I recently got an email from a staff memeber of YHIW or YouHaveIWant.com, a new classified service. I get a lot of similar emails and sometimes I just plain don’t have time to look at the site and sometimes I think the site is dumb so it becomes a case of “If you can’t say anything nice…” but I do check them all out and I thought that YHIW warranted a closer look.
It is a classified site, determined by location where every post is no longer than 140 characters long. They try to keep it anonymous by giving you as many options to let buyers contact you as possible including Twitter and Facebook.
You can post “Haves” which are items you are looking to sell or give away or “Wants” which are items that you are looking to buy. The system will let you know when they find matches for either post and then buyers can contact you via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email.
In their own words: Continue Reading »
As soon as DSR ratings became important, I made up a package insert that goes out in every single package I send. One side thanks you for your purchase and gives the URL for the store if you want to shop with us again. The second side is a similar message and contains all of our contact info. This page also has a notice about how we work hard to earn all five feedback stars, highlights some of the extra service we give, etc and asks if there is any reason that you feel that you cannot give 5 stars in any category, to please contact us immediately and before you leave feedback so that we can make it right because your business is important to us, yadda yadda.
I know I’m not the only seller with a similar postcard though I am proud to say mine is much less threatening and/or whining about feedback than most out there. The crux of it is, we are working really hard to get your good feedback and if you think you can’t give it, please at least let us know when so we can adjust how we do business. Or give you a refund to make you happy, etc.
I also created a similar message as a part of our shipment follow-up email. So we were giving buyers a reminder about this on two fronts.
Sidenote: I do not believe buyers intentionally are malicious on feedback stars. I think most genuinely have no idea how the feedback system affects sellers so my philosophy is to simply remind and/or teach them about how it works rather than threaten/whine about it. I know us sellers live and breathe feedback but it is a very different world out there as a buyer and we have to remember that. I think 95% of feedback issues come out of ignorance of the system and nothing else.
Anyway, my email and insert worked. How do I know they worked? Simply, for the year plus since I have been using them, I have had higher star ratings and the few unhappy buyers emailed me before feedback and each one specifically mentioned the insert (such as “Your note says to contact you if I was unhappy so I wanted to just say….” etc). I was pleased with the results, my feedback was good, my customers were happy and everything was sunshine and roses. Even the issues we never totally resolved we still talked over and somewhat diffused.
Continue Reading »
A1 Marketplace is one of many Half.com like media marketplaces out there. You can list books, music, movies, software and more there without listing fees and pay only when the item sells. The interface and listing process is very similar to Half but there are some key differences.
- Firstly, more like Amazon Marketplace, A1 (as A1Books) itself also sells on its own items on the marketplace so you are competing with their new items on price if it is an item they also sell. That said, they don’t sell every item so there is no new item competition on many items.
- Secondly, their fees are lower than many other places with the only fee being a 10% end of listing fee.
- Unlike Half.com which limits you to items already in the catalog or Amazon which requires you to pay a monthly fee to be able to add to their catalog, adding a new product on A1 Marketplace is new which can be very helpful, I have found.
Side note: I used to use A1 Marketplace for many years but they recently changed their requirements for keeping your account active. I cannot find where these requirements are listed but my account seemed to be deleted or deactivated everytime I logged in to add a new item so I finally got fed up and gave up after having to reactivate and recreate a new account a few times. I only had under 5 items listed with them so this may not be an issue for larger Media sellers but they were annoying the snot out of me with this procedure so I no longer sell there.
But the biggest thing that sets this marketplace apart from the others out there is that they are now offering free storefronts for sellers. While these will obviously be for Media items, the announcement makes it seem like they will soon be expanding into non-media products in the future products.
From their FAQ: Continue Reading »
So while I was gone on vacation, I missed an important little anniversary. I put my very first item up for sale on eBay on March 2nd, 1997 which means that I have been selling online for just over 13 years. Though I’ve sold on many many platforms over the years that was my very first attempt at selling online so it holds the distinction of being the official start of it all. Many platforms came and went so it’s funny that I still sell on eBay when it was also my first.
What was the first item I sold? I really don’t remember. I didn’t realize I would still be at this gig 13 years later or I would have taken notice. I kinda wish I knew what it was but I really don’t remember. It’s a safe bet it was some kind of My Little Pony. 
For those of you curious and who also want to feel old (or perhaps young, depending on who is reading this) when I listed that very first eBay item I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. An entrepreneur before a high school graduate. Not bad, eh?
I was only newly legally able to drive but I was not actually old enough to have an account on eBay (had to be 18) so I was selling under my father’s name. I would answer customer emails after I finished my homework and go to flea markets on the weekends to find stuff to sell. I didn’t have a credit card so I used my dad’s and then paid him back for the fees as we were billed. I used to list items on our family computer in our television room (the only computer we owned). I would have to list items in bulk because we didn’t own a digital camera at the time so my dad would borrow one from work on the weekends, I would photo items like crazy so he could return it each Monday. When a phone call cut off the modem while I was in the middle of listing an item and I would lose all the work I just did, I would scream like anything. 
Dial-up, man, I do NOT miss it.
I told my mom to buy eBay stock before they went public. She didn’t. We could have been rich. We bust her about this to this day.
It’s a little crazy to think that signing up for eBay all those years ago and putting something up for sale would still have such an effect on my life 13 years later but here we are.
So here’s to lucky 13!
