My Ebay Auctions

So my Ebay auctions are finally up. Up for grabs are the two cutlery sets, a teal top and scarf, Tony Bianco boots, One Teaspoon jeans, Comme Des Garcons t-shirt and some bulk jewellery I have collected so far this year.

You can view my auctions by clicking HERE.

Silver Plated Cutlery Sets

Purchased two cutlery sets from Savers in Footscray today.

Paid $149.95AU for the first set which was a silver plated setting for 12, made in Italy with markings and in a 1970's style box. This price was an absolute rip off. Previously i've purchased the same cutlery set for under $50.00AU on numerous occasions. Needless to say my profit margin on this set won't be that high but I should make over $150.00 at least. I'm expecting $180.00 for this set.

The second set was a silver plated setting for 12, marked and boxed in a 1970's style box. Paid $39.00 for this set which price was a little more feasible. I expect to reach $140.00 for this set at least.

A good days shopping indeed.

Pet Fashion Week

Women arn't the only ones who like to accessorize. New York is having its own Pet Fashion Week. In an upscale tradeshow and fashion environment, you will be interacting with the who's who of the international pet world while viewing the latest trends in high-end clothing, accessories, furnishings, and runway designs for dogs. Can you see the dog in this peacock picture?

www.seekcommercial.com.au

Found this great website on the weekend. www.seekcommercial.com.au which advertises Australian businesses for sale. You can choose from franchises, businesses for sale and new franchises. There is Pizza Hut, Clark Rubber, Jims Bookkeeping, Doggy Washes and lots more. Of course when you are considering buying any business always get legal advice first.

Melbourne Clothing Exchange

Imagine a clothing exchange where everything is free! The clothing Exchange provides the opportunity to swap clothes and accessories you don't wear for ones you will wear.

Located in Melbourne's CBD, the Clothing Exchange does not operate every day and you need to RSVP for the each event. Bring along six pieces of clothing or accessories you wish to exchange. Men are also welcome.

Admission is $14 which comes with a free drink.

www.clothingexchange.com.au

All Year Round

Although I have never tried this wholesaler/importer, I am on their mailing list.

They are a very personalised, family orientated company who imports jewellery from Thailand and Bali.

They are always sending personalised emails and describing their recent buying holidays and new items in a very relaxed fashion.

Although their business sense appears to be a bit messy and incompetent sometimes, the personal attention they give their customers is apparent from the emails I receive. They give out their mobile number if people have any problems and write as if you have been friends for years.

All Year Round sell to Ebayers, market sellers, party plans, shops and re-sellers. Their business is in a spare room in their home and they sell to Australia, New Zealand, USA and England. Their site is quite amateurish but they do sell a variety of products including of jewellery, belts, stickers, handbags and watches at very cheap prices with no minimum quantity. They take Paypal and there's no need to prove you are a business either!

Visit http://www.allyearround.com.au/

Kate Moss Topshop Designs on Ebay

On May 1st, Kate Moss joins designers Stella McCartney, the Beckhams and Madonna in the release of her new collection of Kate Moss clothing designs . Expect to see stampedes and catfights at UK's apparel chain Topshop over Moss's skinny leg jeans and other designs which will be on sale at 300 British stores ranging from $24 AU to $485 AU. Like Stella McCartney's Target range recently released in Australia, feisty fashionista's are expected to queue for hours for the chance to purchase one of the designs with many expected to purchase as much as possible in a bid to re-sell items on Ebay. Within 24 hours of items selling in stores, McCartney's items were already appearing for inflated prices on Ebay and for double the original asking price. I expect Kate Moss for Topshop will do exactly the same. I for one will be keeping an eye on Ebay to see what I can pick up. I must admit I have no desire to stand in line from dawn till opening time just to acquire items to re-sell on Ebay for double the asking price. It takes a lot more than that to get me out of bed at that time of the morning.

Japanese Caught in Sheep Poodle Scam NOT

There's no baa about it, a sheep is not a poodle, nor has it ever been a poodle and nor will it ever be!. You can't toilet train a sheep nor teach it to sit or play dead and you certainly can't train a bleating herbivore to eat Pal!

This story all gave us a great laugh though didn't it?

Not familiar with it? Click "read more" to do just that.

read more digg story

Cool Mice

If you get bored while surfing Ebay or your favourite blogs, take a look at these funky computer mice available at

www.so-my.com.au.

Choose from hot chilli, the brain, the cow and the swimming duck. Price is a bit hefty at $65.00 AUD but ideal if you want something stylish and functional and a good corporate gift idea.

Also try fish mouse, ladybird mouse and car mouse starting from $11.99 UK at www.lazyboneuk.com who are cheaper and have a wider variety to choose from.

Mums Go Bust on Ebay

This video is part two of a selection of interviews with Ebayers who were interviewed a number of months ago on how they were making large amounts of money on Ebay and how prosperous business was. In this second interview, things have changed and they are closing their Ebay stores due to Ebay's rise in fees.

One of the important things about being successful on Ebay is to be organised and have a good setup that you enjoy working with. You can have hundreds of items in storage but if you can't find what you have just sold, buyers will be ticked off. Take a look at setup of the shoe seller in the video. Her products are well spaced and easy to find. For someone who has as much stock as she does, it's a good idea to have a database containing the brand name, size and product number to reduce your confusion and stress levels. An even better idea is to have a database for inventory and finances as would the Ebayer in the video who sells half a million dollars on Ebay. A database that covers both aspects will help you adequately assess whether you are actually making money or losing money on your products.

There are many small business management programs out there that can help you set up your inventory and finances. It's about finding the right program for you at the right price. Ebay offers Turbo Lister, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro. The first two are free and Selling Manager Pro is $9.95AU per month. Turbo Lister is good for typing your listings offline and record keeping however it does not support anything financial . Both Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro support inventory however Selling Manager provides a monthly view of archived sales while Selling Manager Pro comes with the ability to provide monthly profit and loss statements and an exportable report in Excel

View video footage of interviews with Ebayers

April 13, 2007: After last year’s report on the massive success of eBay businesses the tables have turned with mums now ditching the site.

Ebay video
Ebay fee increase
Turbo Lister
Selling Manager
Selling Manager Pro

Keeping Ebay Buyers Happy

Apart from the obvious – having a good item, one word that stands out the most when wanting to make an Ebay buyer happy is Communication. Tell them when you have received their payment, when the item will be posted and when the item has been posted. Buyers love to hear from sellers and what makes sellers popular is friendliness. Words like ‘Hi Joe, thanks for your payment’ or ‘Thanks for your business, you will love this item’ are easy going and personal and work wonders. You could even throw in a ‘Please contact us should you have any queries’ email. Remember, every customer is a potential return customer.
Back in the earlier days I used to fight fire with fire. One particular incident that comes to mind is when an Ebayer accused me of selling rancid Mary Kay products. The nerve of some people! Rude emails went back and forth until I decided enough was enough and dropped out of the conversation altogether. Why give rude people the satisfaction right? If someone is rude to you it’s always a good experiment to be friendly and polite in return just to see if their reaction changes. In most cases it does. View rudeness as a challenge. If they want a refund ‘sure no worries, send the item back and I’d be happy to’ always works well. Now’s a good time to remind them that their postage will not be refunded pursuant to Ebay’s Rules and Regulations, if you so desire.

The sad thing about Ebay’s feedback system is you really need to cater to a buyer’s every whim to maintain a good reputation and avoid negative feedback. Sellers can’t refuse to give a refund and still be confident they will receive good feedback just because they handled a transaction well. It may be their right to refuse a refund but it’s also the right of the Buyer to leave negative feedback for not receiving one. It’s a catch 22 situation Ebay are yet to fix.

If you like this post, enter your email address in the top right hand corner of my Blogspot to subscribe.



communication,
Ebay sellers
feedback,
happy Ebayer

Flatware Bargaining

Let me start by telling you about how I got into trading cutlery sets on Ebay.

One day, dressed to the k-nines I decided to pad my way down to the Brotherhood of St Lawrence charity store. After a quick sniff around I found myself a complete box of silver plated cutlery for 6. The box looked vintage and the black and white checkered lid made me think it was from the time of Happy Days and the Fonz.

When buying silver you must check for markings. This set was Made in Italy. It was on sale for $50.00. I rang my best mate and asked him to quickly look up cutlery on Ebay. The result wasn't too promising but nevertheless I took a risk and purchased it anyway. I felt that $50 was a bit too pricey for something I had no idea about. This was the first time I ever bargained with a charity store. Shame Shame, did I feel guilty. I scuttled out of there with my $25 cutlery set pleased as punch. Remember, the less of the outlay the more you make. However, the guilt of reducing proceeds for those less fortunate than you never leaves.

I was lucky enough to have a good camera on hand and took some clear shots of my new acquisition. The set sold for $180.00 AU. I was over the moon and hooked on cutlery from that day forward.

So far i've sold about six - seven sets with my latest acquisition an absolute beauty with the profit margin being six times it's purchase price (more on that another time).

I'm not sure why cutlery sets are so popular but I do know they go like hot cakes and that's all that matters.

Like this post? Don't forget to sign up for more on Scotty's Blogspot.




Cutlery, Bargain

Beat Your Competitors

Three month's have passed since my last post and I am dreadfully sorry to all my fans. I am hoping I am back on track now and my illness is under control and I can bring you more exciting topics on Ebay, jewellery, pets and anything else cool.

Lets start with my day today. In order to get anything decent for re-sale you really must rise early. If the doors to the charity store open at 9am then get there at 9am! If you can't manage that (like me) get there at 9.30am. Always think about your competition. I view every person in the store a competitor even if they look like they are buying for personal use. Get in the front door before your competitors do and you have a much better chance of finding an item that will make you a dollar or two.

Hog the isles - yes you heard me right!. If you are searching a store row by row, prevent people from passing you to get to the items you have not viewed yet. Be discreet, subtle and unsuspecting of course! I'm going to be brutally honest and say that most people won't take the time to say 'excuse me' when they see you in their way and will go back the way they came. Perfect.

Before you enter the store think about what item you want the most and go to that section of the store first. For instance, I always say to myself I want cutlery, jewellery, shoes, bags, household items and clothing, all in that order. Immediately upon entering the store I quickly scan for large cutlery sets and make a mental note of them. Cutlery is not something people snap up quickly I have noticed so it is more than likely to still be there once you've viewed your second most wanted item. Cutlery is a big money spinner so as soon as you get your hands on a full or almost full set ask the shop assistant to put it aside for you. More about cutlery in another post. I then proceed to the jewellery counter and look for charm bracelets first. Many jewellery counters can be absolutely overwhelmed with jewellery and it can be mind boggling finding what you want. If you hover too long it's likely you'll miss out on goodies from your other categories (those ghastly competitors again!) so move as swiftly as you can here. It's always good to have a particular jewellery item in mind when you are faced with an abundance of styles. It helps cut down the scanning time.

Today's adventure lead me to Savers where I was lucky enough to score a charm bracelet. Charm bracelets always grab my attention and even moreso when they look vintage, sterling silver or a decent carat of gold. The sterling looking bracelet was priced at $49.95 so I asked for it to be put aside for me while I thought about it for the rest of my journey through the store. $49.95 is a lot to risk on jewellery that you know very little about. I saw no .925 sterling mark on the bracelet and no signature so what should I do? I really liked it, it had a Scottish theme and a Made in England hangtag and some of my best sellers had been purchased by taking a risk, so I bought it.

Upon bringing my little treasure home I decided i'd better do some research on it before listing it so I could tell prospective bidders about it. The tag said 'A Miracle Product' so I googled 'Miracle Scottish Charm Bracelet' and it didn't take me long to find a similar bracelet for sale on Ruby Lane, an online website made up of hundreds of antique dealers, for $77 USD. Ruby Lane is not much good to buy for re-sale purposes by the way. Antique dealers can be quite pricey as they know what their items are worth unlike some charities.

Apparently my bracelet was most likely circa 1950 - 1970. The charms consist of the celtic cross, a scotch thistle, bagpipes, a bagpipe player and a Scottish dancer. The charms are very detailed front and back which is typical of Miracle jewellery. Miracle jewellery is the product of A. Hill and Company (Birmingham) which commenced in 1946 and some of their pieces are not signed. It's always good to have a magnifying glass handy when shopping for antique/vintage jewellery.
Research your product. The aim of research is to help you make a detailed listing and show prospective bidders you are well versed about the product and the product is authentic. You may find a fellow Ebayer has the same or similar product as yours and has already researched the product for you. Do write it in your own words though as your listing could be cancelled by Ebay for plagarism.

Illusion Jewels has some great information on identifying jewellery signatures.

Information in this post and Blogspot are Copyright (c).