Maxpedition Sale Announcement

All Hard-Use Gear products are now 5% off! These prices won't last so buy now. Don't forget to use your coupon or use freemaxship to get free shipping!

Why Choose Baying Hound?

My own mother asked me the other day "Why would someone buy from you?" I guess if she's wondering, other people might be too. Here are our top four reasons we believe Baying Hound is the best retailer for you:

1) Excellent Customer Service - We answer emails within 6 hours on average. If there is any question in the processing of your order, we will contact you immediately. If we do happen to make a mistake we will correct it and do everything we can to earn your business again. Need evidence? We are eBay PowerSellers with over 1000 positive feedbacks.

2) Sustainable Business Practices - We reduce our impact on the environment and contribute positively to the community in every way that we can. We reuse boxes and packing material, buy recycled content materials, and print on both sides of paper. We currently donate 1% of profits to worthy causes and aspire to participate and donate more. Visit our blog during the first week of December to help us pick this year's charities! By buying from us, you can support our ideals, which in turn creates a better world for everyone. Can Amazon say that?

3) Web Development and Security - We use reputable companies to host our site and process payments. Currently our cart is processed by Yahoo Stores, a highly regarded secure source. Our payments are received by PayPal, another highly regarded secure site with a dispute system.

4) Discounts - Read the Hound Blog regularly for coupon codes and contests to win free stuff. We often throw in coupon codes or free stuff with your order too. If you buy for a group or unit, email us for bulk discounts. Who doesn't like to save money?

Feedburner

Our blog is now on Feedburner, so you can subscribe to the Baying Hound blog on all your favorite devises. Click on the link at the bottom of the blog for more details.

We went to meet Noodles, the hound puppy I wrote about a few days ago. He was adorable, to be sure. But right now is not the right time for us to have a puppy.

In fact, Alex is in France and Morocco on business the next two weeks! He will post some reviews and news items here when he gets a chance.

Coupon Offer!

Special offer for blog readers: Use the code 'blog5off30' to get $5 off $30 spent on all store sales now until October 30, 2007.

The Maxpedition order is here! All items are up for sale in the store. The gear looks really nice. Alex will take the Monsoon Gearslinger on his upcoming trip to France and write a review to be posted here.

In the meantime, I am finishing up the SIGG order for placement on Monday next week. If you have any specific requests, speak up now.

We have been half heartedly looking for a small-ish young-ish hound dog to add to the joy and chaos that is the Baying Hound life. My sister just called from the animal shelter where she works. Guess what? They have a 16 pound 18 month old male basset/beagle mix named Noodles. Dare I go look at him? Can we really handle another dog???

Exciting news! Our maxpedition order has shipped and will be listed for sale early next week.

And, we just contacted the company SIGG to carry their ultra-durable, eco-friendly aluminum water bottles. More details coming on that soon too.

Here you see Devie, the patriotic namesake of Baying Hound Ltd. Her only contributions to the company are publicity shots like this and alerting us to delivery persons.

Final post in our series on ebay selling:

Participate in the Feedback system

1. Include a note or business card with each package requesting feedback.
2. We issue positive feedback for each order after payment is received and the item is shipped. This does leave us vulnerable to retaliatory or unwarranted feedback, but we place trust in others that they will be honest.
3. Carefully consider when and if to leave negative feedback. We only leave negative feedback after we have tried to communicate with the buyer in all other ways.

Tell us your experiences with selling!

The surplus business is interesting in that there is a constantly rotating stock. It is tricky to manage and hard to grow when our customers get interested in a product, we sell out, and then can't find anymore. We also are struggling to correctly provide size and condition information because every item is different.

The past few weeks we have been busy working on our next business move: offering a line of current retail products. We looked for something that would cross over with our current military audience but move towards a retail niche that interests us more. We thought of outdoor/hiking gear and then started looking for a small manufacturer. Talks with customers and consultants in the military led us to Maxpedition Hard-Use Gear. They authorized us as a dealer earlier this week. Soon we will place our first order. Do you want us to carry a Maxpedition product you love? Comment or send an email.

Next tips in the series:

Ship Quickly

1. Print the PayPal payment notice for an easy and complete order slip.
2. Use USPS provided packaging whenever possible.
3. Order from U-Line or another major supplier for cheapest packaging.
4. Order free shipping labels from FedEx. These work with any service and only require that you sign up for a free account. Call 1-800-257-0109 and order free self-stick laser labels (part number 146525).
5. Print labels directly from USPS for a discount.
6. Schedule USPS carrier pickups. They are free and save you the effort of going to the post office.

Yes, sounds like we are getting kickbacks from USPS or something. In actuality, we have tried all the other major shippers and for domestic shipping (and even most international shipping) US Postal Service is the cheapest and easiest.