Turn £100.00 into £10.000.00+ by the end of 2010 official thread PART 2

nikki2804

Well i've started a blog so that I can keep myself in line and keep note of how much i've made! Eek!! Might try some affiliate marketing too, don't know if i'll have much success though. Its linked through my profile, check it out if you want, not too good though but then I am quite a technophobe!

Eyesparky

victoriaplum1 wrote: »

Does anyone have any tips for photographing black items for sale, in my exp they just look like nothing when you try to take a pic, I have a really nice Karen Millen top but avoided putting it on ebay as it just looks relaly plain, the photos dont do it justice at all! Agree with party wear cos most people leave it til last min for christenings, special birthdays etc then find is out of stock so go onto ebay to look...same for dressing up stuff, and when you are desparate you will inevitably panic and pay more than you may have wanted too!

Do you have access to some kind of manikin or dress makers body that you can put the clothes on to present them? Otherwise, is there anyone you can get to wear the items for pictures and then crop the images ... needs some attention because done wrong it can look a bit naff. Another thing to do is pay for extra pictures with dark items ... a few close up images of garment details, labels etc. (particularly if sought after) can do wonders ... all depends on the value of the product ... a decent suit is worth taking 7 or 8 shots of to present it in it's best light. Above all though work on getting the light right (difficult at the moment with grey skies etc.) ... I have been playing around with a photographers light box, big white draped sheets and lots of spotlamps (behind the sheets if that makes sense) ... to varying levels of success. The good thing is with digital cameras that you can click off lots of pictures and hopefully in amongst them will be a winner or two. Hope this helps a little.

victoriaplum1

great advice eyesparky.....as my step brother is a professional photographer maybe I can commission him to take my pics lol, seriously though if I get into ebay properly a dummy could be a useful purchase yes! Are there any photobucket type sites that are free or cheaper than posting x many pics straight via ebay, am thinking if I do bundles I will need to post lots of pics

DFWJane

Well I've listed my 5 items on ebay, as Bing0 suggested this morning. Was very pleased with myself. Even more pleased now I have gone back and changed them all to finish Sunday, not in 7 days, as was the original point! :rotfl:

victoriaplum1

BFem wrote: »

I have just updated my signature - £0 to £1.99 woo hoo!

I have been looking ALL NIGHT since I got home from work into seasonal stuff (valentines) but then as soon as I start thinking, how am I going to sell this other than ebay and then realise i'll have to try and sell them face to face to people to make money (at uni, at work etc) and then have a big freak out, aaahhh noooo too scary! I've done it so many times with so many different things, that, after a while its easy for confidence to be lost very quickly. I dont want to do what i've done so many times in the past (start on a new venture, tell everyone I know about it only to lose confidence and quietly walk away only to do it all over again in a few months!) so i'm trying to think about consequences - there's no point me buying all this stuff and never selling it and losing money. Tut.

I am quite shy with direct selling but find that having a table at a local craft fair or school fete or bootsale etc is not that scary....at least you are in a place then where lots of people doing similar thing and people come to your stall if they want to buy, keep an eye out in local paper for those kind of things or contact local college and see if any of their art tutors can tip you off to those type of events, also not sure if its common practice all over country but my local town indoor market often hires out tables by the day so you could have a one day sale there, pick a day that is busy anyway! I know there are lots of opportunities for making extra money through things like Usbourne and Phoenix but as alot of those require direct marketing to get sales can be offputting for us less confident people! Another way could be to have a coffee morning at your house where you could sell your crafty things, invite your mates and ask them to invite mates, supply the tea and biscuits and away you go!

smem

well had a good day sales wise - made about £80.00 but my ebay fees are up to £51.00 so needed to leave some money in to cover. Fees are a real pain at the moment. Re actually selling l find if you start things off at a low price they sell at a low price as its only the same people looking what ever the price if that makes sense. l only do buy it nows to aviod things selling for 99p. l put them on at a price that l would be happy to get and make a profit.

victoriaplum1

DFWJane wrote: »

Well I've listed my 5 items on ebay, as Bing0 suggested this morning. Was very pleased with myself. Even more pleased now I have gone back and changed them all to finish Sunday, not in 7 days, as was the original point! :rotfl:

Is there really a best day for sales to end on ebay? I haven't found it makes much difference to me.....I mean weekends can be real busy for some people who work all week and Sunday evenings can be the getting work kit and school kit ready time so doesn'e necessarily mean more people will be browsing then.....if only we could track the footfall on ebay!!!

Eyesparky

victoriaplum1 wrote: »

great advice eyesparky.....as my step brother is a professional photographer maybe I can commission him to take my pics lol, seriously though if I get into ebay properly a dummy could be a useful purchase yes! Are there any photobucket type sites that are free or cheaper than posting x many pics straight via ebay, am thinking if I do bundles I will need to post lots of pics

I am just restarting with ebay so not sure what the score is with Photobucket links etc. (in my to do list to find out ). You do see plenty of ebay pages with pictures in the main body of the ad ... so it is likely possible still (definitely used to be). You obviously won't get the zoom in feature of the ebay ones but worth considering. I haven't started to put together more professional looking HTML pages yet as I am mostly selling things from around the house at the moment but I am sure it will be worth the investment in time.

If you have a professional in the family tap the resource ... all hands to the pump .

kosma1

BFem wrote: »

I have just updated my signature - £0 to £1.99 woo hoo!

I have been looking ALL NIGHT since I got home from work into seasonal stuff (valentines) but then as soon as I start thinking, how am I going to sell this other than ebay and then realise i'll have to try and sell them face to face to people to make money (at uni, at work etc) and then have a big freak out, aaahhh noooo too scary! I've done it so many times with so many different things, that, after a while its easy for confidence to be lost very quickly. I dont want to do what i've done so many times in the past (start on a new venture, tell everyone I know about it only to lose confidence and quietly walk away only to do it all over again in a few months!) so i'm trying to think about consequences - there's no point me buying all this stuff and never selling it and losing money. Tut.

maybe if you haven't already you could buddy up with someone, it maymean that should you go down the route of craft fairs, car boots, sales etc, your buddy could perhaps set up next to you?share stall? bit of moral support and especially if you had a buddy happy to share a stall etc with, you would share cost of stall so reduce outogings?

Eyesparky

Oh with reference to photographs, definitely try your best to get as good an image as possible to help your product stand out, particularly when selling against many similar items. I listed something that I had seen a few sell for around £6 and thought why not, a few quid in my pocket. Took some effort over the picture for the listing and achieved £16 ... now it could be a total fluke or the picture may well have spoken a thousand words .