It happens to all of us…usually right when we could use the extra cash. Sales in your eBay store are going great and then all of the sudden NOTHING! Don’t panic! There are lots of things you can do to get the sales moving again.

Each day this week I will share a simple tip to help you increase sales in your eBay store.

It’s Monday. Let’s start out easy.

LISTING…

That’s right! Just list something. The more things you have listed, the more chances you have of someone buying your items.

HCTS members were challenged last month in our 280 Challenge. Over and over people were sharing how their sales were increasing by doing nothing else but listing more inventory into their eBay stores.

Do you think you have nothing to list?  Look around your house. Is there a gift you received but don’t use? Clothing you or your kids have outgrown or just don’t wear anymore?  Anything in the kitchen you don’t use?
What’s that under your bed?
Also, think about the season or event that is just around the corner. Easter is coming up. Any old Easter baskets or clothes from last year you need to get rid of?  Why not turn them into cash AND help drive business to your store?

OK…GO!

But come back tomorrow!
Happy Listing!

Filed under: Better Selling Techniques, Tips and Tricks by Melisha
1 Comment »

Doing business in person is often easier.  You can explain yourself in spoken words, questions can be immediately asked and answered, and a handshake will seal the deal. 

Doing business online is a bit more difficult. We have to spell everything out clearly and trust that our written words sound the same way that they do in our head.  The buyer can ask questions, but there is no immediate way to correct and clarify to ensure that both parties are on the same page.  And, of course, we have to balance our need to supply information with the need to not come across as a difficult or demanding seller.  It’s not easy!

After selling on eBay, Amazon, locally, and on my own website for a decade now, I’ve developed a system that works for me.  Hopefully a few of these things will work for you, too!

I believe it is important to include the following somewhere in the listing - not on your About Me page.

• Payment info – How to pay, when it is due, if echecks are held until they clear (or if you don’t accept them – I’m pretty sure that is still allowed), etc.
• Shipping info – How quickly will you ship, what method will you use, can I pay extra to upgrade shipping, is tracking included
• International information – Does it take you longer to ship overseas, do you charge additional for it, who pays customs fees (this one comes up a lot so I think it’s important to put that on your main page)
• Return policy – yes, ebay requires it in their tab, and that may be sufficient for you.  However, if you’d like to highlight your great return policy, it will make you appear more easy to work with and may add buyer confidence.  If you want to do this, I believe that you need to have your return policy clearly stated within the listing as well.

A few things that are also nice to mention, but might be better on your About Me page so that every listing isn’t cluttered:

• Item source – Some sellers like to state that they obtain their items through a variety of sources like thrift stores, yard sales, personal use, etc.  I think it’s fine if you’d like to say that, but since it isn’t necessarily a concern to every seller, I’d move it off the main page.
• Obscure policies -One question that comes up often enough for me to have a policy on, but not often enough to need to advertise, is customs forms.  I will NOT mark an item as a gift, and I do believe that it is important to have that written policy. I do think that it can appear overly harsh on every listing, though.  Instead I have the following blurb on my About page:

Customs forms are marked as merchandise with amount paid. Please do not ask me to mark a package as a gift. This is illegal and dishonest and I just won’t do it.

• Personal information – If you sell to pay for your child’s medical treatment, piano lessons, a vacation home, or just to buy more boutique clothing, that’s great.  If you want to share, go for it.  But do it here.  On my About page, for example, I talk about how selling online has helped me to be a stay-at-home mom.  This is a great opportunity to plug HCTS, also, and use your Affiliate Links!

Finally, a couple of things that I like to include in the packages that I ship:

• Thank you – I believe it is important to send a Thank You to every customer.  I do this in the form of business cards that have my store info on it as well. 
• Care Instructions – When I sell my handmade garments, I include care instructions.  This is a must if you want to appear to be a professional crafter/seamstress.
• Return Policy – If you have a return policy, re-state it here.  It makes your business look better, and it helps buyers meet the requirements on time.
• Repeat Customer Info – On our website we offer every repeat customer a discount code.  We see these redeemed every day.  It makes a difference, and I definitely recommend that you consider offering one as well.

Do you have any ‘must include’ or ‘must exclude’ terms?  Anything that you believe helps your business?  Terms that you see in other sellers’ listings that make you click back, back, back?  We’d love to hear about it!

FLYers, today we are writing down what we hear and turning negatives into positives!

Have a fantastic Friday!

Filed under: Tips and Tricks by BellaBuggy
10 Comments »

NWT Baby Lulu Sunflower Kerchief Dress 4 4T New HCTS

It’s been a while since we’ve featured a member listing on the blog!

This listing comes to us courtesy of Chanda.  When I was looking for a great listing to feature, this one popped off the page.  The photo is great!  The black background really sets off the printed dress, and the picture is very clear with bright, clean colors.  I also appreciate the second picture which shows a close-up of the pattern detail.

The template is adorable!  I know it is not necessary, but I personally feel that a nice template lends a more professional appearance to your listings.  When you appear to have a logo and a theme, you appear to be a serious business.  I consider a design an investment.

The terms of this listing are spelled out clearly.  This is especially true for Canadian buyers, who are advised of possible customs fees up front.  There is also a fair and clearly stated return policy which would make me feel very confident purchasing from this seller.

I think this is a great listing all around and I wish you much success!

If you would like the opportunity to have one of your items featured, be sure to include ‘HCTS’ in your title when you list.  Not only could you be featured on the blog, you are also making your listings searchable by our entire membership!

If you are doing the FLY Lady challenge this month, today we are maintaining days 1-3, as well as writing down our ‘chores’ on post-it’s.  Visual cues make you more likely to stick with the program!

Have a great day!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by BellaBuggy
6 Comments »

One of the things I (and Kendra, also) get asked over and over is, “Can you make Here Comes The Stork T-shirts?” With our cute new logo, I have decided to take the plunge. Cafe Press has a huge selection of merchandise that just looks ADORABLE! I also think that our logo merchandise is perfect for expecting mothers/baby shower gifts. Who knows, maybe we’ll find new members through this avenue?  Anyhow, without further ado…

http://www.cafepress.com/TheStorks

And here are a few of my favorite items:

I’ll be using items from here for future giveaways-so stay tuned!

Filed under: General HCTS Info, Shopping by Rebecca
2 Comments »

This is a running series of posts and this week HCTS is participating!

As you may recall, a few weeks ago I blogged about inventory storage but I focused on clothing.  Today I’ll show you how I store my toys and other boxed items.

These heavy duty metal shelves on wheels are not cheap, but they are worth their weight in gold when it comes to bang for your buck.  They have really maximized my useable space, because they give me reachable heighth and depth, yet can be stored very compactly because they are on wheels.

These were purchased at Sam’s Club for around $80 (if you find a better deal, please let me know!).  As I said, they aren’t cheap, but they DO make a huge difference.  And as a licensed business, they are a tax deductible business expense – always a bonus!

That’s what Works For Me!  If you have a different (or better!) storage solution I’d love to hear about it!

FLYers, today we maintain and start to explore Big Tent.

Happy Hump Day!

Filed under: The Daily Stork by BellaBuggy
5 Comments »

It’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday today.  Did you know that?

It’s a pretty big deal in our house, but I’m not sure if that’s universal or just my own little weirdness.

I love Dr. Seuss.  Love him.

I wrote about him on my personal blog today (with a giveaway!) and as I was doing so, I thought he was a great topic for the HCTS blog as well.

It might sound corny, but I find him to be very inspirational.  Perhaps the most obviously inspiring of his stories is Oh! The Places You’ll Go! It’s a book that I love to read to my girls, hoping they will take it to heart, yet I often fail to do so myself.

[Why are children so often smarter than their parents?]

Take this little gem, for example:

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

True for life, and true for our businesses.  Almost daily I hear from frustrated sellers who don’t like eBay’s policies, don’t like the way Amazon communicates, don’t like the system anywhere.  We have a choice – wallow in frustration or accept it and move on.  Being light on your feet and ready to course-correct is part of our job.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

Absolutely.  They happen to all of us.  You will have a hard-to-please customer, an unreasonable return, a lost package, a chargeback, negative feedback, and various annoyances.  Unfortunately those, too, are part of our job.  I wish I had a magic way to fix those problems, or avoid them altogether, but I don’t.  No one does.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

Just as mistakes and struggles in our personal life help us grow, difficulties in our businesses are part of the growing process as well.  From each bad experience there is a lesson to be learned.  Look for the learning and you’ll be better off for it.  Don’t wallow!  Giving in to frustration never equals success.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Don’t go to the Waiting Place!  If you learn to take setbacks in stride and keep moving forward, your business will grow.  You will be successful.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

If you’re FLYing with us, be sure to get yourself completely dressed (hair fixed, makeup and shoes on!) and check in on the forums.  And if you’re shopping today, keep an eye out for Dr. Seuss items.  Many are quite valuable!  Would you like to know which ones?  Log in, or if you’re not yet a member, join today – I’m discussing them in the General forum right now!

Have a productive day!

Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Filed under: Better Selling Techniques, Motivation by BellaBuggy
1 Comment »

Are you all exhausted after the 280 Challenge?  Do you have ANYTHING left unlisted in your house?  Or are you burnt out on listing and looking to tackle a new project?  If so, I believe Rebecca has just the challenge for you.

She posted on the forums about joining the Fly Lady program, and has invited our members to participate as well.  I plan to do it this month, since I signed up last month but was too busy listing to clean anything!

This could be you!

If you’d like to play along, your goal today is simple – shine your sink.  Get it positively sparkly and glowing, right down to every crack and crevice.  Bust out the bleach and a toothbrush and leave no crook or cranny untouched – by the time you’re done it should be glistening.

That’s it!

The idea is that one small change leads to other small changes, and they are easy to work into your routine.

I believe the same can be said for our eBay businesses.  Sometimes making one small change (like tackling Mt. Unlisted) can motivate you to make other changes as well.  In a previous post I wrote about my inventory storage system.  Once I bought these new bins, I was thrilled.  Ridiculously, embarrassingly thrilled.  The kind of thrilled that made me throw open my closet doors and stand back admiring  my beautiful new bins for hours minutes at a time.  More than once a day.  And my closet looked so good that I wanted to make something else look good, too, so I tackled my desk.  And my sewing room.

And now I need to do them all over again, but we won’t talk about that.

The point is, you can change.  You can change how you run your business, how you care for your house, how you care for yourself.  If you are active in our forums you’ve already seen that HCTS helps you in all of those ways (and more!), both personal and professional.  And if you aren’t active in the forums or are not yet a member, then don’t wait any longer.

Now is the perfect time to join us.  We’ll FLY through March together!

Filed under: Listing Challenges, Motivation by BellaBuggy
5 Comments »