We’ve Moved

We’ve decide to continue using Wordepress for our Business Blog.  So, to avoid confusion (mostly for us), we have moved all our blog activity to one place.  Our personal blog will continue and we will feature articles from the kids, especially regarding our travels in Tintent.  Please find us at:

 http://TheCraftyBeggars.wordpress.com

Thank you!!!

Our business homepage is:

www.TheCraftyBeggars.com 

Launch Hic-Ups

We decided to launch www.thecrafrybeggars.com on Thursday evening, mainly because we thought it would be a good idea to have our ebay, 10 day listing finishing on a Sunday evening. I’m not sure now that this was the right thing to do but……anyway!

An hour before we were due to list our first items, ebay sent us an email saying ’sorry you have decided to leave ebay, your account is now locked and you will not be able to list/bid any items from now on’!!

Of course, we had not asked ebay to do this, so it caused a little worry. Right enough, the account still existed but it was locked and wouldn’t allow access to the selling section. Time to PANIC. An email was dispatched immediately but, for all we knew, this might not be read for several days…..DISASTER.

Fortunately ebay did read the email and eventually we were able to start listing just a couple of hours late. Strangely though, the email ebay sent to confirm this started ‘I’m pleased you have changed your mind about closing your ebay account’. It didn’t give the impression the email I sent had been read!!

The upshot?

We started listing on Thursday. The business is live!!

To start with, we decided to list half of our stock, adding the rest next week. This means, if we list every week we will have a steady amount of items showing all the time.

The next step will probably be an ebay store. We’ll see!

Interesting Times

We’ve spent the weekend trying to get our site ready for launch.  The site will have details of all our stock, www.thecraftybeggars.com will not actually sell direct to the public, instead acting as an information site and providing links to EBay where customers will be able to buy.  Our intention in the long term is to sell direct from the site but the costs involved add a significant amount to our overheads.  Of course, if we want to offer the cheapest prices possible, we need to keep our overheads as low as possible.

Long Time, No Writing……!!

There’s been a long gap in the posts on this page because we’ve been on a bit of a roller-coaster at home. First was an operation to try and subdue the chronic pain I suffer, then came Christmas and now comes a new business venture that we’re deciding to give a shot.

The op was a great success. I had a Dorsal Column Stimulator fitted to my back. This replaces the pain with a tingling, very similar to a TENS machine. Well worth considering if you’ve been in pain for as long as I have!!

The business venture………well, just selling a few bits on ebay to start with, but who knows!!

www.thecraftybeggars.com will start by supplying Die Cut Decoupage through ebay. Hopefully later, we’ll get to run our own site shop but that may be a little while off. Anyway, we will update this site with stories of how the development goes. Who knows, it might even be interesting!!

Bike Rack

When we purchased the ‘Van, we had a tow ball added because we have a tow ball mounted bike rack. The rack carries three bikes and tilts back to allow access to the boot. This was fine on the car we had at the time but unfortunately, it is no use on the van because the larger tailgate comes into contact with the tilted rack and will not open.

The solution? The Fiamma Carry Bike for T4. This was purchased from Agent Fiamma on-line and arrived, as promised, the day after ordering.

As standard, the rack carries two bikes but can be extended to carry three or four. So, we purchased the necessary extension to carry our three bikes.

The rack was very easy to fit and stays on the van as a permanent fixture. The actual rack folds up when not in use, so the whole unit lies almost flush against the rear door.

The plan now is to adapt the old rack.

This fits onto the tow ball and has lights and a number plate since the bikes on it would obscure the back of the van. Once in place, there is a horizontal section that the bikes sit on and a vertical U bar. With the use of a clamp, the cross bar of the bike is fixed to this U bar.

If the U bar is removed, the boot door can be opened! So, we now have a tow ball attached rack that can be used for pretty much anything! At the moment the plan is to come up with some sort of protective bag that the awning can be placed into. Then we can secure the awning to this ‘lower rack’ and save a lot of space inside whilst travelling.

I know this last bit is a little difficult to get your head round. When we know what we’re doing, we will load up both racks and publish some pics.

Cruise Control

After seeing an ad on EBay offering Cruise Control fitting within the M25, I wondered at the possibility of getting it fitted a little closer to home.

Researching the subject, I found someone willing to fit the kit in Glasgow for around £150. This didn’t seem too bad, but Glasgow is still quite a distance. A few people on the T4 Forum suggested always checking with the dealer because their prices can occasionally be a nice surprise. An email to the VW Van Centre in Edinburgh produced a quote of £140. Not bad and a lot nearer to home!

Fitted on Wednesday, the unit works a treat. The indicator stalk was removed an changed to one with the Cruise Control controls. Absolutely no sign of any retro fitting!

BTW, when quoting prices, the centre did give the option of fitting the unit myself and returning to have the van coded (so it knew it had Cruise Control). Prices for this were about £60 for the unit and £7.50 for the coding.

Friday 13th July – Day 16

We got up. Had breakfast. Drove off the ferry, round Newcastle and home!

Thursday 12th July – Day 15

Today we packed up and went to the ferry port.  This time the ferry was on time!!!

Wednesday 11th July – Day 14

Last Day!  Today we went to the seal sanctuary at Pieterburen.  Jen left her monkey in the shop, so we had to go back.

Later, we went to Eenrum to see the smallest hotel in the world.  It has a reception and one bedroom.  As it was our last night, we went back to the site for Pancakes!

Tuesday 10th July – Day 13

Today we went swimming and then out to buy food.  We had a very quiet day followed by a walk around the site.