A Pleasure Doing Business With You!

What I enjoy so much about selling online in a venue where I am not having to "push" my product is that the people buying my product really want it! I remember my first venture into sales in a small town in Indiana. I loved the newspaper, but just did not know how to do the "value add proposition" for customers who did not see why they should spend their money advertising in a small town paper. When they pushed back, well...much as I loved the paper, I had to agree with them. Later in life I learned how to demonstrate value for a product I really believed in...but then I hated asking people to pay money for it. No amount of "sales" training could put that in me. And I tried...oh how I tried.

However, with the online stores the customers come looking for something specific and find it...or...as in one of my sales this week, they find something similar to what they are seeking and then ask if I could tweak it!

This is where the pleasure of the new social marketplace comes into play and Bonanzle encourages it. With a few emails and q&a sessions, the buyer bought a set of 12 homespun fat quarters...but I mixed and matched the set so she got what she wanted.

It is always a pleasure doing business when you know the customer is pleased.

To Theme or not to Theme...that is my question

One of the things I am noticing on Bonanzle that is different from many of the other venues is the niche markets that are coming in! I am falling in love with the whole concept of having a store be something specific and unique...not that I don't love the eclectic mixes also! Don't get me wrong there...but here are a few I have found and have even bought from that are just FUN! And what is interesting...I remember them and go searching for them! Why? I think it is because they have a theme!

You like honey and bees? Check out JandTGarden
I had to pick up some of these recycled items...what a cool idea! Reuseit
It is all about the clay. Pumpkin Pie Boutique
This booth makes me hungry: The Clack House
Whirlygigs and wooden cutouts: SomethingPretty
Polished petrified wood: Rockpolisher
You like to bake-I bet she could help: Baking Treasures
It's all about kids racks: Kidzrackz
Only quilt stencils: QuiltStencilsandMore
This one is funny: Poop Pals

These are just a few of my favorites, but I am beginning to get into this themed booth thing! So...armed with this thought and lots of creative juices flowing, I have been trying to hone down and focus the direction of my own booth in my long range plan. My avatar puppy has been giving me lots of ideas (ok...so he doesn't talk to me, but it sounds better than saying I am talking to myself!)

I am planning this Spring for Cabin Fever to get an updated look and I just might start with some airbrushed t-shirts of my puppy. I would really like to concentrate more on my art and airbrushing of children's items. At least with this idea I could pretend I am out on a beach somewhere warm painting for fun!!!

Whatever it ends up being, I will absolutely announce it! What with Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, LinkDIn, PSU, Blogspot, Bonanzle's own forums, and I am sure a few more places...think I can keep anything a secret any more?!

Let Simplicity Reign!

Last year, after much angst over all the problems selling on eBay and signing up and trying nearly 20 other alternative sites, I landed on Bonanzle.

I did it because someone on PSU recommended I try it...no other reason (I was trying them all!)...and my first impression could probably be described as "light shock." The venue was simple! Within minutes I had a booth and in a couple more moments a very nice looking listing with 4 photos! I remember sitting back and wondering what had just happened - all the other venues that had been previously tried took hours and days to figure out and set up.

That was in August of 2008 shortly after Bonanzle was named the best eBay alternative by Ecommerce Guide. Half a year later, they have again been named the best eBay alternative, this time by SmallBusinessComputing! The buzz on the web is pretty strong about this "simple" little site and I plan to stay!!!

In this blog, I will be posting short "bites" of why this venue works, what I like about it, and links to news stories about what is happening in the online world of "small" sellers.