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Archive for the ‘economics of resale’ Category

Resale Makes My Heart Race! Courtesy HowToConsign.comOkay. We’ve spent some time recently

burying the stinkers,

those nasty, totally-inaccurate (or so we like to think!) and biased negative reviews of our shops by asking our fans, friends, and best customers to put their reviews up on all those sites Auntie Kate talked about.

And we’re working on

enhancing those free-listing sites with photos, info, and more good reviews from those who love our shops, as Auntie Kate mentioned a few weeks ago.

Fantastic! We’re nearing the home stretch now. Next task: get some good, glowing, wonderful reviews of your shop on its Facebook page. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people could read what others think about your shop? Of course it would.

After all, that’s social marketing. And social networking.

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Yesterday we talked about burying bad reviews of your consignment or resale shop. Now, let’s take a little time and enhance those listings on directories. That is, let’s tend our garden of internet mentions. For the most part, it’s easy and free, and you never know who might be reading that info and wondering if your shop’s worth the trip.

I’m going to take advantage of a “breezy” visit last week to Fifi’s Fine Resale Apparel in Amelia Island and owner Jessica’s good nature to use a blank/ dormant/ unattended review of her shop just to give you an idea of the difference it can make. Here’s what I was presented with when I asked Yahoo Local for consignment in Amelia Island then clicked on her shop name:

Which is more appealing...this entry...

Ten minutes later, here’s what the NEXT person looking at her free listing would see:

...just a photo helps make this listing more interesting! And those red stars? Be still, my heart!

And WAIT! THERE”S MOORE! See that “4 Photos” tab? Click it to get:

Now I know what I'm looking for...and what it's like once I get in there too!

This whole “tending the garden” , including the captions* on the photos, took a total of 10 minutes. The exterior photo is from Jessica’s Facebook page (she doesn’t have a web site, just FB and MySpace), the interior shots were mine.

Hope Jessica doesn’t mind my “dolling up” her Yahoo listing. See it in action here. It’s the law of proximity…the last great consignment shop I was in!

* Have I ever told you how important captions are to pix ANYwhere, even Facebook? Of course I have.

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Consignment shop Once Again using banners to draw traffic

Molly shows us where her banner is displayed on Once Again Consignment’s shopfront.

About your consignment, resale or thrift shop getting noticed from the street. . .

Molly, owner of Once Again in New Mexico, sent examples of the banners she uses to great effect. So here they are!

Great for consigning season!

Need more incoming? This banner at Once Again draws them in!

Ckearance time in a consignment shop is bargain time

Could a sale banner be any simpler?

The WIIFM drives traffic in

When in doubt…tell ’em WHAT you do and WHEN.

Save

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Uneasy when a consignor comes in with a pillowcase full of  Prada and Louis Vuitton bags? Real designer or “designer-inspired”?

Unsure if you should take that seller’s Coach? Real or “replica”?

That Gucci generate some anxiety? Genuine or gyp?

Counterfeit goods, from Guccis to Nikes to Rolexes, continue to pour into our country from China.

This Auntie Kate the Blog post helps you spot a fake.

Rant: (I’ve never understood why people think that others will be impressed by the handbag they’re carrying…especially if it’s a fake. One seller of counterfeit goods says: “They want it to look like they spent a lot of money on it. Like, it’s an image thing”. What, you want to project an image of disregarding the rights of the artists and manufacturers? Like it’s cool to say “Hey, I rip off people I don’t even know”? Like you’d trust this person to not rip YOU off?)

What do you do about this issue in your shop?

It’s hard to pass up all designer bags when the real ones can make your shop money. And when “everyone else” is doing it and you’re losing business to them.

How do you cope?

Do you rely on your personal knowledge? Hold your breath and hope you’re not going to be found out? Require the original receipt? Mark them all “FAKE” on your price tag, thinking that will suffice?

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Hire a teen in your consignment shopMany consignment and resale and thrift shops are not at their busiest during the summer. So why consider (more…)

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