Summer Beachcombing

Although I do try to make it to the beach pretty much year-round, summers are more fun. The tides are more favorable (most of the fall and winter, low tide occurs in the middle of the night), and the longer days make for more time to walk further and pick things up.

It seems to be a general rule that the further you are willing to walk, the better the pickings. When I say walk, I am referring to how far you walk from the nearest land access to the beach. Once you get much beyond three miles (or an hour+), the pickings start to get better, especially if part of the hike is difficult, over a beach that is mostly large round rocks, making footing rather treacherous.

I have been finding a few rarities, recently. I have a much better sense of why they are "rarities," now. Sea glass marbles seem to be getting scarcer every year, too... I guess it may be a product of modern times-- kids don't play with maerbles anymore.

Customer service?

So far, it would seem, I have done fairly well with my sales on eBay. People seem fairly pleased with the lots I have offered, and and the majority of my lots have sold.

I experienced some "trickiness" around going to the retreat in California-- it's hard to run an Internet business when you're not actually somewhere where you can connect to the Internet.

I had expected summer to be a pretty good season around here, but I am discovering that this is such a tourist town that most of the beaches are actually picked clean, around this time of the year. Seems that leaves me either with "friendly" tides and little glass, or "unfriendly" tides, and better glass. Not sure what to do about that. Of course, I am not really running a "business," per se, so maybe I just shouldn't worry.

But speaking of business, I have been surprised at the number of people who have actually been surprised that I answer emails, and answer questions on eBay. I find that a but mystifying. Why would a seller not take the time to answer and inquiry? Not that I am necessarily all that surprised, since I heard much the same kind of feedback in the stamp business.

I really haven't found a great number of rarities around here. Naturally, there's lots and lots of common glass in common colors, but not very much in unusual colors. Heh! Maybe that's what makes them "unusual!"