Busy Day in eBayland

I think I went a little overboard with the inventory.  The bad thing about having this eBay business is that it gives me a good excuse to go shopping, which I get an HUGE rush from.  You know that first Shopaholic book?  That is so me.  I had completely weened myself off the shopping but now I get to do it because it MAKES me money. :)  Anyway, went back to the secret supplier today (read: pusher!) and got three more pairs of shoes.  I couldn't resist, they were GIVING them away!  Here are a few more pictures of the things I'll be listing tonight:

I would usually wait to list these things throughout the week but eBay is offering free auction style listings, and today is the last day to take advantage of the promotion.  This is an obscure fact that only eBay sellers know but eBay gives auctions higher visibility over Buy It Now items, but charges higher fees for listing auctions that start high.  It's a catch-22: if you want buyers to see your item and pay fewer fees you have to list them for a very low price and risk taking a loss.  Meanwhile, if you list at a fixed price you minimize your risk of taking a loss but maximize your risk of not selling your item, since fewer buyers will see it.  Needless to say, I will be taking FULL advantage of eBay's promotion tonight!

Things Are Looking Decidedly UP

Sorry for the melodrama yesterday.  Things are going much better today.  I got an opportunity to redeem myself for my shoddy packing skills, my items are generating a lot of interest AND I went on a fantastic shopping trip where I got the beauties you see below for a great price.

I also got a few more affordable clothes to sell in lots, AND I did a little bit of accounting and figured out
my PROFIT for May was about $500. :)  I haven't listed anything yet so if you see anything you want to call dibs on, let me know!!

On days like today, I just want to quit

I logged into my computer for the first time since this morning to find that one of the buyers from last week's auctions had left me neutral feedback. The buyer feels I didn't package the item well enough, and that it was not in as good a shape as I'd described it in the listing.

The feedback, although neutral and not negative, left a bitter taste in my mouth because:
1) I wanted this buyer's item to be well protected, so I actually went out of my way to package the item in a box rather than a mailing envelope, which made the package heavier and raised the cost of shipping for me.
2) I geniunely believed the item was in as good a shape as I said it was. However, I do understand perceptions can vary, and my buyers are under no obligation to see things my way. That's why I allow returns, so people won't feel trapped into keeping an item they aren't happy with, and thereby unhappy with me.

Of course, I've offered a full refund and return shipping NOW, but things like this still make me a little sad. I'm not sure why I take it so personally. It's irrational for me to be upset at myself for having disappointed someone I don't know, but frankly I take a lot of pride in my little business and I like to do things right.

Other than offering the refund and shipping as I've done, any other ideas about how I can make this right?

:(

The Ultimate Publicity Stunt

I've started doing something new lately, something I haven't told you about.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (or maybe one of my comments - can't remember) that I've noticed that my auctions are a good marketing platform, in the sense that auctions attract your buyers to other auctions.  To try to exploit some of that, I put a scrolling banner from Auctiva at the bottom of every listing, with pictures of my other listings.

That got me thinking.  Not all of my auctions attract massive amounts of attention.  Some of my items are more ordinary than others.  I've been buying to resell a lot lately, so a lot of them are price at lower but not unbelievable prices.  As a result, I only need one or two bids to do well financially, the auctions stay off the eBay "hot item" radars, and fewer people visit.

To test this theory, I've listed my cousin's pre-owned tan Jimmy Choos for 99 cents.  On the second day after listing the item, it's already been bid up to $5.50 and has 15 watchers, so I have no doubt it will sell for a decent price.  Is it having the desired effect of attracting traffic to my other items?  That's yet to be seen, but it's worth a try, right?

Anyway, I've saved the best for last, because you're really going to love this.  I've decided that if the pre-owned Choos have the desired effect, I'm going to auction off a brand new designer item with a starting price of 99 cents.  If I'm right, it will sell for its true market price and drive enough traffic to my other auctions to cover my losses. :)

The Louboutins Have Landed

The Louboutin Miranda flats arrived in Norway safe and sound, thank GOD.  I've been having nightmares about them being lost in the mail and having to fork out ... well, what I paid for them!

Icing on the cake?  The buyer loves them.  Hooray!

Post-Auction Roundup, Part Deux

I'm exhausted and promised myself I would get to bed early, but I did want to update you guys on my last batch of auctions.

Yesterday's auctions went phenomenally well!  Best performing items were:

Awesome pair of pre-owned Kate Spade pumps in great shape

Silk Banana Republic dress I wore to the wedding I went to in NOLA

The last of my brother's shirts

Tonight's auctions, on the other hand, were a big flop. Only one item sold. Oh well. I'm pretty pleased about this week's winnings, so I'm not too bothered. :)

Auction Jitters

I have a bunch of auctions ending tonight.  Most of tonight's items have bids, so I'm happy as it stands, but wish me luck anyway. :)

I get so excited when new things sell.  I get such a kick out of the process of "meeting" new buyers.  As I've mentioned in the past, some are friendly, most are silent, but when I do have a good interaction it puts a big smile on my face.

Finally, I got some great feedback from last week's auctions.  Every item but the Louboutins has arrived, and everyone has given me awesome feedback.  It's so stressful when you send an item to a buyer, especially a pre-owned item, and you're not there to see their face when they open the package (that sounded creepy, but I didn't mean it that way).

Anyway, I'll give you breakdown tomorrow once this batch of auctions ends.  See you then!

The Most Fun I've Had Selling Myself

Errr... I think the title of my blog post might be a tiny bit misleading.  I was referring to a new site I found called Shop Style.  Shop Style is essentially an aggregator site for many other fashion sites- department stores, online retailers, you name it.  Not much unique about that.

What's AWESOME about Shop Style is that one of its features is an online forum (ho-hum), as well as a "look builder" that allows you to not only pick out individual pieces from the stores Shop Style covers but also to upload your own pictures and combine them with the pieces you've picked out online to create what they call "looks" that you can then share with the other members of the forums.

At first I had my fun playing dress-up, fiddling around the site, and generally being unproductive.  As I was building my second "look" I had an epiphany.  What a great way to get exposure for some of the pieces I have listed now!  Shop Style works a lot like blogging.  You leave people comments on their looks, and they come by and and leave you comments on yours.  The network effect at its best.  So I built some more looks, and in each look I included something from my store, and already I've had people take a look and comment on my items.

Curious to see the result?  Check it out!  I promise you'll have fun!  You can find my style book at: http://www.shopstyle.com/users/ElisaV.  I'll post a few individually, as well, and save you the trouble. :)

Lots of New LOOT

Prada, Christian Dior, Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik and Nicole Miller.

Haven't listed yet but plan on doing so tomorrow. SO excited to list this stuff!

PS: To the lady who was interested in a pair of Louboutins, I managed to pick up the gold platform sandals today (bottom picture).  They are a size 9, but run at least half a size small.  I've also located a Chanel bag but would need to talk more details.  Email me if you're interested: notyourmamas@hotmail.com.

The Pictures I Would Never Post on eBay

I have a confession to make.

Sometimes the clothes I sell don't look as good hung or laying flat as they do on a model. So sometimes I model them and take my own picture... even if they don't fit.

Now that's hard to do with the size 2 BCBG pants I've got up for auction now (over here), but sometimes an item will juuuuust fit me and I will dare to snap a few shots.

Take this dress for example. Laid out on the carpet it looks kind of blah, but it's actually very sexy. I've been having a hard time selling it because it's not a name brand dress and it looks really nondescript next to all the other hot cocktail dresses up on eBay. So I put it on. Even though it's a six. And I'm an 8-borderline-10. The result is a picture that will never see the light of day on eBay.  For two very obvious reasons.

Enjoy.

Back in Business and My New Marketing Plan

Ok, so I've removed comment moderation for now to make sure I receive everyone's comments AND I've got 16 listing in full swing right now, so we're back in business.

I've also decided that in addition to just listing my items on eBay and tweeting about them to my 50 coerced followers, I'd also like to start advertising in more creative ways.... almost like a real shop.  A couple of things I've come up with are creating business cards with my logo (upper right), the URL for both my eBay "store" (not really a store, just a page that shows all the items I have listed), my Bonanzle booth URL and my blog URL.  I've also been thinking about creating a private email address just for the blog.  I know I've shared quite a bit about my identify on here already, and many of my readers do know me personally, but somehow it makes me uncomfortable to share my personal email address.  The other thing I'm thinking about doing is creating flyers and posting them on random bulleting boards in my building (we live in a big apt building), so I spent the day today making a collage of my most representative items.

What's frustrating though is that as much as I love what I'm doing, I simply can't dedicate as much time to it as I would like.  I'd LOVE to pretty up this blog, have surveys and giveaways running all the time.  I'd love to learn more about blogging in general, but although blogging is a great outlet I don't have a ton of time to dedicate to eBay AND blog wholeheartedly.  So I think for now the blog will stay an ugly duckling - I hope you guys don't mind. :)

The other frustrating thing is that as much as I love customer service I'm a TERRIBLE salesperson.  Salespeople as always "closing."  Me, I stopped updating my personal Facebook status with eBay and blog stuff for fear of annoying my friends.  The result?  I have more than 300 Facebook friends on my personal page and only 53 "likes" on the blog Facebook page.

Finally, and I'm sure all entrepreneurial moms will relate to this, it's frustrating that I can't be in two places at once - spending quality time with my son and working on listing and promoting my items.  My baby boy turns two tomorrow, and to celebrate his birthday I'm not going anywhere near a computer.

Ok, maybe just a little...

So Sorry Guys, Still Having Comment Problems

The comment disappearing thing has happened three more times since my last post.  If you have left me a comment, please forgive me for the technical difficulties I'm having!!  If you could send me a msg via twitter (http://www.twitter.com/notyomamasebay) or Facebook (Not Your Mama's eBay Blog) I'd be very grateful.

I apologize again, I hope you will come back and see this and not think I'm rejecting your comments!!

Weird Comment Trouble

Ok, for those of you more experienced with blogging than me, can you please help me with a bloggy problem?

So I came to check my blog dashboard and saw that I had 2 comments to moderate, but when I clicked on the link that said "2 comments" only one was there.  Once I approved the one I could see, the other "ghost comment" had disappeared.

Any idea what could have happened?

How Much Do People Hate Airlines You Think?

On the way to New Orleans, my luggage decided it wanted to take a short detour through Atlanta.  I guess it wanted to do some sightseeing.  Who knows.  Anyway, after much cajoling and negotiating, the airline agreed to reimburse me for a change of clothes (and a car seat so I wouldn't have to leave my son at the airport).  I didn't need a change of clothes, since I was staying with my cousin (the one whose closet I ransacked) but a fool airline and its money are soon parted, so I bought a couple of things to list on eBay, the nicest one of which (in my opinion) is the dress pictured above.

I listed the dress for 99 cents, and wrote the same story in the item description.  Let's see how many people will bid out of airline hatred, shall we? To check out the listing, click here.

The Post-Auction Roundup

Hey folks! Blogging from the road again. We are on our way to the airport so we can get back to life as usual, but I wanted to give you the breakdown on yesterday's auctions.

So, I made a little money even though I broke even on most items. Overall, it was a little disappointing, but like every auction it was a learning experience. Here's what I learned:

1) Sunday might not be the best day to end auctions. My friend Tammy from This Mama Works It had already told me that but I'm a little set in my ways so I didn't listen to her. I'm going to start listing on Tuesdays and Thursdays to see how it goes.

2) It is definitely a good idea to have as many auctions going as possible. I had a lot of cross polination this time - people looking at and bidding on and asking about several items. I think for next time I will try a combination of auctions and fixed price to see how I do.

3) I need to be more purposeful in pricing my items. I'm going to start having a mix of "risky" items and items where I start the bidding at a price that makes me a little bit of money. I need to come up with a target profit for each item and stick to that.

Alrighty, thanks so much to everyone who helped promote my auctions this week!! I swear I produced more spam on Facebook and Twitter this week than the Cialis people. Sheesh.

T-24 Hours

Hi folks!  Still in New Orleans so I'll be brief.

My nine auctions end tomorrow, and although I've picked up a couple of things here in New Orleans I probably won't have time to list anything until Tuesday or so, so this is going to be the most excitement I get in over a week!  Only two of the auctions have bidders (the two lower price ones) and the rest have about a bazillion watchers each but no one taking the plunge.

Funny how once again I'm way off about what will attract people's attention. The most popular items have been:

By number of clickthroughs - My Kalah Snakeskin Clutch (I guessed this one would get attention, but I've also been promoting it quite a bit.)

By number of watchers - My Pre-owned Prada Belt. This one has 19 watchers and only 1 bid so far.

By number of questions - The Louboutin Miranda Flats. I'm not surprised no one has taken a chance on this one yet, even though it's got 8 watchers. $270 is still a lot of money to spend on shoes, even if these are $750 shoes!

By number of bids - My Ruched Tube Top with 4 as of the writing of this post.

Of course, most of the bidding goes on in the last few hours of an auction, but as always I'm nervous some of my favorites will go for less money than I'd hoped.  I'll let you know how it all went tomorrow night around 10 PM EST!

Ransacked My Cousin's Closet

I hadn't been in New Orleans for 20 minutes when I'd already ransacked my cousin's closet for eBay merchandise.  She was good for a pair of Jimmy Choos and a pair of Michael Kors high heel sandals.  Expect to see them up shortly.

Off to Nawlins

Hey guys, I'm off to New Orleans with my fam today and we don't get back until Monday so you may not hear from me for a couple of days.

Do me a favor though, would you keep an eye on my auctions while I'm away?  For good luck?

Thanks!

Help Me Decide - End Auction Early??

Someone sent me an email offering me $350 for the Christian Louboutin flats if I end the auction early and sell them to him Buy It Now through eBay.  He says it's his sister's birthday on May 20th (he's in Japan) and would like to get them before then.  He's willing to pay for expedited shipping.

The item has 6 watchers and is getting lots of traffic.  My guy feeling is that they will sell for about $400 but I can't be sure, of course.  Thoughts??

Making eBay Fun Again

Ever since I moved into buying inventory to sell on eBay, I've been playing really safe.  Listing items Buy It Now, shying away from auctions, that sort of thing.

I decided last night I need to change my strategy, because this Buy It Now bullshit is really BORING!  No matter how many times you look at the price on your Blackberry throughout the day, it never changes.  Here's what I'm doing.  I listed about ten items last night, including the awesomely awesome Christian Louboutin shoes and one of my favorite Kalah clutches.  I listed most of the items for my breakeven price, although I did decide to take a chance with a few of them.

Already the excitement levels have shot up significantly!  Overnight, a few watchers started popping up.  Based on the number of views and watchers, I can already tell some of these items are going to be highly successful.  Some of the others, unfortunately, will require a little Tweeting and some publicity around the office, but I'll give it my best shot.  Check the auctions out - they're in the widget to the right of this post - and tell me what your favorite item is!

Soooo.... now that I have auctions going, don't you guys think it's time to play over-under again??  It's been a while, although most of you never really got into it.  Let's give it another shot, shall we?

Out with the Old, In with the New

Inventory, that is.

Say bye bye to Manolo (Adios Manolo!) and hello to Mr. Louboutin (Bonjour!)

I bought a TON of inventory this weekend, including the gorgeous, stunning, magnificent and best of all CHEAP Christian Louboutin flats you see top right.  Relatively speaking, of course.

Here are some of the other things I'm hoping to sell this week:

Happy Mother's Day to U.S. Moms!

It's mother's day in the U.S. today so I wanted to wish those of you who are mommies a very, very special day.  We don't have anything planned (we rarely do - have anything planned, that is!), but I think we might go inventory shopping. :)  Can't wait to show you what I get!

You HAVE to Make Mistakes

For all my Polyanna cheerfulness and positive attitude, my good friends will tell you my nasty cynical side does like to make a guest appearance once in a while.

Like today.  Funny, up until today I never even considered the possibility that my little business wouldn't go anywhere.  My family (except for my husband) thinks I'm NUTS.  They don't really take me seriously when I talk about my silly eBaying, and I think the word "Bonanzle" sends them into fits of giggles.  But I generally just brush it off.

Today is different, though.  For some reason, I have this discomforting seed of doubt in me today.  Sales have been much slower than before, although I am still selling as you can see by my updated earnings in the header up top.  And I just made that awesome arrangement to sell those incredible handbags, so things should be looking up soon.  But you know, I do have my doubts about my ability to pull all this off sometimes!

And then the little angel sitting on my shoulder reminds me of one of my OTHER life mottos (here are the others in case you missed it: Click here), which is that you HAVE to make mistakes.  Not you CAN make mistakes, but you HAVE to make mistakes.  Human nature is to learn from mistakes.  We don't really learn from successes, it's the hard knocks that teach us our most valuable lessons.  And if you're going to make mistakes, what better way to make them than with a zero-investment business you run off the side of your desk?

So so what if only two legitimate buyers showed up at my virtual event today?  So what if I haven't sold all my items this week?  So what if half the people I follow on Twitter aren't following me back?  And yes, so what if my business tanks??  I'll just start another business.  And another.  And another one, until I get it right!

Right?

Bonanza - Yeehaw!

I've decided to dedicate all my attention to Bonanzle this weekend to see how much traffic you can really get on there.  I've hosting my first "Bonanza" (big sale) today, starting in about 4 minutes - from noon PST to 3 PM PST (3 pm to 6 pm EST).  Even if you don't buy anything, will you come by and keep me company?

Thanks so much!!

Not Your Mama's Clothing Booth: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/notyomamasclothing

I'm Officially LEGIT - My First Joint Venture!

I've been keeping secrets from you.  Now that we know each other better, I think I might be ready to share.  My "secret supplier" is actually the clearance rack at a local factory outlet, which is why I am SO excited about what I'm about to tell you.

For the longest time, I've been an admirer of a really trendy but small designer and importer of luxury handbags called Kalah.  They have an INCREDIBLE collection of bags and accesories, all hand made in Nicaragua.  I learned about them because the owner and designer is a friend of mine's sister-in-law, and my friend was always sporting the most envy-inducing bags, including the one you see in the right.

Well, since Kalah is a small but growing brand, and considering I have a small "in" with the owner, I thought I might have an opportunity to sell some of their bags on eBay or Bonanzle (and maybe get a couple for myself at a reduced price - wink wink).  They have all the qualities of an eBay best seller:

1) They're unique.

2) They are reasonably priced.

3) They're one size fits all.

Well, I spoke to Kalah's owner this afternoon and GUESS WHAT???  She's willing to let little old me carry some of her products in my stores!  Up until now, I've managed to procure my items either by selling my own stuff or my friends' stuff, or by reselling at a mark-up things I buy from the clearance racks and outdoor markets, so as you can imagine the profit I can fairly collect is minimal.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - for me, the secret to selling on eBay has been not to get greedy. 

So you can image how thrilled I am to finally get a legit supplier, and for a super high quality product to boot!  Plus, what I love most about this joint venture is that because I am a wholesaler I can offer these bags at a modest mark-up and still boast absolutely fantastic prices on a great, great item.  It's win-win...win!

Wish me luck!!!  I'm sure you'll hear about how this goes!

The Fate of the Lime Green Ferragamos

Some of you emailed and asked how the whole lime green Ferragamo drama had ended.

Well, the shoes sold for $11.50 despite all the kind support from my readers.  I made my peace with it.  You win some, you lose some.  My friend made her peace with it too, and was very generous in letting me keep all the profits (I know, she's a very kind, classy person - also intelligent and beautiful - she's got it all).

The good news is now you can all go tell your friends that Not Your Mama's eBay is the place to find LIKE NEW designer shoes for $11.50.  And free shipping, no less.

I've yet to receive feedback or any other news from the buyer, but I'll be VERY surprised if she's anything but thrilled.

A Bit on Bonanzling

So this blog is called Not Your Mama's eBay, and I plan on continuing to write predominantly about selling on eBay.  But every day I log into Bonanzle I grow more and more intrigued.

Granted, I haven't made a single sale on Bonanzle, nor am I getting a ton of traffic to my "booth".  I am, however, getting a steady stream of visits from my neighbors (the sellers who run the other booths) who stop by with words of encouragement, "tag" my items (a menu option under each item that allows you to rate items as "exceptionally cool," "exceptionally beautiful," etc...), and make pleasant conversation.

What's curious about Bonanzle is that it's more similar to Twitter or blogging than it is to eBay.  It relies in big part of network effects.  You get people (other small sellers) to come to your booth by visiting THEIR booth.  Every booth has a chat functionality, so when people aren't in you literally leave them a message.  And then they return your visit, and leave you a message.  But that's not all.  Other people SEE the message you left and ALSO come visit your booth.  Posting in the communal forums will also get people to your booth.  It's a close knit community, so new faces attract attention.

It's easier, and more work than eBay at the same time.  I suspect that many of the successful sellers there have brought in their own customer base as opposed to picking up customers while there.  At the same time, listing and promoting items is easier and cheaper.

All in all, I think I will continue to list my items both at Bonanzle AND eBay.  After all, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  I'll keep you guys posted on what my neighbors are up to.

I've Been Featured in an AWESOME Blog!!

One of my favorite bloggers and eBayer extraordinaire Tammy, from This Mama Works It, asked me to write a short piece on my eBay selling experiences for her site.  I enthusiatically agreed - not only is Tammy a much more experienced seller than I am, she's a great blogger with fantastic insights on how to reduce debt and make money on the internet, so needless to say I was extremely flattered.

If you'd like to read my feature, please visit Tammy's blog at http://www.thismamaworksit.com/, and while you're there, you should definitely read more of what Tammy has to say.  You won't regret it, I guarantee it.

Fifty Stars

Remember when we first met?  I was young and naive and was hoping to get to 50 stars on eBay.

Guess what?  Mission accomplished.

Bona-what-now?

As much as I'm enjoying my little eBay business venture (despite the stress), I have to admit that trading on the best known cyber marketplace on earth has its price.  I've started selling some slightly more expensive items, and let me tell you, when eBay and Paypal gang up and start taking their cut, there isn't all that much left for the seller.

I'm not sure how it happened, but I came across another marketplace site, similar to eBay, called Bonanzle.  Bonanzle almost reminds me of a Main Street pedestrian shopping strip, complete with the friendly neighbors that stop by and say hello.

Sales have been reaaally slow for me this week, so I decided to give something else a try.  I opened up an account on Bonanzle - it's free - and listed a few items - also free.  Within 30 minutes of having opened my account, other sellers were IMing me through Bonanzle's chat feature to welcome me, offer help learning the ropes, and leave encouraging comments in my "booth" (that's what your store is called on Bonanzle).

It's all very very cool, which also makes it really really sad.  Bonanzle has a lot of sellers, but not a lot of buyers.  I think part of the reason for the friendliness is all these sellers are desperate for the site to grow.  Bonanzle charges nearly HALF the final sale fees that eBay does, and it offers so much more.  And yet the buyers stick with eBay.  They feel safe sticking with what they know.

I don't blame them, but I'm still going to give the place a shot.  You have to approve your sales on Bonanzle, so I plan on double listing some of my Buy It Now items to see how I do.  If someone makes me an offer on Bonanzle, I'll take the item down from eBay.  It costs me nothing, and I get double the exposure.

You guys should go look around if you're got some time on your hands.  Excellent deals, cheaper than eBay because the sellers can afford to lower their prices a bit.  The URL is www.bonanzle.com.  Let me know what you think!

Living with Stress

Oh MY God.  Why do I do this to myself??  So I have these patent loafers up for auction right now.  I'm selling them for a friend of mine who asked for my help.  I listed them twice for a fixed price and they didn't sell, so I took a chance and listed them as an auction.  Now with 11 hours to go, they've been bid up to $11.50 and have 10 watchers.  And I'm FREAKING OUT because these are worth so much more!  Yes, most of the bidding on an item happens in the final hours, and yes most items actually end up selling for their market value but OH MY GOD WHAT IF THESE DON'T!!

Curious?  Want to Keep Vigil with Me? Click here.

I know, I know, I keep telling you guys not to worry about individual item profits, that you have to take risks to make money, blah blah blah blah.  And I still fully believe that and feel good about it - when it's MY ITEMS at risk! :(

Alright.  So these have 2 bids and 10 watchers.  That means at least 3 people have yet to bid (according to my bidders to watchers ratio philosohpy, which you can find here).  I've been tweeting about them, I'm posting them to Facebook in a minute, and I've emailed a couple of repeat buyers to stir up some interest.  Any other ideas for how I can draw in some traffic in 11 hours??

Rant over.  Thanks for listening.  I'll keep you posted.