers either!!!
It's a real shame because I've had it for a few years now, but Ebay have made it impossible. I think I will keep the account and list the odd thing, just to keep a bit of a presence on there.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has sold on ebay and had a similar experience? Did you used to have a shop on there? Do you still have a shop on ebay or have you closed it? I'd love to hear from you...