Shop Hop Question

I had a horrible case of insomnia last week. I sat down at the computer and did the hop. Only looked for easy ones. Found about 30 of the bunnies in less than a half hour (still could not sleep though). I just found my 130th yesterday. I really have no intentions of going out and finding them all since the stores that are left are the hardest ones to find Mr. Bunny.

The nice thing about the hop is that I found a shop in TX that I had never heard of before that sells whole cloth quilts that are 16 X16. I plan to purchase either one or two from them since I am doing a whole cloth for my bed and these would make great pillows on the bed.

Debbi in SO CA

Ummm not magical as such. You tend to smarten up on each site. Things like, you almost never find the bunny in the clearance sections. Or the notions. I don't shop too much, when I am doing that but I DO bookmark them for later. I tend to go back to the ones that make it easy to find the bunny. Any site that has it buried in the middle of a page of secondary links is just right out. I have noticed that not all of them are obeying the "two clicks" off home this time. And you do have a whole month. If you do 5 sites a day, you get the 130 done in 26 days. I am blessed with a cable modem, so the pages load pretty quickly for me. It doesn't take 30 mins to do five sites. Actually it doesn't usually take more than 15 mins. YMMV, Elena

OK, I must be really dumb, but what is the SHop Hop? What is teh bunny of which you speak? I'm I missing a great opportunity to find some good fabric?

If you go to

there's all the info you couldwant. Basically, it's a ploy to get people to shop on line. Onceevery 3 or 4 months, this company sets up an online shop hop in whichyou search for the bunny logo on 120-130 sites. The rules are that the participating stores display the logo (one didn't this time), there is supposed to be a clue, and the bunny is supposed to be no more than two clicks away from the store's home page. All sorts of prizes are offered for varying levels of completing the shop - this time, if you visit 130 stores between July 1 and 31, your named is entered to win a $1300/1400 sewing machine (a Bernina this time).

I don't go back to the stores that bury the bunny either. Sometimes, depending on how bad it is (and Quilter's Stash was absolutely the WORST), I'll drop them a line telling them.

R> OK, I must be really dumb, but what is the SHop Hop? What is teh

As Elena says, there are tricks. For one, many bunnies are found in the Newletter area, or in a Register to Win! area. Stores are supposed to give clues - some have a series of click-thrus that lead you to the bunny, some tell you outright where the bunny is. And then, there are stores that do nothing, and think that sticking the bunny in some twelfth level subsection of an unknown fabric maker is the way to get you to look through the site. They're the ones I'll never shop!

Also, if you do look and can't find the bunny, you can email the store

- they're supposed to tell you where it is. So far, since the middle of last week, I've sent out 5 emails and received 3 answers. Guess where else I won't be shopping!

R> Do you shop hoppers really manage 130 shops EACH month? if so how, I

Yes, I agree with both of these comments. And I emailed the Shophop people about it- that if the shop made the bunny too hard to find, did they think people would go back there to shop? And also, if they hid the bunny more than two clicks off of the home page, that they should give a *really* good clue. Maybe if enough people express the same things, they'll get the message. SueS

I did manage to find 132 fairly quickly but there are 3 that I swear have no bunny :-)

Shawn

-- mslibra

Tell us which sites, I bet we could give you a clue. I'm still working on it though, have 20 more to go. And after I said, you don't usually find the bunny in the clearance sections, that's where I found one FINALLY! lol

I think it's smart of fabshophop to add the "add this shop to My Favorites" checkbox when you send in your registration for having found the bunny. It only adds it to a list they maintain for you, now, not the "Favorites/Bookmarks" that's in your browser.

On another note, I also have never had an email address sold, stolen, or spammed from signing up for the newsletters and contests. *crosses my fingers*

Elena, who does browse a page or two on some of them and bookmarked a store in Tx I didn't know was online.

I did it once. But I have never heard of anyone winning anything and it is a real hassle, so I don't do it any more.

Mardi Real e-mail address spelled out to prevent spam. mardi at mardiweb dot com. ____________________

My Quilting page:

Shop Pro tutorials: Lifestyle Forum:

Zo, I'm glad you asked! Shona wondering in NZ

Hi Elena,

The three are Bunny Hutch, Colonial Crafts and Quilters Stash. I don't want to be told where they are but a clue might be nice! I'm beginning to wonder if it may be something to do with my browser (IE6). Thanks, Shawn

-- mslibra

I have not onw in the Fab Shop Hop, but have won gift certificates twice doing the Mall Crawl sponsored by Quiltindex.com

Debbi in SO CA

Now I get to ask the stupid question! What on earth are y'all talking about? How does one get in on this?

The only problem with the hops is that the prizes are for US and Canadian hoppers only! The rest of us can find the bunnies, but no prizes :-(

'snot fair!

Well those sillies! Win a prize and send it to me! I will promptly send it on. :)

Elena in Tx, USA I will, honest!

I hadn't done one in several years, so I was glad to see the addition of their keeping track of where/how many you'd visited. I did all 130 in about a week. Some I knew right away I wouldn't care to shop there. Another's bunny wouldn't show unless I turned off my firewall, which I'm not going to do.

I also saw several new shops with some good deals - I think I did 3 orders.

In June I did the Inventory Blowout Hop and got quite a bit from one store in California. Had my order in two days via Priority Mail.

Technically shops do not have to put a clue on their website. So, if they don't you might not want to totally write them off as one you would never go back to!! It is definitely a lot easier if they put a clue on though, especially if it is hard to find. Megan