Online Sellers ~ Grab This When You See It

April 8, 2017 by Florence 24 Comments

Online Sellers ~ Grab This When You See It!

A consistently good seller are these little humpbacked dresser chests/trinket boxes or “pirate boxes”, as I sometimes call them. (The 2nd to last one I had on Etsy sold the first day.) The one I am about to show you took a little longer probably because it had a few issues, but it’s also sold.

When I see these, I always grab them, but it is rare to find a perfect specimen. There’s nearly always something wrong with them. Anything from missing or loose chains on the sides, missing feet on the bottom, torn veneer, missing catches, missing tacks on the edges. I’ve seen it all, but I snatch them anyway. Any of these problems can usually be fixed or modified. Most of the ones I’ve found have been at thrift stores.

online sellers grab this when you see it — Chest as I found it with missing latch

You can see this has some minor issues…scratches and mainly the missing catch on the front. Luckily it has the chains. There is a bit of missing veneer on the side. And the red lining has a problem. Looks like old scotch tape inside. Maybe it will come off.

Old English Scratch Polish is my best friend when it comes to refurbishing wood and hiding scratches….one of the tools in my arsenal I always have. I never paint these boxes because I figure they are for a man or boys. Do men like shabby chic or farmhouse style? Not sure, but I know my man doesn’t. No painted or distressed for him, and certainly no pink roses or shabby chic!

Seeds Wood Dressing is another product I love. I found it at an estate sale. It’s great for bringing out the luster of wood.

You can see what a difference Old English makes, and I haven’t even used Seeds yet…no more scratch and the place where the missing catch was has been minimized.

Since I’m not painting the chest, I can’t fix the missing veneer with wood filler, so the best I can do is minimize it with brown paint or glaze. Old English won’t fix this. Luckily it’s only a small area.

The main problem of the box is what to do about the catch. Whatever it had folded over the edge, and I know I don’t have anything like that in my stash.

Here are the possibilities I came up with for fixing this~

a narrow stretchy belt with a silver buckle and a horse head on the top
a fairly large gold knob
a small brown plastic knob
a bell-shaped pet tag (in fact, I have about 500 of these, which I found at the back of a vet’s office when I was looking for small boxes, and it hasn’t come to me yet what to do with them. I’m taking advice.)
a round silver button

You’ll never guess which one I chose, so I’ll reveal it further down…

I really liked the look of the belt! But I didn’t like that the buckle was vertical. Just didn’t look quite right.

Here’s the gold knob…nice, but too big.

Now I thought this combo was a great idea! I was impressed with myself. If only the pet tag wasn’t green and in the shape of a bell! Green I can fix, but a bell? I don’t think so. It would be easy to fold over the edge, but the brown knob is sorta boring. I could paint it gold, but nah, wasn’t doing it for me.

So that leaves the silver shank button….YES! It looks nautical…sort of like a ship’s wheel, ya know. I liked it and the shank was shallow so it would sit flatter.

Only a teensy bit of Rub n Buff next….

By the way, I don’t worry about the bottom catch on these boxes. I rarely find them with lock or keys. Obviously, whatever I put on the box isn’t going to connect or loop into the catch. People mostly use these as trinket boxes, and probably won’t lock them, so it’s not a concern.

So let’s discuss the red interior before the big reveal….

I wasn’t sure what the stuff was inside, like old hardened scotch tape that was very stubborn. I simply couldn’t get it all off. I went at it very gently because I sure didn’t want to get into replacing the lining.

And here’s the finished result with the button, Seeds Wood Dressing and a bit of Tung Oil….

it looks sooo much better now, wouldn’t you agree?!

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What do y’all think? Did I make the right choice on the catch replacement?

#1 Most Important Tip for Selling on Etsy

February 18, 2017 by Florence 18 Comments

What is THE #1 Most Important Tip for Selling Online?

What is THE #1 Most Important Tip for Selling on Etsy or anywhere online? It’s not SEO, NOT having the best keywords, NOT writing a good description, NOT holding your mouth right.

Depending on SEO for Etsy sales is like putting all your eggs in one basket.

So what is the secret???

Take.Good.Pictures.

That’s all. The End. You may be excused.

But I hope you’ll hang with me while we expound on this a little more.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but if you don’t have attractive photos, no amount of other tips and tricks will help you sell successfully.

Not that I have “arrived,” you understand. My efforts at this goal are always a work in progress.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have bought what I thought was a unique item, only to get home and see 3 pages of the same thing on Etsy. Frustrating.

But surprisingly, mine often sells. Why? Good clear photos that show the whole item. Not partially cut off, blurry, or too dark. I know this sounds overly simplistic. Everyone knows that, right?

But here’s what I see on Etsy ALL the time. Photos with items cut off, like the two below, requiring an extra click for a potential buyer to see the whole thing, and they often won’t bother.

most important tip for selling on etsy — Rusty crown

It is acceptable to take half shots of large or tall items, as in the below photos.

More no-no’s…blurry or too dark….

If you find you have taken a blurry photo, for heaven’s sake, re-shoot it! Blurry photos do not sell!

Yesterday I saw an Etsy photo that was not only too dark, but blurry as well, and they were paying for an ad to promote it! A waste of money.

Photos too dark. Yes, I have seen them practically black where you really can’t see the item at all. Why don’t sellers bother to fix it?

Here are some of my early product photos….are these REALLY too dark?? Absolutely!

When you don’t have auxiliary lighting, or a good camera station with natural light, photo editing is the next best thing.

There are many photo editing sites. The one I use is Picmonkey, which used to be free, but is no longer. It’s an awesome site at a very reasonable price. But there are other free sites for photo editing.

Here are the 4 photos again, lightened and improved using Picmonkey’s tools. They’re better, but the 2nd one down would be better shot on a black background.

Most could be improved a little more by shooting on a white background, as in the flag holder photo, top left. Debates rage for using/not using white backgrounds. Personally, I think they are beneficial and really help most items pop. To each his own.

You can use the photo editing features of picmonkey to get a stark white background, or you can use another free website called fotofuze to get the same effect.

Tutorial for Using Picmonkey

Enter picmonkey.com Click “Edit Photo.”

First click “Open” at the top to grab your photo….

Here is the screen for the most basic photo edits~cropping, rotating, straightening, sharpening, exposure, and resizing.

I commonly use cropping and exposure tools the most. A handy feature in the rotate tool is “straightening,” which comes in handy for me to fix crooked photos from using an uneven table at my camera station.

A look at the cropping tool….You can easily manipulate the size of your finished photo by enlarging or making your photo smaller.

Ta-da my favorite….exposure. This is how I get more light on my photo magically! I can’t believe how long it took me to notice this tool!

You can also use Picmonkey to watermark your photos….

Click the “T’s” on far left…

You can easily add your logo or shop name to photos by clicking “add text” and using any number of fun fonts of your choice in assorted colors.

Here are three Etsy sellers whose photography I admire:

PJ, vintage seller and owner of SeasideCollectibles shows us this exquisite crystal bowl. Did you know clear glass is hard to photograph, but PJ has nailed it. Look at the artistry of this piece!

Ellen Gonzalez, owner of KaleidoscopeWear, makes these lovely coats from sweaters she buys at the thrift store!

Tavin, vintage seller and owner of TavinsChoice, shows us a heart shaped trinket box, and just look how she has captured the details!

Each of these Etsy sellers have some beautiful photos and they immediately entice us to pull out the credit card, which is the whole idea for great photos, don’t you agree?

Etsy sellers, what is your favorite photo editing site? Do you have any tips to share?

What I Learned About Selling in a Booth

November 13, 2016 by Florence 74 Comments

What I learned about selling in a booth…and the bottom line…is it right for you?

I was in the antique booth business for only 4 years, but it was long enough to figure out whether it was a right fit for me. What did I learn? It took over my life!!!

Excitedly I jumped in with both feet figuring I would have no trouble keeping a booth filled up. After all, it was just a continuation of the vintage items I was selling online, right?? Not exactly.

What I Learned About Selling in a Booth:

♥ Inventory needs to turn over regularly. Ideally visit your booth once or twice a week to poof, fluff, and rearrange.

♥ Do you have a flair for display to make things look attractive? (My weakest area). Here’s my first booth. I was so proud!

what I learned about selling in a booth — My First Booth

♥ Do you have big display pieces (chests , bookcases and shelving) available to display wares at eye level? This is very important. Eye level, eye level, EYE LEVEL was preached to me constantly by the mall owner! But see in the photo above? Far too much landed on the floor because I didn’t have enough big display pieces!

♥ You better be hustling out every weekend for yard and estate sales, with visits to thrift stores during the week. This is the fun part, (if you’re the morning person type)…but the downside? There’s tons of competition!

Now if you’re not the morning person type…well, let’s just say it becomes a hardship getting up so early every weekend. I’m definitely not a morning person. I’m a night owl, so it became tiring very quickly.

♥ Keep a running list of what you take to your booth, what has sold, and what you’ve removed. I learned the hard way that I couldn’t trust the shop owner to keep up with that for me.

♥ Dealing in furniture and other big ticket items tremendously helps the bottom line, but smalls are your bread and butter. Like the little mismatched jewelry pieces below sold well bringing a profit.

I was only asking 50¢ each for them…cheap…but it adds up quickly.

♥ Do you have help to haul furniture to your booth? This is a biggie! Do you have a vehicle to do the hauling? We managed with a small SUV, but a truck would have been great.

♥You will be spending lots of time repairing, painting, and/or repurposing furniture and other items to take to your booth. YES, it takes over your life!

♥Do you have the skill to make those furniture repairs yourself? I depended on my husband to do that for me, but he was retired and had the time. I certainly couldn’t have done them myself. I just didn’t have the know-how!

♥ Do you have a stock of items to decorate your booth around the major holidays? I tend to sell everything, so am left with nothing to decorate with.

♥ Be aware of what your commissions, credit card fees, and rent amounts are. Rent is a huge chunk of change! The first big item I sold was a large desk. I might as well have handed my entire “profit” to the mall owner in rent!

♥ Consider having insurance for theft losses. We learned there was a kleptomaniac living in the neighborhood, and things displayed outside began disappearing…even when the owner got security cameras! You know how you think it’s not going to happen to you?? It did.

♥ Do you have a stock of paint on hand for fixing up your pieces? Paint and supplies are expensive.

♥ Do you have cleverly repurposed items to stand out from the competition? These can fly out the door if priced right, or they can sit!

♥ Be prepared to weather the slow months when nothing is selling. I found that January, June, and September were the slowest selling booth months.

♥ Promote on social media, especially Facebook! It helps get people to the shop by posting what you have for sale. When I started out, I was totally clueless. I had no idea how to promote myself or my shop.

Have I mentioned that a booth takes over your life?? There are days when you don’t have time and/or aren’t in the mood to go to the booth or work on projects. I worked all the time, even on Sundays, which didn’t set well with my husband or me. Little time was left over for other pursuits. I miss it, but barely had time to glance at my Etsy/Ebay shop, much less create a listing! Maybe some can, but I couldn’t do both.

Booth dwellers out there, what are your thoughts and experiences?

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Why I Charge 50% to Sell for You

October 16, 2016 by Florence 36 Comments

Why I charge 50% to sell for you….what does this mean exactly? In a nutshell, I sell for people online. Ebay calls this being a “Trading Assistant.” I make a little money, but I actually enjoy it, even though it is extremely time-consuming. Let me take you through the typical process.

Someone hands me a box of treasured heirlooms. Whatever the item (s) are, I’m usually told they are “worth a lot of money.” I wish I had a dollar for every time I hear this! A lot goes into the process! I try to find out as much as I can about the items.

What is it?
How old?
How long have they owned it?
Where did they get it?

WHY I CHARGE 50% TO SELL FOR YOU

RESEARCH

Helpful answers are often lacking, so I’ve spent hours digging. Let’s take pottery marks, for example. Many of them are not easily identifiable, and there are pages and pages of marks on the internet. Sometimes I go to Replacements.com to look through their endless pages. If I’m still at a dead end, I might go to Ebay/Etsy/Ruby Lane to conduct general searches based on descriptions. I put myself to sleep looking through pages of pottery marks just like the one below!

why i charge 50% to sell for you — Endless pages like this

Recently I was elated to find a forum on pottery mark identification help, until I found out what their “simple rules” were to join the site~

Look through pottery marks already identified, AND write a 600 page essay telling them how I acquired the pieces, what I collected and why. I don’t think so!

Here’s an Example of Something I Knew Nothing About (without research)~

A friend gave me this cup and saucer. As you can see, it has an Oriental motif. The dragon designs are unusual in that they are raised like modern puff paint. With no identifying marks, I had no idea what it was. So I googled “raised dragon design on cup and saucer.”

I saw several cups with similar designs and a name…Moriage Dragonware. I searched on Ebay/Etsy, using that term, and got price comparisons. These were souvenir cups brought back from the war by servicemen. Furthermore, I learned there was an image of a geisha in the bottom of the cup when it was held up to light, and yes, there it was. And this had a name…Lithophane! Thankfully I added this to the title and description.

As you can imagine, much goes into research. I tell my friends that I know a little about a lot of things, but not a lot about anything…hence, research. Many times research requires the purchase of books or membership on antique identification sites like Kovel’s or Worthpoint. My personal rule is not to buy books for research unless I’m interested in the topic myself. If I can help friends gain more for their piece without resorting to the uncertainties of yard/estate sales, I feel satisfied.

STORAGE

When people are downsizing or moving, they need it gone then. So I become a storage facility too. When a friend’s aunt recently died, they were cleaning out her house. I brought home 5 car loads of stuff to sell for her. Can you imagine finding a place to store 5 car loads?

CLEANING/PREPARING

Most of the time I have to clean the pieces so that they photograph well. If they are fabric, they must be spot cleaned, hand-washed, and ironed.

SHIPPING/PACKING

Shipping and packing are huge. Knowing how to pack carefully is usually learned in the School of Hard Knocks. I’m using my own packing materials I’ve paid for, or scrounged for in my favorite trash piles, which requires my time and gas. If an item arrives broken, I not only risk negative feedback, but money must be refunded.

MY EXPERTISE

Lastly there’s my expertise in knowing how to search, how to sell, how to figure out how much to charge for shipping, photographing attractive pictures, how to write a description, using the right keywords, and how to pack a box safely.

CONFESSION

Truth be told, I still feel a little embarrassed asking 50% because most don’t understand what goes into the process. I’ve had bug-eyed reactions…

…when I give a quote, and if those people choose not to hire me, that’s OK. I still have plenty of my own to sell. People often assume I’m doing it for nothing, and though I would like to be accommodating in that way, it takes too much of my time.

A couple approached me about selling some model trains and a set of Lenox dishes for them. The man told me condescendingly “we’ll give you a little something.” Right away I knew I didn’t want to work with them and I was glad they decided to go elsewhere.

Quite honestly I don’t deal in dish sets. They are total headaches to pack and ship safely, and it’s my neck if it doesn’t arrive in one piece. It seems that everything breakable I’ve ever sold goes to California, (I live in Alabama), and trying to safely pack a set of dishes for shipment….UGH.

And frankly, I don’t know a lot of people who will sell for others. Lots of acquaintances have asked me to teach them how to sell online, but by the time I show them the basics, they usually ask if I’ll do it for them. So no, asking 50% is not unusual.

A LOOK AT PERCENTAGES

For the sake of comparison, let’s look at percentages.

An item sells for $15.

Ebay’s fees are 10% of what the item sells for PLUS the amount charged for shipping. Let’s say the total with shipping is $20.

Ebay’s basic fees would be $2, plus listing price, plus paypal fee. Total fees might be about $2.90. Subtracting that from $20, you are left with $17.10.

A 25% commission on $17.10 would be $4.28

A 50% commission would be $8.55

CONCLUSION

Considering all the work and time commitment involved, hopefully you can see why I charge 50% to sell for you.

Handling Angry Customers

September 11, 2016 by Florence 22 Comments

Handling Angry Customers, so Everyone if Happy

As a seller on Ebay for 10 years, and Etsy for 6, I’ve had the occasional irate customer. If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, you will. It’s just a matter of time. Through it all, I have learned a foolproof method of handling angry customers that works for ME every time.

Example

Let’s say you have a vintage suitcase listed on your favorite site. Resist the temptation not to tell buyers about minor or major flaws for fear they won’t buy it. Believe me, you’ll save yourself lots of headaches down the road.

Be Up Front About Flaws

If there’s a problem later, and you didn’t tell them about the musty odor, the stains inside, the stitching coming loose, the scuff marks, and the rusty latches, and they’re not happy, it’s your neck.

Consequences When You’re Not Up Front

You’ll have to not only reimburse them for the original price plus shipping (if you’re selling on Ebay), but also foot the bill for them to return it.

So What’s the Solution?

It sounds too simple, but the solution is to be very honest about every single flaw, even those that seem too silly to mention, even those that are so minor you’ll think they’ll sound worse than they really are. Verbally describe it and document with a photo. And now it’s up to the buyer to read the description or look past the first picture. And all sellers know this is a big assumption!

Buyers Do Have a Responsibility

We all agree that many buyers don’t read the description! It’s their responsibility to do so. But if you’ve documented it, your derriere is covered.

What Buyers Wrongly Assume

When problems arise, buyers automatically assume you, the seller, is out to get them. Angrily they assume you’re trying to cheat them.

I recently had such a situation on Etsy. I sold a vintage sewing pattern, with most of the pattern pieces missing…an old 30’s “Hollywood pattern,” but I listed it because the envelopes are collectible.

A person bought it and 2 other vintage patterns. After they received it, an angry email arrived regarding the missing pattern pieces. They accused me of cheating them, being dishonest for selling the pattern, and threatened to open a case against me on Etsy.

I could have gotten angry at the unjust accusations, but I understood her frustrations. Lest I sound like an angel, HA! Believe me, I’m not, but I did understand her perspective.

How I Handled the Irate Customer

I remained calm.

I used her name, identifying and sympathizing with her: “Betty, I don’t blame you at all for being disappointed!” (Her tone changed almost immediately.)

I put the responsibility back on her. “I wondered if you had read the description where I clearly stated that most of the pattern pieces were missing.”

I reminded the buyer of her responsibility. “I debated about reminding you before shipping that the pieces were missing, but I usually assume people have read the description before purchasing.”

I promised to refund money for the pattern and part of the shipping. (I received a sheepish reply and an apology about “the misunderstanding.”)

The money was promptly refunded.

Summary

Steps for Handling Angry Customers:

Don’t respond in anger or defensiveness. Be professional.
Be honest about flaws. Describe and photograph items from every angle.
Disclaimers are good reminders for buyers. “Vintage items are pre-loved and have normal signs of use. It is not a new item.”
If complaints arise, you have it documented.
Agree with their issues, which helps deflate anger.
Tactfully remind them that it was in the description.
Promptly refund money.

A much happier buyer is the result. You have protected your reputation and the buyer is happy. The maddest buyer becomes a lamb when you refund money.

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