Ebay Garage Sale Tips

admin / August 26, 2011 / No comments

Ebay can be a great way to earn supplemental income as a stay at home mom. Nowadays, you can do everything from your home; list items, gather postage materials, have packages picked up by the post office. All that remains is acquiring items to sell!

A very common source of eBay items is local garage sales. Often, sellers simply do not know how much their items are worth. Either that, or they do not want to take the time to set up an eBay account and sell themselves.

The opportunities are there for the taking. But there are some methods of shopping garage sales for eBay finds that will make your profits soar.

Don’t mention eBay

The cardinal rule in garage sale, yard sale, or estate sale eBay hunting is to never mention the word eBay. If you have small children with you, make sure they understand this as well.

If you go into a garage sale and get chatty with the seller, telling him or her what you intend to do with their items, suddenly the items are more valuable to them. If a seller thinks you are going to resell the stuff to someone else, then they figure they are not charging enough!

Buyers who scream eBay are more likely to be given higher prices, with less chance of bartering a better price. Your best option is to remain nonchalant about the entire transaction, and if asked what you are going to do with an item, lie.

Yes, you heard me. Lie. Keep your kids home with daddy if you are concerned that they will witness this, but whatever you do, don’t tell the sellers you’re going to resell it!

The only reason you would ever tell someone that you sell on eBay at a garage sale is if they have some high quality, high priced item that you cannot afford. You may decide to offer them your services as a trading assistant.

Dress casually

When going garage saling, you want to make sure you blend in completely. Leave your designer clothes, purses and shoes at home. Drive the work truck instead of your new hybrid.

Look like you’re poor. Wear exercise outfits, old t-shirts, dirty tennis shoes. Your goal is to psychologically tell the seller that you cannot afford an item.

This may seem silly, but the next time you go to a garage sale, hang out for a few minutes and look at the other customers. You’ll find that prices are higher for well dressed people.

Group your items

If you are at a really good garage sale, and want to buy several items, ask the seller how much each item costs as you become interested in it. Then, if the price is reasonable, put it in a pile and do not say a word to the seller. Simply put the item in a pile and continue to scout the sale.

After you have completed your perusal of the sale, make one offer for all the items you have in your pile. This way, if you are lowballing the seller somewhat, he doesn’t know which item is the one he is offering the biggest discount for.

For example, let’s say that the seller is emotionally attached to a bowling ball. Note: you would never want to sell a bowling ball on eBay; it’s too heavy; this is for example purposes only. So he’s attached to the bowling ball and wants $20.

You want the bowling ball, 10 articles of clothing at $1 each, and a pair of snow skies for $20. You make one offer of $25 for everything. The seller, who was firm at $20 for his emotionally attached bowling ball, can justify to himself that he gave you the remaining items for only $5.

This way, everyone wins! Garage sales can be a fun way to find merchandise to resell on eBay if you know the right tips. Happy shopping!

Category: business for sale / Tags: , ,

Retail Business Management Software Can Expect Several Benefits

admin / August 20, 2011 / No comments

The retail industry is developing at a breath-taking pace the world over. Store and retail business are getting bigger and better each and every day. Even the third-world countries are steadily waking up to the advantages of organized retail and are witnessing the mushrooming of mega malls and hyper mall each passing day.

In response to this tough competition, small and medium size retailers can’t afford to be complacent. No longer can mom & pop stores take their customers for granted. Retailers are now realizing that they require to spruce up their services and infrastructure to provide to the new generation of consumers.

Conventional point of sales machines are bring given the boot by retailers who have now realized the advantages of professional retail business management software. This has been further complemented by ever falling hardware prices. Various software companies are now creating retail business management software as per regional needs. Retailers opting for retail business management software can expect several advantages, like:

Dynamic Inventory Control

Even though simple point-of-sale machines have features for inventory control, retail software does it far better using the power of specialized software to allow retailers to professionally maintain their inventory.

Smarter Decision Making

Being better informed allows retailers to widely improve their decision making. Dedicated software’s functionality assists retailers keep a better tab on all aspects of the retail business.

Improved Business Management

Deployment of retail business management software is important to enhance the quality of business management and also helps raise customer service levels.

Professional retail business management software allows retailers to make available the right product at the right price at all times. Research indicates that adoption of this technology helps retailers entice new customers and improve their business profitability. For all big and small retailers, this in one most important investment which promises excellent returns in the long run.

ETP Group offers retail business management software that provides dynamic inventory control and excellent business management. If you are looking for retail business management software, contact ETP Group today!

Category: business management / Tags: , ,

Unique Business Cards: When to Use Embossing, Spot UV and Foil Stamping

admin / August 20, 2011 / No comments

Business card enhancement features like spot UV, embossing, and foil stamping will transform your card into a symbol of prestige and quality.  But which one is the best? 

Embossed Business Cards

Embossing produces raised parts of your business card by pushing these parts through from the reverse side.  The effect is like a credit card, where the account number is raised on the front and recessed on the back. 

Embossing works relatively well for text, but it does have some key limitations. 

First, you should not have artwork in the embossed areas.  These areas must remain clear or else the artwork and embossing will become jumbled and will look awful. 

Additionally, most printers are not able to precisely line up embossing with ink.  The exact embossed areas could shift 1/16” – 1/8” during the production process.  So for example, if your card has a black background, the embossed areas must be black as well.  You would not be able to have, say, white text embossed because it is not feasible for the embossing to line up with the underlying white text perfectly every time. 

If you want your business card enhancement feature to allow for color that is different from the card’s background color, consider either spot UV or foil stamping.

Spot UV Business Cards

Spot UV is where specific areas of your card are treated with a glossy coating.  This effect does not impact the underlying color, it only makes the treated areas slightly raised and shiny relative to the non-glossy business card stock. 

Typically, spot UV does not have the same alignment problems as embossing.  With today’s technology, spot UV can be precisely lined up against any ink-based design element.  So here, if you had a black background with white text, you could have the text treated with spot UV so that it is shiny, raised, and white. 

Spot UV works only on non-glossy cardstock, as doing spot UV on glossy business cards will not create a visible effect (everything is already glossy).  Silk business cards are the best option for spot UV, because they are non-glossy and extremely durable. 

Foil Stamped Business Cards

Foil stamping is where specific parts of your card are coated with a layer of metallic foil.  It is typically offered in gold, silver, green, red or blue.

The foil stamped areas are not limited to only the card’s background color like embossing.  However, although color can be utilized, you are limited to the foil colors offered by the printer. 

Also, foil stamped business cards are usually subject to the same shifting that could occur with embossed business cards, so it is important not to have any artwork in the stamped areas. 

Which One Should You Use?

Generally speaking, none of these enhancements are available on glossy business cards.  All 3 are most effective on silk business cards, so if you plan on utilizing a silk cardstock, your options are wide open.

Of the 3 options discussed, embossing is typically the least preferred because of the aforementioned color and artwork limitations.  Additionally, embossed business cards are usually the most expensive of the three.

Foil stamping is also relatively expensive, but at least this feature offers more color options.  The downside is that the foil can sometimes flake, peel or appear blotchy.  Additionally, foil stamped business cards tend to become worn at an accelerated rate as they get pulled in and out of a wallet.

Most often, spot UV business cards provide the best bang for your buck.  This option is by far the least expensive of the three, offers the full gamut of color availability, and is not subject to the same flaws as foil and embossing.

Category: business cards / Tags: , ,
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