Listing Formats Basics for Market Places

Listing Formats Basics for Different Market Places


Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone!:) Tonight I will be covering the listing formats, the basics of them for the different market places. Every market place provides you with a form for you to complete, and is the page you will see when shopping. Keep in the mind that the sequence of how the pages are done will be different with each place, but they all have different sections to complete. Don't be frustrated with them as they do the same thing, just different orders of things done, and the categories can vary too. 


You will want to choose the category you will be listing with. Make sure you check for any site rules about listing in certain categories, and if you are allowed to list with more than one category too. You will want to research a bit to see the categories used by others selling similar items with the site you are listing with. Most of the sites do have a specific category, and then sub-categories with them. 


Writing a Title as was mentioned before will now be used. Check with the site you are using for how many characters are allowed in the titles. It is generally from about 55 up to 70 characters. Avoid the adjectives such as Beautiful, Adorable, Pretty, New with your titles as they will not count, or help. They do not make you stand out more in searches, and only take away from characters you are allowed to use. Make sure to use keywords that will be used for searching for your items with the search engines. 


Next will come the pictures you will be posting which we covered last week with the bit on photography. Each site is different on the amount of pictures they will allow. Some will allow up to 10 for free, or is included with your site fees. Other places maybe only allow 1-4, and any more you will have to pay a small fee for anything above that. Also, will you be able to use the pictures from your computer, or does the site have you upload them from an online hosting site. By now, you will know some of these things as you are doing your listings to better assist you.


Now you will work on your descriptions with your listings. Make sure to give as much information as possible here. It is ok to use your title here again in the first sentence which is better for search engines, and placements. Give information of the product, color, size, condition, vintage, collectible, handmade, supplies, and etc. Mention some of the purposes of having this item, why they should purchase it, and make this appealing to the customer. Remember, you are trying to sell your product to them who cannot see it in person, feel it, touch it, smell it, and etc. 


Mention your payment types accepted, your shipping procedures and what they can expect, and your return policies also. If you charge any kind of handling fees it would be best to mention this too. Let them know that if they have any questions to please contact you with them. You are willing to help them the best that you can to make this an enjoyable, smooth, and pleasant transaction. 


As you can see it is all kind of coming together now from this little bit of a series that has been offered to you each week. There is just another 1-2 topics to cover, and you are on your way to listing your products, and enjoying your sales that will soon come to you also. Remember, it can be frustrating at first. Especially if this is all new to you. Some people will make a sale right away, and then have to wait again for another one. I have seen another business who has been doing ok for themselves mention that it took them up to 9 months before they made their first sale. It varies, and no 2 incidents will ever be alike. All we can do is learn from others, apply some of what others have done, but most of all find the way that works best for ourselves to accomplish our goals. 


Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and I hope this information has been helpful to you. Either you can follow what has been suggested, or at least apply some of it to fit in with your own way of doing things. I wish you all well, and Good Luck to you all!:) Happy Selling, and enjoy everyone!:)

Selling Online MarketPlaces Auctions Site

Selling Online, MarketPlaces, Auctions Sites. Welcome to LilacsNDreams Blog. Glad to see you here.

Ok, so far we have covered a little bit about your choice of selling online, part time, full time, occasional selling. Discussed a little about you getting started by choosing a name, your picture or avatar, setting up accounts, emails, security, taxes, and venues. 

Now, I would like to cover just a little more in depth about choosing if you want to sell with a MarketPlace, or an Auction Site. You might also decide you would like to use both. The old saying "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" always comes to mind when choosing sites, and how many to sell with. 

Most of us when first starting choose one site. We do this so that we can get the feel of things, test things out, and learn with it. When choosing what venue will be best for you, there are some things you should consider. Also, know that before choosing a place I would recommend researching some of them a little bit so that you may learn about them, and understand a little more about them prior to choosing one. 

Some of the things you should consider are:

• What is the focus of the site you are researching

• What are the listing costs for the site

• Consider what their category selection is, and do they have categories for 

   what you will be offering

• How are their listing formats. Will it be fairly easy to list there, is it self 

  explanatory, is there support available to help

• What payment services are allowed with the site. Is there more than one  

  choice.

• How is the ease of use of the site. Is it easy to navigate. If you enjoy it, will 

   the customer also enjoy it as well?

• How is the security with the site

• What are their listing policies

• How is the traffic to the site

• Do they feed to the search engines

• Check for visibility with the MarketPlace. This is called Site Search 

   Optimization. Will determine how your listings will rank among other listings 
   on the site.

If you choose to sell by having auctions, there are different sites that you can consider. 

• Ebay is the biggest one that we all know. The fee structure is a little bit 
   complicated, and would need to be studied. The fees are divided into 3 
   categories which are Listing Fee, Final Value Fee, and Subscription Fee. If
   list items that do not sell you may still owe fees for those listings. The Final
   Value Fee is only for items that sell.

• eBid is the leading alternative to Ebay. Their focus is on keeping a variety. 
   Registration is free. If listing for auction you will need to upgrade account to
   Seller, or Seller+ status. See the subscription prices in the My Subscriptions 
   section of My eBid.

• Atomic Mall was originally set up for the fixed price format, and low fees.
   They have since added the auction format of a sealed bid process.

• Webstore is an online auction site as well. 

• Online Auction is another place mentioned for auctions. 

Check with Online Auction Sites Review for the top reviews of auction sites mentioned, and more. 

If you choose to sell with fixed prices, or offers you might want to consider Marketplace Sites for this.

• Artfire offers handmade, vintage, craft supplies, media, design, and fine art. 

   Listing is free, no final value fees, and for a limited time there is a free basic 

   account to have.

• Ecrater has no fees. No listing fees, and no final value fees.

• Addoway is a newer site that is growing. You can list for free, and they soon
   will be implementing a final value fee.

• Etsy is another site for handmade, vintage, craft supplies, media, design,
   and for fine art. They have a .20 cent listing fee in which that listing is good
   for up to four months. They also have the Final Value Fee upon the 
   items selling.

• Bonanza which use to be Bonanzle, is a free listing site. They do have a final
   value fee with the sale of an item.

• Ruby Lane has a monthly fee subscription.

• Ruby Plaza is a sister site to Ruby Lane, and they do have some special with 

   those stores till the end of 2012 I believe it was mentioned.

• iOffer is a site that offers selling, buying, and trading too.

• Yardsellr is a new social marketplace that is used through facebook.

There are many more places to choose for the marketplaces as well. Check with 101 Auction Sites to see about some of these mentioned, and others too. 

You have seen me mentioning fees. Every site is different in how they charge, what they charge, and if they charge. The break down of the fees to watch for will be listing fees that will be charged to your site account when you list an item. The final value fee is charged when a sale is made. The fee usually consists of a percent of the sale that will vary from site to site also. Extra fees might include for having a gallery picture, using bold print within the title, extra pictures from the amount the site already offers, and so on. As mentioned some sites will also have a monthly subscription charge. The fees will vary from site to site that have them. Along with the monthly subscription they might offer a free store front, and extra tools and services can have a monthly subscription too. 

When searching for a market place check how their availability is with the search engines. Google is the biggest search engine, but there is also Bing that is used by some too. Most sites will offer to automatically submit your listings to Google, both, and maybe a few others too. Some sites will also offer the tools for you to use to submit your listings to facebook, twitter, and other social medias too. 

I hope that some of this was able to help you a little further with your decisions when selling online. It's a big place out there, and there is much to see, and learn. None of us can fully know all the answers, but we can offer what we know and have learned along the way. Hopefully it can with some of your decisions as you move forward. Maybe you have already been selling online, but are still learning as I do too. 

Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and hope these ideas will help you again with your decisions of selling online. I wish you all well, and the best of luck to you. Most of all, have fun with it too. Take care Everyone!:)

LilacsNDreams Artfire Store
LilacsNDreams Ecrater Store
LilacsNDreams Addoway Store

Full Time Part Time Sellers or Considering Selling

Full Time, Part Time Sellers, or Considering Selling. Which are you?

First of all, I do hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend, and enjoyed all that you were able to do. During my Holiday weekend I was on, and off the computer. I seen some wonderful blogs out there in blogland of sharing their ideas, their techniques, and ways of doing some of their wonderful work with repurposing, upcycling, refurbishing, and so on. I enjoyed many, made notes of some, and have yet to add them to my Sharing Blog Love page. There is a tab at top, or a clickable link in my right side bar of My Blog List to Visit. 

So, my question to some of you is how many of you are sellers, resellers of products you find. Do some of you deal with Drop Shipping, Sell for yourselves or for others, Do some of you have your own brick & mortar store, and have added online sales with it? How many of you do this full time, or part time for yourselves? 

Maybe some started with selling some of your own things, collectibles, household goods, home decor, items repurposed, some upcycled items, handmade, crafts, scrapbooking, and so on. I myself started out with selling of items from thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales, and so on. A lot of it has been a learn as I go with what to look for, where to sell it, how to research items, knowing what prices to put on items, the shipping, and more of customer service too. Much of it has been by trial, and error to things. It is always a learning process every day. Something is always changing, being updated, new techniques of things, and as I said always learning. Yes, prior to this I had done retail sales with small stores, and with a bigger chain in my area too. I have always worked with customer service. Like many others I was wanting more too. 

So, my start with online sales was back in 2004. Since then I have been on, and off with it. Towards the end of 2010 into 2011 I started thinking I wanted more. I wanted to learn more, and take it up a step or two. Like many I started out with basics of selling online, and nothing wrong with it. Depends on your goals, and what you want from it to know where you are headed with your business. 

So, my next few topics will be covering just some basics for doing sales online. They are not rules, not written anywhere of this is what you need to do, or has to be done type thing. Just sharing some basics of things to help those who maybe have considered selling online, and maybe a thought for those who have been selling online as well.

Thanks for visiting LilacsNDreams today. Don't forget to see some of my vintage items with my Artfire store, some of my repurposed items are also in my Artfire store, and some of my collectibles and glassware are with my Ecrater store. Always happy to see the visits, and the sharing of everyone. Take care my Blogging friends till the next time.