No such thing as a free lunch.....or postage!

Well folks, apologies in advance for a bit of a rant, but if I cant rant on my own blog where can I? The subject is eBay. I used to be a big fan. As a bookseller, I was at one time selling a large amount of my stock on eBay and was a ‘highly exalted’ power seller. I also used to love buying bargains there. Now it has all changed. A series of management (or is that mis-management) decisions over the last couple of years has drastically altered the auction site – and not for the better. The consensus of opinion seems to be that the site is moving towards becoming just another homogenous internet mall instead of the interesting and quirky place it used to be. There is a widespread feeling of dissatisfaction with the website, and from the moment eBay announced its latest changes, this dissatisfaction has turned to real anger amongst many eBay users.

Lately there have been a series of fee hikes for the smaller business and private seller, whilst the huge sellers of new goods are being given concessions left, right and centre. Also changes in the way buyers can search for goods has given prominence to such merchant shops, making it well nigh impossible to search for bargains without ploughing through literally hundreds of similar highly priced items from these big companies.

The latest change – coming into implementation on the 19^th October – is to introduce ‘free’ postage in a huge range of categories, including books and videos. But this is a misnomer, it is not free at all and in fact spells disaster for many small businesses and private sellers and is detrimental even for the buyers. How? Well, obviously we sellers cannot post items for free, as unfortunately neither the Royal Mail or any courier service I know of is that obliging! We must therefore add our postage costs to the actual cost of our items when we list them now, and because this increased cost will mean we are paying a final fee percentage of a larger amount to ebay (surprise, surprise) we either have to swallow the loss or add this extra on top of the selling price – thus the majority of goods on ebay will actually probably go up in price.

So much for free postage. Not only is it not free, if you are a buyer you will be more likely to be paying MORE! And it doesn’t stop there because postage discounts for multiple items may also become a thing of the past: how can you give a discount on ‘free’ postage?

But the people who will suffer the most are the private individuals who list a few unwanted things on auction occaisionally, taking advantage of the no auction fee for 99p or less auctions in order to make a few extra quid (much needed in this time of recession). This new change makes a complete mockery of the free listing fees for low cost items - for what things can you post for less than 99p? A light skinny paperback book or DVD costs 76p, a video £1.85, and this does not even take packaging costs into account. These sellers will actually be making a loss on everything they sell at 99p or less if they cannot charge for P &P and so will have no reason to continue listing items.Unless of course they want to risk losing re-listing fees for items which they know may take a few weeks to sell. Say goodbye to those little luxuries the extra money may have afforded, you sellers. And you buyers who would have bought these nice little bargains are also left out in the cold.

Perhaps it wouldn’t stick in the craw so much if eBay wasn’t trumpeting on about free postage as if they are doing everyone a favour and telling us smugly that they have come up with this policy to protect buyers from “excessive P&P costs.” This smacks of the Government’s new crack-downs on sick benefits to the chronically ill, telling such people that they are far better off in work Yeah right, having to drag yourself out of your sick bed and work all day feeling like death, really puts a twinkle in your eye and a spring in your step. In both cases they are trying to pretend they are soliticous of our welfare, when money is the real issue.

I think people would be able to accept the changes, if not with equinamity, but at least with less anger if eBay would just come out and say the real reason they are doing this: that they want to make more money by getting a commission from postage charges and they want to gradually phase out the private sellers and their 99p bargains and the smaller shops who don’t make them much profit. (Just as the Government wants to save money by shipping off all the sick people back to work!) For this is the truth. And another truth is, if this does happen, then buyers will lose those bargains, the huge diversity of items, the interesting and unique things which you could only find on eBay – and it will become just one more boring seller of electrical goods and DVDs.

For myself, I am shutting my ebay shop of 7 years standing, come 19^th October. From selling about 75% of my stock there, this has dwindled to a handful of things a week, and is just not worth the expenditure any more. I may list the odd thing there, but I will mainly be selling on my own websites. I will also be trying ebid which is the main rival to ebay in terms of internet auction sites. OK, perhaps at the mo as much of a rival to eBay as your local computer shop is to Bill Gates, but hopefully when the bargains start disappearing from eBay, perhaps more people will turn there instead. It already has the potential to be the new eBay, and this could be the boost it needs.

I am angry at eBay, but in the end it is a business and it has decided that it can make more money with its new policies. This remains to be seen, but even if its balance sheets do improve, it will be at the expense of something which had become an institution. So my main emotion is sadness that we seem to be coming to the end of an era in internet auctions.

Read or take part in an eBay chat forum discussion about some of these issues

New look website

I am in the process of giving my pony book collecting site ponymadbooklovers.co.uk a face lift. At the moment it is just the main pages of the site, although in time I will be updating it all for a more stream-lined look. I am NOT a web designer and also have to fit it in with all the other 101 tasks of daily life...so please bear with me on this!

At the same time I will be utilising this blog more for website news and updates on new authors added, etc.

Anyway, hope you all like the new look site which you can check out here

Pony jobs for Jill...or not? Are pony books pro or anti-feminist?

As with many of my musings, this topic has been inspired by a discussion on the ponymadbooklovers chat forum. Now, I always thought that compared to other books of that era aimed at girl readers, pony books were fairly empowering. Unlike the many of the adventure books, especially those by Enid Blyton, both girl and boy characters in the majority of pony books were on a fairly equal footing. (Compare for example the escapades of the female characters in the families of the Pullein-Thompson books to the way that Dinah and Lucy-Ann in Enid Blyton's 'Adventure' series were always left to do the boring stuff by the boys, who had all the exciting adventures.) However when these independant pony-girls began to grow up and enter the job market, things seemed to change for them. One of the biggest disappointments of my pony book reading career (and that of many other similar readers) is at the end of Pony Jobs for Jill by Ruby Ferguson, when Jill is persuaded to give up her dreams of pursuing a horsy career. After a series of unappetitising horsy jobs, she almost seems to welcome the suggestion by Captain Cholly-Sawcutt that she keep her riding for a hobby and get trained for a 'proper job.'

Far more satisfying were the characters who defied their parents and convention to stick with a horsy career. We have Janet in Janet Must Ride, Rennie in Rennie Goes Riding, Fiona in Clear Round, Sarah and Ginette in Ten Week Stables, and many more.

A lot of books followed the Pony Jobs for Jill theme of the horsy job as being deadly hard-work, under-paid and disappointing: which as we all know it can be. And of course not pursuing a horsy career is not necessarily giving up the fight for equality and independence. However as another forum member pointed out, how come the non-pony choice of job always seemed so un-intellectual? The older pony books offered a selection of secretarial or domestic jobs, more recently modelling has been offered as an alternative to the horsy career. Where were the degree courses, the careers in science, law or teaching? Were these books actually saying that the pony mad girl was anti-intellectual and that horses and brains could not be combined? I am still wracking my brains for books where the heroine left the world of horses to pursue such a job.

So are pony books pro-feminism or do they conform to the old stereotype of women as intellectual inferior and fit only for motherhood or unchallenging jobs? It is sad that many authors allowed their creations only a short period of equality and freedom before
they were expected to conform, and that many were not allowed to show any intellectual capacity at all. Especially so as most of the authors of the genre were female and many were highly educated. On the whole however I think compared to other books of the 1940s-1960s era, they do come down on the side of empowering female characters. For every Jill who allows herself to be moulded into what society would like her to be, there are ten Janets and Rennies who pursue their independance despite the odds. Certainly no girl in any pony book I have ever read bemoaned the fact she was a mere girl and tried to turn herself into a psuedo-boy, as did George in the Famous Five! They may have had their problems but in general, their gender was not one of them!

Goodbye Oscar...

My dear old cat Oscar who has featured in the blog from time to time has recently passed away after a short illness. He had lived a very full and long life and was such a character with a very large (and loud!) personality. The house seems so empty without him and very quiet! Poor Rosie, his feline friend and sometime sparring partner, is also missing him. He was formerly my Gran's beloved pet, but when she passed away a few years ago he came to live with me. I would like to think that somewhere he and my gran have been re-united once more.

I have been touched and comforted by the many messages of sympathy from friends on the ponymadbooklovers forum and others who have emailed me. Although people may think nothing they say can help at a time like this, I believe that knowing others who have gone through the same thing are behind you, does provide some comfort. So, sincere thanks to everyone who has expressed their sympathy for my loss.

This is the latest in a long line of unfortunate and stressful events to have happened lately which is why I have not been blogging for a while. I will not bore anyone with all the details, suffice to say illness, moving home, and large changes in lifestyle have all played their part. However I will now be aiming to blog again at least once a month. Watch this space!

Jill on Facebook? Golly Gosh!

Pony books and the e-world...

You can't get two further extremes than the modern hi-tech phenomenons of Myspace, Facebook and Bebo and the old-fashioned golly-gosh world of the Jill pony books created by Ruby Ferguson. So it may seem rather anachronistic to find a facebook group devoted to our pig-tailed heroine.

I was a little surprised myself when I was contacted by it's creator.
But on second thoughts, why not? After all my website (and indeed this blog) is devoted to pony books. Although the internet may be criticised for its detrimental effect on social interection and more traditional past-times such as reading, in my experience it has actually had a benefical effect on the world of pony book sand their readers. Through ebay, many people have been able to find old childhood favourites which they had previously thought they'd never see again. The internet through websites and forums, such as
my own, has brought together like minded pony book loving people. How many times have I been told 'I thought I was the only adult mad enough to still be reading pony books?' I thought that way myself until I met lots of other grown up 'pony book nerds' through the power of the internet. And of course the net is unparalled in its ability to provide information. I (and hundreds of others) have learned so much more about the books and their authors since using the web to access this info and contact other interested people. In all ways the internet has improved the life (and in many cases the book collection!) of the average pony book reader.

So why shouldn't Jill have her own facebook group? And maybe even her own Myspace page and blog! After all when you think about it, the web really can be 'wizard!'

To visit or join the Jill/Ruby Ferguson facebook group click here

To visit the Ruby Ferguson page on my website click here

The most expensive series?

I have been lucky enough to recently get hold of a few books in the hard to find 'Jim and Ann/Leysham Stud' series by Hazel M. Peel. Whilst reading them and wishing I had the others, it suddenly occured to me not only how hard it would be to find the entire series, but also how expensive! With the cheapest ones in the series, Pilot the Hunter and Easter the Showjumper going for between £10-£20 and around £40 respectively and the other harder to find ones anywhere from £50 to £200 you are looking at possibly over £500 for the full series! This surely must be the most expensive pony book series. In fact, possibly one of the most expensive series of any children's books. I always thought the Chalet School was the most costly set of books to buy - but considering there are far less titles in Ms. Peel's series, it certainly gives the old Chalet School a run for its money.



Thinking of other expensive series to buy, some others that spring to mind are:

Monica Edward's 'Punchbowl Farm' and 'Romney Marsh' series.....£300 ish each
Caroline Akrill's 'Caroline' series......£170 ish
Joesphine Pullein Thompson's 'Moors' series......£150 ish
Primrose Cumming's 'Silver Eagle' series......£100 ish
Jo Furminger's 'Blackbirds' series......£90 ish
Nancy Caffrey's 'Jay and Jan' series......£75 ish

Nudging the £2000 mark for that little lot!!! Who said reading was a cheap past-time...?

Sweet Rock: why is it so obscure?

I have recently finished reading a copy of Gillian Baxter's Sweet Rock. This is the least well-known of all Ms. Baxter's books and I myself did not even know it existed until someone told me about it not long ago. I suspect I am not the only one in a similar state of ignorance. The book is fairly rare and as far as I am aware was not reprinted at all. The question however is why? The usual reasons for lack of reprints are because the book was not very good or not popular. Perhaps it was not popular but as for not being very good...in my opinion it is one of the author's better works.

The only reason I can give for its lack of popularity is that it does not fit neatly into the usual pony book mould, and contains elements which may be considered controversial, at least at the time of publishing.

The story begins in quite a traditional way with our heroine Sharon bemoaning the fact that she does not have her own pony. She then meets Chris who owns a pony called Sweet Rock. She falls in love with Rock and soon becomes friends with Chris. But Chris is not your typical character. On the whole he is a bit of a wastrel, he does not treat his pony well, in fact has deliberately trained her to bolt and rear, and is always causing trouble. But Sharon finds herself drawn to him, his charm, love of life and willingness to help seem to balance out his bad points. When Chris has to leave for a few months he asks Sharon to look after Rock for him. With the help of a local riding school instructor, she re-trains Rock and begins to win classes on her. But then Chris returns. Although she is happy to see him, she is upset when Chris reclaims Rock, seeing her as an easy way to make money by winning in local shows. But Chris does not have the patience to do well on Rock and things start going wrong between him and Rock and Sharon.

This is as much a story about a troubled boy as a pony book. Chris is a complex and compelling character and it is up to Sharon to redeem not only the troublesome Rock but her equally troublesome master. The book explores whether nature or nurture will win out. Will Chris follow in his shady father's footsteps or can the good influence of Sharon and her mother help to change him? In my opinion this parallel of the traditional 'girl makes unreliable pony good' plot with that of Sharon's similar influence over Chris gives the book a far deeper and more subtle feel than that of your average pony book, but I can't help wondering if it is this more complex element which caused the book to lose popularity. I am reading it from an adult perspective, but the story may possibly have been just too for the younger reader wanting their usual pony book fix.

Also, the character of Chris may have been just too controversial for the time. Were there perhaps complaints from readers about his behaviour? Normally such bad behaviour would be consigned to one of the 'baddies' in a book but in Sweet Rock Chris is ostensibly on the side of the 'goodies.' The blurring of boundaries between the black and white of good and bad is in my opinion what makes the book such an excellent read, but perhaps this was just too subtle for a childish reader (or perhaps censorious parent) to fully grasp.

Whatever the reason it is a shame that this book wasn't more widely published or better known, for it is an excellent pony book which also has a bit of 'bite.' This makes it particularly suitable for the adult pony book reader. If you liked 'Bargain Horses' another quirky read which looks at life from a slightly off-beat angle, I am sure you will also enjoy this book. So please try and find a copy, read it, and spread the word!