Surviving Holiday Selling Well!

Recently I was a guest on eBay radio and shared these tips for surviving the Holiday selling season - I hope there is something here to help you!

1. Check your supplies & inventory. My point here was that you should take 15 minutes to save 15 hours.  Christmas shoppers are not as understanding about 'Out Of Stock' conditions so you need to keep that up to date! For shipping supplies, check out USPS eBay boxes and eBay seller Bubblefast
2. Keep Your Routine - Christmas season is stressful - don't start any new programs or even diets! during this time. 
3. Establish Cut-off Dates. Check the USPS site for Holiday Shipping Times and decide how your business wants to handle this. A lot of online shopkeepers ship right up to Christmas eve and their customers love it! But if this won't work for your family - don't worry about it - YOU are an entrepreneur so that YOU can make the business decisions that work for you.
4. Communicate with your Customers! Use the wonderful eMail program that comes with your eBay store and let your customers know about your decisions on shipping dates, new inventory or out of stock situations. Keep them informed at this time of the year and they will be grateful for the rest of the year!
5. BREATHE - remember, whatever Holiday Season you are celebrating - there is a reason it's special to you. If you please all your customers but your family never sees you this Holiday Season - there is something wrong! Remember to USE things and LOVE people and you'll be fine!

eBay Radio November 23, 2010

Our Featured "Seller" of the Day- Lattegirltoo

  I've been supposed to be doing these blogs for about 2 weeks and I just couldn't "get started" but today I was reading a very inspiration email from this seller, and I wanted to "introduce" you to her.


This woman joined my yahoo group about 2 years ago...and WHAT A WOMAN! She immigrated here as an adult and has built a wonderful life for herself and her family thru her efforts and her husband's.  She's the mom to three adorable kids (I've seen pictures...they are gorgeous kids).  Here's the "interview" I did with her about 2 weeks ago.

1. I am not expert in particular area. I like branching into new categories because in the process as I educate myself and that's it's just like another dimension opens up for me.



2. I've been selling online since 2001 and adore every minute for me. It's so thrilling for me, that I cannot call it a business. It's just gives me too much fun. researching & learning about new things gives me as much thrill as making a profit.




3. For me being able to immigrate to this country, start a new life and being fully accepted by fellow Americans, that's the lottery I always wanted to win. And I did. I will never stop struggling with the question - why me?


Why was I able to escape without being caught and thrown in jail like other desperate people?


When I sat on a lounge chair in Mexico behind rope fence and watched the vendors carry literally their whole store on their backs, I was thinking this could have been me, how come I am so fortunate and these people barely make $50 a day?


When I see my classmates moms dying and leaving small kids behind ( this October & November we lost 2 moms due to breast cancer) I think - this could have been me.


Have a great weekend, Beth!


Let me tell you, Katarina has earned her spot on the beach. She made adorable bras for both BLINGMYBRA campaigns on eBay and she's a RESEARCH FIEND!  She finds the Best examples of things.


But check out some of her items: ok but THIS is my favorite one...
Slovak Coffee

This is soooo yummy!! Don't buy it all, leave one more for me... LOL


The woman's fashion sense is totally awesome, very European and tasteful ...like this... Italain Leather Bucket Bag style purse.

Hand-tooled Italian Leather Purse

I like this too - not that it would fit ONE leg... but it's adorable  Ladies Blanket Dress

But she also sells some "little things"...Like this page of toys Very Desperate Housewife's Collectible Toys

And the woman is just a fantastic person and marketer.  Please Christmas shop with our "Very Desperate Housewife"

Looking up AGain

Just a quickie supplement to the "LOOK UP!" theme -

I had a mentor tell me repeatedly, about shopping in antique shops, to look up, look down and look under..so with that in mind - LOOK UP! then look down and go outside and look around - it is a pretty time of the year ---
This is my breakfast companion...sometimes lunch too - he's actually on "Lookout Duty" right here

This is the "small" tree across the street - it is at least 75 feet tall

This is the shopping center at the end of the street -

And this and down below is where all the leaves  around here go to die....

HAVE A GREAT DAY  - See  you later!

Looking Up

Photo Challenge - Look UP Dallas, Georgia

Each month we devote the 15th to our monthly photo challenge. This month's challenge was "Look UP."

Look UP in Levittown PA

Looking Up in Alabama

LOOK UP !

This is what I see when I LOOK UP in my Backyard..
Fall is here in New England for sure !

REALLY Look UP!

Look UP!

The Countdown To Christmas SALES!!!

This sale runs from November 13th until the end of November. Watch for more updates as we add and subtract items or feature certain categories..

Beth, will have selected items (a lot of them) for 20% off from Nov 13th until the end of the month.
DepressionGlassWarehouse for elegant gifts!


Trish – 15-25% off selected items
BIRDHOUSEBOOKS for ephemera and children's literature. Among other things, Trish has a huge assortment of vintage paper.

Bob 10% off storewide
BOB'S NEAT STORE You never know what you'll find in Bob's Neat store...check it out!

Katarina
One Very Desperate to Sell you something Housewife!

10-40% selected items
VERY DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE She has the best deals anyway and now with a sale?? Shop here for fashion items or just plain great deals!

Elaine 15% storewide
CozyHomeCollectibles has a large assortment of collectible china, delft and other vintage decorative items. Make an offer! She just might take it!

Suz 15% off store wide
MYMOMSBOOKS
Suz has tons of children's books, along with other great collectibles...another place to make an offer and stock up on great books for the grandkids or the little newbies in the family.

Marion 5% storewide

FREELAND ENTERPRISES for great cosmetics, and other useful things!

Addition savings on the following sites
My eCrater Store: FREELAND ENTERPRISES ON ECRATER

Marion's Bonanza Store

My Addoway Store

Bev 10% storewide:

Video-Town For Adult Entertainment - VHS

FAMILY NITE MOVIES for the whole family

GRANDMA BEV'S STUFF

The E-commerce Merchants Best Season - eBay Tips and Tricks

I swear it was only a short while ago we were all scraping through the slow times of the summer months. People were out sunbathing, vacationing and not thinking about shopping online. If you were like me, you couldn't wait for the fall and the holiday shopping season... and now it's here!

Not only is the holiday shopping season here, it will be over in the blink of an eye! I am finding it hard to believe that Christmas is only 44 days away. EBay is reminding us every day with a countdown right at the top of the page, not sure if I like it, gives me a panicky feeling inside.

Ok so it's not too late to take advantage of this great time of year for selling! Here are things that I have been doing to increase sales:

1. First you can't sell it if it ain't listed. So get those items up and visible.

2. Price competitively but definitely don't be the cheapest out there. I tend to look at completed listings for an idea where things are selling, then look at currently available to see what the supply and demand looks like - I tend to price on the high side of the middle margin.

3. Use Fixed Price or offer a BIN - why? People don't want to wait anymore. Sadly the exciting days of online auctions are waning, unless you have something that is a rare item and a bidding war is bound to ensue.

4. Free Shipping - ok I know I know this is a pain point for many sellers, but I can attest to it's effectiveness in drawing in the sales. EBay promotes sellers who offer it, and customers love it because they don't have to worry about being overcharged on shipping (which is still a practice going on hot and heavy on eBay)
How I set the price is when I'm doing the searches above for pricing, I use the highest with shipping option - so I can see what the total price is people are willing to spend.

5. Don't be afraid to price your items at a point you yourself wouldn't pay. This was a big mental hurdle for me. I'm cheap! But not everyone out there is like me I have found out over this past year. I can price my items at their true value and still sell them... and so can you! So don't short change yourself.

6. Now get out there and draw attention to yourself. Facebook is an excellent tool for this, as is Twitter. Other ways to get your items seen is write a blog, comment on other people's blogs, in every email you send out should be a link to your store or items for sale, call into radio shows... there are so many ways to feed those search spiders! It doesn't matter how low you price your items or how many sales you run, if no one knows you are there stuff won't sell.

Ok if you've read this far you are motivated to get selling... so give yourself some goals and get listing, because remember only 44 days - and less if you are not reading this on the day I wrote it

The Trials & Tribulations of A Fish Pond

Hello Folks in Blogger Land.

I`m Kathy from KDMORE-CRAFTS-AND-MORE and here is my Latest addition to our Group Blog


I have titled this Trials & Tribulations because this Backyard Fish Pond has been a Thorn in my side since we (meaning my Husband Donald ) decided we needed one 6 years ago.

We have had our Koi fish scooped out of the Pond by Raccoon and Skunks that frequent our yard, we have had problems with Algae build up so thick you can`t see the bottom of the pond, we`ve had some kind of Bacteria kill off all the fish, and we`ve had numerous Filter Systems fail and cost us $100`s of dollars to replace them UGH !

Now our newest problem is LEAKS !

We thought a few weeks ago that the water was being pumped out of the Pond because during a very strong 45 mph wind, it had blown the return water hose OUT of the pond.

So we refilled the 500 Gallon pond up to the top again ( BTW this REALLY irritates me because we have City Water and that`s $$$ for me ) only to have my son tell me a few days ago that the Pump was SCREAMING ( it does this when it`s sucking air & not water )

Sure enough, there`s no water in the Pond again !

So now we have to scoop the 3 Koi we have left ( we had 10 in there at one time ) and get them in a BIG Bucket of water to save them from sure extinction !

Next I ( hubby has bad knees so he can`t do this anymore ) have to suck up the last 3 inches of Water and a Bunch of leaves too from the bottom of the Pond, get inside and SEARCH for the dang Leaks !

Well I found 4 different places where the Pond is Cracked ! eye yi yi

So off Hubby goes to get some Water Proof Sealant and Plastic Liner fixer stuff..

So this is what my Fish Pond looks like right now.

Here are the 4 different Cracks once they were sealed.


Hopefully tomorrow once the Sealant has CURED, and it`s a little Warmer outside also, the Pond will be lined with a Heavy Gauge Black Plastic lining, and we will fill it up ( Water Company really loves me this past month ) and Cross Our Fingers & Toes, that the Water stays in and we can put the Fish back in their swimming pool LOL

It`ll be just in time too for them to start to Winterize themselves and settle down to the Bottom for a Long Winter`s Nap in CT.

Oh the Woes of having a Backyard Fish Pond !