Falling in Love on Ebay

"An immature love says I love you because I need you, but a mature love says I need you because I love you."
- Unknown 

Are you curious yet?  Did you open this up to see what in the world did falling in love have to do with Ebay?  Perhaps the article is about online relationships that began as sellers conversing on the boards….      Screech!!!

No.  What I am talking about today is methods to get your customer to open up your listing.  This is about knowing when to leave a little mystery in a title and how to show your customer the value of your item. Today we will talk about:

Scraps

No not the kind of scraps where you nudge your significant other and say, “Babe Puleeease take out the scraps!”   

I’m talking fabric scraps.

I was talking with someone the other day about fabrics.  Have you ever checked on Ebay at the sheer number of fabric listings?  The competition is fierce!  Some people have an edge when they have vintage fabric, and some when they have a designer fabric or large quantities.  What do you do when you have a generic fabric (but cute) and it is a remnant?

Most listings have the yardage in the title.  If your amount of fabric is small, try NOT putting the yardage in the title.  The idea of this is to have your customer FALL IN LOVE with the beauty of the design first.  

·         Use descriptive nouns in your title that identifies the components of the fabric. 

·         In the listing  identify the fabric size not by yards but by actual inch dimensions.  If the items has been cut on previously, measure usable area in square or rectangular sections.  Why? Because if you item is a remnant, you are taking the emphasis off of $ per yard.  You are now having the crafter think in terms of “how many items can I make out of this fabric”

·         When taking your pictures of the fabric offered, make note of the dimensions.  This gives your crafter an idea about “scale”.  This is especially important if your fabric has objects.  I’ve had crafters ask, “How many strawberries can I get to a square foot of fabric?”  (this customer was making handkerchiefs)

·         To illustrate, here is a remnant that I recently sold    http://tinyurl.com/4e2asfr     You will see that this fabric isn’t anything special, however I was able to give the piece “perceived value”.

·         Put “Cutter” into your title on remnants.  This is a frequent term used in searches for the crafters looking for unique fabric to cut up for various purposes.  Remember you are trying to be found… and you are trying to get READ!

Falling in Love” with your listing means, clear pictures in good light.

It means folding your fabric so the full effect of the design is show cased and it also means that you do not give your customer a reason NOT to open the listing.   If the yardage is small, give them time to salivate over the design, color and texture so they will need to open to find out how much is available!  

Make them need it BECAUSE they love it!

Are you an Ebay seller?  We would like to invite you to join our Ebay Underground group on Facebook.  This is the one group where you will not be asked to purchase information!  What you will find is a large group of sellers, eager to share their expertise to insure the success of ALL of its members!

My Favorite Toy

When my sister and I were growing up in the 70’s we spent countless hours playing with our Fisher Price Little People. My mom could set us up in our playroom or “dungeon” as she liked to call it and it was better than a babysitter. One of our favorite toys was the Main Street Village where we got totally lost in our make believe.

A few weeks ago I came across a lot of vintage Fisher Price toys just like the ones we had and eureka, my childhood came flooding back. Part of me wanted to keep them for myself, but that lasted a millisecond when logic kicked in that the real reason I bought them was to list on eBay. Now fortunately for me, my husband does all the shipping because I don’t really know if I would have the patience to figure out box sizes and such.

I just got my lot listed last night, after 2 weeks of procrastination and am taken the “we shall see” stance on the lot. I started all auctions at .99 cents and I have $15 in this lot. Truth be told I don’t really expect too much, except if that Main Street Village goes for .99 cents I will be devastated!

As for my Build-a-Bear lot, I paid $10 at a yard sale and the lot sold a few days ago for $37.75. This didn’t go as high and I would have hoped, but this is what the market deemed its worthiness!

Happy eBaying!

Lesley

Maternity 2 to 12

Being pregnant is not about being fat or feeling frumpy. It is a once in a lifetime event and though it won't seem like it, those 9 months go fast. So, how do you want to look? Well I've discovered I really like selling maternity clothes on eBay for two reasons. One, it's in demand right now. Two, I feel good providing a new to be mom with something she will probably wear every week. I'm providing her with those favorite jeans from the Gap, that retail for close to $80 and she buys from me for half price. It's a sweet deal!

I'm a firm believer that whether you are size 2 or a size 12 you too can look great while pregnant. Maternity clothes have come a long way in the last 15 years since I had my youngest so I find myself shopping for things I would wear "if I were pregnant".

I've noticed there is a very limited local market selling maternity clothes, they can be hard to find. I think that's why the online market is the rage, it saves the expectant mama the trouble of driving all around town, only to be discouraged when she finds something she loves and the retailer doesn't have her size in stock. Shop on eBay and your size is almost always in stock, and at the right shipping price you just can't go wrong!

Lesley for Lil*bo*tique :)