Second update on the eBay situation

Missed the first post on the eBay situation? Read it here to catch up.

Flashing Panda

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A personal message from
Flashing Panda Founder
"Special eBay Update"

Dear past customers of Flashing Panda on eBay,

It has been four months since the original 30 day suspension of our eBay account, and since our last email to you. If you missed our prior newsletter on this matter, please follow the Newsletter Archive link above and catch up.

During these months we have been working hard to come up with a way for us to continue to offer great deals to our customers on eBay. Over the past couple of months we had reached out to eBay with the above goal. Their response was to close down our eBay account, which we had worked hard to build for half a decade, indefinitely. eBay strategically chooses to pervert facts and employ predatory and unethical tactics against any of their selling partners whenever any disagreement or issue arises, and categorically refuses any attempts to "work things out", (just Google the term "eBay account suspension".)

At this point it does not look like we will be able to return to offering great deals via eBay in the near future. On the good note, something very positive did come out of this fiasco for our company. We had set up a presence on Amazon, and only three months later, our monthly net profits were already exceeding those that we were seeing from half a decade of eBay sales!

We Need Your Help!

How can you help? We have been in direct contact with the personal assistant of eBay's CEO John Donahoe, Robin Pitman, and with Terry from the Office of the President. If you are as disgusted with eBay's behavior as we are, please give Robin a phone call at 408-376-5991, and send Terry from the Office of the President an email at , and let them know how you feel about their handling of Flashing Panda, and of other sellers.

If you had done either, (or if you think that we are full of it,) please do let us know. Simply reply to this email and tell us about it. We would love to hear from you, and are eager to answer any questions or address any concerns.

Thank You for Your Support

We would like to again thank you for your patience and loyalty. Last time we offered you a 25% discount coupon to use at our store. This time, in light of the holidays, and the final nails in the eBay coffin, we would like to offer you an unprecedented 40% off coupon! It is good for your purchases, (tax and shipping not included,) on any retail purchases, (bulk and wholesale lots not included.)

Simply go to www.FlashingPanda.com, add items to your shopping cart, then enter the discount code ...(for subscribers only)... to get a 40% discount* off your entire retail order as our appreciation of your support. This is double the biggest discount that we have ever offered, (the prior eBay discount of 25% excluded.) But hurry, offer is good for one week only and ends on the 8th of December.

* Applies to retail purchases only. Not good for Wholesale Lots / bulk purchases. Does not cover tax or shipping.

In Summary

1. You CAN help! See above and contact eBay with your dissatisfaction.
2. No, we are no longer registered on eBay.
3. At this time, things do not look good as far as eBay is concerned.
4. You can still purchase from us, you just need to do it directly from our store, or via Amazon, (instead of through eBay.)
5. We would like to strongly encourage you to support all eBay sellers, (and not support this unethical company, eBay,) by contacting the seller to see if you can purchase directly from them.

We sincerely appreciate your loyalty and support and are committed to continuing to serve you for years to come. Please do not hesitate to respond with your thoughts, concerns or questions. All emails will be responded to.

 

Sincerely,

Daniel Odulo

Founder, Flashing Panda

eBay update for our customers plus 25% off coupon

Special eBay Announcement

Dear eBay customers of Flashing Panda,

Many of you have been wondering what happened to us on eBay, and how come we no longer have auction listings for any of our products. This announcement will explain what has been happening, will give you an idea of what may come, and may be an eye opener for you in regards to eBay and their ethics and business practices.

Our Apologies

First off, we would like to begin by expressing our sincerest apologies for all the troubles that our former trading partner, eBay Inc, has been causing over the past few months, and for any inconvenience and losses that you may have suffered as a result of the numerous canceled listings, (with live bids,) and the loss of ability to bid on additional items.

What is Happening?

eBay's staff have been harassing our company for months with their unethical and predatory practices, and hundreds of our active auctions have been terminated by eBay, causing many of you to lose your bids. On June 28th, they took it to the extreme and completely removed our entire eBay seller account, and Flashing Pandas eBay store, for a period of thirty days, for, (you'll never believe it,) having a paragraph containing the words flashing panda dot com, which eBay considers a serious violation of their "no links" policy, (even though there are no actual links,) along with previously having a statement that "this flashing cup may be ideal for the Burning Man festival", (where Burning Man is a link,) in some of our listings, (which eBay states may be damaging to their company and their community,) and so forth. They have been harassing our company with such "complaints" for many weeks now, ending hundreds of live listings, despite our desperate attempts to keep up with and comply with their demands. Every time they would "locate" a new "violation" in the listings which have been live on eBay, with no complaints from eBay, for many years, intentionally doing this one at a time, to build an opportunity for causing the most damage to their community and to us.

As an eBay power seller, as someone paying significant fees to eBay, as a supposed "valued customer", as someone who is supposed to have priority support with eBay, including phone support, we would expect eBay to contact us as any issues may arise, and attempt to reach a resolution in a non-hostile and damaging manner. Instead, eBay continuously chooses to employ predatory tactics, and refuses all attempts to work with them to come to an amicable resolution, despite our continually going out of our way in attempts to comply with their never ending predatory demands. Before, we considered eBay our trading partner. Now we know better.

All I want to say is that, they don't really care about us!

What Now?

Prior to this fiasco, our eBay sales volume was on track to quadruple in 2009. The liability that being on eBay creates for our company is simply not something we can ignore. We have to put the strength, integrity and safety of our business ahead of the extra exposure or sales volume that the eBay platform offers.

Doing some very limited research, we came to a scary realization that our case is not unique. eBay has destroyed many businesses from small to large, with no regard or second thought. eBay maintains that their user agreement, (that everyone has to agree to with without any say,) allows then to terminate any listing or auction for any reason, or no reason what so ever, and to suspend any account for any reason or no reason what so ever.

As this eBay account suspension occurred, we immediately started to look at how we can further widen our sales channels. We made a few changes. One big one was that we got onto Amazon in a big hurry, (less then two weeks!) Reading up on what other victims of eBay have been doing, going to Amazon seems to be the general rule.

We were lucky not to get ruined by this evil. Hundreds, if not thousands, of others were not so lucky, as their entire business depended on the eBay platform.

While we realize that eBay is a monopoly, and the only platform of it's kind, and can offer great value to our business, we must first concern ourselves with mitigating the liability. We will probably begin limited sales on eBay in the near future, but it will certainly not be what it has been, nor on it's way of becoming.

All I want to say is that, they don't really care about us!

How You Can Help

At this time, we would like to encourage all of our customers, especially during these times made difficult by eBay, to shop at our online store, www.FlashingPanda.com, to support us through this period. Use the discount code ... (for newsletter subscribers only) ... after you add items to your cart and get a 25% discount* off your entire retail order as our appreciation of your support. This is the biggest discount that we have ever offered. But hurry, offer ends on the 15th of August.

* Applies to retail purchases only. Not good for Wholesale Lots / bulk purchases.

In Summary

1. Yes, we are still registered on eBay.
2. At this time, we are not offering any products for sale on eBay.
3. You can still purchase from us, you just need to do it directly from our store, instead of through eBay.
4. We would like to strongly encourage you to support all sellers, and not support this criminal entity, eBay, by contacting the seller to see if you can purchase directly from them.

We sincerely appreciate your loyalty and support and are committed to continuing to serve you for years to come. Please do not hesitate to respond with your thoughts, concerns or questions.

Happy 4th of July, New email, new products, Facebook, and more

Hot New Products

LED Flashing Drink Stirrer Stick

12 assorted styles. A great bar favor!

On Sale Now:
      $2.95 each!
More information...

Braded LED Flashing Multicolor Bracelet

Made from the same braid as our hair braids.

Low Price. Only
      $2.45 each!
More information...

Puffer Yo-Yo

Two styles, Creature & Octopus, in a variety of colors.

On Sale Now:
      $2.95 each
More information...

Flashing LED Tentacle Noodle Hat

Hottest item on the market! Get yours.

Crazy Low Price:
      $7.95 each
More information...

EL Wire Light-Up Sunglasses

Really cool! Available in various colors.

Unbelievable price!
      $5.99 each!
More information...

Lightsaber Multicolor Flashing LED Sword

A must have!
3 flashing modes.

Onnly
      $6.95 each!
More information...

Happy 4th of July!
25% off Coupon!

Well, it has again been three months since our last newsletter, (that's second time in a row, if you're counting,) and yeah, we know, we've been bad. We keep promising to improve our communications with you, our valued customers, but the universe just keeps getting in the way. We are going to continue to work on improving our customer relationships and will work on more timely communications to you.

For this 4th of July we would like to offer you this unprecedented 25% off coupon, good on any retail purchases* of $25 or more. Simply enter coupon code FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY in your shopping cart prior to checking out to get your instant discount. But hurry, this coupon expires on July 10th!

* Excludes wholesale lots and custom imprint services.

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New Email Address

We are changing our customer service email address. The old address, Sales2004 at Odulo dot com, will be phased out over the next few months. This is the last newsletter coming from the old address. To ensure that you continue to receive our emails in your inbox, please update your address book with our new email address, ... removed to protect from harvesters ..., and please start using this new address going forward to contact us. And if you wish to give us a call, our number is 877-Fl-Panda.

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We are on Facebook!

Flashing Panda now has a Facebook page! Be a part of the community. Get instant updates and special offers. Click below to access the page, then click the Become Fan link to join the community.

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Wholesale Lots

We have dramatically expanded multiple categories in our Wholesale Lots section. Check out Wholesale Barware section - 18 items, and Wholesale Party Favors & Toys section - 17 items. That's more then double offerings since our last newsletter! Be sure to go to the second page of each category to see all listings.

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Custom Imprinting Update

We are now successfully imprinting our dual action switch Teardrop Keychain Flashlight, Slide-Switch Keychain Flashlight, Special Operations Clip Flashlight, Patrol Wand, end others.

First time setup / art work creation charge from ready digital artwork or basic text is $30. Setup fee for reprints from prior artwork is only $10.

Purchase product at our sliding scale wholesale prices. Imprint fee starts at $.50 per unit for quantities as low as 48 units, and goes down to $.25 per unit, depending on quantity.

Visit the Custom Imprinting section of our store for more details and to order your custom imprinting services.

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What Would YOU like to see next?

We would like to hear from you, our valued customer, on what you would like to see here at Flashing Panda. It could be a request for a new specific product, a new line, a sale or discount that you'd like to see, site change suggestions, or anything else that may have been on your mind. We would also like to hear about your experiences with us: the good or the bad - we can always improve or do more of the good, and work on preventing the bad from reoccurring. Please do not hesitate to simply reply to this email with your suggestions or feedback.

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Flashlight Humor

We need your help. We started a tradition of including some light-related humor in each of our newsletter, (see the archive for past entries,) but we are running out. So, we would like your help in locating cool relevant humor. It can be a simply joke, or a comic, or even a video clip, as was included in our last newsletter. It must me in some way related to lights, flashlights, light bulbs, etc.

Got any ideas? Simply email them to us. If we use your submission we will thank you with a $50 gift certificate, so, be sure to include your customer number.

Happy Holidays! Sales and discounts for our special customers

Back in Stock
For the Holidays!

Programmable Message Fan

Four custom messages of up to 16 chars each.

Major Price Drop:
      $4.95 each!
More information...

Litecubes® brand LED Multi-Color Ice Cube

Multi-color with a rainbow mode. Freezable

On Sale Now:
      $3.95 each
More information...

28 oz Large Flashing Beer Mug

Multi-color flashing mug, the biggest that we have!

On Sale Now:
      $6.95 each
More information...

LED Flashing
Hair Braids

Six braid colors to choose from.

On Sale Now!
      $2.95 each!
More information...

Special 20% off Coupon

We at Flashing Panda want to wish you happy holidays, and a happy new year! In addition to slashing prices on many items just in time for the holidays, we would like to offer you, our very special customers, an additional 20% off coupon, good on any retail purchases*. Simply enter coupon code FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY in your shopping cart prior to checking out to get your instant discount. But hurry, this coupon expires on Tuesday, December 23rd!

* Excludes wholesale lots.

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Major Price Reductions
Just In Time For The Holidays!

We have slashed prices on many of our popular items! Here are just a few:

Mini Light-Up Fan Random Patterns New Low Price:       $2.45 each! More information...	Programmable Message Fan New Low Price:       $4.95 each More information...
LED Keychain Slide Switch New Low Price:       $2.45 each! More information...	14 LED 3 x AA Desk Light New Low Price:       $8.95 each More information...
25 LED 3-AAA Headlamp New Low Price:       $8.45 each! More information...	5 LED Tight Focus Bicycle Headlight New Low Price:       $9.95 each! More information...
Patrol Light LED Flashing Wand New Low Price:       $2.45 each! More information...	10 oz Flashing Cola Cup New Low Price:       $3.65 each More information...

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What Would YOU like to see?

We would like to hear from you, our valued customer, on what you would like to see here at Flashing Panda. It could be a request for a new specific product, a new line, a sale or discount that you'd like to see, site change suggestions, or anything else that may have been on your mind. We would also like to hear about your experiences with us: the good or the bad - we can always improve or do more of the good, and work on preventing the bad from reoccurring. Please do not hesitate to simply reply to this email with your suggestions or feedback.

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Flashlight Humor

OK, we need your help. We started a tradition of including some light-related humor in each of our newsletter, (see the archive for past entries,) but we are running out. So, we would like your help in locating cool relevant humor. It can be a simply joke, or a comic, or even a video clip, as was included in our last newsletter. It must me in some way related to lights, flashlights, light bulbs, etc.

Got any ideas? Simply email them to us. If we use your submission we will thank you with a $50 gift certificate, so, be sure to include your customer number.

Hot New Products

12V AC/DC Under-cabinet G4 Bulb

6 SMT LED (65 Lumen)

Introductory Price:
      $14.95 each!
More information...

12 V DC Light Bar

4 SMT LED Surface-mount strip component

On Sale Now:
      $12.95 each!
More information...

Patrol Light LED Flashing Wand

(compare to Street Lights)

On Sale Now:
      $3.45 each!
More information...

48 LED 110V 2.4 W
P60 Light Bulb

16K MCD, Cold or Warm White

On Sale Now!
      $14.95 each!
More information...

Odulo e-Store is now Flashing Panda!

Wow! After about two years of planning and working on this project, it is finally done! The name change is complete and the new name is live! We also have a new phone number, 877-Fl-Panda, to match the new name. The customer service email address is still the same, but we should have a new one by the next newsletter.

We also moved to a new location in July, and have been pre-occupied with the, what seems to be never ending, renovations. The new location is rather small, but it is much larger then the old, and is street frontage, which will allow us to have a nice display area, (not that we have any plans of having any sort of retail hours.)

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Custom Imprinting Coming REALLY Soon!

No, really :)

This is another project that you have been hearing about for some time. Just like other projects, it has been delayed again and again. Renovations of the new place set us way back, then the Burning Man festival, and the staffing difficulties, (we had to let go the last two persons doing the shipping and are again in search of a shipping clerk.)

Custom imprinting will be available soon, PROMISE! :)

Again, if anyone is anxious and can't wait, please don't hesitate to give us a shout, this just may be what it will take to push this project off of the back burner and into production.

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What Would YOU like to see?

We would like to hear from you, our valued customer, on what you would like to see here at Flashing Panda. It could be a request for a new specific product, a new line, a sale or discount that you'd like to see, site change suggestions, or anything else that may have been on your mind. We would also like to hear about your experiences with us: the good or the bad - we can always improve or do more of the good, and work on preventing the bad from reoccurring. Please do not hesitate to simply reply to this email with your suggestions or feedback.

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Flashlight Humor

OK, if you haven't seen this, this is hilarious! Enjoy :)
(Not for small children, PG-13.)

Watch the YouTube video.

We've Got Our New Name! & Custom Imprinting Coming Soon!

Hot New Products

New Model

385 nM True-UV
LED Keychain

Introductory Price:
      $4.95 each!
More information...

LED Flashing Lanyard

On Sale Now:
      $2.95 each!
More information...

4-LED Aluminum
UV Flashlight

3x AA Batteries
Machined Aluminum

On Sale Now:
      $12.95 each!
More information...

Tunnel Necklace

Super Cool Pendant!
6 Tunnel Modes!

On Sale Now!
      $3.45 each!
More information...

Thank You To All Who Have Participated in Our Name Survey & Had Suggested Names!

We would like to start by thanking all of our customers who have sent us suggestions for our new name, and those who had then participated in the survey. We have received many great, interesting, and unique suggestions from our customers and friends.

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We've Got Our New Name!

OK, this has been a very long cycle, (well over a year.) We got distracted many times along the way, but, finally, we have arrived! So, big drum roll...

FlashingPanda.com

We will be working on changing the name over in the next couple of months, and then on creating new logos. Please feel free to send us suggestions. The new URL already works - it will currently redirect to the old URL. Once the switch is made, the old URL will then redirect to the new one for some time. We will also be changing the customer service email address, and possibly get a new toll free number, though the old one, 866-My-Odulo, will still work.

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Custom Imprinting Coming Soon!

OK, this is yet another cycle which has been in the works for quite some time. A number of you have been asking us if we can imprint our flashlights, barware, and some of the toys, and we have been telling you "soon" now for over a year. Finally it is becoming a reality. Let this be a "pre-announcement", as we are not yet quite ready to do this, but, the equipment is in, and if any of you are super-eager to get something imprinted, and want to be our guinea-pig for the process, give us a holler :-)

Our goal is to have the process ironed out and to start offering the service full blast in the next few months. We will send out another newsletter to announce it, along with some sample pictures to give you an idea of what can be done. But, in a nutshell: single color; can be very fine to fit on the keychains or large to go onto barware; images, text, etc.; very durable inks, won't rub off.

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Flashlight Humor

Here is a new product coming soon to our catalog:

On a different note:
Two atoms talking:
One says, "Hey, I think I just lost an electron!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm positive!"

Feedback on New Name Choices

Back in Stock
By Popular Demand

Meteor Storm LED
Spinner Wand

On Sale Now:
      $3.95 each!
More information...

New Product
(hot new model)

Inova Microlight
LED Keychain Flashlight

On Sale Now:
      $7.95 each!
More information...

Major Price Reduction
50% slashed!

Programmable LED
Message Fan

New Price:
      $6.45 each!
More information...

Four New
UV Flashligths!

4-LED AA slim
9-LED 385nm AAA
21-LED 385nm AAA
21-LED 395nm AAA

On Sale Now!
More information...

Thank You To All Who Have Suggested Names

We would like to start by thanking all of our customers who have sent us suggestions for our new name. We have received many great, interesting, and unique suggestions from our customers and friends in response to our first mailing. Many of the names suggested, how ever, were already taken, so, if you don't see your suggestion on our final list below, that is probably why.

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Tell Us What You Think Of These Names

OK... Drum roll... Here are the runner-ups!

AmberDei

Blinkology

BoreAlume

e-lumen-essence

FlashingPanda

Lumidi

LumiTerra

LifeoLights

Lightomus

Luminomus

Luminidy

Lumology

LuminOpt

LightsOnMart

LumenCity

YAYlights

Tell Us What You Think here!

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Flashlight Humor

Now, here's a little flashlight humor to cheer you up!

Two blondes were on a rooftop fixing their roof. A big hurricane came over them, and blew their ladder down. The first blonde said, "I have an idea, how about you go jump down from the roof and put the ladder up for me!" The second blonde immediately rejected the offer and said, "No way! I ain't that stupid!" So the first blonde made another suggestion. "Why don't I just shine this flashlight down there, and you'll climb down that beam of light!" The second blonde immediately rejected the idea, saying, "I'm not that stupid, i'll be halfway down, and you'll turn the flashlight off!"