[vixen_within]

awwww sweetheart!
i have a light purple, pink one, with a white AB crystal at the center - but it isn't the same as the red cherries. It's just as sparkly, but it lacks the something or other of the red one and maybe wasn't as perfectly crafted, so I never bothered posting it.
i want to send you one of them through letter mail as a gift cause i have two of them and cause you're lovely. If you want it just PM or email me where to send it. that way you can decide to give it to your friend or keep it for yourself!




Lananans I've sooo been there. I got lucky last night - the seller sent me a 2nd chance offer because the winner backed out. I didn't get the bargain I originally thought I could, but at least I got the item at a decent price (I tell myself). Sometimes I even forget to bid, thinking early on "well I don't want to start too soon and drive up the price. I'll just wait." & end up kicking myself. I've recently started to just bid my absolute maximum, & that way if someone else snipes it I don't really feel bad about it because I know there's no way I would have wanted to pay more.

[crazyoldcatlady]

nooooooooooooooooooooo!

vixen! i was at work all day and i didn't have a chance to war with the winner on ebay!

do you have any more cherry ringgggggs??? pleeease? i wanted to get it for a friend

[lananans]

Last night I lost a bidding war for a 30GB Ipod Video.... with ONE SECOND LEFT... one second left and I was the high bidder. Sigh. I need to hone my ebay skills apparently.

[lananans]

I like those dresses too, but unfortch they are not my size either. Otherwise I would be tempted!

[likeanyother]

Thanks Vixen, it is super cool. I'm lucky enough to know a woman who owns a vintage clothing store here who knows zip about ebay, so she gives me a cut to put her stuff up for her. Now I just need the motivation to put my own dust-collecting goods up there.....

[vixen_within]

Hello, fellow ebayers! I have few things on ebay at the moment, the vintage dress are truly sweet. They end soon, but more to come later in the week....

it isn't my size, but i really like the pattern on the vintage Saks dress.

[likeanyother]

Hello, fellow ebayers! I have few things on ebay at the moment, the vintage dress are truly sweet. They end soon, but more to come later in the week....

[vixen_within]

vixen, i totally just bidded on your cherry ring

Yaaay! *does the kermit happy dance* Thanks cat lady - I really like that one too it's one of my favourites.

[crazyoldcatlady]

vixen, i totally just bidded on your cherry ring

[lananans]

Thanks for the advice! It's very helpful.

[vixen_within]

Cheers Vixen, that link is amazing! Funny, cos I was just thinking last night about how I might try to make a paper-maiche copy of another friend's dressmakers dummy, but I'll definitely get my SO to help me do this at the weekend instead - much less hassle! what a fab idea too!

I'm bummed cos I did some listings the other week and only one item sold (an 80s Atari console - so look out for those when you're thrifting, there are a lot of geek-chic types out there who'll pay good money for those!)....

Darn I passed one of those over at my neighbour's sale last weekend!

You know what, I'm finding that my Buy It Now jewelery, particularly one of a kind and vintage styled, currently sells much better than my other items. Someone else pointed out that a lot of female buyers seem to prefer the BIN format to the auction - they want the item, not the wait, & maybe it's even safe to say that they don't need to "play auction" to know when they've found a bargain.

Lananans honestly, I think the vibe at etsy is much more positive than on ebay. On ebay, it seems like everyone is afraid of being ripped off & paranoia runs high. Whether there's a good reason for that or not I have yet to find out...If parcels don't arrive as soon as expected, you can probably expect a monosyllabic, exclamation marky message from your customer. I have a particularly hard time with American customers who's expectations of carrier speeds are very high & don't really take into account distance, borders, customs when they're buying from Canadians. So, I haven't tried etsy, but it looks attractive & there seem to be lower fees & longer listing times, that's always good news.

[lananans]

Thanks for the tips vixen! I'm going to see what I can do. I'm planning a big thrifting-spree this upcoming week and then I may have some listings.

Do you guys ever use etsy.com?? I've got a thing for vintage stuff, and a lot of people sell vintage items on there, and the thing I like is that it's a fixed price, and no bidding. I just don't know how well it would work...

[thepointybird]

Cheers Vixen, that link is amazing! Funny, cos I was just thinking last night about how I might try to make a paper-maiche copy of another friend's dressmakers dummy, but I'll definitely get my SO to help me do this at the weekend instead - much less hassle! what a fab idea too!

I'm bummed cos I did some listings the other week and only one item sold (an 80s Atari console - so look out for those when you're thrifting, there are a lot of geek-chic types out there who'll pay good money for those!) Mind you, most of my other items were sunglasses and sandals, and the weather is particularly wet and windy in Britain right now, so I think I didn't time it especially well. I'm gonna hit a few jumble sales this weekend though, and do a mage-listing towards the end of the month. Fingers crossed!

[vixen_within]

Tips, tips I got tips!

Today might be a good day to start Lananans, since they're having a listing fee special on ebay.ca - although a lot of people might be froshing not shopping, it's a good way to try out your listings.

This is what I've learned so far

Take lots of photos, it makes a HUGE difference. Make sure they're focused, different angles, long shots & close ups for clothes - close ups of special detailing or interesting patterns are good. Ebay charges fees for multiple photos so I don't bother with them, I host my pictures through auctiva.com because it's free.

Include as much useful detail as you can in the description (measurements, material's composition, item history if it's interesting or makes it more unique, & disclose all flaws so there are no surprises).

It makes a difference if you can include shipping prices in your listing. I ship from Canada too and I'm here to tell you Canada Post is really gnarly to deal with compared with the cakewalk service Americans have. The rules are Byzantine and confusing and it's remarkably expensive to ship across Canada - to the point where I might stop shipping out west - or I may start putting in a disclaimer or something. I don't use ebay's shipping calculator because it's notoriously inaccurate for Canadians and it doesn't let you specify regional differences, the way that Canada Post demands. I've been using regional, national, US, & international flat rates that I've calculated instead, there might be better methods out there though..

If you can afford it get a small scale bring out the tape measure to cut down on the surprises. Search ebay.ca to see what other Canadians are charging for shipping for similar items.

Oh and if there are places that you don't want to ship to, include it in your item description - if someone somewhere you don't ship wins it, they can dispute and force you to ship if you haven't included the nixing statement.

Check out the Canadian sellers discussion board on ebay too I've found it really helpful.

I found that books sold very poorly on ebay. It wasn't worth it for me to pay a listing fee for them. I've put them up on Amazon.ca and am seeing how that goes (Amazon doesn't have listing fees).

Hey, Pointybird Crinoline just posted an amazing duct tape dress form over in the crafty thread. I hope she doesn't mind me cross-posting the how-to link over here, but it's just so completely awesome http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/03/dress...make-exact.html

[lananans]

What would be some good tips on selling things on ebay??? If I was to say sell, clothes, or books... any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[vixen_within]

Ugh, Vixen, I feel for you, non-paying bidders are the worst! I had a girl a while back who bought a bag from me and I literally emailed her for 3 weeks and had to end up going through eBay in a non-paid item dispute before she coughed up. Unfortunately, I was away for a week by the time I got her payment, and by the time I got back from my trip, she had already sent me 2 demanding and very rude emails wanting to know why she hadn't received her item yet? GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I HATE that we're not allowed to leave negative feedback for these clowns - WTF were eBay thinking when they invented that rule?

Cheers for the mannequin tip though, I will check that out!

Particularly galling is the fact that non payers can leave negative feedback! Both the American and Canadian seller's boards are all up in arms about the bizarre changes.

[thepointybird]

Ugh, Vixen, I feel for you, non-paying bidders are the worst! I had a girl a while back who bought a bag from me and I literally emailed her for 3 weeks and had to end up going through eBay in a non-paid item dispute before she coughed up. Unfortunately, I was away for a week by the time I got her payment, and by the time I got back from my trip, she had already sent me 2 demanding and very rude emails wanting to know why she hadn't received her item yet? GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I HATE that we're not allowed to leave negative feedback for these clowns - WTF were eBay thinking when they invented that rule?

Cheers for the mannequin tip though, I will check that out!

[vixen_within]

Ah, the red shoes. I seem to have a non-paying bidder, so they haven't left their home yet. I will be re-listing them in early/mid September along with some other items. Pointy my dear, you missed my slew of auctions - the bulk of them ended last night (with mixed reviews). I want to see yours! Link please!~

ETA: btw Pointybird I found my mannequin in the industrial part of town where someone had bought out the supplies from a closed down Sears store and was storing them in his warehouse. It cost me less than $20. I found him by scanning craigslist for a few weeks. You should look for stores that are closing their doors, especially the big ones like H&M (or their GB equivalents?) and approach the manager. Ask them what they are doing with their store fixtures as they are often willing to sell.

[thepointybird]

Hey vixen, those red shoes were gorgeous, how did they do?

I sell a load, often stuff I've picked up at jumbles and whotnot here in the UK. It's a hassle doing the pics and the listings and stuff, but it supplements my income a fair bit. I find it helps if clothes are displayed on a mannequin rather than a hanger, I used to send them to a friend who had one to photograph and stuff, but we've had a falling out now so I really need to get one of my own - a hassle as they are impossible to find cheap anywhere! I tend to do the best with proper vintage, anything from Topshop as American girls go mad for it, and leather accessories of any description as they're just so damn expensive new. I'm just about to do a bumper listing this weekend so I'll post the link here. Can't check out you gals' stuff right now, as unfortunately we're barred from using eBay at work - sob!

[vixen_within]

Okay someone else needs to post in this thread because I'm getting embarrassed.

If you're interested in what sex workers are saying to each other and to the world at large, I've put up some of my issues of $pread Magazine from my collection.