For the Love of All That's Holy, Don't Pay Retail!!

One of the questions I get most frequently from people who read my blog is "who is your secret supplier?"  What if I told you there's absolutely nothing special about my "secret supplier" and that if you wanted to you could get the same kinds of things I get for CHEAPER than my asking price?

The shoe in the picture is a Christian Louboutin Declic 90 mm in a black patent.  It retails for $675 at Saks, Barneys and Neiman Marcus.  These shoes sell out quickly and never go on sale.

A while back, when I first started buying designer shoes to resell on eBay and Bonanzle, a friend of a friend (let's call her Maria) contacted me about the first pair of Louboutins I had for sale.  They weren't what she was looking for, but she wondered whether I could help her find a black Louboutin pump with a relatively low heel for less than the retail price.

Without giving away trade secrets, I located the gorgeous pair you see here from a seller abroad, had them shipped over and then sold them to Maria for about $100 less than retail.  I've had them authenticated TWICE, with the same results - 100% authentic.  And I made money.  Not huge buckets of money, but a little money.  Best of all, I had a great time trying to figure out how on earth I was going to get the shoes that never go on sale, well, on sale.

The truth is I've developed a knack for hunting things down and figuring out a system to obtain a discount. Which got me to thinking.  What if my next venture were to write an e-book about how to get discounts on expensive items?  It's not an elaborate system, but it does take time and persistence.  Since you guys have been supporting me all this time, here are a few tips:

1) Sign up for the email list to Off 5th (Saks), Last Call (Neiman), Nordstrom Rack, and any other brand that you're a fan of.  The stores will then send you information about upcoming promotions, as well as coupon you can use to get even better prices on your purchases.  It doesn't matter if you don't live close to the outlets.  Most shops will allow you to buy things over the phone and ship them to you for a low fee.  Once you've identified an item you want, call around, use your discounts and buy your item for 75% off.  Woohoo!

2)  Check eBay, Bonanzle, and if you live in the United States, Craigslist!!  You can use this link here to search all of Craigs, and despite the fact that Craiglist encourages users to trade locally, you can still safely purchase things from willing sellers and protect yourself from fraud by using Paypal and a credit card to complete your purchase.  Have the seller send you an invoice through Paypal with a detailed description of the item you're purchasing.  If something goes wrong you have the option of filing a case through Paypal, or even better, requesting a chargeback through your credit card.

3) Hoard coupon codes.  Right now I'm sitting on coupon codes from Piperlime, Endless, Banana Republic, Neiman Marcus Direct and a few other online retailers.  Using these coupon codes will allow me to buy hard to find items that never hit the sales racks at a discount.

4) Email me! :)  I may not be able to help you find what you're looking for, but I'd be more than happy to give it a shot!

Five Things You Don't Know About Me

Some of you reading this blog know me in real life, but most of you don't.  Because of my interactions with other blogs, I've had a lot of new visitors lately, and this spurred the idea to write a more personal entry about who I am and why I do what I do.

Those of you who know me will have to forgive me if this is too elementary, but I'll try to throw in some obscure Elisa V facts in here as well!

Five Facts About Elisa V

1) I have lived in 4 countries in the last five years.  In 2005, my husband and I moved from Nicaragua to Barcelona to get our MBAs.  After Barcelona we moved to London, where I was offered a position with the company I work for now.  My company then transfered us to the U.S., where we've been living since April of last year.

2) I'm sure some of you are thinking - Nicaragua??  a) Where is that? and b) Why on earth was she living there?  Google can tell you where Nicaragua is, but only I can tell you that the reason we were there is that that's where we're from.  Both our families (or at least our parents) still live there.  However, my father's family migrated to Nicaragua from Italy during the late 1940's, which means that due to Italy's lenient citizenship rules, I'm also an Italian citizen.

3) Why on earth do you run around buying up stupidly expensive shoes to sell on eBay?  Debt.  We've accumulated a lot of debt and for the longest time my husband stayed home with our son.  Now he's working for an insurance company, but it's 100% commission.  Instead of complaining, I felt like I needed to do something to create a little extra cashflow.  This is what  I came up with!

4) I have a two year old son who on a daily basis threatens to obliterate my entire inventory of stupidly expensive shoes.  He also runs up to me when I'm trying to list an item or answer a buyer's question and slams my laptop shut on my fingers so I will pay attention to him.

5) My shoes size is 7.5.  I may have mentioned this before, but you may have noticed a lot of the shoes I'm selling hover around that size.  I think deep inside I have the secret hope that I will get to keep all the shoes.  They're so puurdy.

Have any other questions about me or what I do?  Let me know!  Comment moderation is on so if you want to post a comment but don't want others to read it use the form below and then ask me not to approve the comment.  I will happily oblige!

Awarding Awards

The blogging world fuels itself through the concept of reciprocity and blogging etiquette dictates that when someone comments on your blog, you comment back, when they follow your blog, you follow back, and when someone gives you an award, you pass that award on to someone else.  As you saw, Maryanne from Lipglossd Mom gave me an award a few days back, so this post will serve as a passing of the batton, if you will, to other bloggers.

I'm not an avid blog reader.  However, there are a few blogs that have captured my interest, and I'd like to pass on my Outstanding Blogger to three blogs I don't read nearly as often as I'd like.

Ready?  Here we go.

Blog: The Best of Fates - Megan

Award Category: Best Use of Self-Deprecating Humor

Please, do yourselves a favor, and follow Megan on Twitter.  My favorite tweet so far: "Male co-worker humming 'The Sound of Music'.  Please Lord, let 'The Lonely Goatherd' be next."  She's much cooler than she makes herself out to be, which is why, in my eyes, she is so cool.

Blog:Taming Insanity - KLZ

Award Category: Funniest Blog I Need to Read More Frequently
If you loved Seinfeld, you will love Taming Insanity.  It's a blog about nothing.  That is to say, I have seen very few dramatic, big deal, oh-my-God posts - and I love it (caveat - again, I don't read it as much as I should). Every time I visit I find myself thinking I never had so much fun reading about someone else's daily activities, likes and dislikes, childhood stories and talk of trading kidneys for dresses.  KLZ is a natural writer - her style is wry and eloquent, but not forced.  And she's more sarcastic than I am, which makes her ACES in my book.


Blog:The Redneck Mommy - Tanis
Award Category: Best Use of Hairy Armpits
Remember how last week I said there were some blogs that made me want to hurl myself off the balcony?  The Redneck Mommy represents the OPPOSITE of what I was talking about.  Some bigger blogs out there have, frankly, become almost like cults.  The Redneck Mommy is an example of a well-written, off-beat, popular blog where the audience is as funny and original as the blogger - and that's pretty damn funny and original.  When I go to a blog, I enjoy reading the interaction between the blogger and the commenters.  When the comments all say "Wow, spot on again, you're awesome!" or "Couldn't have said it better myself! Can I sit next to you in the cafeteria today?" even the best blog in the world seems commonplace and ordinary to me.  Let me share with you the gist of a comment from Tanis's blog: "Tanis, what the hell were you doing with your armpit that would warrant a wasp to sting it??"  Yes, Tanis blogs about armpits a lot.  Go read.


Finally, I know you were all expecting me to give This Mama Works It! an award (category: Best Guest Blogger Best No-Nonsense Resource for Making You Money), but I really don't like doing what people expect!  Sorry Tammy, but you know you're #1 in my book, right?

Check Out My Guest Post on This Mama Works It!

Tammy and I wanted to exchange blog posts, so we agreed that she would write about the five things she wishes she had known about eBay, and I would write about my experiences Bonanzle.

Please go visit me on Tammy's blog, This Mama Works It!, to see me wax prophetic about "The Ranch" (that's Bonanzle to us Bonz sellers). :)

Guest Post - This Mama Works It! Talks Children's Clothes

Today I am featuring a guest post by Tammy from This Mama Works It. She has been a seller on eBay since 2005. Her specialty is selling kids clothes, specifically name brands such as Gymboree and Gap. Her blog offers advice on purchasing name brand kids clothes cheap and then how to successfully sell them on eBay and other online venues. Her post today will talk about what she wished someone told her, when she first started selling on eBay.


Back when I started selling on eBay in 2005 I thought all I needed to do was purchase items on sale, list it on eBay, then just collect payment. I thought it was easy. Well I was wrong. I made a lot of mistakes and lost money when I started out because I was completely backwards in my thinking when it came to selling. And now looking back I really wish people (not sure who those people are) would have told me these 5 things.

1. Do lots of research and educated yourself before jumping in head first. It wasn't until I was losing money and totally confused that I actually went out and bought a couple eBay books and started looking up more information on the Internet. Now there is a lot of junk and "get rich quick" crap out there so you need to be careful. But there are some good resources as well. I have started to compile a list of legit resources that I think are very helpful for new and seasoned eBay sellers. I look at selling on eBay like starting a new job. I could have saved myself a lot of stress and tears if I would have just taken a little time and money to educate myself. My motto is "An Educated Seller is a Power Seller!"

2. Just because it is on sale does not mean you will make money. When I first started out I bought anything (child related) that was on sale. I had no idea if I was getting a good price or what the market was for it on eBay. I just saw it on sale and bought it. My advice again goes back to research. Research items on eBay before you invest in inventory. I talk about researching items a little bit more in this post.

3. For the love of Pete get a postage scale! Sometimes I feel like a broken record with this but it is so important. For the first year of selling on eBay I did not have a postage scale.I lost so much money because I did not calculate shipping charges correctly. Even if you do not sell on regular basis it is still in your best interest to take $20 and get a scale. You can purchase them right off eBay.

4. Pictures do matter. Again, this is an area I did not take seriously and I paid for it. I would not make the time to take professional looking pictures. Well one day, after I finally started educating myself, I realized my pictures were awful and affecting my sales. I went out bought a white and black trifold for $15 and learned to use a free photo editing program and poof I had professional looking pictures. It made a huge difference!

5. Make it a priority to advertise your eBay items on non-eBay sites. I am embarrassed to say that this notion really just clicked with me within the last year. Learn to use social networking to your advantage. Also join forums, groups, communities where your customers hang out. Of course you don't want to be spammy but it will boost your sales so much if you become a part of the community you want to sell to. Make sense? Honestly, the topic of advertising is so in-depth. This is just scratching the surface. I will be talking much more about it on my blog in the future.

These are the 5 top things I wish someone told me when I started selling on eBay. I hope these tips help you avoid some common mistakes made by new sellers. Good luck and thank you Elisa for having me guest post today.

I Won an Award for Outstanding Bloggery!

No sooner had I finished being a royal bitch and criticizing other blogs, when I learned that Maryanne from Lipglossd Mom has done me the honor of giving me an award as an outstanding blogger!!

Ok, so let me make a few things clear before you go over to Maryanne's blog to look at my glossy award:

1) Maryanne's blog is NOT one of those blogs that makes me want to hurl myself out the window

2) Oh my God, I so totally deserve this!  My blog is AWESOME!  Best blog no one has ever read.  Amen.

Now go!  Go check it out!  And while you're there, please read Maryanne's blog!!

Very Exciting Guest Tomorrow!

Ever since I started this blog, I've also become more interested in reading other blogs and supporting other bloggers.  Now, most blogs out there make me want to hurl myself out of my 4th story balcony.  However, there are a handful of blogs I regularly follow (This Mama Works It, The Best of Fates, to mention just a couple) and actually really enjoy.

Anyway, the author of This Mama Works It, one of my faves, is making a guest appearance on my humble blog tomorrow!!  Tammy is an eBay Powerseller in the children's clothing category, and she fundamentally blogs about the same kinds of things I've been sharing with you for the last few months: starting an online business as a working mom, with eBay as the launching platform.

I don't want to give too much away but I hope you'll stop by tomorrow and say hi to Tammy!

Evaluating My Progress - 56 Stars Later

It's been a while since I sat down and re-evaluated my progress. When I first started this blog I had a measely 25 stars under my belt, and while I still only have a measely 81 positives, a lot has happened since you and I first met.

Remember my eBay accounting post, where I talked about conversion rates, margins and profit per item?  I was selling $10 items for $8 in profit back then.  My first big profit item was that skirt you see on the right - I made $18!  There was no "secret supplier," no CAMERA, no Facebook page, no Bonanzle and dirty carpeting gallore.  And after all this, where have I landed?  Well, I'm making more revenue, that's true, but what about profits?  And margins?  And conversion rates?

Back of the envelope, I would say my conversion rate has dropped to about 50%.  Half my items sell, but the other half doesn't.  Not surprising, considering not everyone can plunk down $200 on a pair of shoes.  However, my profit per item has increased from $9 to roughly $35, and I'm now selling an average of 15 items per month.  What's interesting though is that I've also started to develop a side business of finding things for people OFF eBay, which combines the two things I enjoy most about this venture - customer service and SHOPPING.

I'm currently working on three projects, with varying degrees of difficulty.  They all involve locating specific types of ladies shoes to sell to friends old and new.  And while I'm never going to become a millionaire in this line of business because I don't yet have the resources to find things cheap enough to add a good mark-up and still offer the people I'm helping a good deal, I can't begin to tell you how satisfying this is for me!  I LOVE the challenge of tracking down exactly that thing that will make my customer happy.  I looooove figuring out how I'm going to do it, where I'm going to find it, what strategy I'm going to use.  It's almost like a riddle, and I've always been obsessed with riddles.

Am I making a ton of money?  Not yet.  Do I have my ups and downs?  Yup.  Do I sometimes feel like this is a wasted effort?  You bet.  And then I make that sale, or find that thing, or get good feedback, or get a new blog visitor, and it makes my day.

Some bloggers celebrate their 100th post.  My 100th post came and went, business as usual, but given how far we've come, I'm thinking we've got to set something up to celebrate my 100th feedback whenever that happens.  After all, who else would I celebrate that milestone with if you not you, who have stuck it out with me since my $9 item days?

Thanks guys. Thanks for your support.

Reviving Bonanzle - 20% Off Shoes

Sorry for the late notice, but you guys are all invited to come see me at my Bonanzle booth tonight, 9 pm - 12 pm EST, for my second Bonanza of the season.

I always get a little discouraged during these because ultimately it ends up being me, myself and Irene with Bonanzle's kinda sad strobe lights and disco music, so if any of you have the time or the inclination to stop by and pretend to be customers I would really owe ya. :)  Plus, all the fabulous shoes are going to be super discounted off their already super discounted prices (I know, they seem expensive, but some of these babies are already like 80% off!), and I'm feeling kinda generous so I'm thinking for a couple of them I'll just about take any offer that doesn't leave me in the poor house.

If you'd like to swing by the address is:

Not Yo Mama's Clothing
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/notyomamasclothing
Internet Land, Cyberville 010101

Hope to see some of you there!

Dirty Little eBay Secret No One Talks About

Ok, so I have to admit the ole blog has been a little uninspiring lately.  I'm in a stage in my little eBay venture where the only really strategic things I have to think about are which items to buy, how to price them, how to market them and how to list them, and if you're not into eBay (or fashion/shoes) that can get a little boring.  So, I thought I would finally come out and tell you about a "dirty" little eBay secret I've been keeping from you.  I'm going to try to be as vague as possible to protect one particular buyer's information, but there's no way to tell this story without telling you about some of the specifics of the transaction so I hope I keep a proper balance between sharing my experience and respecting the buyer's privacy.

Three months or so ago, without really meaning to, I stumbled upon one of those eccentric eBay markets that other people make a mint on.  At the very beginning of my venture, when I was still listing my own personal items for sale, I listed a pair of used, almost abused premier designer shoes for a Buy It Now at a very low price.  I figured someone might want to fix them/clean them up and continue to wear them or resell them, since this was a pretty unique designer item that's no longer available in the market.

Very soon after I listed this item - it was a Buy It Now with Best Offer - I received a pretty generous offer to take the shoes off my hands.  Thrilled with my fantastic selling skills, I accepted the offer and waited for the payment email to arrive from Paypal.  It arrived within minutes, but to my surprise the name on the delivery address was that of a man, not of a woman.  Even MORE surprising was the fact that the buyer had added a note that said: "Please do not repair or clean these in any way."

At this point I'm thinking I sold my item to a rich cobbler who buys beat up footwear to repair and then resell on eBay or Bonanzle or some other market.  This buyer was extremely polite and clearly very refined - one of the nicest buyers I've dealt with so far, in fact.  So much so that I decided to contact him the next time I had a pair of designer shoes of the same brand for sale to let him know I would be willing to give him an extra special deal if he was interested in these as well, to which he responded that he not interested in buying new shoes, but rather, older shoes that I had personally worn.

A quick look at the profiles of the other sellers he had recently purchased from dispelled me of any remaining hope that this man was a rich cobbler.

This puts me in a very uncomfortable position because on the one hand, I do have some nice, used shoes I would love to list, however, I'd really prefer to only sell them to people who plan on wearing and reselling them.  The problem is if I am completely honest about all the dings and flaws on the shoes, I attract a type of buyer who may NOT intend to wear and/or resell, whereas if I don't describe all the flaws buyers may feel cheated when the shoe arrives in worse condition than they imagined.

The solution I've been using of late has been simple. 

1) List all the flaws, BUT also make sure to mentioned that the shoes have been wiped very thoroughly with disinfectant wipes (which they have!).
2) NO modeling pictures, no matter how much better the shoes look when they're actually on feet.

Think I'm messing with you?  Just type well worn shoes in the search box on eBay.  Then we can talk.

Carpet Stains, Be GONE!

No, I didn't clean (that's not my style).  Instead, I took you all's advice about my nasty carpet and did what Tammy from This Mama Works It suggested.  The result?

TADA!

Oh my God, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  See? This is why I LOVE IT when you guys comment!!  More, please!

Me and My Crazy Publicity Stunts

I listed a pair of suede and patent Dolce & Gabbana strappy pumps for $9.99.  Brand new, $400 shoes for $9.99.

Go to the Listing

Within 15 minutes, they had a bid.  Ay ay ay.

Buy Low, Sell High ... or Something Like That

Driving out to the outlets every weekend is getting old, and truth be told my secret supplier works really well for shoes but hasn't proven to be as reliable for clothes.  I'd really like to start selling slightly trendier items than Banana Republic, so I've been looking into options for sources of other popular brands of clothing.

To that end, I've been combing eBay for lower-priced items from inexperienced sellers whose listings might not attract as many buyers as Powersellers or other high-volume eBayers.  Soooo, I dug through a few of the eBay categories and tracked a couple of things down, the most promising of which is this dress:

Go to the Listing

I personally think it's HOT, and very well priced (let's see if it stays that way though).  What do you guys think?  If I put this up for sale, would you go for it?  And is so, how much would you pay?

Things that Piss Me Off

1) The stupid USPS tracking thingie not UPDATING.  ARGH.  I'm going postal on my post office tomorrow if I don't wake up tomorrow to delivery confirmation for the TWO items I sent at the end of last week.

2) People who send $100 offers for my $389 shoes.  My response?  I very politely send a counteroffer for $379, just so they know how it feels.

On a happier note, here are some pics of my latest inventory items.  I've already posted one of them.  You won't believe me when I tell you how much I paid for these.  Are those Giuseppe Zanotti, you ask?  Why yes.  Yes, they are.

I have one more but I haven't taken pictures yet.

PS: Do you think buyers mind my dirty carpet?

Arrrgh! Two Bids on the Pradas!!

With 5 min left!!  Oh my God the stress!!

Stress!!

Hello from Summit, New Jersey, where I haven't been able to stop looking at my computer checking tracking numbers for the items I have en route.  Sometimes, God knows why, even though USPS Priority Mail has delivery confirmation the tracking doesn't update, so I twist myself into knots imagining my buyers don't get their items and I'm out hundreds of dollars.  It's never happened, and it's very unlikely it will happen now, but it still makes me unbelievably nervous.

I was thinking on the way here about how it feels to make a sale.  Several emotions are involved.  The initial adrenaline rush, followed by a knot in my stomach from the time I send the item to the time I hear back from the buyer that the item has arrived safely.  Then relief.  And then it starts all over again.

Anyway, I scored some GREAT purchases of the shoe variety up here and will share them with you guys soon!

Big Apple Shopping Extravaganza

I'm going to New York tomorrow to find a new secret supplier.  The old one is getting - well, old.  Any requests for new kinds of stuff I should get for the store(s)?

MM - Your black Louboutins are still my #1 priority!

Update on the $49 Prada Auction

Forgive the dirty carpet, folks.
No bidders on the Prada sandals yet.  Only watchers.  They must think I'm off my rocker. Tee hee.

My First Bonanzle Sale - Hurray!

Sold the Kate Spade Christas to a lovely woman who plans to wear them on her wedding day. :)  They are KINDA blue... maybe there's hope for Bonanzle after all!

This Blog is a Marketing Ploy and Other Platitudes

So, I've been working on my marketing strategy, and I gotta tell you I'm getting pretty discouraged. I need to drive more traffic to my blog AND to my items, I can't continue to rely on eBay's rules about listing visibility. They force me to take risks with the price of my items that I don't want to take.

I've tried a few marketing tactics since I started my eBay venture, and I have to tell you, I haven't really found anything that works well for me. I made the collage above to put in a flyer I'm going to be posting around my building. Unfortunately, I tried putting the flyer up on a bulletin board in the mail room but the management took it down. Facebook works to a certain extent, but the people who like me on Facebook are mostly friends and family, most of whom would never buy anything off eBay and many of them who have never set foot on this blog (some of them don't even know what a blog is!).  Twitter is completely useless and I get more and more frustrated with it every day.  I swear to God, tweeting is like talking to yourself.  No matter how much you support people there by retweeting their posts and engaging with them rarely, if EVER, do they return the favor, and few people respond to my tweets, so what's the use?

And then there's this blog.  Now, strictly speaking this isn't a marketing tool, or at least that's not its intended purpose. However, more than one of you has probably peeked at my items after reading one of my posts.  Funnily enough, I've gotten more reverse traffic (eBay to blog) than eBay traffic from this, which means that rather that a means for exposing people to my products, it's been a means of exposing my buyers to my business philosophy.  However, the thing I've discovered about blogging is that there is a lot of etiquette and frankly, a lot of bullshit that I have no energy or patience for.

So where does that leave me? I don't know. I really don't.  I think Twitter definitely needs to go, but not before I unfollow a few people just to screw with them (yes, I have a mean streak sometimes, surprise!).  I mean there's nothing that bothers me more than lack of reciprocity.  Facebook will probably stay.

And then there's this blog. I don't want to gradually abandon this blog, like a lukewarm relationship.  If I'm going to quit, I'm going to say good-bye to you guys and quit.  I don't think I'm ready to say good-bye just yet though.

What about you guys?  Do you think it's time for an amicable break-up?

Free Cash if You Guess the Selling Price of These Prada Sandals

I think it's time to play the guessing game again!! You ready to play? Here we go.

I'm auctioning off these beautiful Prada Vitello Shine Stud sandals in a size 7.5. I've set the starting bid very low: $49.99. They are authentic Prada sandals, purchased at Neiman Marcus. The person who guesses the exact selling price of the sandals will get 10% of the final sale price as soon as the winning bidder pays.

Click here to go to the listing

You should be able to see the number of visits the item has received from eBay's standard counter. The listing has received no bids so far, as of the writing of this entry.

Now here are the rules.

1) Enter by Commenting. In order to send me your guess, you have to post a comment on this blog entry with your best guess for the final selling price, including dollars and cents.

2) No Anonymous Entries. You cannot comment anonymously (otherwise I can't verify you're really the winner!), and must come back to the blog on June 13th to see who the giveaway winner was.  If you are the winner, I will ask you to provide your contact details so I can send you your prize.

3) One Entry per Participant. Sorry, but you can't submit more than one guess.

4) First One to Guess Wins. If you submit the same guess as someone else, the time stamp on the comment will determine who submitted that guess first.

5) Genuine Bidding Allowed. You are allowed to place a bid on the item that is equal to your guess. However, you MUST actually intend to purchase the item if you win it! After all, if you win and you don't pay I won't have any proceeds to give you the 10% OF.

6) Winnings through Paypal or eBay Only. If you win, you can claim your winnings one of two ways. I can either give you cash via Paypal only, OR I can apply the 10% as a credit toward your next purchase(s) from me. If you pick the second option, you have to send me your eBay username over email so I'll know to award the discount when you bid on one of my items.

7) Game Ends Before Listing. The game will end at 15:00 Eastern US time on June 12. Entries received after that will sadly not be considered.

I think that's it folks! Let the guessing begin!

Huge Bidding War in the Making

Remember this dress??  I had it in an 8 and it sold very well.  I then went back to Banana Republic and ended up winning a $500 shopping spree, so I got it again to sell in a 6.  It's got FORTY watchers and 4 bids.  A holy bidding war is about to break out.  Check it out here.

Don't miss it!!

Bloggie Quickie - Recap

I'm waiting for a train to come but I had a lot to share so I decided to do a mini-entry, with pictures to come. I have two min so here we go:

1) Resolved the problem with the dissatisfied buyer. She was very accommodating and ended up leaving some wonderful follow-up to her original feedback. She has also offered to revise her original feedback but I think I would rather leave the follow-up instead so that buyers understand that while I am not perfect, I will do anything in my power to resolve a problem (remember the stolen jeans??).

2). Sold the first of the Kalahs! It was one of the studded snakeskin bags. The buyer got a great price and this awesome bag is going to a great home - the buyer is incredibly nice and has awesome taste. :)

I've been making lots of friends on eBay this week.  Weds was a day full of questions, back and forth emailing, and all the stuff I love about eBay.  If nothing else, this exercise has been a fantastic lesson is the marketing uses of social media.

Here comes my train, have a great weekend!

I Need Some Sort of System

I have about six pairs of shoes for sale now, and about 4 of them are a 7.5.  I think I naturally gravitate to that size because, guess what?  I wear a 7.5.  The problem with that is that I'm tempted to keep the shoes if they don't sell, and trust me, I don't need $2,000 worth of shoes.

I think what I'm going to start doing is carrying one in each size between 6 and 9.  Once a size sells I will allow myself to replace it with another shoe in that same size.  That way no one feels left out!

PS: I decided to listen to you guys about my crazy promotion idea.... for now. :)

Why Does eBay Hate Me?

Wow it's been slow.  Maybe it's because I've been listing higher price items.  Maybe eBay in general is just slow because of this weekend's sales.  Who knows, but tonight's auctions were terrible AND I have a non-paying bidder from last week's listings.  Super.

I'm thinking of putting my publicity stunt in play tonight.  Remember I mentioned it here.  I have a pair of Louboutin pumps I haven't listed yet, as well as a pair of $1200 Alaia shoes that I got for... well, I'm not going to tell you, but it's a LOT less than $1200.  I think the Louboutins would get me SO much publicity, but at the same time:

a) Oh my GOD what if they sell for like $9, and
b) Will people think they're fake or that there's something fishy that I'm listing a brand new pair of designer shoes for 99 cents?

What do you guys think?  I'm curious.  If you saw a pair of Louboutin pumps in your size listed for $9.99, would you bid?  More importantly, would you check out the sellers other auctions?

Send me your comments!!