Las Vegas Here I Come – How ‘Bout You? -eBay On LOcation!!

I am so excited that this event is coming up in less than 2 weeks from this writing! If you have never been to one of these then I urge you to sign up and go! You will not regret it! It is a day and a half PACKED with information, motivation and opportunity! If you have ever wanted to speak to a higher up from eBay now’s your chance. Last year I was able to have a conversation with John Donahoe himself, yes they DO care and DO want to hear what your concerns are and hear your feedback about how the site is working for you and your business.

The location this Spring is in Las Vegas, NV. There will be another eBay On Location later in the year that will be geared to the folks on the East coast. And if you are adventurous by all means head to both! There will be different speakers, different sellers and different opportunities at each.

I am excited to announce I have been asked to be on the Seller’s Panel this year. This is where you get to do a Q&A session with 4 eBay sellers, not employees just real eBay sellers who understand you. I hope I can be an inspiration to many of you struggling with the changes about to take place on the site concerning things like shipping fvf and global Top Rated selling. The other panelists this year are Bryan Goodman (Mr.Bigfoot), Amy Weinetraub (ShopitLA), and Keith Ainsworth (NationwidePool), it’s going to be a fantastic session!

So I hope to see you all there and hope you will come up and say hi at some point during the event, I look forward to making new friends!

Where Have I Been? And LIfe Moves Fast!

Wow I was doing so good at getting these blog posts written, but life got in the way once again. Happy to say things are starting to normalize again, whatever that may mean. I have one of those sort of crazy families where I had two daughters at an early age then decided to do it all again in my later years, so my kids are 3, 5, 18 and 26. Well the 18 yr old was living with me and recently got a wild hair and decided to move back to her friends in southern California, so I was sitting here with a breaking heart. I got her all moved and am slowly adjusting to not having her crabby little teenage self around on a daily basis.

As if that wasn't enough turmoil, my little guy, Noah, has been having major anxiety over the whole thing. He has not wanted to go to school, not eating well, so devoting lots of mommy time to him lately. Oh yes and on top of it all he got a bad ear infection and perforated his ear drum while his little sister, Rachel decided on strep throat! Ahhh the joys of motherhood.

So the thought of the day is this... these babies grow all too fast, move out and leave us the memories, enjoy them while you can, life is too short and too precious and if it means your blog posts don't get written in a timely basis, so be it!

I hope to be back on track now, look for some great tips and tricks for online selling coming soon!

Where Does Time Go? Or Are you Shopping?

Yeah yeah yeah... the art of procrastination is well rehearsed here. Although I must say I have enough things already bought not to be in a complete panic mode but... not done! AND Monday is the last day to get things shipped and there in time.
You know we have 364 days to prepare for Christmas yet many of us do this to ourselves don't we?

Ok so ready set go... I challenge everone to finish their shopping this weekend and have the rest of the week to breath easy! yeah who am I kidding, lol!

Did You Know it's Bling My Bra Time?

Ok where do the month's go? It's already October and Breast Cancer Awareness month is in full swing!
I am honored to be a member of the Board of Directors for the Bling My Bra campaign this year. In case you didn't know, Bling My Bra was started in 2009 by Beth Cherkowsky - DepressionGlassWarehouse on Ebay. Creative people designed one of a king themed art bras and donated them to be auctioned off on Ebay... last year approximately $3,000 was raised for Susan G Komen Foundation, this year is on target to far surpass that total as hundreds of bras have come in!
So don't miss out on the fun and joy of owning a Blinged Bra, these things are going to go down in history!!!! I'm sort of partial to this one UDDERLY GOOD STUFF BRA

Please tell everyone you know about Bling My Bra, even if they have never been on Ebay before, let's get the bids rolling in to raise a history making amount of money this year!! Everyone will be touched by breast cancer in some way whether through a family member or friend being diagnosed or even yourself, it's not going away unless we find a cure and that will happen if we all join forces, and why not have fun doing it too!

For more information and to view all the bras visit BLING MY BRA

It's Christmas in July SALE TIME!!!!

A group of Ebay sellers have come together to put on a Christmas in July sale! We are all offering from 5-15% discounts - and many of us have make an offer on our listings as well to make your own sale!
Come take a look - never too soon to start thinking about Christmas!

Birdhouse Books (15% storewide sale through July; 25% - 50% sales on vintage sewing patterns and music CDs)

KD More Crafts and More (10% sale)

Kats Kloset (5% sale)

Depression Glass Warehouse (10% sale)

This-N-That-Freeland-Enterprises (5% sale)

Treasures from Trish (25% sale)

Book Corner Cafe (15% sale)

FamilyNiteMovies (15% sale)

Udderly Good Stuff (5% sale or MAKE OFFER!)

My Moms Books (20% after July 10)

Bob's Neat Store (10%)

To List or Not To List That is the Question

This is Chip, those of you with small children may have recognized him. He's my mascot for this article. So why a mascot named Chip you ask?

Many times a seller will abandon listing an item because of damage. I'm here to tell ya - don't!
Well under the following circumstances that is.

1. What is the value of the piece without damage? If it is something that typically brings $40+ then by all means list it, I personally like a $9.95 starting bid, you'd be amazed where some of the pieces ending! If it a low selling item then I would probably redonate it back to the thrift store or if too bad just toss it. But remember one man's trash is another's treasure.

2. Value unknown? Can't find one like it? List it with a reasonable starting bid and see where it goes, again you may be pleasantly surprised. I just had a personal experience I can share with you. I picked up an interesting wall pocket at a local thrift store, It had a name and a date on the back so I thought what the heck. Research revealed very little about it, but did verify it was an artist who had been mentioned on Google at least once. it just so happened EBay was having their listing special so I started it at $79.95, something I wouldn't normally be prone to do. It received the opening bid almost immediately - ultimately it sold for $192!

In the above example this piece had a crack. I did not let this deter me, and what is important is that you take a close up photo and reveal to your potential customers the damage as best you can with complete honesty.

I can also tell you, as a collector of Early American Pressed Glass, I shop for pieces and overlook damage because I can't yet afford the mint condition pieces. I know many people who also do this, the items still display nicely and have some value - albeit not the same as with no damage but it is still nice to own them.

So How Do You Learn "The Eye"

I am writing these articles on research and I keep hearing, "but Danni you just have an eye for that stuff". I want to assure you it isn't something that just occurred, I have worked at it! And if you are serious about selling fine antiques and collectibles you can too! I am going to share my process... and believe me it is a continuing one! I am far from an expert on things.

Ok First, pick an area to work on, say glass or pottery, or primitives... whatever you think you have a good resource for in your area.

Now go out and get your hands on as many IDENTIFIED pieces as possible. Notice I sort of hollered that word, because this is key! You are not going out to buy right now, you are on a research mission. Visit your local antique mall as you are sure to find a lot of cool items already tagged and priced. Zone in on your expertise of the day, let's say American Pottery. This will include makers such as Roseville, Weller, McCoy, California Pottery... you name it! Pick up and handle and inspect those pieces. Look at the workmanship, feel the weight and the way the glaze appears on those quality pieces. Most of them will have a maker's mark, but some does not, this is why it's important to learn the attributes of good pottery.

Ok now that you've played with the good stuff - visit a thrift store (now not sayin' thrift stores don't have good stuff) you will have an abundance of cheaply made, low end pottery to now pick up and compare... and if you are real lucky you may hit a piece you now know something about and it's value!

To hone your skills and "your eye", consistently put your hands on good quality pieces, I know many tend to not even look their way knowing they are expensive, but if you don't scrutinize them, you won't learn the differences that only come from experiencing them with all senses (ok maybe you shouldn't taste them).

Do this with any area of niche you want to go into, glass is a real good one because most of it is unmarked and if you can learn a certain maker's trademarks, that is something a lot of people know nothing about and won't touch! Finding the items that a dealer may or may not know much about can often score you a nice resale.