A couple of friends and I decided to do a soap opera blog - turn our lives, and all the minutae thereof into a soap opera. You know you've had days when every possible thing that can go wrong does? Well so have we...a lot lately...so we were gonna make a funny, over-the-top soap opera incorporating the funny, tragic things that have happened to us.
BUT Google, in it's best imitation of eBay's paranoid management locked it before we ever got around to posting one stinkin' syllable.
So guess what? YOU don't get to laugh and cry with us. And when we do find a new venue for it, you'll have to pay to read it. (cause we will still write it but it will be a soap opera!)
BTW - please come check out my ebay listings - cause I definitely will need cash to get that venture off the ground.
Beth Cherkowsky
eBay seller id: woadieland
ebay link - copy & paste
1. http://www.depressionglasswarehouse.com
2. http://www.squidoo.com/Depression-Glass-Warehouse
3. read and contribute to my blog - http://ebayforfunandprofit.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 10, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
What's wrong with ebay! EVERTHING!!
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/06/ebay-donahoe-whitman-tech-enter-cz_vb_1006ebay.html
And this article points it out succintly!
I guess I'll hurry up my own transistion.
And this article points it out succintly!
I guess I'll hurry up my own transistion.
Friday, October 3, 2008
MY ITEM OF THE DAY! Little Black Sambo - 1st Edition 2nd printing book
My items of the day - Little Black Sambo book
I always have so many items and some of them get NO attention on ebay so I decided to blog extensively about one each day. TODAY my choice is this one -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250301480153&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
This is a 1901 edition (first edition - 2nd printing) of The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. The First Edition First printing had red boards. This one with the tan boards is universally declared (by booksellers all over the internet) to be a 2nd printing.
One of the first library sales I ever went to, was in a small small community library - like, with me and the librarian in the same room, there was no room to turn around. As I was checking out, she asked "did you look at the old books under the tarp?" (DUH NO! How would I have known they were under there? Who would have supposed? NOT ME!)
So, I respond no, and being in a foul mood from not being able to move or breathe in the tight confines, I say something stupid like, "that's ok, I spent enough today". HA, hubby goes over, lifts the tarp and starts pulling out books. And I found this is a bucket of unused paint brushes (no for like housepainter paint brushes, not cute artist brushes).
It's printed with text on the left side and one facing picture to a page. Then the next two pages are blank. It's sewn together and bound with some weird "buckram" spine back. But it's soo cute. And you can see a lot of the little "finger prints" of the little hands that looked at this. It's not library book. It's been in private hands. No markings, no typical librarian damage. But a lot of "unlove" in it's life. Some pages are loose. The first of the 26 illustrations, of the main character, is missing. Lots of finger print stains.
Now think about this. SOMEBODY (who probably is cringing now trying to explain it to granny) donated this to that library. Someon, who obviously didn't love books as a child. (my favorite part of this one is where the tigers chase each other round the try and turn into butter. LOL wonder if the zoo knows about that trick?)
Where are the childhood books you saved? What was your favorite one? Do your Children or heirs understand the value of the books in your collection? Better start righting them notes! (that's what I'm doing. "DEAR SON, don't throw this out, the great great grandfather you are named for brought it with him from Ireland" for example - on my great grandfather's level and plane)
Ok, well think about your book collection and how to protect it from ending up in a bucket of paint brushes in the libary of East Armpit, USA. And come back tomorrow for something else to look at!
I always have so many items and some of them get NO attention on ebay so I decided to blog extensively about one each day. TODAY my choice is this one -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250301480153&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
This is a 1901 edition (first edition - 2nd printing) of The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. The First Edition First printing had red boards. This one with the tan boards is universally declared (by booksellers all over the internet) to be a 2nd printing.
One of the first library sales I ever went to, was in a small small community library - like, with me and the librarian in the same room, there was no room to turn around. As I was checking out, she asked "did you look at the old books under the tarp?" (DUH NO! How would I have known they were under there? Who would have supposed? NOT ME!)
So, I respond no, and being in a foul mood from not being able to move or breathe in the tight confines, I say something stupid like, "that's ok, I spent enough today". HA, hubby goes over, lifts the tarp and starts pulling out books. And I found this is a bucket of unused paint brushes (no for like housepainter paint brushes, not cute artist brushes).
It's printed with text on the left side and one facing picture to a page. Then the next two pages are blank. It's sewn together and bound with some weird "buckram" spine back. But it's soo cute. And you can see a lot of the little "finger prints" of the little hands that looked at this. It's not library book. It's been in private hands. No markings, no typical librarian damage. But a lot of "unlove" in it's life. Some pages are loose. The first of the 26 illustrations, of the main character, is missing. Lots of finger print stains.
Now think about this. SOMEBODY (who probably is cringing now trying to explain it to granny) donated this to that library. Someon, who obviously didn't love books as a child. (my favorite part of this one is where the tigers chase each other round the try and turn into butter. LOL wonder if the zoo knows about that trick?)
Where are the childhood books you saved? What was your favorite one? Do your Children or heirs understand the value of the books in your collection? Better start righting them notes! (that's what I'm doing. "DEAR SON, don't throw this out, the great great grandfather you are named for brought it with him from Ireland" for example - on my great grandfather's level and plane)
Ok, well think about your book collection and how to protect it from ending up in a bucket of paint brushes in the libary of East Armpit, USA. And come back tomorrow for something else to look at!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Marketing your ebay store
So - what do YOU do to market your eBay store?
Nothing? I think that's what most people do. They set it up because they can't be bothered running auctions, don't want to wait for the auctions to end to sell something. And then? THEN there is a deafening silence.
It's only in Kevin Costner's brain or the movie Field of Dreams that you "build it and they will come". It' s not true in the brick and mortar world and it' s not true on eBay.
So how do you go out into the streets of eBay and drag folks in to your store to look at your stuff?
1. On the Manage my store page there's the RSS feed. Enable that.
2. Use lots of key words and custom pages to bring people in to read. If you use your custom pages to discuss ONE category that you list in your story...(one per custom page I mean), you have, with a basic store 4 custom page...so 1 for a home page and 3 for custom pages.
3. Buy PPC advertising? I haven't done that so if you have, post your ideas and results in the comments. I'd be interested to hear them.
4. Have a Squidoo lens and feed your store to that. I do that. It's got limited effectiveness until you start to drive traffic to the lens too. So now you've doubled your work. But at least making the lens and editing them is kind of fun.
So what else do you do?? I'll list some more ideas I have next time. Meantime in the comments post your ideas. Or email me. depressionglass@comcast.net
Nothing? I think that's what most people do. They set it up because they can't be bothered running auctions, don't want to wait for the auctions to end to sell something. And then? THEN there is a deafening silence.
It's only in Kevin Costner's brain or the movie Field of Dreams that you "build it and they will come". It' s not true in the brick and mortar world and it' s not true on eBay.
So how do you go out into the streets of eBay and drag folks in to your store to look at your stuff?
1. On the Manage my store page there's the RSS feed. Enable that.
2. Use lots of key words and custom pages to bring people in to read. If you use your custom pages to discuss ONE category that you list in your story...(one per custom page I mean), you have, with a basic store 4 custom page...so 1 for a home page and 3 for custom pages.
3. Buy PPC advertising? I haven't done that so if you have, post your ideas and results in the comments. I'd be interested to hear them.
4. Have a Squidoo lens and feed your store to that. I do that. It's got limited effectiveness until you start to drive traffic to the lens too. So now you've doubled your work. But at least making the lens and editing them is kind of fun.
So what else do you do?? I'll list some more ideas I have next time. Meantime in the comments post your ideas. Or email me. depressionglass@comcast.net
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Ebay changes - some ways to make some sales
Okay, lots of folks want to know..(inquiring minds...ya know?) HOW can I make money on eBay?
With all the hubbub about all eBay's changes, I think a lot of us forget the single most important point about eBay:
YOU CAN'T SELL IT IF IT AIN'T LISTED!
Now, I've personally found, that when I went over 100 store items (as far as quantity on my inventory I mean) I started seeing more sales. When I went over 200, sales again went up incrementally. That was true with every 100th block I passed. The best was when I managed to get over 1000 items in my Ebay store for more than 10 seconds. (cause you do know right, that if you're aiming for 200, as soon as you hit 195, things will start selling out of the store. As soon as it goes over 200 items, more things will sell...it's Murphy's Ebay Law). As soon as I passed 1000 items, I got about 8 sales in the next 2 days. ! HALLELUJAH!
So - my personal motto is: (come on Dar, you know the words...! ) LIST MORE, SELL MORE!
I try to list 100 items a week. Since February I've had a problem doing that - I must have developed eadd..otherwise known as "Ebay Attention Deficit Disorder". I just can't focus on eBay.
Still my current goal is 35 new listings on Sunday evening and 10 every other day of the week. Which in theory, would get me darned close to 100 new listings a week. I haven't managed it more than once or twice in the last 3 mos. But I haven't given up either.
The second thing to remember, with auctions especially, if the right eyeballs are not on eBay that week, your item will not sell. So what to do?
I personally wait 10 days, relist the item and try to publicize it, (making sure I use the eBay referral code for that item or for my store) and then if it doesn't sell then, I put it in the eBay store for a while. How long? depends? If it's Christmas maybe for a while. If it's June, probably definitely for a while. If it's tax refund spending time, for 3-4 weeks.
What about stuff you put into your store and forgot? (OH don't tell me you never forgot about them? Baloney. I do so I know everyone else does. LOL I mean we are all human. Life intervenes). So when I look at my eBay store and stuff is sorted by ending soonest for me, then I end the item and relist it...or I change the title, the picture, the wording or the price. (NO I almost NEVER EVER EVER lower the price. An old real estate adage is to raise the price...so I do that and guess what? An awful lot of stuff sells. I mean it's unreal. AT HIGHER than they could have bought it the week before. But again, it's that thing about the "right eyeballs" seeing your item.!
How else can you make money from your items? I think through an affiliate code but I'm no expert yet on that. I'm just designing my first campaign. Maybe (I think there's a rule on this) you can't get an affiliate referral payment on your items. But you can get them on mine. I can get them on those of bookcornercottage, or my52cents or bigdaddysmoney...or you blog, or you make a website, you put a feed on it. And we'll see how we both do.
Oh - and you make Squidoo lenses of your items, my items, every blue dress on eBay etc. and you update those lens regularly, (something else I"m not timely or reliable about yet) and WALA! soon you have a nice little account building up in Squiddoo money.
So. that's my idea for today...just basic commonsense. Want to see what I'm selling? That top feed in the box on the right side? That is me...come on in and visit!
Beth
With all the hubbub about all eBay's changes, I think a lot of us forget the single most important point about eBay:
YOU CAN'T SELL IT IF IT AIN'T LISTED!
Now, I've personally found, that when I went over 100 store items (as far as quantity on my inventory I mean) I started seeing more sales. When I went over 200, sales again went up incrementally. That was true with every 100th block I passed. The best was when I managed to get over 1000 items in my Ebay store for more than 10 seconds. (cause you do know right, that if you're aiming for 200, as soon as you hit 195, things will start selling out of the store. As soon as it goes over 200 items, more things will sell...it's Murphy's Ebay Law). As soon as I passed 1000 items, I got about 8 sales in the next 2 days. ! HALLELUJAH!
So - my personal motto is: (come on Dar, you know the words...! ) LIST MORE, SELL MORE!
I try to list 100 items a week. Since February I've had a problem doing that - I must have developed eadd..otherwise known as "Ebay Attention Deficit Disorder". I just can't focus on eBay.
Still my current goal is 35 new listings on Sunday evening and 10 every other day of the week. Which in theory, would get me darned close to 100 new listings a week. I haven't managed it more than once or twice in the last 3 mos. But I haven't given up either.
The second thing to remember, with auctions especially, if the right eyeballs are not on eBay that week, your item will not sell. So what to do?
I personally wait 10 days, relist the item and try to publicize it, (making sure I use the eBay referral code for that item or for my store) and then if it doesn't sell then, I put it in the eBay store for a while. How long? depends? If it's Christmas maybe for a while. If it's June, probably definitely for a while. If it's tax refund spending time, for 3-4 weeks.
What about stuff you put into your store and forgot? (OH don't tell me you never forgot about them? Baloney. I do so I know everyone else does. LOL I mean we are all human. Life intervenes). So when I look at my eBay store and stuff is sorted by ending soonest for me, then I end the item and relist it...or I change the title, the picture, the wording or the price. (NO I almost NEVER EVER EVER lower the price. An old real estate adage is to raise the price...so I do that and guess what? An awful lot of stuff sells. I mean it's unreal. AT HIGHER than they could have bought it the week before. But again, it's that thing about the "right eyeballs" seeing your item.!
How else can you make money from your items? I think through an affiliate code but I'm no expert yet on that. I'm just designing my first campaign. Maybe (I think there's a rule on this) you can't get an affiliate referral payment on your items. But you can get them on mine. I can get them on those of bookcornercottage, or my52cents or bigdaddysmoney...or you blog, or you make a website, you put a feed on it. And we'll see how we both do.
Oh - and you make Squidoo lenses of your items, my items, every blue dress on eBay etc. and you update those lens regularly, (something else I"m not timely or reliable about yet) and WALA! soon you have a nice little account building up in Squiddoo money.
So. that's my idea for today...just basic commonsense. Want to see what I'm selling? That top feed in the box on the right side? That is me...come on in and visit!
Beth
Monday, August 18, 2008
Have you see these...?? They are soooo cute
Ok, I don't make a lot of money on these and I got started picking them up by accident at an auction.
Annalee White Dragon with Hearts 1990 doll figure toy
Annalee Mobilitee 1988 Green Elf doll toy figurine
Annalee Mobilitee Fluffy Sheep Lamp Flowers 1992
Annalee Mobilitee 91 Hunter Camoflauge figurine doll
Annalee Mobilitee Sitting Santa with Sack Doll 1971
Annalee Doll Santa Claus w/ Christmas gift packages '89
Annalee Doll Santa Claus Painting Toys '90 Christmas
Annalee Doll Mrs Santa Claus with packages 1989
Annalee Christmas Choirboy Doll '93 Holiday decoration
These are all in my store on ebay - they are the sweetest little dolls and figures and decorations.
And I mention them cause I think they are soo cute!!
Annalee White Dragon with Hearts 1990 doll figure toy
Annalee Mobilitee 1988 Green Elf doll toy figurine
Annalee Mobilitee Fluffy Sheep Lamp Flowers 1992
Annalee Mobilitee 91 Hunter Camoflauge figurine doll
Annalee Mobilitee Sitting Santa with Sack Doll 1971
Annalee Doll Santa Claus w/ Christmas gift packages '89
Annalee Doll Santa Claus Painting Toys '90 Christmas
Annalee Doll Mrs Santa Claus with packages 1989
Annalee Christmas Choirboy Doll '93 Holiday decoration
These are all in my store on ebay - they are the sweetest little dolls and figures and decorations.
And I mention them cause I think they are soo cute!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Another eBay Faux Pas...do they ever end?
Have you all seen this at the bottom of the eBay search page? I have no clue how long it’s been since I looked al the way down the search page...maybe 4 months – like when I last went to an auction and was looking for comps...but tonight I’m looking for completed prices on some of the less common books we bought yesterday...and found this:
We found other stuff close to what you're looking for
Now, maybe it’s me but...I can call my “stuff” STUFF but I think ebay should be referring to it as “we found more items” or “we found more selections simliar to what you searched for”
And I know I’m being picky when there are soooo many things wrong on ebay right now...but this one, this just annoys me.
I’m not selling STUFF. Maybe John Donahoe sells "stuff" from his closet or his basement. But I go to estate auctions and buy consignments directly from people liquidating estates and my "stuff" is MERCHANDISE and most of it is too expensive to be STUFF. STUFF comes from the dollar store. I’d like to think my “stuff” could go – a lot of it – on Antique Row on Pine St in Philadelphia.
What about the rest of you? Am I just being petty about this? (Don’t answer that, I know the answer...)
We found other stuff close to what you're looking for
Now, maybe it’s me but...I can call my “stuff” STUFF but I think ebay should be referring to it as “we found more items” or “we found more selections simliar to what you searched for”
And I know I’m being picky when there are soooo many things wrong on ebay right now...but this one, this just annoys me.
I’m not selling STUFF. Maybe John Donahoe sells "stuff" from his closet or his basement. But I go to estate auctions and buy consignments directly from people liquidating estates and my "stuff" is MERCHANDISE and most of it is too expensive to be STUFF. STUFF comes from the dollar store. I’d like to think my “stuff” could go – a lot of it – on Antique Row on Pine St in Philadelphia.
What about the rest of you? Am I just being petty about this? (Don’t answer that, I know the answer...)
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