Have I Told You Lately How Much I Love VENDIO

Well I do.  I have been a subscriber for over 10 years when back in the day, listings and photo uploads were difficult for this eBay seller.

Vendio is an eBay 3rd party provider for listing and post sale chores.  Plus lots of other tools, including image hosting, watermarking, customer follow up, inventory tracking and oh so much more.  

A few of my most favorites are:-

Listing Form & Template - Once the template is created, new listings only require info specific to that item. 


Scrolling Gallery - Has individual listings scrolling across the top of my listings to show all the varied items we sell.

Image Hosting - After I edit photos in Picassa, I upload to Vendio in just a few clicks.  No fuss, no muss!!

Watermarking - Each photo has my info placed where I choose.

Customer List - Can be sorted in many ways.  I like sorting by category so I can target certain customers for sales and notices.

Vendio Store - Free with subscription.  With just a few clicks new listings can be added to the Vendio store too.

Submits listings to the Search Engines


Customer Support - Several ways to contact them and they reply immediately or will call back shortly.  They are fantastic.


and for those who need it Product Sourcing where you can search by country. 

Vendio Home Page 

 

How To Shop Economically on eBay

Sometimes we do something routinely and don't really pay attention to how we do it.  I was shopping the other day on eBay and realized that there are certain patterns I follow.

First thing I do is to change the search from the default best match to Price + Shipping - Lowest first.  By doing this I am also able to see the items with free shipping and move the listings that might have low prices but high shipping to the bottom of the list.

One caveat is that the 1 cent listings will show up at the top of the list.  I am very cautious of these because most of the time they will be sent from a country with no labor or human rights laws.  So be sure to evaluate each item and all the details about the seller. 

Typically I will customize the search from options on the left side of the page. As in our daily life I like to support a Mom & Pop business and really shy away from those sellers that have 10,000+ feedback.  

Colorado Springs is a city of chain restaurants and we try to support the small local establishments. I equate the chains to the big drop ship sellers that may ship from outside US. 
I don't want to wait 10 - 20 days for a delivery, so I control my search using the appropriate option. 

I hope you will support our Mom & Pop business and visit our eBay store where you can rest assured we have all the merchandise in stock and do all the shipping ourselves, usually within hours of us recieving the payment.

Thank you.

Do You Have What it Takes to Be Self Employed?

eBay LIVE Chicago 2008

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE SELF-EMPLOYED?

So you think you want to sell on eBay / Online? Or are you selling now? There are a few things to think about before you even get started. Are you the kind of person that is self motivated and can work for yourself?

Growing up in a house where my Dad was always self-employed with my mother’s help and support, I find it hard to answer to a BOSS. But many want to work their 8 –5, go home and forget about work.

On the other hand, there are those who like the flexibility of the hours and the (non) dress code!

Local laws – Every city / community / neighborhood has laws or covenants that either support in home businesses or are against it. A lot has to do with the traffic the business will generate to the neighborhood. Are you going to have a lot of deliveries? Will customers be coming to the house?

This legal complication must be explored thoroughly before one gets too far into a new in home business. It would be awful to get all set up, merchandise bought and then a neighbor complains and you have no recourse.

To be a good citizen, the business must be registered with all the local and state entities for collecting sales tax.

Space - Once it is determined that you can have an in home business, where will your office be? It could be in the corner of the dining room or in a designated space. This area can be a tax deduction if it is used exclusively for your new venture. Checking with your tax consultant will give you a great idea on exactly how this works. Your vehicle, electric, phones and Internet connection could all be part of your tax deductions also. So when setting up your space it is wise to keep in mind the ramifications of where you place it and will it be exclusive for your business.

Family Support – This is a big one. There are so many reasons to be self employed and will differ for each person.

Some of the most popular reasons are the stay at home parents; home schoolers who want to be home with the kids; the disabled, those in a poor job market; retired folks; people who just want to downsize and sell their things rather than yard sale; and on and on and on.

Because home selling takes a lot of discipline it is so important to have the time and space to ‘work the business’. In a home with other people, finding the time without interruption could be difficult.

We are retired and one of us does all the listings and eBay chores. Once an item sells the other one takes care of all the packaging and shipping. I find diluting the chores is helpful because it gives me time to concentrate on my part and not be diverted by the shipping routine.

It is also nice to have the co-operation and participation of a spouse, S.O., a child or another person. When they are active in the business they have a feel for what is happening and can be a great sounding board on problem solving or situations that arise.

Availability of product – So what–cha going to sell? That is a never-ending question and not one that any active eBay seller will readily answer. This is where you have to do all your own research.

If you are just starting out, it is really a good idea to start with things you know or have in the house or things friends and relatives give you outright to sell. As a new eBayer you don’t want to get involved with consignment sales or having to pay somebody part of the proceeds. That is too much pressure for a beginner.

The best way to research is to do a search on eBay in both auctions and store listings: - How much is it selling for? What are the shipping charges? How many are there listed? What keywords do they use? What category is it listed in? What is the condition? How many have sold and how many expired without a sale?

There are 3rd party companies that will give you all sorts of sold item info for a monthly fee. They are good once you get going and can pay the extra fees, but not at the beginning.

It may take awhile to find your niche, but every listing you post and every item you sell accomplishes a few things – more experience and more feedback.

Even if an item doesn’t sell, that could help too. Analyze what you did and if you could have done it differently - other keywords, a different category, a better picture, or a more thorough description?

Product Storage – Once you decide what you are going to sell – where are you going to keep it? How is it going to be organized so it can be found easily once it sells? There is nothing worse that having to write to a buyer and tell them you can’t ship (because you lost the item someplace in the house!!)

The storage question goes back to determining what you are going to sell. If you only have small storage space then you will want to carry smaller things. If you have a lot of storage space then large items could be best for you.

One resource for a large volume of items is wholesalers that sell pallets of merchandise. The items they include need to be researched thoroughly before you make a commitment.

Using a wholesaler or a drop shipper is not the best idea at the beginning. It is recommended that you have quite a bit of experience before you try either of these resources. (That is 100+ feedback!)

Education – As in any business there is ongoing updates to make the business better. Employees are required to go to seminars all the time to keep their skills at their peak.

The same goes for the self-employed. Read, read, and read some more. There are many books on the subject. In addition there are several eBay and Yahoo message boards devoted just to eBay where folks gather to brainstorm, ask questions or vent frustrations. All the posts are a learning experience.

There is a radio show on WS Radio devoted just to eBay. There is a PayPal radio show too. Every so often eBay hosts a town hall meeting and other classes and seminars where they take calls from sellers and buyers to answer their questions and concerns. EBay has all sorts of message boards on all subjects including category specific.



Attending any of the eBay supported events around the country can be very helpful with the info learned but also the networking with so many other folks. Listening to other sellers and buyers concerns helps to determine your Terms of Service too!

How important is this? Awhile back. eBay announced some changes. All the boards where filled with comments and concerns. The day the changes happened someone wrote that they were so surprised to see some changes – “what happened”? they wrote!!!

This is a perfect example of a seller plodding along and not running their business like a business. They did not keep up and you can bet their business will suffer for it.

Conclusion - Some people are cut out to be self-employed and others aren’t. If you need to have your hand held, have difficulty making decisions than the internet is not for you. Polish up your resume and go get a job.

But if you are determined, self-motivated, ready for a challenge and like to work in your PJ’s at 3AM then eBay could be for you.

Louise Sanchez – Retired / Always self-employed/ eBay seller since 2/98 - herbscraftsgifts http://tinyurl.com/pyq6bb. In 2003 we really started selling seriously and in Aug. 2007 set a goal to be powersellers in 2008. We achieved that in March 2008. We buy merchandise wholesale, love estate & yard sales, do several craft / gift shows and state fairs a year. We bought an RV in Dec. 2008 and now eBay while we are traveling and doing shows too. Our kids laugh at us that we are more active now than before we were retired.

Why Do I Sell on eBay?

Flower, I (Love) You, Butterfly on Rice

I think that of the millions and millions of sellers on eBay, each one would have a different answer.

Yesterday I read a post on message board that got me thinking and validating my commitment to our business.

The poster worked in a 2 person office - her and the boss. She did the best job she could do but as time went on the boss started treating her, as her slave. But to complicate it, the boss also treated her as her best friend. In fact she was hoping her helper would go into a craft business with her.

On Sat. the boss called and asked where the info was for the health insurance company and went on to explain that she wanted to pay it because the end of this month was to be the gal's last day!

The gal is now committed to work eBay full time and to be self employed.

Oh boy how many times have we heard or know of someone going through something similar. It seems the more we give to bosses and companies, the more they take and assume they can demand.

I had my own bad experience in New York. The guy had a Yahoo store and my office was in the basement, next to the washer and dryer. His was solely a drop ship business and in the 1st year he grossed 1.5 million dollars. I was the only employee and at times processed over 100 orders a day.

As business grew I was doing work at home (without extra pay - of course) but having that work done made the job easier so it was in my best interest to do it.

One day after lunch I walked into the office and 'the' wife had hung laundry all over the basement. I told her I was leaving and to let me know when the clothes were down.

After that I knew that I would never work for anyone again. Both Gene and I are retired so our time is our own and we have said, many times, that if we weren't doing eBay http://tinyurl.com/d6qyy6 , craft shows or state fairs, what would we be doing? Sitting around watching TV and getting old? Now we can sell while we are RVing, at home - wherever and whenever we want!!

So what do we do at these shows? We write names or simple pictures on both sides of a grain of rice, put it into a tiny glass vial that then becomes a charm for a necklace, key chain, cell phone fob, etc. I typically do not list these on eBay because each one is custom made and there are many choices to get to the finished product.


At the very least our brains are staying very active and it also gives us something to do that we love.

We have met some fantastic eBayers and other vendors face to face in all our travels and have spent time visiting with them. Without exception every one feels like we have been friends forever and there is never a gap in conversation. In fact there is never enough time to visit!


Why we sell what we sell will be the topic of a future blog. And more about our Rice Necklace business too. So check back often.

When Someone Says They Don't Know What to Sell on eBay!

So many times I have heard this statement. "I need money and don't have anything to sell". The first suggestion always is to clean out all the unwanteds from the house. Next is to re-evaluate the collections and accumulated craft things.

I know I have tried almost every craft known to man and have all the supplies to go along with them. I will need 2 more lifetimes to use them all, so it is time to start decluttering.

So many times it is as easy as just looking around. When we lived in my childhood home in Franklin Square, NY 2001 - 2005 there were Lily of the Valley growing all over in one part of the yard. Actually even tho' I love them, they were quite invasive.

Being the eBayers we are, http://tinyurl.com/den8g9, we listed them for $9.99 plus priority shipping. Gene dug 25 pips (roots) at a time, only after they were sold and paid for. With a damp paper towel and wrapped in plastic, they arrived in great condition.

We moved before we dug them, all but I suspect we sold over 1000 of them. Many people bought 100 at a time.

Last fall I had this very conversation with a gal in the mid west who has Bittersweet growing like a weeds in her yard. At the time the only Bittersweet that was listed, were plants which I was not interested in purchasing but was very interested in cuttings for fall arrangements. I never got those cuttings, which is unfortunate because that could have been a recurring, annual sale.

There are so many things that one part of the country has that others don't, like the bittersweet, pussy willows, sheet moss from the forest/wood, holly, etc.

We thought of the Spanish moss, when we were in FL, but it is buggy and to debug it, the moss really needs to be dried, which takes away some of the beauty of it. The soft fresh Spanish moss is so much nicer.

Scrapbookers use pressed flowers all the time and there are so many different ones that bloom all summer long, including weeds, fruit trees and wild flowers. They are no big deal to press, take no room to store and light to ship.

None of these ideas are going to bring huge amounts of money but think of it this way - they all are free, so the bottom $$ line may even be higher than purchased goods. And the best is that they generate sales, keeps the account active, accumulates feedback and makes a few bucks too, with very little effort and no fear of the item getting broken, on its way to its destination!

We know a teenager who had some sort of critter that ate a certain kind of bug. Turns out the bug was easy to procreate and raise. He sold batches on eBay and did fairly well doing it.

But with any live creature or plant one has to be careful of the laws in different states. We refused to ship the Lily of Valley internationally.

I have been told repeatedly that I could sell a snowball to an Eskimo but really the trick is look at everything and put a dollar sign in the picture. Ask yourself if anyone else is selling this thing and if no, why not? If no, then why not try one listing and see what happens.

In these hard times, being creative will save a lot of sellers, rather than going down the path thousands of other sellers are strolling down too!

The bottom line is that any new listing line is a gamble but as the saying goes List More; Sell More; Hire a Cleaning Lady!!!

The RV has finally been named!!

The back story is that when we got the RV several friends asked what we were going to name our "road yacht"! We have gone through many names and none seemed right until today when we saw on item on eBay that triggered the ah ha moment.

Lets go back to last April when several friends and family went to Denver to see Sylvia Browne, psychic clairvoyant http://www.sylvia.org/home/index.cfm and Collette Baron Reid, an intuitive http://www.colettebaronreid.com/ .

When we walked into the Denver Merchandise Mart, the ushers put a paper bracelet on our arm. Each bracelet had a number on it with a tag and the same number, that was torn off and put into a basket. As the afternoon went on, a tag/number was drawn out of the basket and that person would be "read" by either one of the ladies.

We had been to the event the year before and really enjoyed it even though we were not read. But that was to change very quickly.

The 2ND number of the day that was drawn to be 'read' by Collette, was mine. I think everyone goes with the expectation of being read but when the opportunity actually presented itself, I was so flabbergasted, I was struggling on what to ask.

My Mom had passed a few years before, so I asked about that. After talking to me for quite awhile, she said that my mother wanted me to know to take a chance!!!!!???

That is all Collette said and I walked away thinking huh? What does that mean?

The year went on and after we decided to get the RV in Dec. (which was a huge decision for us) there were many ramifications (good ones but ramifications nevertheless!). And that takes us back to finding the - just right - name.

This morning when I saw Sylvia Browne's name on eBay it brought back April '08, the reading, and it hit me. I knew, at that very moment, the name of the RV had to be Rosie - after my mom! ((( )))

Day 5 Sun. 2/8/09 RV Travels

Another wind turbine farm near Oklahoma City, OK They are so huge - compare it to the light pole in front.
Oklahoma City Skyline

We saw alot of fields and grassy areas along the way that had been burned, either from cigarettes or hot cars parked on the high grass. So we thought this was one of them and hoped it wasn't across the road we were about to travel.

Poor people - it was a mobile home.

As we approached Oklahoma City we saw another wind turbine farm. Just like the song says - "when the wind comes sweeping down the plain" and now they can harness all that energy. I bet there are some who do not like the look of the big windmills in their scenery - but it is useful and to us tolerable.

Before we left for the day we did our daily check of the weather on a few different routes. It seemed the wind threat was gone and the only thing we needed to worry about was possible rain / thunderstorms. MapQuest gave us the quickest way to Lakeland, Fl, so that is the route we are following. We also programmed our new Garmin GPS/ Nuvi. It does the directions just fine, but it doesn't talk to us - need to figure that out yet. There are speakers on the unit but some directions say use the car radio. Confusing.

That route took us into Arkansas and once we were past Little Rock, we found another WalMart. This one was alittle scary in that we were the only ones there and the store closed at 10PM. All their gardening stuff was outside so we figured there would be security & /or police coverage all night. Turns out my fears were unfounded - all was fine and we had another great nights sleep. And best of all there was a mailbox so we were able to mail our eBay packages.

Traveling in the RV is quite a bit different than in a car. Comfort for one thing. Gene was feeling weary in the afternoon and we knew we had to travel at least 400 miles a day so we can be in Florida by Wed. We pulled over in a rest area, he took a 15 minute nap while I made him some coffee.

The freezer and refrig are working great so lunch is easy and getting a cold drink is just steps away. Supper was sloppy goes over fresh mashed potatoes.

Miles traveled - 429

still lousy gas mileage

$$ spent in a restaurant for lunch & supper = $00000000000

Day 2 RV Travels 2/5/09

Us in the field with the slide out out.

After a great nights sleep we worked some more in getting settled in. Gene's son and wife brought us breakfast/lunch of homemade breakfast burritos wrapped in homemade tortillas. Very yummy - Gene was in 7th heaven eating the food he grew up with.

After we ate it was time to get to busy filling the fresh water tank and hooking up the Direct TV receiver. After several tries Daniel (son) went up onto the roof and see why the satellite dish was not turning. There was no way to check it before we left and Gene was definitely not climbing up there for any reason.

It is stuck so we will have to get it fixed. More than one person has recommended we get a tripod with the dish on it that stands on the ground. We thought it was duplicating what we already have and wanted to try it first. When we get to Florida we will contact Direct TV and have them help us get all set up.

In the meantime we have a very good analog antenna and it will work just fine until we get the other squared away.

DIL - Eileen - and I went grocery shopping and went home to fix dinner. Frito pies with red chile and beans and hot dogs. And a great dessert - vanilla wafers. instant banana cream pudding and bananas layered in a dish. Chilled and just scooped out. No real recipe. Eileen is an excellent cook.

The meat for the chile and beans was venison. The family are big hunters and have a freezers full of antelope, elk and deer. Even Eileen's 9 year old nephew shot both an antelope and deer this past hunting season.

We spent the evening visiting with the family including Genes daughter and grandson and Eileen's mother. We came out to the RV and the gals went crazy looking at and choosing the woven Peruvian earrings we have listed on eBay. They have a friend who is going though chemo and wanted some of our scarves, which are just the right size to cover her head. They took Pink Ribbon scarves in 3 different background colors and a pair of pink ribbon shoelaces.

We went to bed undecided which way we were going to continue east. Back up to Albuquerque and then east on I-40 or south on I-25 to Las Cruces NM where it turns into I-10. The decision was left for the morning when we could really see the 5 day weather reports.

RV Adventure Day 1 2/4/09

Pictures are in reverse - the bottom one I took first
Top - Sunset just east of Santa Fe looking at the Jemez Mts. (where Los Alamos is).

Middle - The back (east) side of the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mts. outside of Santa Fe.

Bottom - Welcome to NM sign!!!

After little set back on Tues. we were able to get loaded and pulled away from our home in Colorado Springs, CO at 10AM.

The back up camera quit working over the week end and needed to be replaced. Pikes Peak Traveland originally told us we would have to wait a day or 2 for it to be delivered to them (not a stock item). After playing bad cop (Gene) and good cop (me) lo and behold they found one in the 'back'. Why does everything have to be a battle? They fixed it and we had the rig back at 5PM.

We loaded all the listed eBay items and worked until we were exhausted and decided to finish in the morning, which had us leaving later that we had wanted.

The first real challenge of the trip was going over Raton Pass at the border of NM and Colorado. The crest is about 10,000 feet and the climb is approx. 3 miles long. For the most part our max speed was 35 until the last 1/2 mile. We could see the crest but kept slowing down to about 24 MPH.

At one point a semi pulled up to the drivers window in the left lane but at the same spot he too lost speed and we pulled away from him. Good thing we decided not to fill the fresh water tank with water. It is a 100 gallon tank and would have added a lot of weight. After several more small hills (!), we got to Gene's sons In Laws home about 7:30.

The trip is usually boring - nothing to see except prairie. Having lived here for so many years I am complacent over the real beauty of the wide open spaces. It is just raw land with a border of 11,000 + foot mountains that are snowcapped, just the way God made them.

Usually we see hundreds of prong horned antelope grazing but this trip we only saw about 20. Gene's son said that when they drove from NM to us in CO, a few weeks ago they saw at least 500 of the antelope in herds of 40 or more. They are easy to see. While they are grazing their heads are down but they have a broad white stripe on their sides, so they can be seen from quite a distance.

We also saw llamas ( a very popular animal that people are keeping, in the last few years) and cutey prairie dogs standing on the sides of their hills as a look out. Not a favorite of ranchers because their livestock can step in a prairie dog hole and break a leg.

At one point Gene was tired so we pulled into a rest area, I boiled some water and made him coffee in the French Press and a cup of tea for me. Just that one little thing seemed like such a luxary - a hot drink when and where we wanted, made our way and not some 5 hour old coffee from a convience store. LOL

When we got to Belen, Gene's son met us to lead us to the house. Because there are no street lights it is very dark and we didn't want to miss the turn. His in Laws live at the end of the street on 5 acres, so we are parked in the middle of their pasture. Gene's daughter and her son and daughter were here as was Gene's 96 year old mom (97 in March). We had called and told the to go ahead and eat since we were going to be so late, but our supper of stuffed homemade sopapillas was waiting.

After eating and son (Daniel) and Gene took his mom home, we came out to the RV so everyone could see it. While we were enjoying a bottle of wine, they leveled the rig so it would not move when we walked in it. After struggling with that for 10 minutes, they found out - (by reading the manual) that the emergency brake needs to be on.

Then they put the slide out, out and we just visited some more. When it was time for bed we collapsed and went to sleep immediately. Since it was so dark, the sky was full of stars and it was so quiet, only the occassional train whistle in the distance. I love that - knowing the trains are running - makes me feel all is well. Sorta a weird sense of security!!

Trivia question - Why is the train whistle 2 long 1 short and 1 long? Answer - That is morse code for the letter V. It started in England when officials wanted to alert the towns that the Queen was onboard so V for Queen Victoria!!!

Our plan was to leave today (Thursday) and really start the adventure totally on our own. But we need to get the water in, figure out the TV and finish putting stuff away. I also want to take a shower in here for the 1st time too so we know everything is working OK before we really hit the road.

The shuttle launch was postponed a week so we have alittle more leaway in when we get to Florida. And since we will have a late start tomorrow we may not keep to the original plan of where we are stopping. But then this is a working vacation, so we will sorta take it easy too.

We now know we really can't plan on more that 5 - 6 hours driving or 350 - 400 miles a day. Of course tomorrow will be downhill all the way to the NM - TX border (for the most part - there are some more hills but none as bad as Raton Pass). We will be back at sea level after a few hundred miles into Texas. And we also loose an hour tomorrow because we will cross into Central Time.

Facts - Travel time - 9 hours with 1 hour lunch stop and 2 rest area stops.
Miles - 415
Average MPG - 10.5.

Buying the RV

We love to travel and have done some camping in a camper on a pickup over 15 years ago. Since then all our travel has been in the luxury of motel/hotel rooms.

In 2003 we took a 35 day, 7000 trip from NY down the east coast across the south to Las Vegas, to Colorado and north through South Dakota, Chicago and back to NY. That was so fantastic that we want to do it again, but would rather be more self contained and not have to stay at motels.

As we get older we wonder what our health will be in the future, so this winter we started talking about getting the RV in earnest.

We decided that right then (Dec. 2008) was the exact time to get it. Our rationale was that the prices were down because the dealers were over stocked and gas prices were starting to drop, so more people would be shopping after the holidays.

So what kind to get? Used for sure because new ones are so expensive, and like a car loose, value the minute is is driven off the lot.

**5th wheel - no because we do not have a pickup and we wanted to be self contained and pull the car.
**Class C - that is the one with a van like front and a bunk over the drivers and passengers seats. It is the 1st one we looked at, but unfortunately it did not have alot of storage space.
** Class B - Is like a big bus and we had no interst in that.
**Class A - That is the kind that are all over. Tall and all different lengths. We started thinking a 25' one would be just perfect since it would be small enough to drive around a city and we wouldn't have to pull a car.

After telling the salesman that we intended to not only travel, but wanted to continue selling on eBay and to also set up at flea markets; different state fairs or local street fairs / shows whereever we went. That meant we would need alot of storage.

He showed us a 34' unit that has storage all around the bottom, called a basement. So we made the decision that it would suit our needs and allow us a comfortable home on the road but also give us all the room we needed for storage.

There are 2 kinds of ways to transport the car, a dolly that the front tires rest on and the back tires are on the road or a full trailer that all four tires rest on. The full trailer is less wear and tear on the vehicle but also makes it another 16' longer. We opted for the dolly and an older car that can carry some of the bulkier tables and tent for the shows.

Next was where to park it? Our driveway is 4' too short and we could not park it on the street or in our yard because of restrictive convenants. We were lucky to find an RV park and storage facility not to far from our home, for a resasonable monthly rent.

When we left the sales yard, they gave us a several hour long, thorough, walk though explaining everything to us. The one thing they suggested was for us to video tape that walk through so we would have the info with us on any trip, we would take.

There are so many people who have RV-ed or are RV-ing and want to help. Another friend will give us another walk throught before we leave for the 1st time.

Next planning the trip and supplying the RV.