Postage Pickle

Stress Level Today: 2 grey hairs

Had another wonderful weekend away at my sisters in Bath and destressed by floating about in salty warm water at the spa. Its a good job as stress levels are starting to rise slightly. Its been a quiet fortnight on ebay (stores.ebay.co.uk/ARDENT-PETS) despite the lovely wet weather that we've been rain dancing for. It usually keeps people indoors and on their computers but the media hype about the credit crunch could be inducing widespread shopaphobia. I can hear the twang or tightened purse strings in my sleep.

Discussions are underway at Ardent HQ (Spare bedroom a.k.a the office a.k.a. the pit) about offering free delivery on all items on the website to start with. We would hope it would make buying more transparent as you know what things cost before getting to the check out but it would have to be carefully structured so we dont lose money on postage and the customer doesn't pay over the odds for combined shipping. The jury is still out on this one so if anyone is actually out there and would like to make a comment feel free. Alternatively send me an e mail through the contact us section on the website www.ardentpets.co.uk.

Our new small rodent product advisor seems to have aquired the name K.D. as Kate, Davina nor Gabby seem to have stuck. She is thoroughly sampling Burgess Supa Hamster Complete mix food at the moment and initial findings are showing high scores in palatability, storability and pouchability. We are still waiting for her report on health and vitality but it looks like its going to be a 10 out of 10 for this great value quality food. Check it out at http://www.ardentpets.co.uk/small-animals/food/burgess-supa-hamster-complete-mix-food-for-pet-hamsters-gerbils-and-mice/prod_741.html

Thats all for now, log in again soon for more behind the scenes gossip at Ardent Pets.

Googlebrations on the South Coast

Stress level today: What Stress!

We've just had a glorious sunny 3 days holiday in Dorset and have returned feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and slightly pickled from alcoholic excess. Karl managed to keep fiddling with his blackberry to a minimum and entrusted Gill my big sis to keep our e bay listings running smoothly, which she did a fantastic job with. As you can see from the picture the weather was perfect even if the water was a bit chilly for Karls little tootsies. So thats our holiday for the year now back to the mountain of questions that have accumulated in our absence.

We also celebrated increasing our Google ranking of http://www.ardentpets.co.uk/ from 2 to 3 (or should that be Googlebrated?). It is measured out of 10 which doesn't sound so impressive until you search for a high ranking pet website then the highest we found was 5. I know what you're thinking - 'What a fantastic blossoming website, I shall tell all my friends and family to buy wonderful pet supplies from them whether they have a pet or not.' Yes you are absolutely right.

There is also a new addition to the Ardent Pets family. We have adopted a small syrian hamster abandoned at the vets where I work. She is yet to be named but has taken on the role of Small Rodent Product Advisor with a great deal of enthusiasm. Any suggestions for names are welcomed. We may have a little poll when we have whittled name ideas down to three or so.

One, Flu, Three, Four

Stress Level Today: One Monochrome Follicle

Its been 2 months since my last entry and what a two months it has been! Not so much on the website front as I've had to let Karl hog the driving seat. After the 238 hours in 29 days at work in Febrary and a similar pattern emerging in March I decided enough was enough and I stopped working extra hours. We even had our first night out for a long time at the Royal in Sutton Coldfield. My body decided to show its grattitude by cultivating a pet flu virus which completely knocked me off my feet and took a good couple of weeks to completely get rid of. I am now back to fighting fit and feeling really good which might just be me feeling normal but because I've been feeling bad for so long its making a big difference. I can now ignore all the problems at work and get stuck into all things Ardent!

Its been a year since Karl left his full time job and things look to be going OK. This is now our standard response to well wishers as if we say things are going well then there is a sudden slump in sales. So things are OK, we dont want to be too positive or ambitious as we are British afterall!

We've been up to our necks in stocktake for the past month. The counting was the easy part even if we did have a hangover (courtesy of the Royal) and it was snowing. I've just finished getting all the figures and supplier codes into an all singing all dancing spreadsheet and I am feeling smug after totting up we have almost 9K in stock secreted in various locations.

Karl is busy getting all the accounts all neat and orderly. Its taking larger and larger whips to keep him at it although the end is in sight and our first year losses might be less than Paris Hilton would spend on a big night out.

I'm off to list some new items possibly starting with trap and release mousetraps ideal for those unwanted presents from the cat and ending with a football activity mat for cats.

Come back next week for all the behind the scenes gossip at www.ardentpets.co.uk