Bitch Post #10: Amazon Payments SUCK!

Ahh yes, people, it's time for another bitch post! We're up to number 10, and I am hotter than a bitch in heat! For those of you who are not familiar with 1000 Markets, they only allow payments to be processed through Amazon Payments. That's wonderful for seasoned sellers who've racked up hundreds of sales via Amazon Payments, but if you're like me and have only had a handful, then they literally hold your money hostage for an indefinite period of time. It's their way of safeguarding the buyer. But where does that leave us sellers? The buyer pays, the transaction clears, but Amazon says "We don't really trust you yet, so we're going to use your money as collateral in case the buyer makes a claim against you..."

If I'm reading this wrong, please enlighten me. I've had 3 sales in the last week on 1000 Markets which is like hitting pay dirt in my book because my last sale there was in July! I don't have time to apply for some Tier II merchant level in an effort to have my money released quicker. I have NEVER had a problem on PayPal. The buyer makes a purchase. They pay through PayPal. The transaction clears. I gets my scrilla, and I ship the goods! We're on week 2, and I do not have my money! Meanwhile, in an effort of good faith and good customer service, I've shipped the buyers' goods. After all, they've paid, so why should they be penalized? I'm just sayin....I WANTS MY MONEY!!!!!

EPILOGUE: THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I GUESS IF YOU THROW A PUBLIC HISSY FIT, YOU CAN GET WHAT YOU WANT:)

After contacting Amazon Payments and yes, applying for Tier II status, it was granted. Yay! I'm taking the money and running! Maybe now I'll promote my 1KM shop a little more:)

It's A Black Weekend Deal!

Happy Black Friday! Everyone's buzzing with sales-including moi!

Starting today thru Monday, aka Cyber Monday, I am offering FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING and $5.00 INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING on everything in my Etsy and Art Fire shops. No special codes needed. No refunds to give. All you have to do is shop, and oh yeah, pay:)

International shipping deadline is Dec. 4th.
Domestic shipping deadline is Dec 19th.

Happy shopping everyone! Don't be surprised if you see me buying from your shops!

The Last Soap Of 2009!

Okay, that statement is a little misleading. It's not the last soap I'll make in 2009, but it will be the last new soap for sale in 2009. It's tentatively called Mango Coconut Meringue. I'm sure you can guess which part is which. I whipped the top extra thick because I attempted to form these giant peaks, but it just leveled out, so I rolled with the flow and just spread it like cake icing. I'm a little disappointed in this scent. While the mango is noticeable, the coconut is very, very weak-almost non-existent. The soap is so pretty, I'm not going to write it off as a total loss.

In parting, I wish you all a healthy and safe Thanksgiving! I'll be spending tomorrow with my crazy family. My sister and I will be imbibing sangria all day and night. Well, all day for me. I'll be updating my shops late tomorrow. I heard Old Navy is opening at 3 am. Isn't that a little much? I'll probably be up at that hour anyway. I've got 4 shops to update. Whew!!! Have a good one...

Holiday Soaps

If you haven't already, now is the time to start stocking your shops with your holiday items! I like to make my shopping lists in advance, so when I'm ready to shop, I know what I want and where to find it. I suspect there are many others out there like myself. I'll be adding new things every day all the way up to Friday: BLACK FRIDAY!

I've added a few glycerin goodies to my shops:

Snowflake Soaps

Christmas Tree-O Soaps

Lump O' Coal Soaps

Holiday Serenade Soap

Happy Friday! Yes, I am soooo glad it's Friday. Thanksgiving is in 6 days, and I am too excited. I haven't seen all of my family together since Labor Day, and I miss them terribly! Even though we talk everyday via e-mail, it's not the same. I really can't wait to see my sister. We had a "disagreement" last week, and while we claim it's been squashed, I know there's still some lingering, unresolved issues....Now on to the soap!

This soap smells so good, that I can't describe it. The main scent is cassis, and I'm not a floral gal, but this one really impressed me. I wanted it to be stark white with just a touch of dark berry, but it didn't quite pan out the way I planned, but I can live with it. Right now I'm working on some funky packaging for it since I've crowned it my "official holiday soap."

I forgot to make this soap in time for the kickoff to the "holiday sales rush", so it won't be ready til Dec 7th. Back to work...later:)

Holiday Sneak Peek

I've been working furiously in the lab trying to get ready for the upcoming holidays. I'm introducing a few new things to the product line that may become permanent depending on customer reception. Here's a taste of what's to come:

BATH FIZZIES

These are my take on the traditional bath bomb. The scents will be a combination of fragrance and essential oils. I'm doing some last minute tweaking. I warn you that these fizzies will not be perfect. I like the rustic (ok, fancy term for jacked up) look of these. They're gonna disappear once you drop em in water anyway right?

PERFUME SOLIDS

This is actually Round 2 for these perfumes. I've switched up the packing, and this time the fragrances will be custom blend of fragrance and essential oils.

So that wraps up my sneak peek. I can't wait to see what everyone else has in store!

Wicked Soap-Version 2.0

Old

I cannot get enough of Black Raspberry & Vanilla! Every time I make a batch, it's always how can I improve the look of this soap? I thought about adding glycerin raspberries to the top. Been there. Done that...I thought about making the soap completely black. Umm...NO! I don't have the energy to be too creative right now, so I just improvised a bit on the last batch. I made them much bigger and used a darker berry color. Now I need to buy some shelves or a wire rack or something because I have no space to store all this soap!

Version 2.0

This Cat's Life...

Ahhh...the life. This is what I do best: eat, sleep, and sh...



I live with a fabulous woman who gives me lots of hugs and kisses...



You wish you were me...

Ay Poppy-It's Friday The 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th (it will be for me-it's payday!!) I've been wanting to make this soap forever! I got the inspiration from Bliss' Mammoth Minty Scrub soap. I remember buying it about 6 or 7 years ago, and I just fell in love with the smell and the texture. My version isn't 11 oz or have those little massage knobs on them, but I think mine is much better! The Bliss bar has sodium everything in it. Mine has rice bran, soybean, coconut, sweet almond, and palm oils along with poppy seeds to provide gentle, stimulating, exfoliation. The only sodium is the sodium hydroxide needed to make the soap. My entire apartment smells like a spearmint factory! I can't wait to use this one. Okay, just buy my version (when it's ready in a few weeks). It's better for your skin...heehee

Cranberry Fig Redux

New

The more I smell this fragrance, the more it grows on me. I'm not a huge fan of fig by itself, but when it's blended with cranberry or brown sugar, it's a lot more tolerable. I sold out of the last batch of cranberry fig, and I tried to duplicate the look of it: MAJOR FAIL, but all is well! I had to work quickly as I forgot how this particular fragrance accelerates trace. (Note to self: Start taking notes on the outcome of my batches...) This time it's more brick red than blue-red, but only has minute traces of purple. I still like it though. These bars are heavier than the previous batch, and oh well, I'm jabbering, I LIKE IT!!! heehee

Old

Goes Great With Milk!

More like a milk bath! This is one of my official "holiday" soaps called Ginger Cake. I could eat a whole dang bag of ginger snaps. One of my fondest memories of my childhood is spending the weekend with my grandparents and being able to eat all the ginger snaps I can. My grandmother kept them in a porcelain jar in her china closet (Do you say china cabinet or china closet? I digress too much, but you should be used to that by now:)

I whipped the hell out of this soap too. I wanted it to have little peaks at the top to give it some texture. I also made little glycerin whipped cream dollops that I'll include with each soap (I knew that mold would come in handy for something!) I swear I was tempted to take a bite out of these after I cut them. Why is it your greatest batches are always your smallest ones? These sweet cakes will be ready just in time for Black Friday:)

Love You Honey!

Happy Sunday! This is such a beautiful Treasury that I had to share. It's called Kiss Me Honey Honey, and it features my Honey Bar. I just love the color combo, and it's such a coincidence because I sold my first bar of this soap the other day, and to have it featured in a treasury is a double treat. Check it out!

FOLLOW UP: I KNEW THIS TREASURY WAS FRONT PAGE WORTHY, AND IT MADE IT!!! (SEE SIDEBAR)

Dirty Sexy Soap!

Why do they cancel all the good TV shows? Dirty Sexy Money was just starting to show some promise when they canceled it. I am so pissed! So pissed in fact, that I created this soap in honor of those dirty Darlings. How freaking unrealistic is it that Billy Baldwin's character ran for the senate, was boinking a transsexual with whom he was madly in love, and his wife was criminally insane? Now is that good TV or what!!?? Why do I always blabber on? Because I love segways. I'm giving you the history behind the soap-how my warped mind operates! Anyway........



Getting back to the soap, I'm not in the business of creating these fancy, highfalutin numbers that boast 20 different ingredients and then hype them up like they're this miracle cleanser. I'm in the business of making good soap that cleanses, moisturizes, and smells good. It doesn't always look pretty, but it does the job. Now on to this soap: It's soooo dirty because it plays tricks on your senses. One moment you smell sweet, then in the same breath you smell sassy! I took a chance by blending sandalwood with nectarine blossom, and I love it! I never really study scents in terms of how they may affect the outcome of your finished product. I just follow my heart and go with what I love. I intended for this soap to be stark white with black swirls, but as you can see, it's yellow with black swirls. Sandalwood apparently is yellow or turns soap yellow or something like that...Anyway, this limited edition number will be ready just in time for holiday sales. Yip, yip, hooray!

Let's Get Lard-y For The Party!

If you do not watch Real Housewives of Atlanta, then you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I digress....Here's my latest batch of soap using lard, and it's called Lard-y For The Party. It's scented in raspberry cream cupcake. I sprinkled real candy dots on top, and I have no idea how they're going to turn out once these bars are fully cured. It smells pretty nice-very raspberry-ish. There's no chocolate in this scent. I just colored it this way because, well, that's how it was on the bottle, and I didn't have the brain power to get too creative with this one. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sell this one individually or as part of one of my gift sets. Decisions, decisions....

A Weekend Full Of Treats

(click me)

My Halloween was very uneventful. I was very disappointed by the lack of quality Halloween programming on the tube this weekend. Not everyone has a party to go to ya know? Where was the Jason marathon? The Freddy Krueger fest? I was actually forced to work yesterday to keep from being totally bored out of my skull...LOL! I guess that was the trick, now on to the treats....

(click me)

I was featured over the weekend on not one, but two lovely blogs, The Copper Cauldron (one of my fave soap makers) and Mikiye Creations (a fellow Etsy Twitter tweep). Check them out, and Happy November! Did I just say that???