Suggestions welcome - Closing Out!

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Everyone,

I have decided to close my business which also means closing my eBay store. My goal is to have this accomplished by the end of June.

I am not saying that I'll never sell on eBay as I'm sure from time to time I will list the odd thing or so. However, I would like to liquidate my stock. Is that the correct terminology?

I would appreciate suggestions as to how to market what I have left in my eBay store.

I have already slashed prices. I could go a bit lower, however $1.00 is the lowest for fixed price!

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[pjcdn2005]

I'll be sad to see you go.:-(

A couple of suggestions...the numbers I'm using could be any number that might work for you..

Buy 10 stickers, get 1 free

Buy 20 get 3 free

Free shipping with purchase of 20 stickers

If you have another id without a store you could take advantage of the 100 free auctions and you can also put links to your store there.

Are there scrapbooking boards where you could let them know about the liquidation?

If you have a facebook or twitter account, mention your store & sale there.

[pjcdn2005]

A friend of mine organizes a scrapbook group. I'll mention your store to her. I don't know if she would mention your store on her facebook but would you mind if she did?

[craftycatsattic]

Susan, sorry I've been really, really busy these days and could not take the time to really give your question the best thought but I did take a quick look in your store last night and it kind of struck me that you have a lot of individual low dollar listings. What if you were to group a bunch of items and list them as lots? Would it be viable for you to run some auction lots? My store items move at least 4 times faster if I'm running auctions.

I hope this helps!

[craftycatsattic]

Also...have you ever used the markdown manager? It's a bit of a pain to use but it allows you to list your items at a discount with the regular price showing so people see they are getting a deal.

[bighillbargains1]

I was thinking the exact same than craftycats.

Bundle them into lots and list some as Auctions and the rest BIN, some maybe even with Best offer.

I often bundle items that need to sell quickly or I want to get rid off, and it usually works.

[momoftwingles2]

A friend of mine organizes a scrapbook group. I'll mention your store to her. I don't know if she would mention your store on her facebook but would you mind if she did?

I most certainly would appreciate your asking her if she would mention my store closing.

[momoftwingles2]

I've been slow to thank you all for your suggestions. Our girls have the week off from school so we've been busy enjoying the nice weather outdoors! Actually we're watching the water run over the bridge that is by our house. Now to get to town we have to go the long way around until things dry out!

I appreciate your sharing your ideas with me. I'm in think mode and will work to put these ideas to use.

I have bundled before with zero success....but I must admit that I didn't say at the time that I was closing out.

With the prices that I have on my items I am not able to offer free shipping, but when a customer purchases X dollar amount I extend that offer to them.

Cross your fingers for me. I know that people close their stores/businesses all the time, however this is a first for me. If I didn't live so rural, I think it would be easier to have a garage sale, however....that's not an option! I sure wish it was!

Thank you all!
Susan

[surplusdealdude]

There MUST be a craft show or Farmer's market or flea market running near you sometime soon.

Perhaps ebay is the wrong venue for this?

You could always cancel the listings that you sold.

[momoftwingles2]

Once a year there is a craft show near us. The cost this past year was over $400.00 for a space. We went to it to see what the venue was like and honestly....there was no traffic through during the 2-1/2 days that it was open. Many years ago...it was booming, but perhaps the late harvest, slower economy affected what people were willing to spend their money on.

I talked to a lot of the vendors who were there with some lovely, appropriately priced items and they said it was slow with a capital S and they would not be returning.

As a last resort...October will be coming again and I may consider the option to have a booth there.

I don't need to end any of the sales that I have made. My buyers pay ASAP...that's never been a problem. They are delightful!

Hopefully....after I implement some of the ideas given to me here and on the US Power Sellers list I'll see more product go out the door!

Have a wonderful evening!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[westernstargifts]

Hi Susan,

We have been exhibiting at craft shows for the past 20 years and do better at small shows in rural areas. They are usually much less expensive and the people support them more. The expensive shows really eat up your profits. We gave up a big one in London because the last 2 times we attended about 1/4 of the booths were jewellery...not a good thing.

We have a 2 day show coming up which cost us a total of $50. They get around 4000 people and they come by the busload with money to spend.

Some shows would let you in with scrapbooking supplies and others would not. It all depends on who is running it and whether or not it is a juried show.

Ask around if there are any small shows nearby. There just might be a good one that you haven't heard about. I wish you were in my area because I could give you a long list of shows to do.

Good luck with your sales!

Judy

[pjcdn2005]

I most certainly would appreciate your asking her if she would mention my store closing.

I just left her a message and I will let you know if she does post anything.

[momoftwingles2]

I most certainly would appreciate your asking her if she would mention my store closing.

I just left her a message and I will let you know if she does post anything.

Thank you!
Susan

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Susan,

We have been exhibiting at craft shows for the past 20 years and do better at small shows in rural areas. They are usually much less expensive and the people support them more. The expensive shows really eat up your profits. We gave up a big one in London because the last 2 times we attended about 1/4 of the booths were jewellery...not a good thing.

We have a 2 day show coming up which cost us a total of $50. They get around 4000 people and they come by the busload with money to spend.

Some shows would let you in with scrapbooking supplies and others would not. It all depends on who is running it and whether or not it is a juried show.

Ask around if there are any small shows nearby. There just might be a good one that you haven't heard about. I wish you were in my area because I could give you a long list of shows to do.

Good luck with your sales!

Judy

Hi Judy,

I think that was part of the problem at the show they had here in October. They outpriced themselves so the vendors did not come out as they normally do AND then...the people did not come.

We'd never see 4000 people at a show in Melfort anyways considering there are only 5000 people that live there! *LOL*

The smaller venues around do have craft shows but the time and distance and hotels would add up to more than the fees I pay on eBay!

Living rural has its pros and its cons. Selling things...a tad harder than if we lived in the big city!

Time and patience...is what is needed and I more than have that!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[surplusdealdude]

Too bad you're not near St Jacobs in Southern Ontario.

The Farmer's market here gets 1 million visitors a year. It's a whole power center in and of itself. Last time I checked it was $35 a table.

[westernstargifts]

Too bad you're not near St Jacobs in Southern Ontario.

The Farmer's market here gets 1 million visitors a year. It's a whole power center in and of itself. Last time I checked it was $35 a table.

The $35 would likely be for an outside booth there. I know some vendors who have a booth inside at St. Jacob's. They tell me that sales have been poor there, for them anyway, for the past couple of years. I used to rent space in a store in the village of St. Jacob's. I did extremely well there until 9/11 when the American visitors stopped coming in droves.

Shows or markets that are good for one vendor are not necessarily good for another. We just finished day one of our 2 day show. Sales were good for us but down for most vendors that I talked to today.

And I stand corrected. They get 6000 people over the 2 day period and the numbers have increased every year for the past 24 years. This is for a village of not more than about 300 or 400 people. There are lots of villages around them though, unlike Saskatchewan. People also drive a fair distance from the cities to attend. It takes us about 1 1/4 hours to drive there so we are able to drive back and forth.

Rural has a whole different meaning depending on where you live. Sometimes I envy you all that space Susan, but I guess it does have its drawbacks.

[momoftwingles2]

That's quite reasonable!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[surplusdealdude]

The Split Rail Festival was also supposed to be good, if it's still running - I think it was around this time, May, June that it would run. It runs out of one of the little towns in the Hanover area, I think.

This information i pretty dated - I haven't been in that market for 15 years or so.

[canleafmart]

Susan , so sorry to hear you are leaving!!

Like rest of other poster suggested, I recommend wholesale lot , or if you , leave ebay, you can sell it as a non store subscriber and take advantage of free listing !

I hope you find solution and all the best in what you do.

[jerseypros]

Hi Susan, you should also look at selling all your inventory and your ebay ID to someone looking to either start selling on ebay or a small timer looking to walk into an ID with credibility. I believe as long as your inventory is included you can sell your ID (Pierre might be best to contact about this as I think he posted something about this a while ago).