Shoestring Theory

Update: All of the following information is still correct, but I did do some more digging through the eBay forums and found some other people who have all been having the same problem for the last week. You can read some here. I think one thing that people are still missing is that the status is removed from the original payment if a claim is filed.

Original Post

So I noticed something odd today in my payment confirmations from PayPal for my eBay sales. PayPal offers a “Seller Protection Policy” (SPP) which guarentees transactions provided certain criteria are met with the payment, and sellers obey certain rules in shipping and fulfilling orders. I’ve only ever had to use it a few times to get back money when a buyer filed a chargeback against me that I felt was unfair. But it’s nice to know that it’s there and it provides sellers with a sense of protection.

For a long time, when you receive a payment received notification from PayPal, it would show whether or not the transaction was eligible for the SPP in that email. In the following screen shot, you can see an example of this. Click on the screenshot for a larger, clearer version. There’s a section labeled Seller Protection Policy, next to that it says Eligible, and then below it has a simple summary of the SPP. I’ve blocked out all private information in the following screenshots.

Since May 27th, I have not received a single email that showed that a transaction was eligible. I only just realized this today. In that same spot on the following email, you’ll see that it says Not Eligible next to Seller Protection Policy (again, click for a larger, clearer image):

However, if I go and look at the transaction details page inside PayPal, it shows that the transaction is Eligible. The eligibility status is in the upper right hand corner of the screen shot:

I’ve checked dozens of payments in the last hour, and in every case the email says that a transaction is Not Eligible, and the payment details page says that the transaction is eligible.

This isn’t just confusing, it’s potentially problematic for sellers who may end up in an argument with PayPal about the eligibility of a transaction for the SPP. When a chargeback or reversal is filed on a payment, PayPal removes the SPP section from the transaction details page. The entire entire “Okay to Ship!” section, with the SPP status, address and address status are all removed from the transaction details page when there is a problem with a transaction. I’ve personally seen this multiple times. All of that information is is replaced with the following very brief note:

So, in my case, if I end up with a reversal on any of these transactions, my original payment email is going to tell me that the transaction is Not Eligible for protection, and any information to the contrary will have been stripped out of the transaction page. This is deceptive and unfair to sellers.

One thing I have to note is that I’ve ended up using those original payment emails to prove to PayPal that a transaction is eligible. I’ve done this as recently as last month. I thought for a moment that perhaps there was some limit to the frequency that one could use the SPP, but after checking the official User Agreement for PayPal, not so. Section 11.2 states that, “There is no limit on the number of payments for which you can receive coverage.” So that doesn’t seem to be the case.

It’s also possible this is just a glitch in the system, it certainly wouldn’t be the first one I had seen with PayPal’s notification system.

Regardless of the reason behind this, it’s another reason that PayPal needs to stop removing the SPP status of a payment when there is a chargeback, claim or reversal filed against it. Sellers have the right to know that status.

Tags:   chargeback · claim · eBay · payment · PayPal · Seller Protection Policy1 Comment

A friend alerted me this morning that an item had been removed from his Zazzle store because it contained imagery related to Route 66, the iconic US highway that ran from Chicago to LA. A company based in the Netherlands, Tempting Brands, apparently claims to own the trademark to Route 66 and has been sending takedown notices to Zazzle users relating to merchandise that includes the Route 66 logo. A quick search showed at least one other Zazzle user who’s merch had been taken down for the same reason. That user posted a screen capture of his takedown letter here.

The licensing website for Route 66, with information on licensing and use of Route 66, includes dozens or hundreds of photographs, sounds and movies relating to Route 66 that appear to be vintage stuff, including having the classic song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66” playing over an image montage. But there is absolutely no information indicating that they have asked for, paid for or received the rights to use any of the images, videos or sounds on their licensing site. In fact, there’s very little information overall about the company, actual licensing, their history of ownership, anything at all. There’s not a lot of information about the parent company Tempting Brands either, their official website address just links back to the Route 66 licensing website already linked above.

I have to admit to being incredibly confused about this. Route 66 was a federal US highway that existed for 70 years before being decommissioned and is one of the classic icons of Americana and the development of America’s car/roadtrip culture. I can’t fathom that any company, individual or organization could claim to own a trademark to the name or symbol of Route 66. There are some very specific trademarks and copyrights held in relation to Route 66, such as the old 60s TV series, but courts have shown that even those are very limited due to the nature of Route 66.

Technically the route was decommissioned and I can see the symbol potentially existing in a legal limbo, but there are thousands of companies, communities and individuals who have used Route 66 logos and symbols over the years for just about every use imaginable, including t-shirts, business logos, a movie, TV series, even a state park. Every state the route passed through has a Route 66 historic preservation association. It’s simply unfathomable to me that this trademark can stand as legally binding. The fact that it’s held by a European company is just insulting on top of that.

For those of you who would like to contact the relevant parties about this, feel free to call Zazzle at 1-888-8ZAZZLE (892-9953) or (408) 983-2800. Tempting Brands contact information is:

Tempting Brands B.V.
Westerkade 27-3
1015 XE Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)20 778 2156

http://www.temptingbrands.com

Martijn Berkhout MA
Managing Director
E: mberkhout@temptingbrands.com

Below you’ll find a series of screen captures I took of the licensing site as it stands now:

Tags:   business · infringement · route 66 · Tempting Brands · trademark · Zazzle6 Comments

So I’ve hinted at a new side project for a couple of months now and am finally ready to introduce it to the world. The lady and I’s latest endeavor is Zombie Killer Pizza (http://zombiekillerpizza.com)!

Or ZKP as we like to call it. ZKP is a card game where players take on the role of drivers at Zombie Killer Pizza, the last pizza joint on earth. Drivers deliver pizza, booze, ammo and hope to their clientele, helping them survive the zombie apocalypse. Players will compete against each other for deliveries and against the zombie horde to successfully make those deliveries. The ultimate goal is to earn enough tip money to buy the store and retire from the road, leading a life of luxury as the owner of ZKP.

I’m writing the content for the game and Tam is working on the graphics for it. An early piece of Tam’s concept art is up on the site under The Daily Zombie.

The prototype is done and we are currently playtesting it to work out the kinks. Once we’re satisfied that it’s balanced and a blast to play, we’ll be looking into publishing it ourselves.

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at designing my own board or card game and am super excited that we’re making the jump into this and I just wanted to share it with you all. Please let me know what you think of the site, the idea or anything else!

Oh, and if you want to follow the goings on at ZKP, there is an RSS feed. For now I’m going to try and do a post a week, featuring concept art, thoughts about the design process, the history behind ZKP and some of the influences on it. As we move closer to publishing, I hope to bump up the frequency that I post.

Thanks to everyone who supports us in all the different things we try!

Tags:   card game · game · ZKP · zombie · Zombie Killer Pizza1 Comment

Once upon a time, we’ll refer to this as the pre-house days, I used to talk about running a small business on this site. I would like to get back to that, perhaps not every post, but at least on a regular basis.

As the country has moved through the recession, there are some buying trends that I’ve noticed with our business. We used to have relatively consistent sales throughout the entire day. There were a couple of peaks, but we sold steadily even at 2 or 3 in the morning. That’s simply not the case anymore. We now have several dead zones and two very hot (and one warm) peaks throughout weekdays. Our overnight, late morning and mid-afternoon sales have all dried up, dropping by 70 percent or more. But, our early morning (5 a.m. – 9 a.m.) has exploded, as has the evening (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.). The early afternoon sales are still steady, though not remarkable.

I have a few theories about why this is.

First, our current sales match the standard work day more now than they did previously. Employers now may monitor or block employees internet access more, keeping our sales lower during the working hours.

Second, we’ve always had a strong client base of self-employed people and small business owners. Many of my regulars from two or three years ago are gone now. Some of them I know had to go back to a real job or close their business, but most of them just disappeared. I would notice that someone hadn’t ordered in a few weeks and drop them a line, only to get dead air or a bounced email. Some of these people are still self-employed part time, but have to work a regular job too, thus restricting the times that they can be online buying stuff from me.

I miss the overnight sales the most from our old patterns. It was always exciting to boot up the old ‘puter in the morning and see how much money we had made while we slept. The answer is the same most days now, not that much.

Tags:   business · recession · sales · trendsNo Comments.

We finally got our first negative feedback on eBay this morning, it’s been highly traumatic. Tens of thousands of eBay transactions, almost 7,000 feedback received and five years of history without a single negative. And I’ve probably earned a few over the years that were never left. We try to treat our customers with respect and take care of them to the best of our abilities, but as anyone in business knows, you can’t make everyone happy. Still, I’ve been very proud of our streak and what it says about how we take care of our customers. Especially in this era, when sellers can no longer leave negative feedback, so there’s no fear of retaliation by buyers.

Still, it makes me a little sad on the inside to not see that 100 percent perfect next to our username anymore.

Tags:   eBay · feedback · negative · sad2 Comments

This would have been the front of the house circa 1970. The siding and several windows had changed by the time we bought the place.

We got a surprise gift just after new years, a letter and pictures from the previous owner of the house. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, the house was owned by a woman whose daughter and grandsons lived in the house. These pictures should be from around 1970-1971 when the house was first purchased by them. The pictures help explain a few of the odditities we found in the house while working on it. It was clear that multiple sizes of windows had been installed in various rooms of the house over time, but seeing some of these older windows lets me get a better picture in my head of how the framing evolved as windows were changed out.

This was a super fun surprise to find in the mail!

Hit the read more link for about a half dozen more pics.

[Click to read more →]

Tags:   70s · house · old pictures · remodel2 Comments

Welcome to our kitchen!

Let me introduce you to our kitchen, in it’s very nearly completed form! We took several months off from doing any serious work on the house after finally getting the lady’s office and the kitchen mostly done. But as we were hosting Christmas this year, we realized we really needed to get some more work done, which meant finally getting the kitchen countertops in (plus we knocked out some trim and built a fireplace mantle).

This is a big, big post with lots of pictures and words, so hit the read more link to see it all. I’m including a lot of information about how we handled the countertops, since I had such a hard time finding good information when I decided to embark on this little journey and hopefully our experiences can help someone else who is considering copper countertops.

[Click to read more →]

Tags:   copper · copper countertops · countertops · house · kitchen · remodel10 Comments

The ladytheorist and littletheorist gave me the most awesome Christmas gift ever. For a few weeks before Christmas, I was told to stay out of the glove box in the car, as I had a gift hidden there. I couldn’t figure out why they would leave a gift there and not just wrap it. Turns out it was a little book called It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Zombies! The girls had been practicing in the car whenever they went anywhere to learn some of the carols. The even wrote a few of their own, some classics that weren’t in the book (like Silent Night). When I opened the book on Christmas morning, the girls serenaded me with several of the songs (both out of the book and their own), even adapting one song to include my name! I totally teared up as they were singing to me. I have a massive weak spot for both zombies and Christmas carols, combine them and you’ve just destroyed me. What really got to me though was knowing that my girls know me so well that they knew this would totally get to me.

I have the most awesome family ever!

Oh, and by the way, we’ve had zombies on the brain lately anyway (related to the couple of teases I’ve made about a new project). I promise that more info is coming. It got delayed due to us going back to work on the house to get it ready to host Christmas, and then the actual hosting of Christmas. I should get back to working on it directly after the new year (maybe even this weekend!).

Tags:   carol · christmas · christmas carol · undead · zombie1 Comment

Click to embiggen the Tig.

Tags:   adorable · kitty · tig2 Comments

Click to see a bigger pic of this winter wonderland.

Hope you all had a safe and fun holiday weekend. The snow made things a little rough around here for a couple of days, but the view is worth it.

Tags:   christmas · house · landscape · snow · winter2 Comments