It was inevitable. I knew the day would come but I just never thought it would be this soon... After over 300 items sold and over 220 positive feedback...
We opened a new Bonanzle booth!
After almost a year on Bonanzle selling both Waggin Tails & Wet Noses Organic Dog Treats along side of our other items we decided it was time to separate the two. Waggin Tails & Wet Noses has continued to grow and expand and it was getting to the point that we felt it was better to have two booths.
Our original booth will now be solely Waggin Tails & Wet Noses Organic Dog Treats & Supplies and our new booth will soon be filled with everything from clothing & household items to books & holiday items. I have been working hard over the last few days listing in the new booth and we already have almost 150 items listed, with many more items to come.
We also bit the bullet and have signed up for Bonanzle Plus Membership on BOTH booths!! We love the features that come with the Plus membership and I have missed having our membership so after much thought we are paying members again and couldn't be more excited about it! We have our new booth panels all set up in both booths and we think they look pretty good and we hope you all agree! We are super excited about having 2 booths on Bonanzle now and expanding our items we have to offer. We hope that you will like our new Bonanzle booth and will stop by soon!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The rules are the rules..
My last blog (Vested Interest?) touched on a very hot topic as of late in online selling. RULES! Every site has them. Some sites have a lot and some only a few but all of them have some sort of rules. When you make the choice to set up shop on any selling site you are agreeing to follow their rules. After all you are just a tenant in their house and if you fail to follow their rules you can be evicted.
After my enlightening experience with rules on Bonanzle I found myself thinking more and more about rules on selling sites and the way sellers & buyers respond to them. As I said in my last blog after putting so much effort, time, attention, sweat, & tears into something you begin to feel as if you have a vested interest in it but really you don't. Your sweat & tears, time & effort do not make you a partner, an owner, an investor, or a member of the board. They just make you a good member & tenant. I know that is a hard nut to swallow (trust me I know) but it is what it is. You are but a tenant who is bound by their rules. The great thing about selling online is that even though you are a tenant and bound by their rules you have the right at anytime to just walk away. No 30 days notice. No penalty for early lease termination. At anytime you can just close up shop and walk away with no explanation required. As an online seller we each must look at the TOU for each site and determine which set of TOU is right for you and your business. Sometimes you may have to sacrifice one thing for another though.
On Ebay you have the traffic to make regular sales BUT you are limited in payment options to offer your buyers, your ability to leave realistic and accurate feedback for problematic buyers, and I know there is more. On Bonanzle you are allowed the freedom to choose which payment options to offer your buyers, you are allowed to leave accurate and truthful feedback for buyers, and much more BUT Bonanzle does not have the traffic that Ebay does and you have to work at promoting your booth to get the buyers to you. So you have to decide what rules fit your needs and business best! Do you NEED different payment options for your buyers? Do you NEED to make sales at a steady pace without much effort from you? You have to look at the rules set in place by the "landlord" and ultimately decide which rules you can live with and which you can not. As a "landlord" Ebay, Bonanzle, Ecrater, etc. all have the right to change the rules at any time. And in return we as sellers have the right to decide if we can live with these rules or not. The choice is ours. If we choose to stay then we must follow the rules whether we agree with them or not.
I know this may sound harsh but it is the reality. You can stay and follow the rules or you can close up shop and find somewhere else that the rules are more favorable to you. The choice is yours.
After my enlightening experience with rules on Bonanzle I found myself thinking more and more about rules on selling sites and the way sellers & buyers respond to them. As I said in my last blog after putting so much effort, time, attention, sweat, & tears into something you begin to feel as if you have a vested interest in it but really you don't. Your sweat & tears, time & effort do not make you a partner, an owner, an investor, or a member of the board. They just make you a good member & tenant. I know that is a hard nut to swallow (trust me I know) but it is what it is. You are but a tenant who is bound by their rules. The great thing about selling online is that even though you are a tenant and bound by their rules you have the right at anytime to just walk away. No 30 days notice. No penalty for early lease termination. At anytime you can just close up shop and walk away with no explanation required. As an online seller we each must look at the TOU for each site and determine which set of TOU is right for you and your business. Sometimes you may have to sacrifice one thing for another though.
On Ebay you have the traffic to make regular sales BUT you are limited in payment options to offer your buyers, your ability to leave realistic and accurate feedback for problematic buyers, and I know there is more. On Bonanzle you are allowed the freedom to choose which payment options to offer your buyers, you are allowed to leave accurate and truthful feedback for buyers, and much more BUT Bonanzle does not have the traffic that Ebay does and you have to work at promoting your booth to get the buyers to you. So you have to decide what rules fit your needs and business best! Do you NEED different payment options for your buyers? Do you NEED to make sales at a steady pace without much effort from you? You have to look at the rules set in place by the "landlord" and ultimately decide which rules you can live with and which you can not. As a "landlord" Ebay, Bonanzle, Ecrater, etc. all have the right to change the rules at any time. And in return we as sellers have the right to decide if we can live with these rules or not. The choice is ours. If we choose to stay then we must follow the rules whether we agree with them or not.
I know this may sound harsh but it is the reality. You can stay and follow the rules or you can close up shop and find somewhere else that the rules are more favorable to you. The choice is yours.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Vested Interested?
The last week on Bonanzle has been hard for me. I am a very passionate person. Sometimes my passion can be misinterpreted as inciting drama but that is not my intent. I am a redhead and I tend to react before calming down and thinking about things from another perspective. That is why I think I have had the issues I have lately on Bonanzle. I don’t always agree with the way things are done but ultimately how I feel on the way things are handled doesn’t matter. I have made Bonanzle my home but it is not MY site. I can’t make the rules and I must follow the rules that have been put in place whether I agree with them or not. As much as I would like to think that I have a say in things I don’t. I am not an owner, a partner, a board member, or an investor. I am just a member of this site.
I want to see Bonanzle & all the wonderful sellers here prosper and grow. Upon reflection I do better understand why some of the rules, that I didn’t at first understand, are in place. I am a member on a 2.0 site which has NO rules and things get INSANE! After a visit there today and realizing that Bonanzle too could turn into the free for all that the 2.0 site I am a member of made me realize exactly why the rules are in place.
So from the bottom of my fiery redhead heart I am sorry if my passionate posts came across as inciting drama. That was never my intent. As always I will try to keep my fiery hind end in check and think before I click save reply.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Putting your best foot forward..
I have touched on this before but in light of some of the things I have seen as of late I feel it is a fitting topic to revisit.
When a person is shopping online they are limited to certain things to evaluate the item & seller. The buyer has to trust that the seller description is accurate and true and that the photographs are an accurate depiction of the item they will receive. What can you do as a seller to make sure you are presenting a trustworthy image? There are many things you can do as a seller to put forth a trustworthy and positive image for buyers. These are just a few..
1.) Provide detailed descriptions & accurate photographs - Don't try to hide the flaws! Nothing is a bigger turn off for a buyer then to receive an item that has flaws that were not described in the listing. Buyers who are left feeling duped are not buyers who are likely to return or even recommend you to someone else. If there is a chip photograph it the chip and put the detail about the chip in the listing.
2.) Communicate with your buyer - Send your buyer emails, Bmails, etc. when you receive their purchase info. Let them know when to expect shipment & what mode of shipment it will be sent. Send your buyer another email once the item has shipped and a follow up email if you feel so inclined a few days after confirmation of delivery.
3.) Present a positive image - Buyers see more then we may ever know and you should always think about what you are about to post and how it reflects on your business if a buyer were to read it. The image you present online is the only thing a buyer has to gauge their opinion of you and your business on. One nasty post could cost you many buyers! I recommend googling yourself & any IDs you use. You will shocked at the things that show up!
4.) Package for success - When your buyer receives their item the packaging makes an impression on them. It is up to you to decide weather that impression will be a good one or a not so good one. Even when using recycled packing materials you can still make a good impression. It isn't so much about WHAT you use but HOW you use it! Take time in packaging and make sure to include those little touches that will let the buyer know you took the time & care to package their purchase well. Attention to detail is a great thing to have! I use newspaper many times for packaging on purchases but I take the time to put it in neatly and leave an packing slip, business card, etc. right on top so the buyer knows I didn't just throw their purchase in a box and slap a label on it. Put a little thank you note or even a card with a coupon code for a % of their next purchase. These are the touches that make a buyer feel like their purchase counted as well as encourage repeat sales.
5.) Promote don't spam - Email marketing, forum promo posts, direct mailings, tweeting, blogging, etc. are all wonderful & effective promotion tools. However, over promoting or spamming can have a negative effect on your sales. Buyer who elect to provide you with their email address are trusting that you will send them promotional emails on future specials. They are not wanting 3 emails a day with exact same information over & over. That is a very fast way to turn a potential return buyer into a annoyed never to return buyer. The same goes for Tweeting & forum promo posts.
I am sure there are more suggestions that could be made but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment. Your image as a seller online is based on the perception a buyer receives from the information they see!
When a person is shopping online they are limited to certain things to evaluate the item & seller. The buyer has to trust that the seller description is accurate and true and that the photographs are an accurate depiction of the item they will receive. What can you do as a seller to make sure you are presenting a trustworthy image? There are many things you can do as a seller to put forth a trustworthy and positive image for buyers. These are just a few..
1.) Provide detailed descriptions & accurate photographs - Don't try to hide the flaws! Nothing is a bigger turn off for a buyer then to receive an item that has flaws that were not described in the listing. Buyers who are left feeling duped are not buyers who are likely to return or even recommend you to someone else. If there is a chip photograph it the chip and put the detail about the chip in the listing.
2.) Communicate with your buyer - Send your buyer emails, Bmails, etc. when you receive their purchase info. Let them know when to expect shipment & what mode of shipment it will be sent. Send your buyer another email once the item has shipped and a follow up email if you feel so inclined a few days after confirmation of delivery.
3.) Present a positive image - Buyers see more then we may ever know and you should always think about what you are about to post and how it reflects on your business if a buyer were to read it. The image you present online is the only thing a buyer has to gauge their opinion of you and your business on. One nasty post could cost you many buyers! I recommend googling yourself & any IDs you use. You will shocked at the things that show up!
4.) Package for success - When your buyer receives their item the packaging makes an impression on them. It is up to you to decide weather that impression will be a good one or a not so good one. Even when using recycled packing materials you can still make a good impression. It isn't so much about WHAT you use but HOW you use it! Take time in packaging and make sure to include those little touches that will let the buyer know you took the time & care to package their purchase well. Attention to detail is a great thing to have! I use newspaper many times for packaging on purchases but I take the time to put it in neatly and leave an packing slip, business card, etc. right on top so the buyer knows I didn't just throw their purchase in a box and slap a label on it. Put a little thank you note or even a card with a coupon code for a % of their next purchase. These are the touches that make a buyer feel like their purchase counted as well as encourage repeat sales.
5.) Promote don't spam - Email marketing, forum promo posts, direct mailings, tweeting, blogging, etc. are all wonderful & effective promotion tools. However, over promoting or spamming can have a negative effect on your sales. Buyer who elect to provide you with their email address are trusting that you will send them promotional emails on future specials. They are not wanting 3 emails a day with exact same information over & over. That is a very fast way to turn a potential return buyer into a annoyed never to return buyer. The same goes for Tweeting & forum promo posts.
I am sure there are more suggestions that could be made but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment. Your image as a seller online is based on the perception a buyer receives from the information they see!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
It has been awhile..
I have not blogged in awhile. I had some health problems and was offline for about a month. I am back and eager to get back in action! The time away gave me some time to think about my internet sales and Bonanzle.
I love Bonanzle and I love that the boyz have offered a place for people like me with limited online knowledge to be able to sell without needing a 300 page how to manual. I love the social aspect of Bonanzle but found myself getting wrapped up in the social part and not focusing enough on my business. After some time off I now have a better handle on my time management on Bonanzle and making sure that I am spending my time effectively. Everyone is so kind, helpful, & fun to talk to that it is so easy to lose track of time in the forums and not get any work done.
I realized while on my break that I needed some balance in my life and I found that balance not in time off from Bonanzle & work but by adding more work to my plate!! That balance came with my decision to start selling AVON. I have always loved AVON products and use many AVON products myself due to my sensitive skin. I never really realized just how many AVON products I used until my District Manager asked me and I started listing them. I am really enjoying selling AVON. Don't get me wrong I love my internet sales and my Waggin Tails & Wet Noses business but those things keep me home most of the time. AVON gets me out of the house and meeting people & talking to them which is something that I have missed since losing my job last July.
My husband laughs at me all the time. I have 2 businesses now which are 2 very different businesses at that. I enjoy them both for different reasons. Waggin Tails & Wet Noses is my passion. I started WTWN because I cared about what my dogs ate and because I wanted to offer a product to others that is both affordable and healthy for their pet. I started AVON because it offers me an opportunity to sell a product that I love and to meet new people. Interestingly enough as different as they are they are actually really simular. Most people who buy WTWN products for their pets do so because they love their dogs and want to take care of them and give them the best and most people who buy AVON do so because they want to take care of themselves and their families with good quality products.
I am rambling again.. lol Anyways.. I am excited to be back and raring to go!! I will also be adding some more helpful tips for pet owners on my TheHealthyMutt blog in the days to come.
Visit me on bonanzle at www.bonanzle.com/booths/shesmrswright
Shop my online AVON E-Store & have items shipped direct to you with free shipping (use coupon code FSWER at checkout)!! www.youravon.com/shastawright
Shasta Wright
Independent Avon Sales Representative
Certified Beauty Advisor
Interested in becoming an AVON Independent Sales Representative? Send me an email! You can get started for just $10!!
I love Bonanzle and I love that the boyz have offered a place for people like me with limited online knowledge to be able to sell without needing a 300 page how to manual. I love the social aspect of Bonanzle but found myself getting wrapped up in the social part and not focusing enough on my business. After some time off I now have a better handle on my time management on Bonanzle and making sure that I am spending my time effectively. Everyone is so kind, helpful, & fun to talk to that it is so easy to lose track of time in the forums and not get any work done.
I realized while on my break that I needed some balance in my life and I found that balance not in time off from Bonanzle & work but by adding more work to my plate!! That balance came with my decision to start selling AVON. I have always loved AVON products and use many AVON products myself due to my sensitive skin. I never really realized just how many AVON products I used until my District Manager asked me and I started listing them. I am really enjoying selling AVON. Don't get me wrong I love my internet sales and my Waggin Tails & Wet Noses business but those things keep me home most of the time. AVON gets me out of the house and meeting people & talking to them which is something that I have missed since losing my job last July.
My husband laughs at me all the time. I have 2 businesses now which are 2 very different businesses at that. I enjoy them both for different reasons. Waggin Tails & Wet Noses is my passion. I started WTWN because I cared about what my dogs ate and because I wanted to offer a product to others that is both affordable and healthy for their pet. I started AVON because it offers me an opportunity to sell a product that I love and to meet new people. Interestingly enough as different as they are they are actually really simular. Most people who buy WTWN products for their pets do so because they love their dogs and want to take care of them and give them the best and most people who buy AVON do so because they want to take care of themselves and their families with good quality products.
I am rambling again.. lol Anyways.. I am excited to be back and raring to go!! I will also be adding some more helpful tips for pet owners on my TheHealthyMutt blog in the days to come.
Visit me on bonanzle at www.bonanzle.com/booths/shesmrswright
Shop my online AVON E-Store & have items shipped direct to you with free shipping (use coupon code FSWER at checkout)!! www.youravon.com/shastawright
Shasta Wright
Independent Avon Sales Representative
Certified Beauty Advisor
Interested in becoming an AVON Independent Sales Representative? Send me an email! You can get started for just $10!!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Expanding on - Watch What You Post.... It May Come Back to Bite You in the Tush!
In my last post I got into how your negative posts and comments can come back to haunt you but what about how those posts effect the sites you sell on?
To buyers who are nothing more than buyers each and every experience they have with a seller to them is a direct reflection on that site. In addition so is the things they see in the forums or when they Google the site.. When people are not sure about a site they many times will Google that site to see what kind of things are being said about that site and many times things like forum posts with the site name in the title will also pop up. So that thread you started 2 months ago ranting about how you have not gotten any sales and put Bonanzle in the title, yeah that comes up in a google search! If that is a buyers first "review" of Bonanzle they read what kind of message is that sending? What does that post say about the sellers on Bonanzle and what does that thread say about Bonanzle? Would that post of you complaining about your lack of sales inspire someone to trust this new site? Would that post make buyers WANT to shop on Bonanzle? On the Internet we have the wonderful ability to revisit what we say before we hit send/save. We have the ability to stop and think about what we are about to "say".
We all LOVE Bonanzle! Many of us have made Bonanzle our home and take great pride in our home. We put hours each week into promoting our booths & Bonanzle. We singing the praises of Bonanzle to anyone who will listen. We ALL want to see Bonanzle succeed and become what we all know it can and will be. However, one bad post or one bad thread could undo what people have worked so hard to do. We have taken our precious time, time away from our families and friends, to help build Bonanzle and I would hate to see one moment of frustration drive away the buyers and sellers we are all working so hard to reach.
We all have bad days and we say things we wish we could take back and on Bonanzle we have the ability to do just that. I challenge everyone to delete any negative comments or any negative threads that they started. Get rid of it. You don't want that coming back to haunt you or Bonanzle later on down the road.
To buyers who are nothing more than buyers each and every experience they have with a seller to them is a direct reflection on that site. In addition so is the things they see in the forums or when they Google the site.. When people are not sure about a site they many times will Google that site to see what kind of things are being said about that site and many times things like forum posts with the site name in the title will also pop up. So that thread you started 2 months ago ranting about how you have not gotten any sales and put Bonanzle in the title, yeah that comes up in a google search! If that is a buyers first "review" of Bonanzle they read what kind of message is that sending? What does that post say about the sellers on Bonanzle and what does that thread say about Bonanzle? Would that post of you complaining about your lack of sales inspire someone to trust this new site? Would that post make buyers WANT to shop on Bonanzle? On the Internet we have the wonderful ability to revisit what we say before we hit send/save. We have the ability to stop and think about what we are about to "say".
We all LOVE Bonanzle! Many of us have made Bonanzle our home and take great pride in our home. We put hours each week into promoting our booths & Bonanzle. We singing the praises of Bonanzle to anyone who will listen. We ALL want to see Bonanzle succeed and become what we all know it can and will be. However, one bad post or one bad thread could undo what people have worked so hard to do. We have taken our precious time, time away from our families and friends, to help build Bonanzle and I would hate to see one moment of frustration drive away the buyers and sellers we are all working so hard to reach.
We all have bad days and we say things we wish we could take back and on Bonanzle we have the ability to do just that. I challenge everyone to delete any negative comments or any negative threads that they started. Get rid of it. You don't want that coming back to haunt you or Bonanzle later on down the road.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Watch What You Post.. It May Come Back to Bite You in the Tush!
So often in life we all hit a low and feel like things are hopeless.. In that moment we make statements that are many times negative. In that one moment of frustration for lack of sales or a bad experience with a buyer/seller we are possibly doing more harm to our business then we may ever realize. Before you post that comment or start that thread think first.. If I was a buyer would and read this comment from a seller would it turn me off? Would I want to buy from this person?
Google is great and brings buyers to Bonanzle everyday but Google could also be your down fall if a buyer googles you and finds negative comments or maybe even worse(I am WELL KNOWN for googling people before I buy). So it is not just what you say in the Bonanzle forums but ANY forum where you use the same screen name as Bonanzle.. You are one of the biggest componients to your business and if you are not potraying a positive attitude you may soon find potential buyers going to the other seller who potrays themself in a positive way in all venues not just the booth chat or the bonanzle forum.
We all have bad days and we all lose out cool from time to time but when you are a seller that one moment can come back to haunt you for a long time.. So, before you make that negative post or start that negative thread take a moment and think about how that will look to buyers and then walk away. Open a word document and write every negative thing you want to say then save it. Scream into a pillow. Chat with a friend on AIM, Yahoo, Google Chat, etc. and vent... Get up and just walk away for awhile.. Do whatever you have to do to not let that moment of frustration come back to haunt you later...
Google is great and brings buyers to Bonanzle everyday but Google could also be your down fall if a buyer googles you and finds negative comments or maybe even worse(I am WELL KNOWN for googling people before I buy). So it is not just what you say in the Bonanzle forums but ANY forum where you use the same screen name as Bonanzle.. You are one of the biggest componients to your business and if you are not potraying a positive attitude you may soon find potential buyers going to the other seller who potrays themself in a positive way in all venues not just the booth chat or the bonanzle forum.
We all have bad days and we all lose out cool from time to time but when you are a seller that one moment can come back to haunt you for a long time.. So, before you make that negative post or start that negative thread take a moment and think about how that will look to buyers and then walk away. Open a word document and write every negative thing you want to say then save it. Scream into a pillow. Chat with a friend on AIM, Yahoo, Google Chat, etc. and vent... Get up and just walk away for awhile.. Do whatever you have to do to not let that moment of frustration come back to haunt you later...
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