Here Comes The Stork Blog

And the winner is…..

The winner of this week’s mini-challenge to organize already listed inventory is mom2gymgirls. Congratulations on your hard work this week and I’m sure your work will pay off having a nice, neat space to store your inventory.

And to everyone who is still working to complete the SS HCTS challenge, you’ve got a few days left, so keep on listing!!!!

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From “Boring” to “Bonus Cash!”

Money in Hand

Last week during one of the mini-challenges, Heather asked you to list 3 items that you dreaded to list….a few items that have been sitting in your “to list” pile for way too long.

Well, even though you maybe didn’t enjoy listing them, I bet you could get excited if they sold and made you some extra money, right?

Yesterday, fellow Stork Kim posted that ALL 3 of her “dreaded-to-list-them” items sold for her on the SAME DAY! This is from Kim’s post on the HCTS forums:

Thank you so much HCTS for the mini-challenges that have gone along with this Sept. Challenge!

Two make-up mirrors and a set of flocked hot rollers! That’s the real prize, them selling! I cannot believe all three sold on the same day, maybe I should list the rest of the mirrors and rollers!

Congratulations Kim on listing and selling those “dreaded” items!

I hope everyone is having much success with the SS HCTS challenge.

If you want to be motivated to get your items listed and make some extra cash, join HCTS by clicking the banner below and get started making some money – today!

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Serious September – 1 week left!

Whew, the month of September has just flown by and here we are with only a week left in the SS HCTS challenge!

So, how are you doing? Are you listing daily to meet your goal of 75 for the month? Already done? Struggling to reach your goal?

The final stretch of any challenge can be the hardest. The motivation sometimes dies down, you get tired of the “same ole, same ole” routine and it’s hard to keep up.

But don’t quit now! Remember, everyone who gets their 75 listings in the month of September will be entered into a drawing for a $50 prize.  And if you’re already done with the listings for the month, keep participating in the mini-challenges for a chance to win more prizes!

Remember to comment on Monday’s blog post to enter this week’s mini-challenge and be entered in the running for the receipt organizer. You have until Friday to complete the task of organizing some of your listed inventory. Don’t put it off, get started now!

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It’s Monday! And a new week-long mini-challenge….

Happy Monday fellow Storks! I don’t know about all of you but September is simply flying by for me. Have you stuck to your goal this month? Is the Serious September challenge keeping you motivated and on-task?

Xochilt and Heather have had you working on some mini-challenges the past couple weeks and I am going to do the same. If you’ve been following the blog and posting in the Challenge Chat forum, then you should have been working on your “Mt. Unlisted.” Is it getting a little less overwhelming? I have worked on mine as well and I feel so much better about the state of my office.

This week I’m going to set up another week-long mini challenge complete with a prize at the end of the week.

You’ve sorted Mt. Unlisted.

You’ve taken some pictures.

You’ve done some listings.

Now, I want you to organize them. Yep. That’s your challenge for the week. I’ll leave it up to you how to do it (we all have our different inventory organization and storage methods) – but I want to see/hear about your progress.

If your recently listed inventory needs hung up….hang it up. If it needs folded and put in a tub, fold it up, put it in the tub. If it needs an inventory tag, get to tagging. But whatever you do, don’t let your Mt. Unlisted pile just regroup itself into a Mt. Listed pile.

In order to be in the running for this week’s prize, you need to leave a comment on this blog post about your organization goal for this week. The, follow up in the Challenge Chat forum later this week with your goal and whether or not you met it…..and pictures of your progress! Let’s see those clean offices and well-organized inventory storage.

Receipt Organizer

The winner of this weeks mini-challenge will receive a receipt organizer (may vary from style/color shown). Use it to keep in your car or office….keep your business receipts in one spot and easy to find.

I will draw for a winner on Friday afternoon. You have all week to complete your task. Have fun and good luck!

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The S’s that pay

Last day!

If you’ve been following along with me this week, you know that I had daily mini-challenges for you.  Today you have one last task, and you are finito!

In honor of ‘Serious September’, your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to list two items that begin with the letter S.  Swimsuit, socks, snowflake dress, snow boots…you get the idea.  Find and list your two ‘S’ items and then check in on the Challenge Chat forum.  Don’t be afraid to get creative!

And don’t forget, to be eligible for the drawing you must have completed all 5 mini-tasks posted on the blog this week.  If you missed a day, now is the time to play catch-up!  Do all 5 and check in on the appropriate threads in Challenge Chat so you can be counted.  Your deadline is tonight, Friday, midnight PST.

Good luck!

Here Comes The Stork-Your Guide to Selling Online!

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Thursday Thirteen – Serious September

Thirteen ways Serious September has affected me.

1)  I’m now aware of exactly how large Mt. Unlisted is – not cool.

2)  I now feel even more guilt about the size of Mt Unlisted. {who knew that was possible?}

3)  I have shifted and sorted Mt. Unlisted so that it is much shorter and less intimidating.

4)  About a quarter of the mountain has found a new home in the form of a local family support center.

5)  When I was too overwhelmed to deal with any more mountain climbing, I discovered we had hidden Baked Lays.

6)  When I put off returning to the mountain, I did 6 loads of laundry.

7)  When I was still pretending Mt. Unlisted didn’t exist, I straightened up my sewing room.

8)  Ok, it’s still there. Mocking me.  So I dug out one more box of clothes to donate to Goodwill.

9)  I organized my storage closet so that even the unlisted items can fit in there (rather than in the middle of the room, as before)

Not mine...but I wish it were mine!

10)  I felt better about the daunting task knowing that I am not in this alone!

11)  I made a game plan for what/when/how this mountain will be climbed.

12)  I sold 4 of the things I listed!

13)  I took 65 pictures of items ready to be listed.

So what have you accomplished so far?

Today, your task is to take pictures, and try to list 13 items (in honor of the Thursday Thirteen).  If you can’t get all 13 listed that’s ok, but you must get at least 13 pictures taken.  That’s easy!  I know you can snap 13 pictures in just a few minutes, so this should be easy-peasy today.

As always, check in with your accomplishments in Challenge Chat so that I can keep track of who is completing all 5 tasks for the week.  PayPal drawing will be held Saturday morning, so if you want to be eligible, you must have completed all 5 steps by Friday night, midnight PST.

And of course, don’t forget the month-long comment contest!

Here Comes The Stork-Your Guide to Selling Online!

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I *really*dread this…

Okay!  So yesterday you sorted through Mt. Unlisted and found things to donate.  If you haven’t already, make it your mission to drop those off at the thrift store today.  It is so freeing to take boxes out of your house!

After that, today your mission is to take 3 things you reeeeaaaaallllly don’t want to list – and list them.

We all have things that we put off, for one reason or another.  It’s bulky, hard to photograph, missing pieces, just not exciting…whatever the reason,make it an excuse no more!

Get your 3 ‘dreadeds’ done today and post them in Challenge Chat!  Remember, if you complete all 5 mini-challenges this week you’re eligible to win some cold, hard PayPal cash!

Not a member yet?  What are you waiting for?  Click the banner below to join the greatest online selling support group you will ever find!

Here Comes The Stork-Your Guide to Selling Online!

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Make that Mountain into molehills!

So last week Xochilt asked you to make a list of listing goals for yourself, and yesterday I challenged you to post a picture of your own personal Mt. Unlisted.  Is it working yet?  Do you feel ashamed of that pile?  Are you motivated to dig into it?

Today I challenge you to dig in – in a very big way!

If you’re like most of us, Mt. Unlisted can contain things that give us pause.  Make us wonder why we bought them in the first place.  Things that we just don’t want to list, for whatever reason.

Those things are holding you back!

Today we put an end to that. Make yourself three bins

and get busy sorting!

You might not have a throwaway stack.  How about a ‘Take to the consignment store’ bin instead?  Or a ‘Craigslist’ stack?

If you sort through your unlisted inventory with an eye for what is really worth listing on eBay/Amazon and what will sell, but just not there, you will be creating smaller, more manageable groups.  And then we will tackle those!

Get cracking!  Today your task is to go through your inventory and divide up what you will keep and what will go elsewhere.  Make sure you post in Challenge Chat to let me know when you’re done!

Not a member yet?  Click this logo to get in on all the fun!

Here Comes The Stork-Your Guide to Selling Online!

And again, we’ve got a month-long comment contest on on the blog, so sharing some comment love could pay off!

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White Rabbit meets Mt. Unlisted

Do you ever feel like you just can’t get it together?

That’s the mode I’m in right now, and that’s why this blog post is going up at 6 pm instead of 6 am.

Okay realistically, I’m never up at 6 am.  Say 9-ish.

The problem is that even though I’ve ‘known’ I need to do this for weeks, I didn’t write it down.  I didn’t make it my priority.  And I didn’t plan ahead.

Which means that when the day rolls around, I’m unprepared.  I’m running late.  Sometimes, I forget altogether.

It’s White Rabbit mode.

I’m late, I’m late! For a very important date!

Now with a blog post, thankfully I can catch up in a few minutes.  But with our businesses, well… it’s rarely that simple.

Where do you stand?  Are you on track, caught up, ready for the next big thing?  Or are you like me, a day late and a dollar short?

Its easy to fall behind and hard to catch up.  Believe me, I know.

But catch up we must, and there’s no time like the present.

Right now, I need you to take a picture for me.  Get brave, and snap a photo of your own personal Mt. Unlisted.

Except that sign?  Not so much.  We are climbing this mountain, together.  And we’re starting today.

I’ve started a photo thread in the forum, in the Challenge Chat category.  Join me in posting your own personal disaster area unlisted inventory and you will have completed part one of this weeks’ challenge.

Each day for the next 4 days, I will give you another task to complete.  If you complete all 5, your name will be entered in a drawing for some cold, hard cash!  That’s right, PayPal funds, straight to you, so you can choose-your-own-prize.  A dent in the mountain and some moolah?  That’s a win-win!

Not a member yet?  Click the banner below and join us at HCTS so you, too, can start clearing out your home and making money in the process!

Here Comes The Stork-Your Guide to Selling Online!

PS) Don’t forget the month-long comment contest on the blog!  Keep your comments coming, and you can win a prize for that, too!

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Amazon Toy Sales

Serious September means…getting serious about toys!

Selling toys during the holiday season can be big business.  Selling them on Amazon can be even bigger.  But don’t be fooled – this is not an easy undertaking.  You can make fantastic profits, but you must be prepared to work your tail off to make it happen.

And you look a little crazy in the process.

Picture this, only with toys:

If you’re not scared off yet – good! You can do this!  But you must be prepared, and you must start right now.

Why?  Because you must sell at least 25 items between now and November 1, 2010 in order to qualify.

Every year, Amazon releases their selling guidelines for holiday toy sales.  Here they are for 2010:

Effective September 20, 2010, we will stop accepting new non-FBA sellers in Toys
& Games.*  Effective November 15, 2010, only those sellers who meet the
following performance criteria will be eligible to sell in Toys & Games from
November 15, 2010 through the first week in January 2011:

- Seller’s first sale on Amazon.com must be prior to 09/20/2010 (sale does not
need to be Toy-specific).
- Seller must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders (do not need to be
Toy-specific) during the 60 consecutive days preceding 11/1/2010.
- No greater than 1% short term order defect rate as of 11/1/2010,
- No greater than 2.5% pre-fulfillment cancel rate for the trailing 30-days
preceding 11/1/2010.
- No greater than 5% late shipment rate for the trailing 30-days preceding
11/1/2010.

*Orders fulfilled by Amazon will not be subject to the holiday season
restrictions provided your account is in good standing.

There is lots more to be said on this subject…but I can’t give the milk away for free!  Visit the Amazon section of the HCTS forums for more information on holiday toy sales.  Not a member yet?  ‘Buy the cow’ and join HCTS today!

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