Taking a break from the daily frustrations of life to whip out a quick blog post here.
Aforesaid "frustrations" are related to finding a little time to list a few new items from my artwork inventory to my "Amazon Handmade" store.
Specifically, I go through 47 circular links simply to update my bank account because the previous one listed had been closed due to "inactivity," which was directly the result of "inactivity" due to Covid and the world no longer buying anything... aside from toilet paper, disinfectant wipes and essentials... like food.
Anyway, I managed to update the account so my current balance from sales could actually be transferred to my bank account. Yay!
Then I went through the tedium pursuit of photography, followed by photo processing... making sure that the photos follow Amazon guidelines. Yay!
So I finally get to the point of creating new listings with my new photos and I get a little pop-up message:
Your ability to create new listings has been deactivated due to lack of activity on the credit card listed on file. Please update your charge method!
Oh, for fuck's sake!
So I go to the designated page to update my credit card on file... which is still valid... by removing that card, and then adding it back.
Thank you for updating your credit card information! Full account function will be reinstated within 72 hours!
Oh, for fuck's sale, 2.0!
Seriously? The company that's so big on promising "delivery within HOURS!" takes 72 hours to update a record in a computer????
"Seriously, dude! I don't know why you do business with Amazon! They are the evil empire!"
Seriously, you are absolutely right!
But, as most people who are in some form of ecommerce know, selling from your own web site or some decentralized venue looks lovely and "alternative" on paper... but the sad reality is that it doesn't do any small merchant any good to create a beautiful presentation that will be seen by three people... a YEAR!"
And that has always been my problem. I have looked at dozens of "alternative" sales venues, and they all suffer from the same problem: A chronic lack of visibility and traffic.
And since I depend on what I do to actually make money so I can buy things like... toilet paper, electricity and Internet service I have found that I have to just be willing to put up with the bullshit (and expenses) that goes hand-in-hand with the Amazons and eBays and Facebooks for the world.
It's simple math, really: Hassles and giving up 20% in fees on $5,000 in sales is still a LOT better than no hassles and no seller fees on $0.00 in sales! Alternately, you can't EAT the feeling that "I'm SO alternative that I am using a site nobody's ever heard of" for dinner!
I don't accept that the "cost" of sticking strictly to alternative independent sales values is — in essence — poverty, because you don't actually sell anything.
Rant over. I just needed to get that off my chest...
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Sequence: 052 — Timestamp: 2022.04.22 - 16:56 PDT
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Oh yeah. I gave up on trying to sell my Artwork 30 years ago. Now I just make timelapse videos making my art and post them to YouTube, Hideout, Dtube, Blurt, Steemit etc where I earn pretty good money.
I then donate my Artwork to Charities like Habitat for Humanity. They Auction off my small 8 x 10 oil paintings for $1,000 and use the $$$ to build homes for the homeless and I get a Charitable Donation “Tax Credit” of $1,000 to offset my taxes.
Works out pretty well.
In the past I would sell a painting for $1,000 … give the gallery $500 (50%) … claim as income and pay $200 in taxes and get $300… enough to buy a new canvas, frame, brushes and paint. So I was working for Free.
It doesn’t make any sense to sell your Art unless you are making $10,000 on a painting. …
Blurt is the answer.
Well, I hope to eventually reach a point where blogging about art, and just blogging in general will be sufficient to sustain at least the basics of being alive.
We're gradually selling off a lot of the "excess" in our lives (from the stuff of two sets of parents who passed away) and trying to use as much as possible of the proceeds to slowly build crypto stakes, which hopefully will help generate more and more passive income.
I can relate to working with Amazon... LOL
The middle man is annoying. I like places that deal with paypal and I wish we could just do everything from crypto instead of linking up bank accounts. It happens we pay at least once to Amazon, once to the bank and once to the government.
It's just generally annoying... I put up with it because I need the $$$ for basic survival; I've quite working "in that world" in the sense of having a regular job, but I still have to interface with it...
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A world without toilet paper is frightening. Just sayin