I took the plunge!

I've been hemming and hawing about Etsy's "new" (not so new anymore, I guess) feature called "Direct Checkout." This feature is still an option for Etsy sellers, although many expect it to be required at some time in the future.

My main concern about Direct Checkout is that Etsy expects requires me to ship items paid for via Direct Checkout BEFORE I have access to the funds/payment for the item. With PayPal, which I've used for 12+ years, the payment is available to me immediately (literally!); I have the PayPal debit card and I can use it to shop locally or online immediately after receiving payment for an item. Etsy, however, is holding seller's funds/payment for THREE DAYS, and after that it will likely take another day or two (at least!) for the funds to appear in my bank account and be available for me to spend.

Many sellers feel that Etsy is profiting from the "float" (interest) on the money. With tens of thousands of sellers on the Etsy web site, many of whom are using Direct Checkout, there is probably quite a sizeable amount of money being floated at any given time -- likely thousands of dollars, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars! After all, Etsy sellers sell MILLIONS of dollars worth of goods each and every month! Here's the link to the latest (July 2012 Weather Report), which is Etsy's monthly public reporting of many numbers associated with the site. In July 2012, for example, $69.5 million dollars of goods were sold on the Etsy site (this number takes into account refunds and cancelled sales). Now, of course, not all 69 million dollars of goods were paid for with Direct Checkout, and I haven't yet seen where (or if) Etsy is releasing any numbers regarding the amount of sales paid for via Direct Checkout, OR how many Etsy sellers are using Direct Checkout.

If you are using Direct Checkout, I'd love if you'd leave a comment here! Let me know how you like it, if it has generated increased sales for you, or if you've had any problems with it. Thanks!

Ingenuity!

Got an idea this morning that involved using paint in a container I couldn't get open. I have never liked the large "jar" type paint containers -- talkin' house paint here, folks, not craft paint. These containers are too large to grasp easily and, if the lid has gotten stuck on by dried paint, opening them is a real challenge!

First, I tried the usual trick of banging the edge of the lid with a knife handle (ok, so I used a screwdriver this time ... same thing!), but the lid still wouldn't budge. You may have done this with ketchup bottles or jars of pasta sauce -- and if you haven't, DO give it a try, as it has always worked for me! Anyway, since this was latex (water-based) paint, I thought maybe a little warm water would help.

I set a timer for two minutes so I didn't forget about it ... it happens, ya know?! And just about two minutes later, voila! 

Now to get back to my project ... 

What is the most ingenious thing you've done lately?