EBay recently announced support for the new United States Postal Service packages – Regional Flat Rate Boxes as well as the Padded and Legal Size Flat Rate Envelopes.  I do not think they have covered all their bases just yet, though I am quite happy to see them moving in the right direction.  Hopefully they are working to update the rest of the processes involved.

It is my understanding that the only place the new package sizes have been added is to eBay shipping – not to eBay shipping calculator and not to PayPal multi shipping.  I use PayPal multi shipping, print my labels, and then print my scan form to be scanned by USPS at the time of mail pickup.  It is not going to be user friendly for me to have to delete some of the automatically imported transactions in PayPal, print labels for the remaining, and then process the deleted transactions elsewhere. 

As a full time seller on their site I would prefer to see uniform eBay processes for all shipping options, including First Class, Priority, Parcel, etc.  I should NOT have to use different shipping label procedures for different size boxes.  I will do whatever I need to do for my customers, but I will be watching for eBay to make more updates.

I would like to see eBay:

• Make the new shipping options available in the shipping calculator so I can add the options in my listings when appropriate. 
• Carry the new options over to Blackthorne, the eBay owned third party listing service.
• Make the new options available in PayPal Multi Shipping, also an eBay owned service. 

When I wrote about Regional Flat Rate Boxes earlier this week I felt like I was sharing a new toy.  I am excited about having options that will save my customers money.  I already have all of the boxes and envelopes in stock and I plan to use them whenever possible.

Perhaps you don’t agree with my wish list or want to add to it?  I look forward to hearing from you!

I wasn’t surprised to see a recent article about households without landline telephones. I know a few people that are connected entirely with cell phones.  I wouldn’t mind doing away with our monthly home phone bill. We just haven’t quite figured out how to make it work at our house.

There are experts that attribute some reluctance to go “landline free” to a fear of technology. That is not the case for our family.  We are old enough to remember party lines, so we (correction I) may have a slower learning curve – but we are connected.  My husband and I have 2 cell phones with internet access, 2 laptops and 1 wireless card, a home phone, and a computer in my home office.

How do people decide which cell phone number to give to doctors, schools, etc? I don’t want every place that we do business with leaving information on my voice mail, but I wouldn’t want to rely on my husband to pass along messages either. Our household answering machine is dependable for both of us. Don’t people miss that type of home base set up?

It is mostly an expense and convenience concern for us. Without our home line we would have to use wireless internet, wouldn’t we? Those services have limits on useage. I like being able to use my internet as much as I need to without worrying about added charges. I know I can use my cell phone, but I cannot see myself using the tiny keyboard and screen for all of my projects. My bifocals would malfunction! 

Do you have a landline? If not, how do you make it work?