Blog

  • Why eBay is unfair to honest sellers

    Yes it’s true I have sold £1 million worth of items on eBay through one of my previous businesses (PigFlog), but it’s also true that eBay continues to be very unfair to sellers.

    I only occasionally use the platform to sell these days because of the issues that continue today.

    I will quickly illustrate a scenario which recently happened to me.

    I sold a pair of shoes for £150, which triggered a sale fee due to eBay of £25.20. The buyer never paid for the shoes after waiting for over a month, yet eBay still took the £25.20. I raised an ‘unpaid item case’ with eBay to contest this, then the case simply expired with no compensation to me.

    It remains outrageous that they can get away with such behaviour, but it has continued for close to 20 years now!

  • Productivity at 6am

    I’ve always thought I am a lot more productive in the morning, and I’m sure it’s still true. However with a small child who wakes up anywhere between 5am and 7am I have found it difficult to focus on work at these early hours. I think it’s been due to the pure randomness of the wake-up timing.

    In any case here I am at 6am writing a post so I guess I’m being productive?

  • Labour’s Free Broadband?

    Labour’s latest concept of free broadband for all is a nice idea in theory, but seems a little odd.

    The question is, how many people can’t afford broadband? I think in our economy it’s not exactly a luxury item at £10 a month.

    Also in my head most Internet is now mobile using 3G, 4G, 5G. Why bother investing in cables to far-flung places when the signal may as well be airborne?

    Has this pledge been thought-through with current technology in mind?

    Would it involve the government taking control of BT Openreach and Virgin Media?

  • It’s always refreshing to see something new on British Rail

    Sure, this country is never going to get a new and futuristic Japanese-style train system, but today it was refreshing to step aboard a brand new train from Greater Anglia.

    It still trundles along the same prehistoric train track, but it’s actually a nice new clean train. A great start to the day.

    Now I’m looking forward to when they upgrade the rest of their stock!

  • What to buy your DJ for Christmas?

    Working in the industry I get asked a lot about gifts for DJs (especially at Christmas), so here’s my latest answer for you:

    If you want something super-cheap then get him/her a USB disco-light. Absolute no-brainer for house-parties. Link here.

    If you’ve got a bit more cash to splash a professional logo always goes down a treat. Link here.

    If money is no object then just wrap up a Pioneer DJ controller. The latest one (Pioneer XDJ-XZ) is the biggest and best.

  • Adult sleep vs babies

    It’s fair to say we read a lot about how important sleep is for us adults, and the impact it has on our health.

    The question is how bad it is for our health when we get woken up several times a night by babies and toddlers? Is it bad for our health as adults? I’m assuming so…

  • Adding Smart Cameras to My Home

    So I’ve added a few smart cameras in my home now.

    I added one ShowMo one, which was nice but died after 2 years of use, so I can’t recommend it.

    The Yi Cameras are my current favourite. They are very well-priced, basically very solid, and have a great app. Some people are scared that China is monitoring their homes, but I suppose that’s always a risk with these things.