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How to Sell Beads Online
Sapphire: September's Gemstone
Genuine Imitation Amber
15% off Offer
1.
Make sure your heading is catchy and descriptive. The heading is the first
thing that catches the eye of a potential buyer when selling on auctions.
Unless the heading is good a buyer won't even get as far as looking at
your
auction. Especially with so much competition these days. Go through eBay
and note good selling titles for similar beads you want to sell.
2.
Make a good photo. The main thing an online buyer has to go is the
photograph & good pictures sell! Get in close, crop hard, enhance the
contrast, and reduce to about 400 pixels wide. Although many have
broadband
these days, too large an image will put off buyers with a dial-up
connection. If your camera won't focus close enough to fill the frame with
your beads, then shoot from further away and crop with an image editing
program. One of the fastest and easiest to use is ACDSee - not as
sophisticated as Photoshop, but much cheaper and simpler to use. To down
load for under $50 go to http://www.acdsystems.com/. To find out how to
take good pictures go to one of our old newsletters here.
3.
Get the price right. If you are selling on auctions, then many other
sellers force you to set your minimum bid at a competitive price. With too
high a price you won't get any bids. Check successful sales of similar
beads to give you a guide.
4.
Work out your best strategy selling on eBay. This will depend on what site
you're selling on. In the US eBay increased fees make a preference to sell
on 7-day auctions. Where on their UK site I favor 10-day listings because
they cover two weekends (when most buyers are online), and don't cost any
more. eBay gallery pictures can be expensive if you have a lot of
listings,
but I think the increased exposure more than covers it.
5.
Good contact between you and the buyer is important. Answer e-mails fast
(within 24-hours most of the time), and send out prompt letters to
winners,
non-payers, and problem customers. Make as much clear on the actual action
as you can to save unnecessary letters. Especially shipping prices and
payment options.
6.
Offer Paypal as a payment option. Paypal is simple once set up, fast, and
economical. It's also the best way for buyers to pay internationally. And
make sure you do offer sales to international buyers & there's no
disadvantage with a wider catchment.
7.
Don't just rely on eBay auctions. One tip worth more than your computer
system is to establish an eBay store & easy and cheap to do. Then just put
your best sellers on auction and everything in the store, relying on links
from the auctions to bring sales to your store. Works a treat and saves
you
a packet in eBay bills. And the more stores you have, the more you will
sell. If you're selling a lot, consider a MarketWorks store too. This is
linked to your auction sales and encourages extra add-on purchases outside
of eBay. And for high-volume sellers, Miva offer the best online store
software & get the store for free by signing a hosting contract with
someone like NetNation at http://www.netnation.com. Because of less
competition you should also sell at a higher price in your store. The
MrBead store is a Miva.
8.
Don't loose out on postage & packing! It's not a rip off to charge buyers
more postage & packing than the mail costs you. Consider all the time it
takes to sort and mail orders, apart from purchasing materials and the
actual packing. If it's a business, someone has to pay for this time. I
bet
your bank charges you more for a simple letter than most sellers charge to
mail a string of beads. Also, eBay doesn't take a commission from your
shipping charges.
9.
Don't try to do everything yourself. Sign-up to an auction management
system like MarketWorks Adviser at http://www.channeladvisor.com/mw (the
best) or Andale at http://www.andale.com/. Any fees incurred will be more
than covered by the increased sales you have more time to make. Many of
these management systems list automatically, send personalized winner
letters, combine shipping on multiple wins and automate feedback.
10.
Find a good bead supplier like MrBead at http://www.mrbead.com & click the
wholesale link to see what you can save. MrBead gives up to 40% off for
re-sellers, see here.
Buying in bulk will allow you a larger mark-up on sales. Always buy more
than you need because you don't want to loose future sales if you can't
get
any more the same. It's a lot of work photographing and listing new items,
rather than relisting older beads. However, to keep sales rolling, you do
need to keep adding fresh stock to your inventory too.
Sapphires are extremely durable, only diamonds are harder. Sapphires are generally cut into cushions, rounded rectangle or oval shapes. However, fancy sapphires may be triangles, squares, marquises, pear shapes, cabochon cut, or smooth domes. Sapphire is the anniversary stone for the 5th and 45th years of marriage.
Dark blue and lilac sapphire is said to enhance ones creativity
while guarding against distraction. It is also good for sexual
relationships because it tends create deep bonding between people and
brings loyalty.
Light blue sapphire is the inspiration stone. It helps to bring new
thoughts and makes one feel excited and full.
Green sapphire brings a lucky sense to ones life for it allows
things to run smoothly.
Orange works on a totally different level by not allowing you to
deceive yourself. It makes you look at things in their basic form without
distorting it to conform to what you want it to be. Brings true knowledge
-
a good stone for students, teachers, writers and researchers.
Pink sapphire allows one to surrender to another for the good of
the all.
White sapphire helps you take care of yourself and to tend to your
personal needs. Yellow sapphire connects you to the total you with all of
your inner knowledge. It also helps you to see what you do not know so you
can look for an answer, rather than believing you already know the answer.
Blue chalcedony can look similar to sapphire at a fraction of the cost. Although a very fine-grained variety of quartz. It has a waxy luster with a compact fibrous structure. Natural chalcedony is usually grayish blue and sometimes with hints of pink, however it can be color enhanced to light blue. It is said that chalcedony was used as a sacred stone by the Native Americas, promoting stability within the ceremonial activities of the tribe. Chalcedony is thought to augment emotional balance, vitality, stamina, endurance, kindness, charity and friendliness. It also supposedly alleviates hostilities, irritability and melancholy.
For our Chalcedony click MrBead or MrBead.co.uk
The necklace was a favorite and she wore it on many occasions, always thinking of their honeymoon when she did. After 20+ years the necklace finally broke. She took it to her local jeweler to ask if he could restring it. He said that it should not be a problem and took out his loop to look at the beads. While still examining the necklace he asked if she would be willing to sell it and offered her $1,000. She very indignantly said "No - it was a gift from my husband, and anyway why would you pay $1,000 for imitation beads?" The jeweler did not answer, but did restring the necklace as she requested.
When she returned home, her husband was just as surprised as she was at the jewelers' offer. He was planning a business trip to New York City and told his wife that he would take the necklace along and see if one of the famous jewelry stores there would appraise it. The jeweler there promptly asked if he wanted to sell the piece and offered him $3,000 for it. The husband said, "Please tell me what is going on, why would you offer me $3,000 for a necklace made up of genuine imitation beads? I don't understand" To which the jeweler replied "You have never looked at these beads with a loop, have you?" "Of course not, why would we?" replied the husband. The jeweler then went on to explain that the beads were actually carved amber, not imitation anything, and that each of the beads was inscribed: To Josephine from Napoleon 18xx.
Story as told by Paul Harvey on "The Rest of the Story" and Cynthia Rutledge.
To see all our amber click MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk
To see more What's New click MrBead.com or MrBead.co.uk
To go to our MrBead store click MrBead.com
To go to our UK MrBead shop click MrBead.co.uk
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