Hi Everyone,

Following on from my last post about how Xstreet managed to loose my business - I am pleased to be able to announce that we have found a new online marketplace – slapt.me.

So far I have only registered and verified my account, but I have had an extremely warm welcome from Constanza Amsterdam who is one of the owners, and one of her mod’s Deckheard Cleanslate (and I recognise the name of one of the forum’s other mod’s too - as an old neighbour of mine Sid Nagy).

I will be gradually adding my lines to Slapt.me, so bear with me (still got my RL injury which is slowing everything down a little) but I am confident that this will be a new lease of life for Paws 4 Thought’s online presence.

I can thoroughly recommend Slapt.me to any merchant out there who is looking for an alternative for Xstreetsl after the recent issues on that site and want to send thanks to Constanza and her team for the really warm welcome and prompt response to any questions I had. I look forward to working with you all to help all prosper, starting with the “NEW YEARS GRAND PRIZE DRAW 2009” that I will be donating a prize to

Great job guys!

Zennie =^.^=

As some of you know, I have been offline a bit recently due to a RL injury to my wrist that has made it nigh on impossible for me to use a computer comfortably…

I finally made it back to my digital life today only to discover this announcement from Linden Labs regarding items set for sale on Xstreet SL!

I have been a loyal merchant on Xstreet SL even from back in the days when it was humble little Secondlfe Exchange, so was shocked to see that they are now going to cream what little profit I make from my  items as my ethos has always been high level quaility for minimum expenditure to help those that don’t have a lot of L$ sloshing around. I have many items, most under 50L$ on Xstreet SL which they are now planning on charging me 10L$ a month (per item) for me to list them – I have over 300 items, and do not make anything like the 3000L$ a month needed to list them.

I refuse to put up my prices to “absorb” this cost – mainly coz this wouldn’t help anyhow – I just don’t sell the volume of items needed to cover the new costs.  I am simply going to be pulling  most of my items from Xstreet SL.  It wouldn’t seem so unfair for little fish like me if the charge was a one off “listing activation” fee, and they continued charging a commission on items sold (which I have no issue with) but for now, I will be looking at moving all my items over to other SL online marketplaces. I will add links for you all once I have found and set up a suitable replacement to Xstreet SL.

I urge all you other merchants that use this “service” to do the same, maybe if enough of us bail out they will see the error in their thinking and come up with a fairer solution for those of us that don’t like to charge the earth for our goods!!!!

I intend, at least for now, to leave a few of my best sellers up as an advert, but I am not looking at keeping many on there, and I will re-assess this in a few months. I do understand that they need to make money, they are a business, but also, we, the content creators, are an important source of income for them too, if they drive out the little guys like me, who will become the next big players?

2009 Christmas Tree

Well winter has hit the UK, and as a reflection, has also come to Paws 4 Thought at the new Paws Plaza on Nanda. The snow has fallen, SnowCats sing under the lamplight, and there is a new icy carousel to ride too. I have had a busy couple of days and have made a start on some new winter edition products that can be purchased at the brand new Seasonal Store.

As the name suggests, this store’s stock will change with the seasons, currently it has winter and Christmas based items, but will change to Valentines in the run up to Feb 14th, Easter and so on through out the year, so be sure to landmark it as there will be new stock coming all the time.

One of the 6 designs available in 6 colours

I have several brand new and exciting ranges including Snowcats and Wreaths, Christmas Visitor List Maker Mats,  as well as the new Paws 4 Thought Christmas tree for 2009. There are more ranges to come including “winter woolies” and Christmas based teddies and cuddle Kittens, as well as some more of my popular “standies” kitten teddies.

Traditional Holly Wreath

There is so much more to come as I get the time to build it  and with prices starting from as little as L$15 there is something here for everyones budget, so you can make your SL Christmas shine without having to sell your soul.

Be sure to check out the other stores too, as there will be an Advent Calander in the Mega Store giving out daily prizes from the 1st of December.

Hope to see you there soon

Zennie =^.^=

Attention: This hunt ran from 1st – 30th Nov 09 and has now ended, please see the event page for information on any new hunts Paws 4 Thought is involved with.

Exclusive CKH prize

Paws 4 Thought has once again donated prizes to another treasure hunt. Following the success of the previous hunts I have participated in, I have signed up for the 2nd “Curious Kittys” Hunt. This hunt proved highly popular when it last ran back in July of this year. Like “Hybrid” and “Dark Katz”, this is a grid-wide treasure hunt designed for the Neko of Secondlife, but to be honest, it doesn’t matter if you are Human, Neko, Furry, partially or fully a mouse/dog/fox or other animal, you will still have great fun and get some fabulous prizes.

It is because of the enjoyment I had when I took part in the original “Curious Kitties” Treasure hunt, that I am so keen to be involved with more treasure hunts. So far I have participated in 2 gridwide hunts, and the smaller (but just as fun) “Jabberwocky 30 Question Halloweenie Hunt“.

I  have made lots of good friends who all helped each other out to find the more difficult prizes, and I  have won some truly wonderful prizes thanks to the kindness of the store owners and designers that took part. Infact, I had such a good time I have become completely addicted to treasure hunts and am determined to be involved with as many as possible.

Look for this poster to join in

For this hunt, I have designed a very special exclusive prize – a winter edition, one of my Paws 4 Thought SnowCats (I have several of these ready for sale, but this one is only available for the hunters).  Also in the prize paw is a 75L$ gift voucher that can be redeemed against any Paws 4 Thought product in-world. 

To get involved with the hunt, simply look for the poster (pictured left) inworld at any of the Paws 4 Thought stores (including the Main Store, Gift Store, or our brand new Megastore), this will give you a landmark to take you to the start of the hunt, then once you find the paw, simply touch them and you will then recieve a folder holding your prize(s) and the landmark to the next location.

It is also a good idea to join the hunt group inworld to give you somewhere to go to discuss the hunt, and ask for hints and help from other hunters as well as the designers themselves.

To get more information and clues visit the Official Blog. I also want to thank Bobbi Noel for letting me participate in this fantastic event.

Good luck and happy hunting =^.^=