Snailmail Auctions > Customer Service

Bubble Mailers

Jewellery & Hobby Tools

Documents Enclosed Wallets

ABOUT ME

Hello - my name is Allie.

I have been selling on Ebay since 2001, when I was looking for a way to earn money online.

Before this I had jobs involving the despatch of goods from factories, and as a Post Office counter assistant, which gave me a lot of knowledge of packaging, packing parcels and how they get treated on the way from the sender to the receiver.

I have also studied Textiles, English, and Computing to degree level - so I know a whole lot about fabrics and books, can write clear and informative auction listings (I hope), and have been able to write this site to show off my wares and help my customers.

Strangely the best years of my life have all been leading towards Ebay.

After some time spent working on the web development side of my business I am back on Ebay, with a fabulous forum where you can track your orders to find out when and how they were despatched, and a better site all round - I hope you enjoy browsing.

You should find the site easy to get around, just use the menus at the top or left of the pages to find your way to what you want and then click on links straight through to Ebay to buy.

If you have any questions you would like to ask about any of my listings, or about selling on Ebay, I am happy to answer them.

You can either contact me through Ebay, through my Contact Details page, email me from my forum, or write a post or Instant Message me if you register on my forum.

MY TIME ON EBAY

I started off my Ebay business as a way of getting in a little extra money, and have ended up running my business through a limited company and being the breadwinner!

During my time on Ebay I have had a great Ebay feedback record, and pride myself on my Customer Service.

I found that almost all my customers were a pleasure to deal with, and the others are too few to mention.

Thanks for shopping with me if you are a returning customer, and welcome if you are new to Snailmail Auctions.

WHY I SET UP THIS WEBSITE

I sell a lot of different things

books (where I first started on Ebay)

packaging (I had to buy something to pack the books in)

postal scales (I needed something to weigh all those parcels on)

craft supplies (I had to have something to stop my head being completely filled up with web design and Ebay)

and my newest range of products - flags - when you work from home you need to feel that there is something else out there!

Although I have had an Ebay Shop since I first started on Ebay, I found my products weren't displayed in quite the way I wanted. This was in 2001, when Ebay Shops were VERY basic, and you got them for free.

I also wanted to learn more HTML, which I had already started to learn to improve my Ebay listings.

My first couple of sites were written using Homesite and TopStyle, which allowed me to do lots of hand coding to learn the nuts and bolts of HTML and CSS.

I used Cute FTPpro to upload my site, and still do now.

My sites are hosted with 1 & 1, which has been trouble free and very good value for money.

I was very proud of my first site - although it was so dark it looked like a cellar bar, my customers seemed to like it.

The second version was a lot better, and lighter - I learned from studying Usability Guru Jakob Neilson what didn't work on the web, and tried to apply some of his advice.

I slimmed down my navigation (which was in danger of totally eclipsing the content) and added some pages which listed orders that had gone out.

Then came Snailmail Auctions 3.1, which has been written using Dreamweaver MX 2004, still mainly hand coded, but with some really useful extensions to save time.

For this latest version of my site I wanted a more polished look, and more use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to make my site easier to change next time.

I also wanted a lot more interactivity, as I had found that contrary to the impression of buyers you get from many sellers listings, that you people were not so scary to deal with.

And now, we have Snailmail Auctions 3.1.1 which makes the navigation a little more compact, and adds some glass buttons I made with Fireworks MX, which was also used for the product photos..

I hope you like it.

MY FABULOUS FORUM

My forum started as a toy to play with.

The single best feature of the internet is its interactivity, and forums are a fantastic example of that.

I soon realized that a forum would be a great way of communicating with my customers.

You can email me from my forum, or write a post or Instant Message me if you register.

I feel strongly about privacy issues, so I ask for the bare minimum of information to register - a name and email is all you need.

Even without registering you can read posts and find out when your order was despatched.

The plan for the forum is to have a number of FAQs covering sellers issues, such as tax and setting up companies, and advice on packing your items the best way.

I hope that you will register so that you can Instant Message me or post any questions you may have.

I used Yabbse to create my first version of the forum in early 2004, and have now converted it to SMF - Simple Machines Forum, which is even better than Yabbse.

Jewellery Findings

Jewellery & Craft Wire

Beads