Friday 30 July 2010

My Friday Night Outfit


Sweet Garden - Butterflies and Grass Ring by staroftheeast
Vintage 80s High Heels GREEN LACE UP Ladies Peep Toes by TheRubyKitten
Not Your Average Grass Skirt by tortillagirl
Peace - earrings made of brass filigree and fabric by vadjutka

I have a weak spot for grass, I just love the fresh green color, and makes me dream of lying in a park chilling out and enjoying life :)

Thursday 29 July 2010

Our Creative Space...


You know those projects which you start years before and never finish? Well we have a few UFO's (Unfinished objects) hanging around. Now that internet and sales are slow due to summer break we are busy with finishing some of those, hopefully all of them...


This is a project, started 8 years ago by mum. she made the bottom of a macrame basket but got stuck and never finished it. Now mum is holding it and I'm having some knotting fun, it is becoming a nice basket for wool etc. Apperently the bottom was incorrect so eventually we had to start all over but atleast the unforgotten finally gets attention :)

Will show you the end result in a few days!

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

Monday 26 July 2010

Monday Moodboard


1. LAccentNou 2. GogoKorogiannou 3. emelephotography 4. nightcloud

I guess I have pebbles on my mind due to the bag we have made and another one is in the make. It also reminds me of summer, beachcombing for treasures. The textures are pretty amazing too.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!

See more moodboards at FleurFatale's blog!

Sunday 25 July 2010

Fluttery Visitor



We had a lovely fluttery visitor the other day. Usually they fly away right away, but this little guy wasn't afraid and allowed me to picture his beauty.


As he was on glass I could also picture his body. And yes, cleaning windows is not our most favorite activity :)


Off he went, wishing you all a sweet sunday...

Friday 23 July 2010

My Friday Night Outfit


long turquoise beaded Globe earrings by donauluft
White Silk Spiral Pleats Dress by emilyryan
Fordite Hobo Bag- Leather and Faux Chenille by StarBags
Turquoise rosette bow kitten heels by vintageagogirl

Some refreshing blues for these hot summer nights...

Thursday 22 July 2010

Our Creative Space...


Do you miss the seashore? With the sound of the foamy waves hitting the rocks on the shore?



Well, we have been thinking about you, about those who miss the sea, just like with our jewelry, but this time in a 3 dimentional, amazing bag...




Will be listed in our bagshop today!

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Starwars Episode II : The PayPal Empire’s Chargebacks



This is the second episode of my quest to get PayPal to change its policy regarding chargebacks. For the ones of you that have missed it, here is part I of the saga: StarWars: Stars vs. Paypal

A couple of things have happened in the meantime: the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, wrote to me saying that they had asked PayPal to investigate the issue. Then PayPal telephoned us and mailed us to tell us that they did nothing wrong and then again, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, wrote to say that PayPal Europe had declared they couldn’t solve a problem related to an account in Turkey and passed the ball to PayPal Singapore.

This last is of course, a rather transparent maneuver to get the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier off their backs. The problem affects to all sellers outside Ebay, worldwide.



Not being the person to give up easily, this is what I wrote to the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier:

''Although PayPal Europe has apparently declared itself non competent in this matter, I have received an email , which I include, addressing this matter and signed by PayPal Europe. It seems to me that the no competence issue is only a maneuver to assure that you cease your intervention and I have no place to go with my complaint.
The matter is not geographically related, but applies to any PayPal user. Therefore, and in view of the fact that PayPal Europe has written to me, I ask you to continue your involvement in this issue.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call of someone from PayPal called Andrea in this matter. I asked this lady to continue the contact by letter, but she said that she couldn’t, but she would contact me by mail, what she did, again without stating her surname, what I can not help but find very awkward.

If you allow me, I would like to review with you some of the things said in the email, but also some of the things not said.

First of all, the transaction was not done at Ebay, but on Etsy, that is part of the problem, if it was an Ebay transaction it would have been eligible for seller’s protection.

This is the standard notification of payment received:

Hello Estella S.,
You received a payment of $... USD from ….Thanks for using PayPal. You can now ship any items. To see all the transaction details, log in to your PayPal account. It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.
Seller Protection - Not Eligible

As you can see, not much of an investigation is necessary, seller protection is, according to the Users Agreement, only available for Ebay sellers. That was necessary when Ebay started to loose many sellers to Etsy due to the high fees and the fact that the use of PayPal is compulsory by Ebay.

During our telephone conversation, this lady Andrea insisted that PayPal protection was equal for all sellers, but the terms of the user’s agreement are clear, see relevant articles below. Only Ebay sellers are protected:
4.2.2 Risk of Reversals of Payments and the Seller Protection Policy ("SPP").
i. Risks of Reversals. You are responsible for all Reversals, Chargebacks, Claims, fees, fines, penalties, and other liability incurred by PayPal, a PayPal User, or a third party. In the event of any of these events, you will owe PayPal for the amount of the reversal, chargeback, Claim, plus any fees imposed on or incurred by PayPal as a result of the reversal or chargeback. PayPal will seek to recover these funds from you by debiting your PayPal balance and, if there are not sufficient funds in your PayPal balance, PayPal reserves the right to take your account negative and to collect your debt to PayPal by any other legal means.
ii. Seller Protection Policy. However, under the Seller Protection Policy, sellers on eBay websites, will not owe PayPal any amounts in connection with a Seller Protection Reversal that results from a Disputed Payment and where the relevant transaction meets the applicable eligibility requirements, set out in section 4.2.3. The policy will protect you for the full amount of the eligible payment and waive a Chargeback Fee, if applicable. There is no limit on the number of payments for which you can receive coverage.
4.2.3 Transaction Eligibility Requirements for the Seller Protection Policy.
Subject to the limitations set forth below a transaction (where the buyer makes a PayPal payment on or after June 7, 2009) will be eligible for protection under the Seller Protection Policy where the following requirements are met:
i. You sold the Merchandise via an eBay website; and
ii. You provide PayPal with valid Proof of Shipment of the Merchandise for unauthorized transactions or valid Proof of Delivery of the Merchandise for claims of an Item Not Received; and
iii. You are a PayPal customer in a country that has both receive and withdraw capabilities; and
iv. You must ship the item within 7 days of receipt of payment (unless otherwise permitted under the Authorized Use Policy); and
v. You sent the Merchandise to the address specified by the sender of the payment which is highlighted on your account Transaction Details Page or otherwise notified to you by PayPal through a PayPal application programming interface ("API").

During our telephone conversation, this lady Andrea, agreed with me that it is not very probable that a thief uses a stolen credit card on line to buy goods addressed to the credit card holder. Abuse may occur though by someone very close to the credit card holder, for instance an (ex)partner. Also through ‘phishing’, but again, not very probable, because goods are sent to the address of the credit card holder. In many cases is the buyer who is gone too far in his/her expenditures, the one that claims to be victim of theft. Nor the bank, nor PayPal, investigates the matter further because the money is recovered from the unwitting seller.

It is not possible for an on-line seller to verify the identity of the buyer. That is what we pay PayPal to do, and when PayPal notifies us of a received payment, it states: You can now ship any items. And trusting this agreement, we do.

PayPal may be legally obligated to return to the credit card issuer any payment that may be fraudulent, PayPal is in no way obligated to take that money back from the seller. Other payment services, as MoneyBookers, do not. When asked about that, Andrea told me that those other services are willing to take responsibility.

And this is exactly what is necessary to solve this issue. As ‘leading online payment service in the industry’, PayPal should protect any seller using their services that has abided by the rules. A giant company like Ebay/PayPal should be able to take responsibility when has failed to provide a secure payment online.

I ask you to strive to amend this legal oversight and exhort PayPal to expand their seller’s protection coverage to all sellers. It is simply not fair that an innocent seller should pay for fraud committed by others. Alternatively, if it is beyond your jurisdiction, I ask you to forward my question to the relevant authority.

Yours sincerely,

……


People, I could use some help: I don’t know if the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier is going to consider the matter once more, but obviously one voice won’t be enough.

What always helps is attention from the press. If one of you has press contacts that could be interested in the issue, please let me know.

And of course, if you get a chargeback, fight it, also if the amount is little.

Ah, and if you think that Etsy can help, think again. The answer of admin is that due to their relationship with PayPal they can not get involved. Indie sellers: we are on our own!

Could the seller going by the name Quinn, who left a comment by my previous post in this issue, contact me through email?

May the force be with you !!

Monday 19 July 2010

And the winner is....


It was so much fun hosting this week's challenge, each and every entry is gorgeous, I didn't expect so many great reactions and participants in the heat of summer, so thank you all :)
You can admire all entries here.

Of course picking the best was impossible for me so I had a friend pick it for me, the gorgeous necklace of helmitarha, congrats!
Helmitarha will be hosting the new challenge on her blog.

Monday Moodboard


1. psarokokalo 2. NancyvdBoom 3. fleurfatale 4. Fibrillaria

It's so hot here that all I would want to do is lying in a hammock in the shade of the trees with a good book and an ice tea *sigh*...

Wishing you all a sunny week but with a refreshing breeze!


See more moodboards at FleurFatale's blog!

Sunday 18 July 2010

Little Escape


Although we can't afford a real vacation right now, we do have the luxury to live at a wonderful surrounding.


A little boattrip for little money gives you a relaxing day on the sea.


The breeze you have on the sea and the views are quiet heavenly :)

Friday 16 July 2010

My Friday Night Outfit


Vintage Button Adjustable Silver Ring by recyclejewels
Evening asymmetrical dress by SHIHAR
Black Honeycomb- Bubble Smocked Purse by StarBags
Black Caged Leather Sandals by leasvintage

Summer blacks, perfect for any occassion!

Thursday 15 July 2010

Our Creative Space...


This weeks creative space is crowded with cats and mice! But these are welcome ones as they are prettily printed on a lovely linen fabric.

We used a beautiful classic vintage linen for the other sides which gave a nice unusual combination.


One side is with a cat...


and the other with the mouse...



Super cute but also a chic purse with a nice leather strap in the same hues as the fabric. We are more dog lovers but this purse is delicious :) Now avaialble in our bagshop!
We have made it for this week's challenge of the European Street Team which we are hosting here.

You can see more workspaces at Kootoyoo's blog!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

European Street Team Challenge


We won this week's challenge of the European Street Team, hosted by Nauli. And now it is time for a new theme!
The new theme is....

~~~~~~~~~~ANIMALS~~~~~~~~~~

Think about cats, dogs, birds, animal print and many more, many possibilities!

The only rules are that you have to be member of the Team and the item has to be newly listed!
Looking forward to see your entries!

Off to the swimming pool cute bears dangling earrings by DinaFragola:




Circus Elephant Necklace - Pink Rose and white vintage charm by Sumikoshop:



Ruffled tiger print satin silk corsage flower brooch by TheBroochBoutique:



Story of a Cat and a Mouse- Purse with Linen and Leather by StarBags (that is us):




hedgehog pin cushion - needle felted by colouritgreen:




ORIGINAL - Frida, the cat (III) by anapina:




Art photo- Wild Kitty by aldonasuneviciene:





Xiao Xi Gua Panda 2-in-1 Keychain and Hairclip by swiedebie:




Wrinkels and wrinkeld necklace by zsazsazsu1963:




The Amazon's Green Gold Dream, Brass and Peridot by amoronia:





Japanese Garden earrings in Sterling Silver by fleurfatale:




The Dive - Large Pendant by helmitarha:





Desert Scorpion, a Bedouin bracelet-cuff by LaTouchables:




Animal earstuds by Donauluft:





Saddlebilled Stork print of original painting by petarsalic:




Fuschia The Carnival Mouse-Keeper of Bracelets And Brooches by oneperfectday:




Beaded butterfly by Alatvian:



Octopus - Leather Journal, Notebook, Diary by Kreativlink:




Animal print nuno felted scarf by creationsbyeve:





Cute Crab Brooch by Kraplap:





Dragonfly pendant necklace by ColoursandTextures:




Singing Sheep Bowl by TwoTreesBelgium:




Dinosaur Childrens Preschool Messenger Bag by littleNauli:




Romantic Filigree Brooch by KalliasWonderland:




Baby blanket BLUE HANDSTITCHED RABBIT by Pieceunique: