Oh Baby Diaper Cake!

For those who don't know, a diaper cake is made by taking diapers, washcloths and other baby stuff and making it into a cake, mainly for using as a centerpiece at a baby shower.  Since Oh Baby: The Pregnancy Card Game is so colorful, it made a great addition to the concept!

To make the cake, I started with these ingredients:

1. Cloth diapers from Babies R Us (2 12 packs)
2. Washcloths from Babies R Us (pre-rolled, made it very easy!)
3. Silver charger plate from Party City
4. Tealights from Party City
5. Ribbon from Party City
6. Oh Baby: The Pregnancy Card Game from Get Well Games

I also used tape, scissors and a plastic container from Chinese takeout wonton soup.

First, I put the plastic container on the charger plate

Then, I rolled up 11 of  the diapers in a longish roll, folding in half twice, then folding lengthwise one more time before rolling.

Then I used scotch tape to hold it together

Making sure the neat side is facing out!

Then I put the 11 diaper rolls around the plastic container, securing it with ribbon first, then with a rubber band.

I covered the rubber band up with another ribbon

Then I rolled up the remaining diapers, but made them smaller, folding into thirds on final step before rolling

I put these around the outside of the cake, again securing with ribbon to hold them in place so I could get a rubber band around them.

Notice the top tier is on too.  For this, I just took the washclothes out of the mesh, removed the labels and stuck them back in to place on top.  The mesh added a nice gauziness to it.

Next, I added the Oh Baby cards by inserting the bottom corner into the rubber band.

I put cards all around the bottom layer

Then I added some cards to the top layers by sticking them in space between layers

I covered up the rubber band with some pink ribbon (taped in the back)

Finally, I added a few more cards and some tealights and the cake was done!

It looked amazing, but especially good with the lights off

For a boy cake, just change out top tier with boy wascloths and use blue ribbon

That's it!  The other side of the Oh Baby cards are beautiful too, you could definitely experiment with some different card combinations!  If you make a cake of your own, share it in the comments!

2014 Toy Fair - My list

2014 Toy Fair - Toys for 12 yo boy and 9 yo girl

Toy Fair Opening Festivities

I attended the 2014 Toy Fair this year.  It was my first show after staring up Get Well Games in mid-2013. I made a lot of good connections, and learned a lot that will help my business.  I also got to see some amazing toys! However, when I ran into the owners of Sparkhouse in South Orange on Monday, and they asked what I liked, I had trouble remembering all of the great toys and games.  There were just so many!  So I doubled back and made a list of items that I would want to buy for my kids (12 year-old son and 9 year-old daughter) or family for upcoming birthdays and holidays.

The list is very subjective, it is just based on their personalities and mine too (for example there were marshmallow guns that the kids would love, but what a mess!).  It was also based on what I could see as a Trade Guest.  Some of the larger companies have closed booths only open to buyers.  Finally, there were plenty of cool toys and games that they already had! So by no means comprehensive.  Anyway, here is my list (luckily the kids don't read my blog, so hopefully still some surprises at Christmas!).

Large crowd gathered to get in

For 12 year-old boy:

1. Metal Earth - Amazing magnetic toy where object is floating over platform; metal models made out of diecut metal sheets of Star Wars, including X-Wing, R2D2, other ships https://www.fascinations.com/metalearth
2. Smartphone Science (SmartLab Toys) - turn your phone into a microscope, then conduct experiments with it http://www.smartlabtoys.com/
3. Bright Buzz (Wham-O/Nowstalgic Toys) - Magic lights on your fingertips https://nowstalgictoys.com/index.cfm
4. Star Wars Lego Carry Case Zip Bin (Neat-Oh! International) - Cases for legos, some of which designed to fit the larger models.  And it unzips into a play mat. http://neat-oh.com/wpccategories/star_wars/
5. Laser Pegs - light up interlocking bricks compatible with Legos.  My son loves the light up bricks that come with some sets, this is a whole set of them! http://laserpegs.com/
6. Hobbit - Defeat of Smaug (game) - walk through the story of the Hobbit (book) http://www.shop.playroomentertainment.com/The-Hobbit-The-Defeat-of-Smaug-PLE83300.htm
7. Crystal Growing Kit http://www.scientificsonline.com/science-kits/crystal-growing-kits.html
8. Lego Movie Kits http://shop.lego.com/en-US/THE-LEGO-MOVIE-ByTheme
9. Brick Stix - stickers that use static to cling to legos and other bricks.  They stay on, but can be removed easily, can also get book for storing them. https://www.brickstix.com/
10. Roomarang - soft foam boomerang that worked really well! http://zingtoys.com/ozwest/roomarang
11. ZCurve Bow and arrow - this was a little difficult to use, but added to the appeal as it felt like a real bow and arrow.  You really had to pull back on the strings.  Would need a target! http://zingtoys.com/zing-air/z-curve-bow
12. Skytrix Stunt Glider - a little kite on a string that flies when you move string in a circle.  Can also toss it to fly pretty far. http://www.mastermindtoys.com/SkyTrix-Stunt-Glider.aspx
13. Bild + Animate - Posable figures with stop motion animation software included http://www.ogosport.com/main/ogostore?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_ogo.tpl&product_id=32&category_id=8
14. Poppers (Hogwild) - very cool popping sound when you shoot the soft balls http://www.hogwildtoys.com/
15. Color clix - organic connectors work more like molecules, so you can duplicate mother nature with curves http://www.toystogrowon.com/sku397
16. Sick Science - cool experiments.  One was a coke bottle with mesh on top.  Bottle was filled with water, but could flip it over and air pressure would stop it from coming out.  And could insert toothpick and see it float to bottom of bottle http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/sick-science-dvd-volume-1.html
17. Build-on brick mug (Think Geek) - Usable mug with lego-like connectors, so you can build onto the mug http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ee3c/
18. Makey-makey - circuit board and clips, so you can turn ordinary objects into musical instruments.  They had wired 8 bananas to play a musical scale, and a small ornamental tree sounded like wind chime when you brushed the branches http://www.makeymakey.com/
19. FlexDex - Light up skateboard (uses battery) with flexible material that allows rider to carve https://www.flexdex.com/
20. Mimopower battery bot - External power source for phone, in shape of Darth Vader and R2D2 https://www.mimoco.com/default.aspx
21. http://www.realinsect.net/ - Real Insects, Vampire bats in acrylic display cases
22. Astrojax - 3 balls on a string which operate a little like a yo-yo, but moving in many directions and easier to control.  MX Sport (soft foam) best for beginners http://www.usastrojax.com/Default.asp
23. Some cool remote control devices:
1. Sphero - Remote control balls and tube that you control with smart phone, drew a big crowd! http://www.gosphero.com/
2. MicroDrones - extreme fliers http://www.extremefliers.com/
3. XDrone Pro http://webrc.co/
24. Sneekums - programmable furry creature that attached to back of something and can pop out to surprise someone by remote control, timer or wire. 
25. Escher Puzzles - puzzle pieces like the Escher lizard that you can fit together to create your own masterpiece  http://www.familygamesamerica.com/mainsite/consumers/productview.php?pro_id=705

Opening Parade of Toys!

9 year-old girl

1. Hearts of Attraction (R&R games) - game where you try to pick up magnets with other magnets.  Uses laws of magnetic attraction http://www.gnomegames.com/new-from-rr-games-hearts-of-attraction/
2. Top Trumps - Wonders of the world, animals, play war-like game, where you pick which attribute you think would beat everyone else's http://www.toptrumps.com/usa/
3. Wits & Wagers Family Edition - similar to grown up game, but with questions geared towards kids.  And you bet for moves instead of chips, goal is to get to end based on winning bets http://northstargames.com/North_Star_Games/Wits_%26_Wagers_Family.html
4. Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty - Putty that looks cool to start out with (kind of metallic shiny), then changes based on body heat, magnetism, or glow-in-the-dark based on which one you buy. http://www.puttyworld.com/
5. Magic Stix - uses static levitation to make foil objects float over a wand-like stick http://www.scientificsonline.com/fun-flystick.html
6. National Geographic Lunchboxes (Travelpro) - Nice lunchboxes with animal pictures on them 
7. Digipals - These are smart phone holders that also clean your screen. My daughter would like the owl or penguin http://www.digipalsusa.com/
8. Furt - kids game from makers of Quelf, with similar funny play, but geared towards younger set http://www.wiggitybang.com/furt/
9. Glow Crazy - Distance Doodler and other items allow you to make temporary glowing lines on the provided reusable paper.  The distance one is a little like a laser pointer, can draw from 10 feet away. (from Beverly Hills Teddy Bear company) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdAgn7K3z40
10. Bo-Po - Nail polish that peels off when you are done with it http://bo-po.com/
11. Tattoos Alive - when you position your smart phone over the tattoo, you get animated character triggered by the tattoo http://www.tattoosalive.com/
12. Glitter Glue Tattoos - Kits include stencils, body glue and glitter to make your own cool tattoos http://glittertoos.com/
13. Spot It - actually played with a friend just before toy fair.  Cards have lots of different objects and you can play different games.  On one, you try to find a match on the card to the one you are holding befor your opponent does, harder than it sounds! http://www.blueorangegames.com/index.php/spot-it
14. NDW - Face Decorating (stick on jewels, temporary tattoos, etc.) 
15. Superball Factory (Wham-O) - make your own bouncing superball  http://www.whamo.com/product.html
16. Sugar Candy Art - has kit to make your own sugar candy in whatever colors you choose (Squire Boone Village) http://www.squireboone.com/
17. Orbeez - gel balls that get bigger in water, use in spa with warm water, or lava lamp to make cool designs on ceiling http://www.orbeezone.com/
18. EarZings - earrings that use coil to attach, no piercing needed (the owner was concerned that my daughter would not like these since ears already pierced.  But we both struggle to get earrings on and off!) http://www.earzings.com/

Everyone (including me) trying to get pic of Alicia Keys

Family/Grown Up Games

1. Lightuptoys.com - some very cool light up toys, including finger tip gloves with different sequences http://lightuptoys.com/
2. Water Dancing Speakers (Leading Edge Novelty) - I've actually seen these at Sparkhouse already.  They have a new one that is a little like a fountain! http://www.leadingedgenovelty.com/items/water-dancing-speakers.php
3. Ring Stix - interesting game where you have to catch a ring using two sticks http://www.ringstix.com/
4. Ghost-A-House - Hang ghost on friend's doors, they look up code to see who did it and who to ghost next http://www.ghost-a-house.com/what-is-ghosting
5. Davis connection (Notjustanoodle.com) - Pool noodles that connect together and have other connectors so you can build with them (they had made a house out of them) http://notjustanoodle.com/
6. Collapse a Pail - nice silicone beach buckets that collapse flat for carrying, but very sturdy when opened http://collapseapail.com/
7. Planet Plates (Unemployed Philosopher's Guild) - Plates that look like each of the planets http://www.philosophersguild.com/
8. Uncle Bubble - incredibly strong bubble solution.  They had one that made bubbles you could stand in (unfortunately not available for retail).  Also bubbles you could bounce on a gloved hand http://www.unclebubble.us/
9. Mountain boy sledworks - nice wooden toboggans http://www.mountainboysleds.com/
10. SmakABall - Players each have ring used to catch a ball that is about the size of a beach ball.  After catching, you smack the ball to send it back.  Looks like a lot of fun for the pool, and one even my mom could enjoy! http://www.smakaball.com/
11. Grown Up Games that I want to play!
1. Dealbreaker - list of awful behavior, you decide if you would put up with situation on card or break up with someone, everyone else votes on what they think you would do (Zobmundo!) http://www.zobmondo.com/products/deal-breaker-coaster-card-game
2. Killer Bunnies - I've heard from friends this one is a lot of fun! http://killerbunnies.com/
3. Mad Quao - new game from makers of Quelf, card game where different people gain control of group http://www.wiggitybang.com/madquao/madquao.html

12 Best New(ish) Holiday Songs

12 Best New(ish) Holiday Songs

With about 12 days left before Christmas, here is my list of the 12 best new(ish) holiday songs.  Some songs were released this year, the oldest was released in the 1980s.  To make the list it had to be a happy song - I know holidays can bring up mixed emotions, and I love some of the darker holiday songs ("Father Christmas" by the Kinks and "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues come to mind), but I'm going for more upbeat songs here!

Some of the songs are Christmas, some are winter in general, one is even just about light, but they all seem to fit in with the season.  Read the list and add your favorites that I missed in the comments!

12. (It Must Have Been Ol') Santa Claus

 Harry Connick, Jr.

I've loved this song since it came out, a lot of fun with a surprise ending!

11.  You'll Never Find my Christmas 

Bishop Allen

Target put out a free Holiday Album a few years ago with some great tracks including this one, you'll see a few more on the list!

10. Baby, It's Cold Outside (Glee Version) 

Darren Criss (Blaine) and Chris Colfer (Kurt)

Fantastic duet here, and to my mind one of the first times on prime time tv featuring a love song by a same sex couple!  They have such great chemistry here.

9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/We Three Kings 

Barenaked Ladies Featuring Sarah McLachlan

I love both Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan, but despite being great musicians from Canada, I usually don't think of them together.  However, they are fantastic on this Christmas mashup.  (More mashups later!)

8. Mrs. Claus Aint's Got Nothin' On Me 

Little Jackie

Another gem from Target!  I love the empowerment here that Christmas can be hectic, but she is handling it with fierceness.

7. Nova

VNV Nation

This one is not technically a holiday song, but it is all about light and renewal, so it could be Christmas, Hannukah, Diwali or Kwanzaa!  It sounds good on my Holiday playlist.

  

6. There'll Be No Tomorrow 

Erasure

This is the newest song on the list, from Erasure's 2013 album.  Great New Year's Eve song! I like holiday songs that you can dance to.

5. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch 

Whirling Dervishes

I know I said no negative songs, but for me knowing how the Grinch ends, I feel like it belongs here.  And the Whirling Dervishes do a great job on the song!  I just wish they had done the whole thing...

4. Christmas Wrapping 

The Waitresses

The oldest song on the list, but always one of my favorites (I am a child of the 80s). Another surprise ending!

3. Deck the Rooftop 

Glee Cast

One more Glee song and one more mashup!  This was a great mix of these two songs and a great performance.  My kids like to each take one of the songs when they sing it.

2. All I Want for Christmas 

Mariah Carey

I must confess that I am not a big Mariah fan, but I love this song.  It is so infectious, and again great for dancing!

1. Tiny Tree Christmas 

Guster

This is probably the song I most look forward to every year (also from Target!).  It doesn't discount the melancholy that sometimes comes with the holidays, but manages to incorporate it into the joy of the holidays.

Have a great holiday!  

What songs did I miss?  Add your own favorites in the comments!

Bizarre Bazaar - Maplewood, Dec 8

The Bizarre Bazaar in Maplewood was my last art show of this season, and far and away the best one I attended!  It took place on Sunday, Dec 8, at the Women's Club in downtown Maplewood.

From the start, it was well advertised and organized by Studio B.  I first learned about it from posters that were hung up around Maplewood (I saw it at Maplewood Karate where my son takes lessons).  While it was initially full, I was able to get in off of the waiting list.  It was very easy to register and pay online.

In addition to advertising it themselves, Studio B was also very active in getting the participants to advertise by offering graphics to use on their own websites and also sending out e-mail reminders.  They also were very active on their Facebook page advertising it.  The one improvement they could have made was a good landing page for people interested in the event (I created a Facebook event page to invite people to attend).

Graphic to use on website

The show started at 10 am, and I arrived around 8:45.  There was easy access to park and unload, and many volunteers helping out with the show to ensure that it ran smoothly.  One of the organizers, Elizabeth, showed me where my table would be, and they even had helpers to carry in boxes!  I should have taken pictures of the volunteers as they were all decked out in wacky holiday dress, definitely added to the overall atmosphere!

Get Well Games table - think I had it perfected by this show!

The reason I didn't take pictures is that I was too busy once the show began!  I'm not good at estimating numbers, but the show was very busy, starting right at 10 am and almost to the end.   The attendance fee was quite reasonable ($50), and I broke even around 11:30 am and continued to sell throughout the day.
There was a lull around 3 pm, and things died down around 4:30, but other than that there was a steady stream of people all day.  I would up selling 13 units, my best show of the season!

 It was a great crowd also, a very diverse mix of ages and ethnicity (what else would you expect from Maplewood?).  Lots of kids running around, they even had an abominable snowman the kids could take pictures with.  Great mix of vendors, with sculpture, photography, jewelry, ornaments, bric-a-brac, crocheted suffed animals, even cool pet supplies!  I walked around a little before the show, but didn't leave the table too much afterwards!  I'm sure location played a role in the great turnout.  The Women's Club where it was held is in downtown Maplewood, which has a great community of artists and creative types.

I wound up not playing the game too much (only 4 people played) as it wound up being a distraction from selling to others walking by.   No one who played purchased it, but lots of people purchased without playing.  I did also get 6 people to sign up for the mailing list.  But most people who walked by were interested, supportive, and some even took my business card to connect me with others who might help me!  So just a wonderful environment for my business.

My biggest lesson from this show was really the need to diversify.  There were quite a few people willing to buy, but just didn't have much need for a card game on back pain.  So a wider selection would have allowed me to have even more sales.  I think 13 or so is probably the most I will do with Back Up! at a show like this, but if I had other card games or even other items, I could have been even more profitable.  I will definitely return next year!

Birchwood Manor 11th Annual Holiday Arts & Crafts Extravaganza

I attended the Birchwood Manor show (in Whippany, NJ) on Dec 4, 2013.  The show is held every year the Wednesday after Christmas, and this is the 11th annual show.  It was rather expensive to register ($120), but 2500 attendees according to this site: http://www.craftlister.com/E1502149/Holiday+Arts+%26+Crafts+Extravaganza+-+Whippany%2C+NJ
Being new to all this, that seemed like a high number, but I've since learned you want closer to 10,000 for a busy show.

I have at least mastered booth set up (although not photography!):

It seemed to grab attention.  The show opened at 10 am, and I had a sale at about 10:15!  Two women bought one for a friend who had just had surgery.  Then another woman was interested, and after playing the game she bought one also!  2 sales before 11 am, was very hopeful.  One other pair of women played the game, but didn't buy it (they did sign up for mailing list).  But then nothing...

My sister joined me around 1 pm, and we played together.  This attracted one more buyer, probably around 1:30 pm.  By this time traffic had slowed considerably.  Some people were interested, amused, thought it was a good idea, but couldn't even get anyone to stop and play.  There were a few with back pain that did not want any reminders of it, but they seemed to be the minority.

The show lasted until 8 pm, and never got busier.  I have no idea how to estimate the number of people.  It could have been 2500 as predicted.

Registration was ridiculous.  The woman wants you to send a self-addressed stamped envelope so she can let you know if you will be in the show (e-mail anyone?).  Otherwise you just have to look for a canceled check.  This should have been a tip off.

When I arrived I was not on the list (despite getting a canceled check and also an e-mail about changes to event set up time), but think I scored a pretty good location.  The other annoying part of the show was that they had a raffle every hour, and had to talk for about 3-4 minutes each time about the rooms, food, when the next show was going to take place, etc.  If you were in the middle of speaking with a customer, it was very disruptive.

So bottom line, I would not do this show again.  Most of the vendors seemed unhappy with results.  I'm not sure organizer advertised at all, relying solely on lawn signs, word of mouth and people returning every year (this was 11th annual).

Holding steady at 50% sales for people who play the game, so that was good.  But need to find a venue where I can get more people to play and buy!

Barnegat High School Holiday Craft Fair

On Saturday, Nov 23, I attended the Barnegat High School Holiday Craft Fair.  In my ongoing craft fair reviews, I am posting how it went.

First, I should say that the organizers did a great job at least in organizing the event. They were very responsive by e-mail, and it was easy to sign up and register.  On the day of the event they had the tables set up and ready to go, with unloading right by the door.

It ran from 9 am - 2 pm, had my table set by about 8:30.  (This is my wonderful sister Kati who helped me out with this one!)

When 9 am rolled around, Kati and I started playing the game so people would see how much fun it was.  It worked right away as the vendor in the booth next to mine came over and played, and bought 2 games!  It seemed the day was off to a good start.  10:00 came without too much traffic, but I figured on a chilly suburban Saturday, people might come later.  11:00, 12:00 and still not much.  

I finally got a few more people to play the game - 4 in total played, and I made one more sale of 2 games.  So the good news was that of the people who walked by, many were interested, those that played really liked it, and half purchased it.  But no one was walking by!  

I'm not sure what marketing was done for the event, but there was never much foot traffic.  If I had to guess I'd say there were about 100 people total who came to the event, probably more vendors than customers!  Luckily I broke even, but I would not do this one again.

Vendors on the other side reported that there was a regional high school craft fair the same day, which may have gotten a bigger crowd.  Even worse, Kati is from Brick, and when I drove her home, we went past Brick High School which was having their art fair and it was packed!  People were parked on the lawn because there were no parking spots (at around 2:30, and it lasted until 4 pm).  

But I still think I could do well with more people!  Next events I'm trying are the Birchwood Manor fair on Wednesday, Dec 4 and the Bizarre Bazaar in Maplewood on Dec 8.  But bottom line for Barnegat is to avoid unless the marketing improves.

Amazon is not friendly for small business

I have found Amazon very difficult to work with as a start up business, and as a result will no longer be using it.

I recently started a company, Get Well Games, selling card games with healing topics.  The first card game is Back Up!, where the object in the game is to get rid of back pain.  Before I ordered the games, I investigated selling it on Amazon.  Most people are very comfortable purchasing on Amazon, so it appeared to be a good platform for me.

Fees
Note these are the fees for my product, it may vary for yours
Back Up! is a lower end retail product, priced at $11.99.   For any Amazon product, you have to pay either a fee of $1 per product or $40 per month.  My monthly target is much higher than $40, so I opted for the monthly fee.  In addition, you also pay 15% of the price of the product (varies by product category).  It is a little hefty, but well within my profit margin, and seemed worth it to be on the platform.

Next, I investigated using Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), where you send your product to Amazon's warehouse and they ship for you.  Being a one-person business, this model was very appealing.  Amazon not only ships, but handles invoicing and returns.  However, it is costly for a lower end product.  In addition to the fees above, I would also pay $2.42 for various order handling charges. (Also a monthly storage fee, which was minimal for a smaller product.)  My margin was shrinking fast!

Instead, if I shipped it myself, I would avoid the $2.42, and I would receive the shipping fee ($4.71 for Back Up!).  My costs for shipping (postage, envelopes, labels) run around $3.50, so I would get an additional $1.21.  Much better for the bottom line, so I proceeded using this option.

I was very disappointed in the way Amazon handles shipping - it seemed to me that they should make enough with the $4.71 to cover their shipping costs and order handling, and they should not charge me what is an exorbitant fee given the cost of my product.  It felt like being penalized for using FBA, when it would be in both of our best interests for me to be there.  Perhaps it is just to encourage only higher end retail products where the fee would be a much lower percentage.

Listing
I went ahead with Amazon, still believing it would be the best way to get people comfortable buying from a new company.  My next disappointment came when I created my listing.  I make the product, so I am the only seller, however when I listed the product it came out looking like there were other options:

Buyers would need to click on that button, see Get Well Games as a vendor, and then add it to their shopping cart.  I contacted Amazon to try to change it, a process they call winning the buy box. To win the buy box you have to be a Featured Merchant, and steps to becoming one were very vague.  You need to have a certain amount of sales, but they are creating a barrier to people buying it!    Still I pressed on.  I ran a Twitter campaign to drive traffic to my page, but after 70 hits, I had no sales.  I updated the picture and encouraging people who had the game from other sources to write reviews, and planned on ways to drive more traffic.

One very effective method for me would be to add a video showing how to play the game or even of people playing the game.  However, Amazon only allows videos for products they sell, another barrier in the way of small business.

Advertising on Amazon
One of the ways I had hoped to use was advertising on Amazon.  With a new product, I had hoped to gain exposure and get in front of people who were looking for get well gifts.  I set up the campaign, and it seemed to be running, but then noticed that I was getting no impressions.  When I looked into it, it turns out that only Featured Merchants can pay to advertise.  Yet another barrier!  Still I pressed on, trying to improve sales so that I could become a Featured Merchant.  With holidays coming up, I have Back Up! being listed in some holiday guides and also getting some press coverage, all with links back to Amazon for purchasing.

The final indignity
Which leads me to today, Nov 14.  I received a notification from Amazon that I would not be allowed to sell anything in the Toys and Games category during the holiday season, which they define to start on Nov 19, only 5 days away!  I needed to have sold a certain number of items by Oct 31, and at least one by Sept 19. I can understand that they want to ensure quality, but they should informed me when I added my product on October 21 of the blackout period.  Now during the busiest time of the year to sell my product, I will not be able to do it on Amazon.

I have moved sales to my own website using PayPal (see www.getwellgames.biz), which will improve my margins, but I will lose any network effect from being on Amazon (sales rankings, etc.). I will also lose the customer reviews.  However, I have no choice.  I really don't see going back to Amazon - what is the next thing they will do to stand in the way of my business?