The Zibbet way! (Reprinted with Permission of Zibbet)

Hi guys,

I just wanted to quickly jump in here to add my two cents worth to what has been a pretty hectic week here at Zibbet, and apparently an 'interesting' one at Etsy.
I just wanted you guys to be able to get a bit of a philosophical feel for how Jonathan and I and our team like to run our organisation.
I figure if people are going to have the opportunity to trust us, then it will require communication and getting to know one another a bit more.
So in that vein I'd like to list a few of our beliefs and values concerning how we would like to see Zibbet move forward as it grows bigger.

1. I want to say very emphatically that here at Z we are not in the business of bagging other venues. Whether they are better or worse than Z, we are not here to cast a shadow on what they do. Especially in light of events this week, let me say we are not interested in tearing down Etsy. We have a lot of respect for Etsy and what they have achieved and there is lots that we can learn from them.
2. Our leadership of Zibbet will not always be perfect, because as humans, we are imperfect. However, we will always endeavour to give our very best effort for the marketplace we have created and those who choose to belong to it. We will make mistakes, but we will never stop trying not to.
3. We will always seek to maintain the highest level of communication with our members as possible. This is motivated by the genuine desire to make Zibbet the best selling venue it possibly can be for your sake. We will always try to be available to our sellers by answering questions, listening to concerns or ideas and generally just being available to personally contribute to peoples' needs. Even as we grow very big, Jonathan and I plan to stay heavily involved in communicating directly with as many sellers as we possibly can. We know this will stretch us, but we are committed to it.
4. Common courtesy is a passion of ours so this will continue to dictate our behaviors and the way in which we interact with you. We believe if someone asks a question they deserve an answer. If we make a mistake, we will own it and apologise. We aim to treat every person with respect. We know we will probably not be able to please everyone, but we will not engage in the practice of 'simply writing people off' because they are upset about something.

All of this may sound lofty or overly romantic and nostalgic, but it is the truthful reality of our desire going forward.

Please feel free to quote or copy and paste these comments in any of your communication with others.

If we work together, we can build one of the greatest online selling venues of all time.

A few thoughts from me, for what it's worth.

Andrew

This is a neat craft: Making blankets with Spanish Moss

Stopped complaining and I am doing

I've been complaining about not having a space to work on my making buttons, painting, sewing, or do any crafts at all in this house since I built the house in 2003. I also complain that I have some cool vintage things to sell, but I can't find them.

It's a cute little house that was built on a low budget. It has the things that are important in Florida. Concrete block walls, metal roof, and even metal studs instead of wood. What I didn't have built was a garage. And since it is a Florida house it has no basement or any real attic space. I have the basic rooms: a small living room, a galley kitchen, and just a space by a window where the table is. It's a wonderful space for dining in front double windows.

I love my little house. It is not a model home that I chose.  I designed it myself with paper and pencil. What fun! I always enjoyed sketching pictures of houses, especially quaint ones with porches.

But, oh dear me, what was I thinking? I am a collector of so many things, and as a homeschool mother, we also collected books and a million other educational items, globes, blackboards, maps, math games, etc. Not to mention the normal extra things that do not go inside a house: bikes, tents, camping gear, skimboards, hula hoops, skates, scooters, soccer balls and on and on.

I bought a shed, and then another shed, and now we have sheds that are stuffed with "stuff." I still have no place to work.  I have been complaining about this for years.  I was always brainstorming how to solve the problem.

I thought about buying a shipping container for storage so the shed by the house could be my studio. But they cost $1600. Not too bad, but I would also need to bring in a few dump loads of fill or gravel and they said I need railroad ties to set it up off the ground some.

I thought about getting another shed. Went to Home Depot and they had one the right size for $3,850. It had 2 windows, but it was chemical treated pressboard walls. Not to mention, I don't have over $3,000 to buy one.

I'll need electric and insulation in a shed to make it an actual workshop or art studio. That's even more money.

I have tried many times to empty my shed and remove enough things to make at least some space to work out there, but the little space leftover always gets filled again. I showed the shed to my friend April who recently moved back here from another state and had not ever seen this shed before. She said, "Judy this is a case of that TV Show, Hoarders where they make people get rid of things. You're a pack rat."

Yesterday my friend came over and bit by bit, we picked our way through it. Not all the way through it. But my pickup truck is loaded high with items going to be donated this morning.

In 20 minutes someone is arriving to take 2 cafeteria tables I freecycled last night. As soon as they leave, I am driving my truck to CARE (Center for Abuse and Rape Emergencies). They have a shop where they sell things. And do I ever have things for them to sell!!

That will be the first load.

My goal is to save nothing unless it is in use. If I am not using it, but plan to use it someday, it is going.

I am going to work with the existing shed, and instead of buying another shed, the one I have will be insulated and have electricity. I will be able to move my workshop out of my small bedroom. I am so excited about this, but may suffer anxiety as I unload things I have been moving around with me for many years.

My kids have things they want to keep and that is understandable. We are going to cut an attic entrance in the ceiling in my daughter's room and cut plywood for across the trusses to make a storage space. My two daughters can put things they want to keep in the attic crawl space over their bedrooms.

My daughter is going to start thinning out her books by selling them on Amazon. A nice job for her.

The many small things I have accumulated over the years because of operating an antique store up north and just because I love old things, will be in tubs in the newly found workshop where I will be able to list them for sale on Zibbet at my Wild Goose Chase shop.

Besides small antique and vintage items I will most likely be selling the many supplies I have also pack ratted over the years because I was going to make something out of them "someday."

I won a $50 Shopping Spree on Zibbet

WOW! I am so excited. I entered a contest on Zibbet to win a $50 shopping spree. To enter all you had to do was advertise that Zibbet had just 295 Premium shops left at the low price of $7 month.

You could enter as many times as you wanted as long as each place you advertised was a different audience. I posted 48 ads. There were 118 entries.

I advertised on Twitter, Facebook, various Yahoo Groups I belong to, different Flickr Groups I belong to, Demand Studios, Blip.fm radio, My Yahoo Profile, My Space, Blogs, Craigslist, Amazon, Etsy, Paperback Swap, CD Swap, DVD Swap, Oodle, Shutterfly, classifieds.com, You Tube and Google.

My advertising brought in 277 Click-throughs which means if any of those 277 people decide to open a Zibbet shop, they will be referrals. I signed up 4 new sellers on Zibbet and one of them opened a Premium shop which reduces my monthly cost down from $7 to $6 month.

I'm going to keep doing that every week until I have 7 referrals and my shop will be FREE Forever.

Check out all the neat stuff I got with my $50 shopping spree. Well, I did go a little over and added the balance, but it was so difficult to decide because there are so many wonderful handcrafted items on Zibbet I would love to have.

First, this sheep made by an 86-year old grandmother was on my wish list for a while. Both my daughters agreed, we must have one of those sheep from Ignis Fatuus.

George of the What Knot Shop makes bracelets that we love. This guy is just one of the nicest folks I have "met." At Christmastime I had contacted him on Etsy and asked if he would consider trading a particular bracelet I had picked out for my daughter for buttons that I make. I told him I was shopping on a budget of nothing after Etsy closed my shop down just as the holiday shopping had started. He was horrified as most folks have been, and instead of a trade, he just asked for my address so he could mail it to her. What a guy! When I gave it to her Christmas morning I told her it wasn't from me, but from George. My daughter lives in the it, she wears it as an anklet and loves it so much.

He has a lot of good karma coming his way. He is easy to talk to and can make anything your heart desires in any size.

Then George opened a Zibbet Shop. I am extremely happy to be purchasing this awesome bracelet from him now.

Handcrafted ribbon? I have never before seen ribbon made by a crafter. This fabric, hand dyed and hand stamped ribbon and can be used and reused. In our home we use fabric everything: fabric gift bags, fabric tablecloths, fabric napkins at every meal. There are no paper napkins or paper towels in our house. We use fabric coffee filters also. So this French ribbon, made by RU Piper Designs was calling our names. One daughter picked Marie Antoinette in Blue, and my other daughter picked Alice in Wonderland in Yellow. My choice was the Eiffel Tower in Green, but my funds were running out. The shop also has some very unusual pillows and bags.  Must see! 

The last thing we ordered with our winning shopping spree was unbleached muslin bags from Spider Daisy who sells party and craft supplies. I'll be using the bags for the mirrors I make.

Now I can't wait to go to the post office and find all these treasures coming from Utah, California, Minnesota, and The Netherlands.

Don't Miss Out! Zibbet's $7 month shops are almost gone

There's Only 295 Premium Accounts left on Zibbet at the discounted rate of $7/month. More information here: http://bit.ly/bf3NR5


I can not even begin to tell you all the awesome features Zibbet has.


You must check it out.

http://bit.ly/bf3NR5

Yum Yum from Poocheze

I made the coolest trade on Zibbet. Zibbet is the best place on line to shop for Art and Crafts. It's just like a craft show. You meet nice folks, buy cool stuff, trade with fellow crafters.

I made buttons for Poocheze with her business logo. Poocheze baked these yummy treats for my dogs. She also made this hot cloth bag for the dog treats. We use cloth napkins, cloth sandwich bags, cloth tablecloths, cloth everything. So we were thrilled to find a fabric reusable bag for dog treats.

Alpie was found on Zibbet

Zibbet has the coolest handmade items. I found Alpie the cat made from a recycled wool Alpine Sweater on Zibbet.

Look really close and you will see him resting by my pillows on my bed. (Photo taken via Photo Booth on my Mac.)

Want you own Alpie?  You can get one at Cat Fluff.