Love a Sale? Check out our eBay Store Sales

If you are like I am you love the word sale and my some of my friends are running an eBay sale this week. Did you get Christmas money you want to spend on yourself? Well today is good day to check out our sales to save you money on items you really want.

We sell a large variety of items in our stores from vintage collectibles to new items so take a look. We also offer free shipping on some of our items to save you even more money and a nice sale discount.

Here are a few of us that are running sales today.

Book Corner Cafe  is filled with all kinds of vintage collectibles and racing items.

Very Desperate Housewife is filled with beautiful clothes and many other unique items.

Birdhouse Books is filled with wonderful vintage books, cards and paper items.

Finally if you are in need of any packing materials of any type at great prices check out www.bubblefast.com and use discount code YearEnd to receive a 10% discount until 12/31/13.

Stop by today for great items, great sales and great customer service.

The Printer In Your Life and How It Drains the Bank Account..

I'm not going to recommend any printer (I have a love/hate relationship with them) but my current one is about 10 years old and it's an HP.  It's ok...(although it's crunching a fair amount of innocent paper lately so it might be having cardiac arrest soon.. )

The thing is, the darn thing sucks up ink like a lush on a bender.  Cartridges, at K-Mart/Walmart etc are $15. ON ebay  I can sometimes grab them for $10 .  at one a week?? not doing either of those.  So???

So I buy the black ink in a kit and refill those myself. Have the printer set to only print black and in FAST DRAFT Mode.

Why FAST DRAFT?? cause it makes my ink last 2x as long. So here's how you get there. Go to the control panel on your PC (Mac folks?? I have no CLUE but it can be done by you too cause my kid did it)>>>

Anyway Go to the Control Panel, open Devices and Printers, Find your printer, open Settings or Adjust Setting  and find Print Mode or style and select FAST DRAFT

It's way way way way way more economical. An 8 oz bottle of ink cost me $16 plus shipping and will last me a year almost. Instead of 52 or more cartridges. I do buy 5-6 cartridges a year because sometimes they just can't be reused any more but that's minimal compared to buying new ones...

Share the post, we all need to know these "tips". someone told me, pass it along! 

(and please feel free to share your money saving tips... either ask to be an author, or put your tips in the comments section)

Have you heard? or Why I Can No Longer Sell in Certain Categories..

About the recent "purges" and vendettas against certain sellers in Lala Land?  Well you can google it I'm sure but meanwhile, it's put the fear of God in many sellers.

You see, we get rated by you.  Oh you didn't know those "stars" you didn't give  or that you only gave 1 or 2 on meant anything?? Well Buttercup they do.  They mean I can't sell the rest of the comics I have because last month, people who agreed to mulitple purchases and the associated costs "dinged my stars". (that's what we sellers call it when you only give us a 1 or a 2 --- or even a 3 or a 4.

You see, Lalaland evaluates us based on those.  So rightly or wrongly, you hand out the pink slips to sellers every day when you scatter those ones and twos like fairy dust.

Oh wait, YOU knew that. And you did it on purpose? Why?

1. you paid shipping and you wanted FREE SHIPPING.  Ok, send that item back to me. Take it to the PO and tell them you want to ship it and not pay anything and see how that works for you.  Get back to me on that ok?

2. You bought 2 and thought I should combine shipping. Well I did.  Do you realize the USPS, like every other package transportation business, raises it's rates at least once a year these days?  In 2013, they raised them twice, some things went up in January and some went up in ..I think it was August. But they did go up...they've never gone done in my life-time and I'm 65.

So the charge you paid was the combined weight of both things you bought and then calculated by the USPS.  But you dinged MY stars not the USPS ....

3. LalaLand Central now charges me for the privilege of shipping to you.  Yes, you heard that right.  You pay $3.00 shipping, then Lalaland Collections takes 10% of that when they are calculating my bill. So I didn't even get everything you paid.  Oh and Lalaland's funds processor has their fingers in that till too.   So THANKS...not only did I get 90% of what you paid but YOU dinged my stars because I charged you too much.


So when you can't buy comic books from me at ridiculously low prices any more or depression glass or shoes I got very inexpensively and just passed them thru, now you know whose fault it is.  It's your own "Mr. Comic Book buyer" or "Miss This Blouse Is Not The Right Color" and "Joe It Arrived Damaged and I'm Not Sending Photos".


It's not that I don't make mistakes but the current regime in Lalaland doesn't have minimal punishments. They just mete out the death sentence for any "infraction" no matter how long you've been selling there or how hard you work to do that selling.
So I can not afford to sell you these comics I got at a garage sale this week because they aren't dead mint, they don't fly by themselves and you have been handing out 1s and 2s on other peoples DSRS like fairy dust this last year or more and I've had enough of those, thank you very much..  So nope, not me, not any more.  Soon there will be no categories left for me.  Then where are you gonna get your comic books??

Breast Cancer Research - Blingmybra!!

So what you ask, is Bling My Bra?? After all it's October and everyone knows about Pink October right?

NO??

Ok, here's the drift... in October lots of folks, big ones, small ones, corporate ones, unincorporated ones, male ones and female ones, in all ages, sizes and colors, raise money for Breast Cancer Research, Education, prevention and the hunt for a cure.  And we do it in PINK!

So 4 years ago, 75 of my closest friends and relatives and enemies banded together and we started a fundraiser on eBay called BLING MY BRA.  For which many of those crafty, sewing, creative types "blinged" a bra.  They decorated them by theme, by memories, by hand.

We auctioned something like 90 bras the first year and in 2009 raised over $3000.  The 2nd year, we raised more like $5000 and the 3rd year again.  Then we rested.  But this year, we came back in a small way.

We had just 34 bras to start with and we're only auctioning them until October 15.  So if you want to help by bidding on one, you have to do it quick!! Like NOW!!!   Because we're done sometime Tuesday night!!

Please go to  BLING MY BRA  and bid... bid soon and bid often!! Give til it hurts because losing an important person in your life to this disease?? that hurst more...way more.

Fall and Winter is Blogging Season

Fall and Winter are not normally associated with blogging but to me they are. Spring and summer are such a  busy time and most of my days are spent outside.  I love that the days stay light so late and enjoy many activities all season long with both friends and family.

That brings me to fall and winter which I also love but for very different reasons. I love the cool weather and dark nights that force my family indoors. We eat dinner earlier and have a nice evening ahead of us unlike the summer when it stays light until 9 pm and no one wants to be inside for any reason.

So to me Fall and Winter are blogging months when I can sit and relax in the evenings and enjoy writing. I have started a blog for the items I list for sale on eBay, Book Corner Cafe where write about many things and here on our group blog.

So you can follow me on these blogs as I enjoy the fall and winter season of writing posts and sharing until spring again gets here and I am busy outside.

Do you blog more in the fall and winter?

Do You Remember Watching Movies on Reels?

Times have sure changed and so when someone asked you if you remember these Vintage Film Reels you just might be giving away your age. I will admit that I can remember going to movies when I was young (really young) and watching movies that used these reels.

I can also remember that there might be a skip or a point where someone had to come in and fix or rewind the reel to get it going. They were played on projectors and the film would unwind as it was played and was rewound on another reel.

When I was a kid it was a big deal to go to a movie get popcorn and a soda and spend a few hours watching a larger then life movie. This was often a Friday night out for my family and we would look forward to it all week.

Cartoons were often a favorite when we were young such as this one for sale  that includes Secret Squirrel, Sqiddly Diddly and Winsome Witch. Do you remember these cartoons?

My Little Margie was also a great show and sure does bring back some memories.

Do you remember these vintage film reels?

Women's Equality Day -2013 - 2 days Late

So I'm a baby boomer, my hearing is going, my eyes were never great and I'm 65. (sob,whine moan) BUT, I'm part of MY personal GREATEST Generation.  Because??

Because honey, (dripping southern syrup inflection there) we, the women alive today and our mothers and grandmothers, have come so far. 

Just read this...and next year someone remind me on the 25th to post the next chapter of this topic

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/26/womens-equality-day_n_3818653.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Do you remember????

Wow ... I was cleaning up some user names that I no longer use. Check out an old about me page I had. Are you in there?
Who Is This Lady???????????
And What's with the Cane???????????
Once upon a time in eBay land there lived a BIG BEAR. This was no ordinary bear. This bear was old and mean and crabby. The bear had just turned 50 and was going through a life crisis. When Big Bear found eBay she began buying and buying and buying. Soon Big Bear had to start selling and selling and selling to support her habit.
All seemed fine. Big Bear had found the eBay cafe and had made new friends. But eBay was getting bigger and bigger. Sales were getting harder and harder. So Big Bear had to join another company to keep a roof over her head and food on the table.
The other company was great but Big Bear missed the fun of auctions. You can only watch so many movies and they become boring...no matter what the genre.
Big Bear's first grandchild was Sami....so with a little thought Samican was born. Now Big Bear could go back to having fun. But the eBay cafe was growing larger and larger. Rarely could you find a lady cop in there. Bee's no longer swarmed around. It lost one lawyer and gained another. There was still a Barn to park the Chevy in. But you had to watch out for Rocky areas and Dogs...wounded ones and cafe ones.
Sometimes you could hear guitar playing or cars racing. The King had gotten a new name. Even the cafe Artist had a few names. Up in Canada quilts were being made. The cafe still had a cottage. And cooking was the latest thing (guess they didn't know Big Bear's idea of cooking was the yellow pages for carry out).
Fortunately, for the cafe, you could no longer read National Geographic magazines and pyramid scams were out. But for everyone out a new one would appear.
So...Samican decided to get an alias just for chatting. Sounded like a good idea. After all, most questions answered by someone with a zero were ignored....enter youtalkmelisten.
Ahhh, Life Is Good....that is until eBay decided that in order to chat in more than 10 sentences you needed a feedback of 10. Funny ... anyone can sell...but now you're limited on talking.
So now youtalkmelisten had to rethink things (again...and remember I'm old, mean and crabby). So maybe it's time for Big Bear to return. And Big Bear can list some items for auction and get a 10 feedback...and talk, and talk, and talk some more. But be careful what you say. Big Bear carries a cane. And if you're 6 foot 3 inches tall it just might hit you in the wrong spot (ouch).
And now?
I figure it will take a while to get that feedback to 10...but once it does this page will get an edit. The whole purpose in a chat name was so no one could come in the cafe and mess with my auctions....yes, I do believe that can happen. ... UPDATE!! I made it past 10!! Now I'm a happy camper.
My apologies to all my cafe friends who's names were omitted. I know how to sell...not write.

WOW ... That was how many years ago???? How time passes us by!

Bev

http://stores.ebay.com/Grandma-Bevs-Stuff

Christmas is just around the Corner

Okay did that title surprise you? It is hard to believe but it really won't be that long til Christmas. You can even set your home page to the Christmas Countdown Clock and as of today there is just 129 days til Christmas. See I told you it is not that far away. So if you are reading this post after today there will be even fewer days til Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas do you have any Race Fans that you need to be buying Christmas gifts for? If you are looking for unique Racing items for that special someone check out my eBay Store. You can find Vintage Racing Program Books, Decals, Paper Items and even rare Hatfield Speedway Items which all would make great Christmas Gifts. 

These items are all original Vintage items and would certainly be a surprise for any Race fan on Christmas morning. So if you are looking for that special gift for that special someone stop by the  Book-Corner-Cafe today. 

It's Christmas in July at Birdhouse Books

I love Christmas!  It's my favorite holiday, and always has been.  As a vintage store owner, I am always so happy when I find vintage Christmas items to share.  I know the happiness they evoke and the nostalgic memories they bring.

I'm having a big Christmas in July sale at my store, Birdhouse Books, through midnight on July 28th.  Everything Christmas related is 15% off.   You'll find my Christmas department here:  vintage Christmas at Birdhouse Books.

Here are a few of the goodies I have waiting under the aluminum Christmas tree -- right over there, by the color wheel and the felt elves:

Baby boomer vintage children's book, Feel Santa Claus's Beard:

The Christmas Story, a 1971 Little Golden Book illustrated by Eloise Wilkin:

An unusual Christmas postcard featuring a display of Mid-Century Christmas cards:

Christmas at Home, a 1963 music book for children:  

1920's Christmas card with a flapper and dapper man celebrating the holidays:

1943 Christmas card featuring an angel carrying a candle (Rynart card):

Cute Carrington Christmas card (Mid-Century) with a little boy skiing:

You'll find lots more at my eBay Christmas page - hope you'll stop by!

Merry July Christmas

Counting the days till Christmas in July...

Have you started to shop?  It's the perfect time to pick up gifts, and holiday decor.

Just think how much fun it is to swim, relax and browse the web for early gifts. 

In December you with have fond memories of sunny days, sales without crowds. 

No stress shopping!

I know many OBS ebay sellers have their stores packed with holiday goodies.

Many stores have special sales going on for this fun Summer Christmas Holiday.

Feel free to leave a link in the comment box if your store is running a sale for Christmas in July.

Don't forget to tweet, and post on Facebook our blog so everyone in the world can find you.

mymomsbooks.com will be running a 5 day countdown sale July 20-25th with 25% off and free shipping

Oh Christmas Tree - A Memory

Is it Christmas in July? Or does it last all year?

About 15 years ago I had to move (house I was renting was sold). I had a St Bernard dog. Finding a place to take my dog was not fun. Bill and Lisa let me move in and gave me the back apt so the dog could have run of the backyard.

 

Then in 99 I started selling on eBay (now using the name Samican2). At the time they also had a mom and pop movie store. He came home one day with a Tom Cruise movie and asked how much it would sell for on eBay. And so Video-Town (also the name of their store) came to be.

 

Later he found out I had a friend who worked for Playboy in their marketing dept. At the time PB had a warehouse about 4 miles from here. PB needed a liquidator ... Bill had the $$.

 

But things are strange. I found out afterwards that Bill and my oldest son went to school together. Bill is 1 year older than my son. Bill's best friend in HS, Bryan, (who is an owner of  Hausermann's Orchids) and my son use to break dance in HS. His friend came over to see Bill one day and stopped in to say hi to me. My son was sitting on the sofa and Bryan asked him WHAT he was doing here. John replied "It's MY mom ... What are YOU doing here" We all had a good laugh on that one

 

And Lisa ... well her Aunt and my mom went to grade school together. (Can you imagine 1938?)

 

Lisa and I both grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago .... about 2 miles away from each other (and 2 decades apart).

 

I went to Argo HS. Our rival was Reavis .... Lisa went to Reavis. My grandfather helped to start Reavis HS.

 

You never know where life will take you or the turns in getting there. But somehow the Man up above guides us in directions we never expect and ... hopefully ... it all works out. It sure did here.

Christmas in July??? Yes, but here it's all year long!

 

 

Decorating A Vintage Christmas Tree

I love Christmas it's my favorite time of year so celebrating Christmas in July with my friends makes me very happy. I do have a special place in my heart for vintage Christmas items and often wish they could talk. For instance I have some Tree Toppers for sale and wondered how many Christmas mornings they saw perched on the top of a Vintage Tree.

The same thing can be said for those big Vintage light bulbs that adorned our trees many years ago. I loved those bulbs and still use them on one of my trees that I decorate. Yes I said trees since at my house I decorate one real tree and 2 artificial ones each year. I have always loved those big bulbs especially as I got older when one blows out the rest still work and take only a minute to replace. We all know what it's like to try to find a blown bulb on the tiny lights of today. LOL I have learned it is better to toss out the string and buy a new one then spend hours trying to replace a burnt out bulb.

A vintage Christmas tree wouldn't be complete without those glass balls that were hung each year with so much care. I have boxes and boxes of them and one of these days I really have to part with some. I can remember my mom as she would take each one out of the box and hand it to us kids to carefully hang it on the tree. The really special ones she would hang up and now after all those years those special ones hang on my tree.

I am sure each and everyone one of you have a special memories of decorating that Vintage Christmas tree growing up and how special Christmas was to your family.

Christmas In July for a Christmas Baby

Christmas in July hits closer to home for me than normal.  My birthday is on Christmas day and my entire life it has been overlooked or forgotten.  As an adult, it never really bothered me but as a child, it did.

When I worked for the City of Rocky Mount, my captain and our department within the police department, always went out to eat lunch to celebrate everyone’s birthdays. We exchanged small gifts and somebody always baked a cake.  After the first few years of our not even being at work on my birthday, another employee suggested that I celebrate my birthday on July 25 so that I would not be left out.  Even though it didn’t bother me that my birthday was overlooked,  I thought it was sweet of her to think of it and the plan was put into place.  From that year forward we celebrated my birthday on July 25 with a nice dinner out with our small but intimate group.  It was really fun to receive little gifts from everybody—something that I honestly wasn’t accustomed to—again, my mom was about the only person who remembered my birthday each year.  It was a nice and meaningful tradition that I carried into other areas of my life.  Other than on legal documents, when asked when my birthday was I always responded ‘July 25’.  It turned into a rather nice habit.

I am at the age now that I find myself begging my family and friends to forget my birthday—whether they think it’s July 25 or December 25.  My number is getting way too high....I am not aging gracefully—I’m kicking and screaming all the way. 

Those special years of dining out, receiving small gifts, a homemade cake, and celebrating my birthday on July 25 with my coworkers will always be terrific memories.  So Christmas in July has a very special meaning for me and the phrase always brings back very loving memories of my dear friends who didn’t want my birthday to be overlooked.   

(from the editor - you can See all Pat's eBay listings in her ebay store NICALUCKS )

Something For All The Women in Your Life

"We give gifts because we wish to show appreciation for another person. It is a pity if it becomes a meaningless ritual. It is possible to ignore the commercial hype surrounding gift-giving and retain the simple joy of giving for the sake of it, whether or not you receive back or if your gift is of great monetary value. For Christians, it can be a reflection of the gift given by God to man, which is at the heart of the celebration as we know it“.I for one never buy a gift just to buy it. I try very hard to buy something I know the person will enjoy and the one thing you can buy for the Women in your life is Jewelry.
What does every woman want for Christmas ??? Diamonds , Gold !!!! Most of us can not afford that, but there are all types of beautiful Jewelry for everyone’s budget  - and that is vintage or new costume jewelry. Jewelry is a great stocking Stuffer.

 Go to
WWW.bitzofglitz.com and you will find jewelry that fits any pocket book. Sterling silver,Lucite, Cameo’s, Pins, bracelets and more. We have turtles, bugs, horse’s and even a cow belt buckle. My wish for you this year is health, wealth and happines and a stocking full of Bitz of Glitz
thanks
Delores, Jewelry Ring, , Costume Jewelry Collectors International

Visit Bitz of Glitz for more selections Or GlitzyGramy on eBay
Join me at my other eBay id GRAMY
And on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/bitzofgitz4u/


Onlinebusinesssuccess@yahoogroups.com

Saint Nicholas becomes Santa Claus! Christmas in July

Every November, I become fascinated with all the rituals and history of the Christmas Season, such as Santa Claus.  As a child, I accepted that Santa was a big man with white hair and beard.  He lived at the North Pole (whatever that was) and didn't seem to exist for the rest of the year.
Here, in the middle of July, the fourth day of an on-again off-again thunderstorm, I found a wonderful old world St. Nicholas doll wearing clothing more like that of an Old World Greek Bishop than the jolly rolly-polly pink cheeked man in a red velvet suit with a thick black belt.  Often people say that one evolved from the other.  I finally decided to track it down and see where it happened.  Not too complicated, but surprising to me.  Here's a brief note of what I found out.
Saint Nicholas was an historic 4th-century Saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, part of modern-day Turkey.  He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for today's Santa Claus.  His feast day is the 6th of December.
The dramatic clothing change came in 1892 as a result of magazine illustrations created by the great artist, Thomas Nast as illustrations for Harper's Weekly Magazine.   Nast's original drawings were of a small Santa who could slide down chimneys, but his later works made him full size. He was also the first to draw Santa wearing a red suit with fur lining, a stocking cap, and a black belt with a large buckle. This has become the image of the American Santa, while in some European countries where Saint Nicholas remains popular, the outfit worn is closer to religious clothing, including a Bishop's mitre.
This brings us back my vintage St. Nicolas doll in religious clothing.  If you'd like to see more about it, visit my store on eBay, PhoenixRising2000.

Our Logo for our Christmas in July Promotion

Our Promotion certainly needs a logo for Christmas in July and here is it. Marion does wonderful things with graphics and always shares them with our group.

Actually she has made one for a promotion a few years ago and Beth was the one to remember that and asked her to make one for this promotion.

Marion has a way with graphics and so I just had to share this with you so as you see this during the month you will know it is our promotion.

We all use social media my favorite is Twitter but others use Facebook, Pinterest etc so you may see this logo pop up just about anywhere this month.

Just like it says the group will be running sales on both Christmas and gift items so keep an eye out for great deals this month and help us have a great Christmas in July Celebration.

Christmas In July on ebay is a Happening Time !

Every year from July 1st to July 31st there are lots of ebay sellers running Specials on Christmas Items of all types
 I am one of those sellers. KDMORE-CRAFTS-AND-MORE 
  here on ebay you will find a large array of items to decorate your house for the Holidays and many Christmas Gift ideas for those on your Gift List

I`m not really sure who came up with the idea of Christmas In July originally, but I have always thought it was a neat idea


Here are a few of the items I have in my store right now. If you are a Disney fan you might like these Disney Christmas Plush Characters.



I have always loved having Scented Candles lit during the Winter Months when the house is all warm and toasty these Yankee Candle Items with Santa would make a Great Holiday Decoration addition

Yankee Candle Santa Candle Topper & Votive Set

And of course having Christmas Music to play during the Season is a MUST in my house


Christmas Music CD set


And if you are the Creative type or know someone who is you can make your own Family Heirloom Creation

Bucilla Christmas Stocking Cross Stitch Kit

No matter what you like, or need, I`m sure Christmas In July on ebay is going to be a Fun Place to be !  Please Come Join Us

Christmas in July

We often see the saying Christmas in July and I wondered what it means to you. For many that sell items or own a retail store it's a way to promote a month for sales of a very popular selling time. We all know that everyone buys gifts for Christmas and July is often a slower selling time for retailers.

According to Wikipedia there are a few different ways this started. One is that winter falls in July in the southern hemisphere. Therefore in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order to have Christmas with a winter feel Christmas in July events are undertaken. However, Christmas in December, the usual month, is a far more common practice, despite it being summer.  

We decided to get together this month and have a big celebration of Christmas in July and also quite a few sales on our items. We all love Christmas items and many of us sell them and are always looking for unique Christmas gifts for the people we love. What better Month to look for sales and get a jump on our Christmas Shopping then July? 

So follow our blog this month as we share our items and sales for the month of July.

How Do You Promote Your eBay Items?

I am part of a wonderful online group this is working together to promote our eBay items. We started by sharing our items and liking them when eBay had the like, want and own buttons showing on our listings. They now are showing up some of the time for some of us and not for others so I started to look at other things we could do as a group.

We all are store owners and so I thought it would be a great idea to post our store link and have the group promote it. I post 2 stores in the morning and then we promote each other in various ways like Twitter and Facebook. eBay gives us traffic reports which is a great tool and where we can check on our store front traffic.

You can find me at the Book Corner Cafe and I sell a wide variety of vintage items including racing and Christmas items.

Beth can be found at the Depression Glass Warehouse who also sells a wide variety of vintage items including Depression Glass.

Elaine is quite the expert on vintage antique books and art prints and can be found at the Phoenix rising 2000 store.

Katarina has a great store name The Very Desperate Housewife and sells many beautiful fashion items along with many other things.

Marion's Store can be found at  This N That Freeland Enterprises and has a large variety including both Avon products and vintage items.

Suz is the place to shop at if you love books and other vintage items. She can be found at My Mom's Books

If you love Cross Stitch items Susannes Little Corner is the place to shop.

I just wanted to share with you what some of my friends are doing to help promote our items and increase sales so what are you doing to increase your sales?

How Do You Promote Your Business?

If you have been around as an online seller for a long time you remember the early days of eBay. Do you ever yearn for those days or have you moved forward with the times and learned new ways to promote yourself?

It was so easy years ago when eBay and online selling was new and different. You could list things with very few rules and see sales and even bidding wars. If you sell online today you know it is very different and we all need to adept and change with the times. I am not saying it is easy but it can be done and one way is to promote your items and your business.

So the question of the day is how do you promote your items? One way I promote my items is by using Twitter  and in fact I really enjoy Twitter both as a business and a person. My Twitter friends are people I know or who I have met on  Twitter and we re-tweet each other items. We also have quite a chatty conversation going about all kinds of things.

I can Tweet from my phone, my Kindle, my laptop and yes my desktop computer so I check in regularly too keep up with my friends. If you would like to follow me and join in the fun you can follow Bookcornercafe

eBay gives us traffic reports to show us how people find our listings and month after month Twitter is in my top 5. I know it helps me promote both my items and business name and as any online seller knows that's very important.

So I ask the question of all of you where to do you promote your items?

Is Selling Online A Science or an Art?

Yesterday, I was talking to a store manager about buying some of his old inventory at a deep discount so I could flip it on eBay or Amazon. He said that he’s already got someone working on developing the science of eBay so his current employees can learn to do it.  So he’s hanging on to the outdated items as they accumulate in his already over crowded warehouse.

My knee-jerk reaction was to say: “It’s not a science, it’s an Art!”  Well, he thought that was some kind of sales pitch, so it ended the useful part of the conversation.  But I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I guess baking a cake is science – 2 cups of this and a tsp of that, stir, cook at 375, etc.  But it doesn't give me the sense of having accomplished something that I get from finishing a good listing a rare and interesting one of a kind old book.  There’s so much room for individual taste and preferences.  Experience certainly shows through.

So, I started to wonder:  what’s the difference between a science and an art?   For one thing, I think it’s a lot easier for a scientist to get a job than it is for an artist to find work doing art.  Scientists don’t get to have wine and cheese parties.   There’s certainly an overlap with both technology (the science part) and creative both required.   Here’s where I stopped myself as I recognized the vicious cycle of the chicken or the egg sort.

I’d like to hear any other thoughts on this question.  

Are internet sellers scientists or artist? Both?

I am part of a wonderful group of friends that support each other in all our online venues. We share and learn from each other every day and have become a family. This blog is part of our way of sharing our lives and also our listings with the world. We all sell on a variety of venues and most sell on eBay and Amazon among other places.

One of my venues is eBay and I sell a large variety of items some new and many vintage. I have listed items ranging from Dodge Truck parts to Vintage Racing Program Books.

You can find my items at the Book Corner Cafe n More Store on eBay.

Today I would like to take a few minutes to invite all my online friends to share with you one of their online selling venues.

Selling Christmas Items After Christmas

Yes Yes and Yes like Beth said we all need to keep listing and I have Christmas items that didn't get listed before Christmas so I am putting them up now.

Last week I listed some vintage Swirl lights that sold and I have many more to check out and get listed. I have found that I sell Christmas items all through the year so keep listing those items.

I love Christmas and always buy vintage items when I see them but the hard part for me is actually listing them and not keeping them. I probably have enough vintage ornaments to decorate about 10 trees and really need to list some of these. They are all so pretty and unique I have keep thinking maybe I will use them next year. I did manage to list 7 boxes of vintage glass ornaments this year and sold all of them so that is good incentive to list some more.  You can check out the items I have listed in my eBay store now and more will be going up shortly.

I have also been listing some Christmas items at auction on my other eBay id and this one ends tomorrow night. I found 2 boxes of vintage Gurley candles in great shape. They include Santa, Angels, Choir Boys and Girls and a Christmas Tree. I was so tempted to keep these but unless I am going to buy another house to decorate next year some of my Christmas items need to go. You can check out this auction of vintage Christmas Gurley Candles but you have to do it soon.

It's NOT Vacation Time...

So I've heard a lot of BS about how this is the time to take a vacation and this is the "slow" time of the year for eBay, Amazon sellers and ecommerce in general.  I"m here to say BULLSheep!!


THIS is the time of year, from  now til the bills come in at the middle to end of the month, when people have money and are spending it on themselves. They have gift cards, gift money, returns money etc. They've always wanted _____________ and they are buying it.  Are you selling it??

We've been blessed with some snowstorms and some frigid weather to keep buyers home and if you have stuff listed and are consistently editing, revising and listing more, you will get sales. This is always one of my best months of the year!!

BUT you need a few auctions consistently running to "tempt" people in. Otherwise the only offers I get are on my "ending soonest" stuff. (which just kicks the theory of "best match" to the curb in my opinion).

So... if you're not utilizing the freebie offerings. eBay gave or not the recipient of any (me? not on any account, not yet) you still have to work like you need the money.

Teux Deux List:

1. Do a couple of auctions for every day uploading, 
2. do a couple of fixed price new listings and revise your oldest stuff. 
3.  And that's besides getting your accounting done and 
4. making lists of "goals" or "resolutions" for 2013.

 NOT time for sitting and day-dreaming about when you get to be a billionaire... get busy... list more, sell more, start a new venue, start a new process (like FBA) or revisit and revise an old one like eCrater, follow my friend Elaine's example and try out Pinterst or Twitter or Facebook.... No resting on your laurels! Laurels are pointy leaves and not comfortable any way so get busy