Lushpad & Modernism Magazine

A little while ago I discovered a totally drool-worthy site called Lushpad - it is a marketplace for mid-century modern, and so far I love everything about it. It is fairly high end, and seems to be pretty devoted to furniture, art and lighting, though there are other mid-mod items thrown in there as well. I've thought about trying a few listings there, if I ever do I will definitely report back here about it!

Ward Bennett Channel Back Club Chairs

Anyway, I got their newsletter today, and clicked over to enter a contest to win a George Nelson ball clock. It is sponsored by a magazine I hadn't seen before - Modernism Magazine. It comes out in print quarterly, and you can view back issue online editions for free - it doesn't get much better than that! I really like it so far, though I haven't looked at all the online content yet... It is pretty heavy on ads, but what mag isn't? At least the ads are nice to look at!

Subscriptions are only $20 for a year, which I think is super reasonable. We all know print magazines are in trouble right now, but it seems like this one has the right idea - a fair subscription price, online content for free, and a popular subject matter with an almost "cult" like following - hopefully it can manage to stay alive, despite all of today's challenges!

New goodness on eBay!

I have listed some really fun stuff lately - let's take a look!

At auction on eBay - ending soon!

I scored 6 pairs of rarely worn shoes from the 80's at one estate sale - they are all size 8, if that's your size get your bids in and we'll send you a big box of shoe goodness!

Vintage Size 8 White Naturalizer Peep Toe Pumps

Do you all remember back in the early 80's when Del Monte gave away plush "Country Yumkins" toys if you sent in can labels? I wanted them SO BAD - but my Mom wasn't a big fan of Del Monte. Well, I managed to stumble across five of them at one sale - and they are as cute as I remember!

Vintage Del Monte Country Yumkins Reddie Tomato - 1982

This next one is really, really hard for me to part with - a vintage handmade Raggedy Ann doll! I was completely attached to my "Raggy" when I was a kid, and she looked just like this one only with different clothes... If she doesn't sell at auction she might just be staying with me!

Vintage 19" Handmade Raggedy Ann Doll

Of course there isn't often a week that goes by that I don't list some glass - much to Will's chagrin (it's the hardest to package!)...

Vintage West Virginia Glass Blendo Pitcher and Glasses Set

Vintage Federal Glass Milk Glass Mixing Bowl Set

There's more auctions than this of course, these are just some of my favorites - head on over if you want to check out the rest!

New in my eBay Store:

Since I haven't been posting about my new auctions much lately, I had better show you some of the stuff that didn't sell and is now listed in my eBay store - it amazes me sometimes the cool stuff that doesn't get bids... At least they usually eventually sell out of the store!

Vintage Colorware Breadbox and Foil/Wax Paper/Paper Towel Dispenser Set - (Pink with a Pussywillow design - does it get any better than that?!?)

Vintage Ceramic Black Cat Salt and Pepper Shaker Set Made In Japan - (Just in time for Halloween!)

Vintage Mod 60's Floral Pinch Pleat Curtains - 2 Windows, 4 Panels - (Um, perfect?)

Vintage Ball Jar Glass Container - SNACKS - (I love containers that scream what they are supposed to be used for!)

Vintage Dakin Stuffed Black Cat Japan 1980 - (Finding this officially cemented Dakin as my favorite maker of stuffed animals - too cute, and again, just in time for Halloween!)

Again, there's lots more - and don't forget that everything in my store has the Best Offer option if you want to haggle! ;)

I'll be back a little later with some new stuff I listed on Etsy - stay tuned!

Update - what I've been up to, & what's coming up!

Hi everyone, I'm still here! *waves*

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, other than little quickie posts here and there, and random Facebook and Twitter updates every once in a while... I've been plugging away at all my usual stuff, plus I've had several other projects on my plate too:

BooksFYI.com - I'm still managing the online presence for BooksFYI, and in addition to my usual workload, I currently have a to-do list a mile long for them including adding new titles, fixing every listing on the site so Google will like it again (fun!), and a few other things I can't even remember at the moment. Bottom line is they will be keeping me plenty busy the rest of this month!

My eBay/Google Nightmare - I don't know how many of you have kept up with the recent changes on eBay and Google, but they are causing me no end of headaches at the moment and I'm still not quite sure what I am going to do about it all.

My first nightmare was the change eBay made to its insurance policy - I now have illegal text in every one of my 600+ listings. I tried the bulk editor, but because I use an Auctiva template, it won't recognize my text. After a few sad attempts at other solutions, I resigned myself to manually fixing them one by one, and started working on it when I had some extra time.

Well, Google has now thrown another wrench in my works, explained very well by Henrietta over at RedInkDiary. I know she is right about Google's new stringent guidelines about what text is allowed in an item description that is uploaded to Google Base - they rejected the BooksFYI feed because we had Free Shipping in the description, which they never had a problem with before. I'm working on fixing all their listings now, as I mentioned above.

Of course what it means for me is that my eBay and Etsy descriptions are full of text that Google will most likely reject, if/when eBay and Etsy manage to get our feeds fixed and submitted to Google Base (individual sellers aren't allowed to do it themselves anymore, it us up to the venue). So, either I completely re-work almost 900 listings one by one, or I live with Google not accepting my listings.

And if I am going to spend all that time and energy optimizing for the sake of Google, wouldn't I be better off doing it for my own website where I don't pay any fees? It seems silly to do it for listings that are on a marketplace.

I don't know. It is a tough situation for sure, and I am still kind of up in the air about it all. Of course all this is coming at the worst possible time - my original plan for October was to power list to get my stores filled to the brim for the holidays!

My Super Secret Project - As if all of this wasn't enough to keep me more than busy, I have been working on something else that I am lovingly referring to as my Super Secret Project. I was hoping to launch it on my birthday (this coming Wednesday!) but it is no where near ready for prime time yet, and I have no idea when it will be. But I will get it done, come hell or high water... I am really excited about it, and can't wait to see if other people like the idea as much as I do! :)

Of course I can't neglect my regular Vintage Goodness duties, in spite of all this other stuff... So, it is time for the:

Vintage Goodness Fall Fashion Extravaganza - How's that for an exciting title? It's what I will be working on this coming week - all the great coats and sweaters and purses and hats and whatnot that I've been hoarding all summer will be going up for auction. (I also uncovered a few shirts and dresses that I should have listed in the Spring - oops! I'm going to go ahead and list them now too rather than waiting another 6 months. It's Spring on the other side of the planet, right? So it's all good!)

I was going to include some of the new items I listed this week in this post (I haven't been posting my new listings like I should lately!), but I think I've written enough for one night... I'll try to post them in the morning, after I get caught up listings to my stores, which I am about a week and a half behind on.

Ah, the life of an online seller - never a dull moment! ;)