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Get Data In Real Time!

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

You may remember the post back in March regarding the latest Terapeak Improvements.

I can’t tell you how important it is to research, research, research!  I use Terapeak all the time, and honestly don’t know what I would do without it.  I do a ton of research for my subscribers at Boutique Bargains, saving them time and money on what to purchase for their inventory!

This is what was mentioned on the latest eBay Seller News:

eBay Certified Provider Terapeak has taken marketplace research to the next level. Terapeak now has a transaction-based system for Stores, Fixed Price 30-day and Good ‘Til Cancelled listings. This means that Terapeak subscribers will have access to sales as they happen and will receive data on each individual item sold, even ones that are part of listings still live on eBay. Plus, Terapeak also provides Value Track service, which gives users the ability to save up to 25 favorite searches for free and creates a stock-tracking report for these top items. Sellers can use this table to keep a close eye on both the market and their goods.

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Filed Under: eBay Selling Tagged With:

Enter For A Chance To Win $5,000!

May 21, 2009 By 1 Comment

Did you see the latest contest from eBay news?  Looks pretty sweet!

In these challenging times, eBay is proud to celebrate the remarkable creativity and success of great sellers just like you. Check out our new site created to honor you! Read about other great sellers succeeding their way. Tell us your story and you could win a $5,000 eBay spending spree. There’s a new winner every month!

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10 Days of Madness $5 Special Ends Soon!

May 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Just a reminder about the post that was sent out on Mother’s Day -

http://boutiquebargains.com/blog/happy-mothers-day/ - The 10 Days of Madness ends VERY soon! 

Grab your $5 deals while they are still available.
Ten Day May Madness

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Filed Under: Fun Stuff, WAHM Business Tagged With:

Make sure your listings are up to date

May 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The latest from the eBay Selling newsletter  may have an effect on your listings…

  • Use the preview link at the top of your current item pages to get a sneak peek of how your items will be displayed in the new eBay item page design–featuring bigger, better pictures, key information displayed upfront, photo zoom capabilities and more.
  • Make sure you clearly specify a return policy and handling time to all your listings by the June 15 deadline. Update your Good ‘Til Cancelled listings by mid-September as well.
  • Stay up to speed on category and items specifics changes. Updates are coming June 15 in the certain categories.
  • Use item specifics! Always use the eBay item specific choices first before adding your own item specifics.
  • Jewelry & Watches sellers: There will be a policy update. If you sell in these categories, you may have to make changes to your listings–for example make sure your authentic diamonds are listed in Fine Jewelry.
  • Use the bulk editing and relist tools to revise your listings.
  • Review and follow the Seller Checklist to find any additional changes you may need to make to your listings. Also, follow these best practices.
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Special $5 Deal – Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10, 2009 By 1 Comment

Just a quick note to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day.  I hope you all have a wonderful day planned!

For Mother’s Day, I joined in with a fabulous group of ladies over at Mom Masterminds to offer a very special deal to new subscribers of Boutique Bargains & Beyond.

Join Boutique Bargains & Beyond at a great price of $5 per month! Yep, that’s it! It doesn’t happen very often so get in on the deals while you can and check out all of the other 10 Day May Madness offers.


Ten Day May Madness

Enjoy!  :-)

Jenn

Boutique Bargains & Beyond

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What To Sell In May On eBay!

May 7, 2009 By 1 Comment

Can you believe May is here?? 

It feels like just yesterday I was having my new little bundle of joy!  She’s already 6 weeks old!  Time sure goes by.

Well, it’s May and the summer season is quickly approaching.  Before you know it the kids will be on summer break and you may notice a little lull in your eBay selling.  If you specialize in children’s clothing, now may be the time to expand your inventory into a bigger range of items.  Say for instance, Maternity clothing.  It goes hand in hand with childrens clothing and you could potentially make a few extra sales. 

You should have already pushed your spring/summer items out and begin focusing on restocking your fall items.  There’s mucho sales going on, as our subscribers have seen in the daily alerts!

You can also check out yard sales for children’s books, toys and clothing.  I love to sell children’s books in lots of similar themes.  Home schooling books do well also in lots.

Don’t forget to go through your own kids closets!  I have a couple ‘eBay bags’ of clothing ready for eBay – I can’t wait to restock my store and have the sales start rolling in!  Speaking of used clothing….get some consignment jobs going!  Ask your friends if they have any used clothing you can take off of their hands.  Maybe split the profits, or offer them a set amount for the entire lot.

Good luck, and happy selling!

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Tough Question Tuesday: I’m Spending TOO Much Time On eBay! How Do I Stop?

May 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Q:  I’m Spending TOO Much Time On eBay!  How Do I Stop?

A:  Ahhh…spoken like a true eBay addict!  :-)

Been there, trust me!  Last year (yikes, where does the time go?) I wrote an article that received a great response.  It is titled How To Manage Your Time Better While Working In A Home Office.  Some tried and true tips that I still live by.

Of course, there are those of us that tend to be a bit over productive and realize that the entire day and/or night has just passed us by while clicking away getting a ton of listings up on eBay.  (Raising my hand in the air….guilty!) 

It just feels SO GOOD to be productive, doesn’t it?! :-)

Of course, my husband sits, watching t.v – watching the girls – wondering when dinner is going to be ready….GRRRRR…he’s just about ready to throw the computer out the window, giving ME the LOOK!

Well, at one time he was not so supportive of what I do. But that’s a different post all together… ;-)   Things have worked out.  :-)

Anyway, back to How Do I Stop?

This could pertain to any work at home business for that matter.  It’s great to be productive as long as you’re getting things accomplished!  Listing your items on eBay is potentially only going to make you money, right? Absolutely! 

However, continually burning the candle on both ends is only going to lead to burn out.

Pace Yourself!

This is just one of those things you are going to have to practice at if you’re continually in “eBay mode”.  Try setting a stop watch each day.  What? Don’t Have a Stop Watch? 

Check out this one that you can use right on your computer:

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/ - pretty nifty, huh? 

If you have 8 hours to work in a day – set it for 8 hours and then when time is up – hands off the keyboard, or whatever you’re doing – JUST STOP!  Step away, and call it a day. 

If you’re productive and getting things accomplished – it’s only more incentive to WANT to start again the next day.  Much better than getting burned out, isn’t it? 

There’s nothing better than ending on a high and starting on a high!  Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

Special thanks to Jen at Easy Auctions Tracker for being so addicted and loving what she does to submit this weeks Tough Question Tuesday. :-)
Easy Auctions Tracker - The Ultimate eBay Spreadsheet!

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Filed Under: eBay Selling, WAHM Business Tagged With:

Check Your Stores – New eBay Stores Upgrade + News About Searching Feature

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

If you haven’t already opted in to the new eBay Stores experience, here are some things to look forward to:

The new eBay Stores Experience offers many key advantages:

  • Improved in-store search ability and merchandise suggestions for misspellings and low results.
  • Improved look and feel
    • The eBay Stores Experience gives your store a face lift by bringing the design more in line with the rest of eBay, which makes it less confusing to buyers when they land in your store.
    • We’ve enhanced our promotion boxes to better showcase your items, for instance, the new promotion box filmstrip.
    • We’ve updated the eBay themes so you can set up a professional-looking store without using HTML and start selling right away.
  • Improved buyer features
    • Buyers now can refine their search preferences within your store to make it easier to find exactly what they’re looking for.
    • Our new Gallery View showcases your items to make it easier for buyers to see what your store has in stock.
  • Future flexibility
    • With this new version, we can continue to build enhancements to eBay Stores quickly.

You can manage this new feature through your “Manage My Store” option.  eBay will begin to upgrade those who haven’t opted in – in early May.  Check out the full announcement here:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200904221355142.html

Also included with this announcement is the new Search Technology.  The old technology will now be pushed back and retired in June.

New features include:

  • Results are returned faster than ever
  • You see more of the items you want
  • You can now customize your preferences for the left side of the page
  • Window shopping in the snapshot view makes shopping even more fun
  • “Related searches” and “exclude in category” searches are back!

    • If you haven’t taken it for a test drive, just click the “Try it now” link at the top the search page.  Check out the full announcement here:

    http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200904221355142.html

    Happy Selling!  :-)

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    Filed Under: Announcements Tagged With: