Money tree (free clip art)

From the Desk of the Lt. Governor:

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a money tree in my yard! If you don’t have a money tree in YOUR yard, either, then I would like to invite you to keep reading this post; you may find it to be of value to you.

As more of our senior members become introduced to the Internet, I’d like to share a word of caution with all Ruritan members: The Internet, and the Social Media on the Internet, is still very much in its infancy. In many respects it is a lot like the “Wild, Wild, West.”

In my circle of Internet marketing geeks professionals, it is sometimes joked that the “WWW” actually stands for “Wild,Wild, West” and not “World Wide Web.” As much as we would like to trust and believe that everyone is as honest as we are, there are some people out there that are going to be taking advantage of trusting folks!

To illustrate my point, I’d like to share with you that I am constantly trying to think of ways to achieve the goals of, and increase Public Awareness of, Ruritan. To that end, I have been going online here and there, and typing in the term “Ruritan” in the various search engines and see what pops up.

This morning I decided to look at Ebay, a popular shopping website, where many savvy shoppers go to find bargains online. I typed in the word “Ruritan” and got some very interesting results. Some were very tempting! If I were to start collecting “all things Ruritan” I would be like a kid in a candy shop! Packrat  Collector that I am, I am fighting that temptation, believe me!

Ebay logo

I was interested, or perhaps I should say disheartened, to see two examples of Ebay vendors trying to sell Ruritan items at prices that I considered to be unreasonable. For example, one person listed a Ruritan sign (the type we try to hang near our buildings, and in our communities) for $300.00 (plus $15.99 shipping.) He says it is used, and has a bit of rust on it.

Those signs sell for $60 brand new, from the Ruritan National website!

Always trying to give someone the benefit of the doubt, I promptly sent the seller a message, advising him that those signs sell for $60 brand new, and that he might not get many people interested in buying his sign at such a high price. I asked him if he might have accidentally typed in an extra zero on his asking price – perhaps he meant to list it for sale for only $30. I will be interested to see what his reply to my inquiry will be. Here is a copy of his listing, pulled this morning:

Ruritan sign listed for sale for $300 on Ebay

Another vendor had listed a Ruritan patch for sale on Ebay, for $7.95. This item has “Free Shipping” and it lists it as brand new. The vendor is not claiming it to be antique, or vintage, or anything else that would make it more valuable to anyone than the brand new, identical patch that you can purchase from Ruritan National for $2.50.

Reaching out to THAT seller, I let him know that people can purchase that item for $2.50 from Ruritan National and that he might find it difficult to sell his product at that price. Here is a copy of his listing, pulled this morning:

Ruritan patch on Ebay

So, fellow Ruritans, when you are “cruising the Information Highway” and are finding Ruritan items for sale online, before you buy, please protect yourself, and your wallet. Do some comparison shopping before you commit to the purchase!

The website URL to the Ruritan National’s Supply Catalog (for your comparison shopping needs) can be found by clicking on this link: Ruritan National Supply Catalog.

I hope you found this post to be of some value to you today, and in the future.

Happy Smart Shopping!