I haven't written a blog article for awhile and thought it was about time.  Way too many irons in the fire...I think I have a touch of ADD because I just can't stick to one project at a time and find myself constantly jumping from one thing to another.  I'm going to try and do better, starting here and now.

Today I want to vent about some very frustrating activities that have been occurring at The Teddy Patch lately as well as make an announcement about some changes I'm making to try and make The Teddy Patch a safer, more relevant venue for you and a much less frustrating place for me!

I have been in this business for 12 years in one form or another and have learned that overall, collectors and artists are an honest bunch.  Until 2007 I had not experienced any type of internet fraud on The Teddy Patch or in any of my dealings with collectors at shows, or any other venue for that matter.  In just the past year, the problems with fraudulent and unwelcome Teddy Patch members has greatly increased. 

I may or may not go into specific details in future posts, but for now I want all my members (and prospective members) to know that effective immediately, I will charge a $1.00 verification fee when a new member registers at The Teddy Patch or an existing member submits listings for the first time.  New members will be required to pay this fee through PayPal upon registration before their account will be activated.  I am also blocking several free email addresses beginning with:  gmail.com and hotmail.com.  If you are a prospective new member, please register using a "real" internet mail account such as comcast.net, cox.net, etc. For now, I'm still going to allow a couple of the free email services such as yahoo.com but reserve the right to block them at any time should the problems continue.  

Awhile back, when I experienced my first lesson in internet fraud, I did some research to educate myself.  As the owner of an internet auction site, I especially needed to know more about how to protect myself and my investment.  As an artist dealing with collectors from all over the world, it is also important to be armed with some information.  I'll dust that article off and put it in a new, separate post.  

In the meantime, I hope you'll bear with me as I make changes to keep The Teddy Patch a safer place for everyone!  Take care.