This week on The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly and Listing Party, Trish and Doug recap the Camp Listing Party VIP Virtual Summit, held recently in Listing Party. We also feature an interview with Vanessa Porta and Tawanna Peoples. We also have breaking List Perfectly news, seller news, and seller shoutouts!
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the e-commerce resource for the seller community across all platforms and a hub for information on growing your business. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com, leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@listperfectly.com.
Links
Seller Community Podcast on Anchor
Doug Smith (snoop.dougie) linktree
Trish Glenn (Super Sale Trish) Instagram
Episode Links
Intro
Trish: This week on the Cellar Community Podcast from List Perfectly, Doug and I recap Camp Listing Party VIP Virtual Summit held last week in Listing Party and interview Vanessa Porter and Tawanna Peoples . Also, Breaking List Perfectly News, Seller News, and Seller Shoutouts.
Hey Doug!
Doug: Hey Trish, what’s up?
Trish: What’s up with you, my friend?
Doug: Not much, how’s it going?
Trish: Good, good.
Doug: Before we get into it, tell us a little bit about this, awesome virtual event you planned and executed for List Perfectly last week.
Trish: Sure. Last summer we did something called Camp Listing Party, which was a, on site in person event. And it did have a small virtual component. But we were wondering what we could do within the virtual space, how much information we could get out there, what we could really accomplish. And so we invited some of the VIPs, some of the people that were at the VIP level for the Listing Party Camp. And we invited them to come in. And we did some different Workshops and different classes over the week. And it was great. We had a really good response and it just was like a test case to see what we’re going to do. Cause you know Doug, but the people listening, don’t that you and I are really going to try to do some really in depth virtual things this coming year.
Doug: I’m very excited about some of the reseller content we’re going to be putting out across the board. And like you said, more virtual stuff, and a lot more stuff in listing party, which tied into Camp Listing Party. But so for those that don’t know, let’s talk about listing party for a couple of minutes.
Trish: Sure. So listing party is, list Perfectly’s, I would say it’s their community arm. So if you belong to List Perfectly, if you have any List Perfectly subscription, you automatically belong to Listing Party, so you go in, same credentials as List Perfectly. You sign up, you make yourself a profile just like you would on any other site. And then you can use the site and the site is great. It has profiles like we said, it has ways that you can find maybe if you’re a seller that you’re looking to take consignments, or maybe you want to give consignments, or maybe you’re a virtual assistant that you want to help other resellers.
All of these you can go in and put in your profile and other people can find you. There are goals, there is tracking, you can follow your journey. But I would say the biggest thing that listing party offers is these events. And every single day there is people in there that they have like parties or what are really more like classes or workshops.
They get together and there’s an event page you can go in and you can see what’s available for that day. And you can go in and it is just a way for you to learn more about reselling, learn more about the business of reselling, learn more about sourcing, learn more about business in general. Or it’s just a way for you to meet other resellers and connect and have fun and hang out. There’s also a 24 hour room, which you enjoy.
Doug: I enjoy a 24 seven party, Trish.
Trish: Exactly.
Doug: But it’s interesting because this is what Poshmark has been doing with Posh and Sips and things like that. It’s in some ways like a virtual meetup, in some ways like an online event, an online seller event, a constant seller event. Somebody made that connection last week in Camp LP virtual is this is like a constant 24 seven seller event where you can network, you can have fun. A lot of people list while they’re, going through these things and some of them are fun.
But a lot of people are listing, they’re learning again, like you said, you’ve got the mastermind, there’s a eBay 101. We’re going to expand that. There’s some List Perfectly support stuff in there.
Trish: Yep. Yep. There’s one of those a day. And then there’s also list Listing 101, which will help people when you’re new to List Perfectly figure out things. It is a way for you to really get your hands in there and learn things and get, I think of it as college a little, or business school, I really enjoy the the learning aspect of making my business better, getting to the next level. And so for me, when all the resellers get better, everyone gets a little bit better and our businesses get better. We sell more, we make more. It’s just a, it’s just a great thing.
While it is facilitated by List Perfectly, it’s really about reselling. It’s really about the business of reselling and List Perfectly just happens to be one of the tools that these people are using, and in my opinion, the best tool, to get you to the next level, but it is just one of the tools. And so this is just helps all around. It’s really a great thing.
Doug: Like we said, we’re going to be doing more events. We’re going to be doing virtual events. And again, if you’ve got an event, you want us to come to if you want List Perfectly to participate, if you want Trish and me, just Trish. If you want me we can do it. Let us know, we’d love to know, or if you have a show you’d like for us to be on, we can come on together. We can come on separately.
Trish: We would love to do that too. We want to be everywhere. Know all the people.
Doug: Trish, let’s get into our Camp Listing Party, VIP virtual touch base and our chat with Tawanna and Vanessa. You and I were there. Theresa Cox was there.
Trish: She was
Doug: All right.
Vanessa Porta and Tawanna Peoples from the Camp Listing Party VIP Virtual Summit
Trish: We’ll go around, we’ll all answer the question. Would you rather sell new items or used? Doug?
Doug: Used.
Trish: Vanessa?
Vanessa: New.
Trish: Tawanna?
Tawanna: New.
Trish: T?
Theresa: New.
Trish: Used. Polymailer or Bubblemailer? Doug.
Doug: Bubblemailer.
Trish: Vanessa.
Vanessa: Poly.
Trish: Tawanna.
Tawanna: I use Poly.
Theresa: Polymailers, baby.
Trish: Polymailers. eBay shipping or pirate shipping? Doug.
Doug: Pirate ship.
Trish: Ooh, interesting. Vanessa.
Vanessa: eBay.
Trish: Tawanna.
Tawanna: eBay. That’s all I know.
Trish: Theresa.
Theresa: eBay.
Trish: eBay, me also. You do Pirate, huh Doug?
Doug: Wait, stop the show. I think all my answers are incorrect.
Trish: What do you mean?
Theresa: They’re just opposite from everyone else.
Trish: I said used on stuff, but,
Theresa: We’re were just being kind to him. So he didn’t feel like he was an outsider.
Doug: Yeah.
Trish: Okay. Do you check? I already know the answer to this from him. Do you check people’s feedback before you buy from them? Doug?
Doug: Yes, I do.
Trish: Vanessa?
Vanessa: Yes.
Tawanna: Yes, I do.
Theresa: No, I do not.
Trish: No, I do not. Interesting. Okay. This is really minutia. Some people do this. Do you check people’s feedback before you accept an offer from them? Doug?
Doug: I have.
Trish: Vanessa?
Vanessa: No.
Trish: Tawanna?
Tawanna: No.
Theresa: No.
Trish: No.
Theresa: All I care about is those Benjamins, baby.
Trish: Doug is right. All his answers are wrong. Okay. Thank you, guys.
Vanessa, please tell us how you started reselling.
Vanessa: I started in reselling because I was a stay-at-home mom and the kids were getting older and I had a lot of time on my hands. They started to drive and I didn’t have to do the back and forth. And the first time that I was sticker shocked with my oldest in senior high school and I had to buy the letterman jacket and the ring and then I thought 2 years later, the twins were going to go through. I think I need a little bit of extra money. And I really love finding, that great used item that I can, I buy it for 5 dollars and sell it for 100. So that’s really what got me into it.
Trish: And before you started, were you like a thrifter? Did you like yard sales or did this all kind of just happen at once?
Vanessa: No, I, I was a stay-at-home mom and the only income we had was my husband’s. So I was always out there finding the best deal for the thing I wanted. And, it would drive my husband crazy, but I would go everywhere, anywhere, and everywhere to find exactly what I wanted for how much money I could spend.
Trish: Yeah. Good for you. I do think that’s a trait that a lot of people who resell have, we don’t want to buy retail. We all want to buy it some kind of discount. I do think that is a trait that resellers usually share.
Doug: It’s called being careful with your money.
Trish: It’s true, some people aren’t at all. Some people just buy, they don’t even think about these things. Yeah. Tawana, tell us how you started in reselling.
Tawanna: First of all, I love to shop. I’m a shopaholic, always have been. And the way I got started was that I started thinking, how am I going to declutter this stuff that I have here in my house? I’m a shopaholic and I come from a sales background as far as corporate goes. I’ve always worked in, Customer service selling whatever. I retired from Sony Pictures. Selling DVDs and VHSs and Laserdiscs. When I decided to retire a year ago from my son’s business, he’s a pastor.
I worked in the office doing customer service. And I started thinking what are you going to do? What are you going to do? You’re going home. What are you going to do? I’ve never not worked. Yeah. What are you going to do? So then I thought about, I start going to YouTube, and I learned on YouTube, and I started listening to List Perfectly.
How am I going to do this? How do you do it? I started with List Perfectly from the very beginning. And just started looking at videos for months and months. And then after about six months, I said, okay, someone say it, just do it. Yeah, just get out there. Just do it. And so I said, okay, maybe I’m ready, but I wasn’t ready.
And so I was scared of eBay. Okay. First six months, I’ve only been doing this 17 months, my first six months or seven or eight, I didn’t touch eBay because I just didn’t understand all the questions. How am I supposed to know what this is? So I started on Mercari. And then I incorporated Poshmark.
And I said, Oh, this is easy. This is easy, but it really wasn’t. So then when I went back to eBay, I knew nothing about the shipping. Didn’t have anything set up for a whole year. And they were taking all my money. And I was like, Wait a minute, something’s not right. What am I doing wrong?
So Theresa taught me one day in one of The Listing Party classes. I said, what am I doing? And she showed us her schedule and how she did it. And so then that’s when I got on online as far as what to charge, weighing dimensions and all that kind of stuff. But I love what I’m doing because I love to shop. I love computers. I’m a computer gadget person.
I love phones. I love. Selling stuff. That part was easy, but learning this business is not easy, but I’m getting there and that’s why I attend so much. Because I’m trying to learn and stop making as many mistakes as I made the first year I was in the business.
Trish: We all do that too.
Tawanna: Now it’s gotten so easy, much easier.
Trish: What do you sell Vanessa mostly?
Vanessa: Oh, I’m a, an almost everything seller. I am niching down a little bit, but it’s never going to be just one or two items. I do used clothing. I have DVDs, CDs, Christmas stuff sneakers, and shoes. Cars, Legos, you name it.
Trish: Vanessa, do you source now or are you not sourcing? Do you source weekly, or monthly? How do you do the sourcing part?
Vanessa: So right now I have enough that I don’t need to source. I get out of the house at least once a month, and that’s what I do is source. Hopefully, I can find something but I really don’t need it. I have plenty to keep me going.
Trish: Good. Tawanna, tell us what you sell.
Tawanna: I don’t sell everything, but my main niche that I love is shoes. I sell shoes. I sell clothes. Getting into clothes a little more. I sell women’s, men’s, and children’s clothes. Now I’m getting ready to try out the book sale thing, which I get from the library. And then I like to pick up figurines and animals, and I used to do the plush, but they take up too much room, so I’m backing off of that.
Trish: Are you sourcing everything okay?
Tawanna: Oh yeah. I told you I love to shop.
Trish: Yeah, I know. So that’s what I was wondering because you said you, you were good in this ’cause you needed to declutter.
Tawanna: Lemme tell you. The whole thing is they say start in your own home, just go from room to room. And I moved three months ago. I didn’t do that. I went to Macy’s. I went to Ross, I went to Goodwill, and oh god, I spent so much money getting into the business and wasn’t even thinking about decluttering my own home.
I just moved three months ago and I said, oh god, you gotta get rid of this stuff. So now I’m working on home. I’m working on home. I go to estate sales. If I’m going down the street and I see a yard sale, I make a U turn. If I see an estate sale, I make a U-turn. If it’s not too far, I go two hours away. I’ve done that even today I was looking at some state sales that were coming up, but I don’t want to drive that far. But do I need anything?
Trish: No. One of the reasons a lot of people get in this business is because they like the hunt, they like finding the treasure, they like to shop. It’s not surprising that you like it.
Tawanna: I like it. And now I’m learning the brands and the qualities especially when I go to certain places. But I’ve picked up some things for a $2 that’s really worth a little money. Oh my God, I made 60 bucks on this.
Trish: It’s so exciting when you can make 50!
Tawanna: I don’t need everybody said why don’t you just sell what you have? And I said, that’s not the way this business goes, we have to shop. And I’m good at that. And the people know that they said, you just love the job. You just love the job. But now I’m learning how to buy low and sell high.
Trish: So yeah, you make your money when you buy, not when you sell. So you need to make sure you’re buying at the right price point.
Tawanna: Now I’m cheap. I’m just like, if I can’t get it under $5, I won’t buy it. It’s hard to walk away because I like nice stuff. It’s hard to walk away, but I was like, I’m not paying $10 for that.
Trish: So Vanessa, do you consider yourself full-time?
Vanessa: Oh, yes. More than full-time.
Trish: Yeah, I know. Me too. And do you think you’ll do this now? Do you think this is a for lack of a better word, like a career path for you now?
Vanessa: Oh, yes, absolutely. I have some goals that I want to meet. And that’s not going to happen in a year or, Probably not even two. Yeah. I’m going to continue. And once I hit that goal, I’d love to stay there.
Trish: You have all your stuff in your home, right? Is that your goal to stay in that? Or do you want to be bigger than that? Do you have someplace you’re trying to get to?
Vanessa: I would think that my goal is going to require me to get a what does Kevin call it? His resale shack, his resale hut. And I would love one of those.
Trish: In your backyard or something, so you wouldn’t have to leave? Could you do it back there?
Vanessa: Oh yeah absolutely. Yeah.
Trish: That’s like Patty Coffman, she has one on her land. It’s a small building,
Vanessa: She calls it a shed, I think it is.
Trish: I think she does call it a shed, yeah.
Vanessa: But we can, we can absolutely go Teresa’s route. Yes. But, heck if I’m moving to Arizona, there’s no way I’m going to Arizona.
Theresa: My little storage space is air-conditioned and heated.
Trish: And it’s not that little.
Theresa: No, I didn’t say it was, but it’s a nice size, right? It’s still full of junk, but, one day, I have a dream that it will look like a warehouse one day.
Trish: It’s getting there. You’re still newly moved.
Tawanna: So you’re talking about storing in your new home Teresa?
Theresa: Yeah.
Trish: So how is your inventory system, Tawana? Do you have a good inventory system?
Tawanna: I do. I do. I know where everything is. When I started, of course as I said, I blew up really fast. I was in a one-bedroom condo, no garage, and I just got storage bins and started, whatever. And then I got a storage unit, and then I got another storage unit. And then I told my son, please get me out of here. Please get me out of here. I’m just overwhelmed. I got so much stuff, but everything is, I listened to you guys. I have a, I know where everything is. I have a storage system, and everything is like items together, like my shoes, my clothes, my coats, I’ve been selling shoes, coats, and sweaters this fall.
So he moved, so I said, please get me out. So he moved me into a 3-bedroom home. And so now I have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. 2 car garage. And and he said, I know you’re going to junk it up. I know you’re going to junk it up. It’s going to look like, I said, no, I’m not. So right now I’m good.
But you know what? But I’ve I’m pushing my inventory. Not like I’d like to, but I have so many empty boxes that I’ve emptied. So that means I’m selling, right? I’ll never get a storage again. If I need to get rid of some items, I will, but I’ll never, outgrow where I live now. My place is 1500 square feet. So no, and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this as long as God graces me to do it. I’m gonna do it.
Trish: And I think if you can keep it in your house and you can keep it manageable to you, you’ll be able to do it longer than if you had to go to the storage place. Theresa used to complain when she and I would go to get her shipping and she would have to push that big door up and she would complain every time. Being able to keep it at home, you’ll be able to do it longer anyway.
Tawanna: I’ll be able to do it longer because I used to go to the stores like five days a week. And now I go to the post office like four or five days a week and it’s not a lot, but like I had to go today because I forgot I needed to mail something yesterday, but that garage, those storage doors, oh my God, they got to have to work. My back was cramping and my shoulders were cramping. I’ll never do a storage again. My son would, oh he would have a fit. I moved you out of this, and you going back to this. If I ever have to go back to storage, I can’t tell him. It has to be a secret because he would have a fit, but I love what I’m doing.
Trish: Good, that’s so good. And you don’t have a USPS pickup?
Tawanna: Not yet. Hopefully, this year will be better than last year. Hopefully, I’m planning on doubling my sales this year. Doubling my sales, or maybe even tripling my sales. Who knows? Depends on the market. Then I might consider having a pickup here at the house. Because it’s a little much, even though I don’t go to storage anymore, I go in the garage like I did 3 hours ago, grab a pair of shoes, wrap them up, take them to the post office, or I go in a room that’s strictly storage. I have nothing in there but boxes. And so everything is numbered, labeled. So I know where everything is. And every once in a while, I have to look for something. But for the most part, I’m a pretty organized person. So far, everything is working out really good, working out as far as my inventory goes.
Trish: Good. Consider getting yourself a pickup. Theresa has one. I don’t. I live in a place where they don’t, can’t get them.
Theresa: I’m just going to say Tawanna, you can have one package a day and they can pick it up or you can schedule.
Tawanna: Oh yeah, I ship every day. I said, I wasn’t going to ship on Saturday, but I am shipping on Saturday because I want to stay within that guideline. eBay wants you to ship in 1 day. And, Poshmark wants you to ship in 2 days, Mercari, and so I sell all of the platforms, but those mainly and I’m on Kidizen and I’m on Depop too, which I have to reactivate again, but they keep me going. They keep me good.
Trish: Vanessa, tell us about your inventory system.
Vanessa: It’s when we’re talking about clothing, it’s what is that word?
Trish: Sequential.
Vanessa: Sequential. Thank you. When we’re talking about hard goods those are in the garage and sectioned off. Alphabetized.
Trish: So do you ever have a problem finding anything?
Vanessa: All the time. Do you want me to tell the truth? I’m telling the truth. Not really all the time. I do a lot of DVDs. And there are days I’m just tired if it belongs in the T, I just toss it in the Ts. And when one sells, I’m like, Oh, I got to look for that one. But as far as what you’re saying, lose something? Not often.
Tawanna: Let me tell you my story. I told you I retired from Sony Pictures and I worked in the home video department, the home entertainment department is what they called it. So we sold the DVDs, whatever they came out with as they changed from laser VHS to DVD to Blu-ray.
And I don’t know what they’re working on now. Sony is not doing that great. But I was there 13 years. And every time something would come out, they would give us a copy. I had a wall full of DVDs and I hate movies. Oh my God. And I, eventually I gave them all away, took them to a Goodwill and not even thinking that it would be a hot item today, right?
I had some, I know I had five, 600. Or more and people, they would come over and they were like, Oh, you got all these movies and you haven’t even opened them. I don’t like movies.
Trish: Tell me about Listing Party, specifically. Do you think that it has helped you, Vanessa?
Vanessa: To say it simply, I wouldn’t be right here where I am without Listing Party. I struggled when I started, when I seriously started and considered this a business and tried to treat it as a business I couldn’t get answers, right away in 2 seconds by clicking a 24-hour room and going in there and saying, this is my issue and how I do this and those masterminds, when I need them to be funny and off the wall, it just seems that they are off the wall and funny. But most of the time, I’m learning something from someone and I would not be as far as I am right now if it wasn’t for Listing Party.
Trish: If somebody was listening to this podcast and they have no idea what Listing Party is, would you explain what it is?
Vanessa: Right off the bat, let’s quote-unquote Doug and he said it is a constant virtual seller event. It is very close to that. It is also freeform. When you go into a party, Which, you can pick and choose to go to a party. And those people get together and they talk about whatever question someone has. So it’s a whole bunch of minds that come together and just want to help each other on a daily basis, 24/7.
Tawanna: Without Listening Party or List Perfectly, I would not be where I am today. I have learned so much. And even by listening to other people and what they do and how they do it, it has taught me. Every day I learn something new. And that’s what this business is all about. Make it easier, better, how to navigate through the different, technologies that List Perfectly screens.
Don’t ever stop the listing parties because they are really good. Yeah, everybody’s got good classes on there. And I’m in and out, I’m in and out. But I try. If I can just be in all of them, I would because I always learn something. But I love Listing Party.
Trish: Dougie, do you have anything to say down there, my friend?
Doug: Just listening. I’d be curious though to go around and see Tawanna and Vanessa what’s next? What do you have planned for your online selling business?
Vanessa: The biggest goal this year is to double my income and that is going to be very challenging.
Tawanna: My goal is to grow my business. I’m, that’s my whole goal. My whole goal is to grow my business, and cross-list more. I’m just trying to, work on the templates and crosspost more and do get more listings up every day.
And then I’m going to consider doing the link tree. And because I have accounts with Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest. I want to get people, see my stuff, see my, stores and my closets, and see what I’m doing.
I’d like to master all of the techniques in List Perfectly, and there are still a few that I don’t do and which I want to do.
So I just want to grow. I want to grow.
Trish: Thank you guys. This was fun. I appreciate it.
Doug: Thanks so much. I always enjoy talking to All of you, even Trish and Theresa.
Seller Shoutouts
Trish: These were our seller shoutouts this week.
Vanessa. Porta and Tawanna peoples. And of course Theresa, Doug, and I were there, but Tawana and Vanessa are really two stark comparisons as resellers. Vanessa is somebody who is a full-time reseller. She is very tenacious. She is absolutely resilient and she is really about giving back to her community. And trying to be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge she can. And she is somebody who’s trying to get to the next level and is working so, so hard. She’s really a List Perfectly and Listing Party, advocate. She really thinks that has helped her business grow.
And then, of course, we have Tawanna, who is, semi-retired, she’s doing this seriously, but maybe not at the same pace as Vanessa, and she is so sweet and so kind, and always comes and has a smile on her face and is happy to be there.
And what’s great is that there’s room at the table for all of these kinds of sellers, you do not have to be a Vanessa. You don’t have to be a Tawanna. You can be wherever you are and we want to help you get where you want to go. Do you want to be a six-figure seller or seven-figure seller, or do you just want to make enough to pay the car payment every month?
I really enjoyed getting to know them better. I really love their stories and I appreciate all their enthusiasm.
Doug: That was all one sentence, all in one breath. Amazing. We had some List Perfectly staff that came in and out throughout the week.
Trish: LP people came in and out, our staff members came in and out. They did a few presentations. It was a great time. It was a great thing and I appreciate everybody contributing.
Doug: There was a workshop on customer service, metrics, using List Perfectly, using Listing Party, the podcast panel, and a couple of others as well. Congratulations on the success of that.
I want to shout out my old buddy, Paul Apollonia. He was very excited and it was super cool. He was on the eBay for Business Podcast this week. I think for the first time.
Trish: It was. He wrote on Facebook it was the first time.
Doug: Nice. And it was episode 276. I remember when they were on episode 1. Tackling Your Death Piles.
Trish: He is an LP guy. He’s great. He comes to mastermind sometimes. It’s really great that he was on this. I know he was thrilled. He has a meetup. You and I have been, he’s a great guy.
Doug: Yeah, and he’s been selling on eBay for 20 years. And he still does the hardcore teaching eBay classes where you show up at the library and he’s there teaching how to use it. And again, he’s got his meetup. I’ve done it a couple of times virtually. We used to see each other at EcommChicago every year. In Chicago. He’s a cool guy. And again, just a good old-school seller who because of List Perfectly has expanded his business beyond eBay.
Trish: And for some of these guys, they were die-hard eBay guys. Some of these people were never going to leave eBay or expand or do anything else. So that’s always great to see.
Trish Tips
Doug: Let’s get into Trish’s tips. Seller Tips with Trish.
Trish: Trish’s tips. We don’t know what to call it here, people. Last week, I know you made fun of me last week because I said buy low, sell high. And this week I am going to say Take a photo as if you do not have an accompanying description.
Doug: That’s good.
Trish: I think that photography is something that we really struggle with when we first start this business. It is difficult to know the angles and it’s hard to think about how to do it. And then the longer we do it, I think we get a little lax. And I think that photography is one of the main things that you really need to pay attention to.
It can make or break a listing. And a lot of people are never going to click into your listing. A lot of people, especially on the app. They’re not going to click in all the way into your listing. They’re just going to look at the photos. And so really take the photo as if you do not have any words that are going to go with it, take it as if that is the only thing people can decide on.
Take photos that both capture the details, but also show it in its best light, but do not be afraid of showing flaws. You need to show the reality of the item because you don’t want to get a return. I would much rather show a big scratch and be like, this is here. Cause somebody is still going to buy it. Somebody is still going to want it.
And another thing, people do this and this may be a little controversial, but I don’t think you should use stock photos. I think stock photos can get you into trouble, especially if it’s a used item. If it’s a brand-new item. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal. If you have a used item, please don’t use a stock photo. It is not in your best interest. And another thing I would like to say is, List Perfectly has a background remover. Use the tools that are out there. Photoroom is within List Perfectly.
eBay has a background remover now, use the tools that are available to you. But also don’t make anything too sterile. I sometimes think that taking the photo in its natural setting, meaning on a white background, but in a room or a light gray background or a gray rug might be better than the sterile white. So just look at it and how it comes across to you. And then the last thing I would like to say is don’t be afraid of using something, an everyday object that everybody understands the size of in your photo. A quarter, a dime. a soda can if you need, for reference of scale.
So if you and I both see a dime or a quarter, we both know how big that is. So if we see that quarter next to a flaw in an item, we know how big that flaw is relatively. Sometimes when you just take a pen or a poker and you put it right next to the floor, it’s hard to tell how big something is. So in my opinion, use a dime, use a quarter, use a soda can.
That’s Trish’s tip of the week.
Doug: Do you mind if I weigh in on Trish’s tip?
Trish: Absolutely!
Doug: Not trying to steal your thunder.
Trish: You steal my thunder, baby!
Doug: Not trying to step into your spotlight. But this was something we always talked about at eBay, is do a good job with your photos. That’s the first impression people are going to see, and that’s what’s likely going to get them to click through. And there’s a lot of competition. And I’ve always said, if you have a crappy photo, especially that first photo, people are going to scroll to the next one and keep moving on. And I’ve seen some people complain that eBay’s hiding my listings and , you go look at the listings and they have terrible photos. Because it’s not it’s not like it used to be where you could lean a book against a bed in a dingy, shag, 70s carpeted room.
Trish: But you still see that!
Doug: that’s what I’m saying is you still see that, but then somebody else is going to have the next photo is going to be something, it looks better. It’s more professional and a seller, first of all, is going to extrapolate that out to the rest of the experience. And then there are multiple platforms. There are multiple sellers. It’s not really like it used to be. And then what you said too about noting flaws. There’s this I’m in a Star Trek, the original series kick.
And there was a series of books early on where this guy novelized the original episodes. They’re not great, but the guy’s name is James Blish. They’re not great, but they would be fun to have. And they’re out there, and there’s a set I’ve got my eye on, and one of the pictures has the, the inside first page, like the title page, is torn a bit.
So good for that guy for showing it, because It’s a good price. I’m going to buy it. It’d be just fun. It’s just fun to read them again and have them. It’s not like it’s going to be an investment for my future. It’s like remembering back to when I was reading this stuff and then just the right buyer will spend it.
Don’t try to hide it. You don’t want to risk a return. And then the other thing is, It used to be a lot more difficult to get great photos. You used to have, the lighting rig, the hermetically sealed room, the desk, and everything.
Trish: We used to have, when I started there were SD cards involved. I had to take pictures on a camera and then put them on the computer.
Doug: And set it up, quiet on the set, nobody moves.
Trish: Exactly.
Doug: Now it’s a lot faster, especially with a lot of the tools that are out there, not only in List Perfectly, but like you said, in the platforms themselves, and a lot of times you can take the picture and keep going on the listing via mobile.
Trish: What you said is exactly right. You need to have the best picture you can for the item, but also because it’s a reflection of your whole store. So another thing to think of is, when they go in and they look down your list, if you get somebody to go into your store, which is always the best, right?
You get somebody to click into your store and they look down the listing of the photos. You want them to have some sense of, these are the type of items that I sell. This is the quality of the items I sell. And having some uniformity can help, but I think when we start, we don’t quite get it. And then I think once we’re doing it for a long time, we start to lose it a little. So just be cognizant of it.
Doug: I think Trish said these words when she started it out. There’s no reason for crappy photos. No,
Trish: No reason for crappy photos. I have people who work for me. And one day I was at Mastermind and we’re talking about photos and there are two people getting the biggest kick out of something. And so finally I said, what are you guys laughing at? They were laughing at me because one of the listings that was In my store had a blurry photo.
And when I say blurry, like the photo was like somebody in the mid, taking and It was, of course, it wasn’t the first photo, thank God. Crap happens. That went up by accident, that wasn’t supposed to be uploaded. So things happen. So when you’re doing this stuff, just try to, every once in a while, I go through and look just to make sure that it hasn’t happened since. So things happen. So just try to be cognizant of what it all looks like.
Doug: And let me just sum this up. And this is totally true. Multiple people will attest to this. If you’ve ever taken a photo with Trish, Trish cannot take a bad photo. We have photos together where it looks like I’m getting punched in the stomach and she’s glowing and, other people are in motion and Trish can’t take a bad photo.
Trish: I’m a little photogenic. I was born with a little photogenicness. I told my husband we could never get divorced because I look better in photos than I do in real life. And I couldn’t be on a dating app because people would show up and be like, I’m out of here.
And my husband goes, that’s why we can’t get divorced.
Doug: Exactly. There you go.
Trish: That’s it. That’s all we got.
Doug: There you go. Thanks for that Trish tip, Trish.
Trish: You’re welcome, Doug.
Seller News
Doug: All right. And now let’s move into the news. Trish, there’s some breaking news from List Perfectly. Are you aware of this?
Trish: I am aware because I don’t know if you know this, but I work here also.
Doug: Oh, that’s right. Alright, Trish, let me just say this, so there’s some breaking news from List Perfectly that’s been, trickling out over the last few days, and I don’t want to name any names, Trish, cause I’d never do that, but let’s just say other options have said they’ve had this. And they don’t, it’s been buggy. It’s limited. It doesn’t work well. It’s still in beta. List Perfectly doesn’t roll out stuff before it’s ready. We drink no wine before it’s time. And we ran this through beta, we could have rushed it out, but we ran it through beta. We got a ton of seller feedback and we didn’t want to put it out until it was ready. And we had people asking for this…
Trish: for a long time.
Doug: And this is not only List Perfectly news. It is also reseller news, Trish.
Trish: So we now have auto-delist across all platforms and Issue Finder, and they’re now available on ProPlus.
Doug: Let’s go through and explain what each of those are and then, we’ll do high level, and then the best thing we can tell you is where to find the info on it and there are links there because there’s a little bit of setup, but it’s worth the minimal effort that you have to go through.
Trish: Auto delist is exactly what it sounds like. It will automatically delist the listing for you once it sells. So if it sells on eBay, it takes it down on Posh, Mercari, Depop, or wherever you have it listed, that item will come down.
Doug: Not just one. Not just two, not just some, but all the marketplaces we support.
Trish: All the marketplaces we support, it comes down automatically when it sells. Now, there is a couple of caveats. One is multi-quantity listings. When you sell something that’s multi-quantity, we will notify you and then you can adjust it on each of the platforms. Because as you and I have spoken about, multi-quantities are a little funky.
They’re hard to know exactly how they’re going to act. So we do that, but we think it’s actually a positive because it allows you to make sure what you have online is exactly what you have in your inventory.
Doug: And so basically though, Trish, let’s tie this into something else. So this is obviously awesome. It’s a game-changer. It’s going to be big. I saw some users over the weekend talking about it on their social media. But what you need to do is you need to go into List Perfectly and hopefully you’re checking those banner messages because that’s the latest news.
Trish: Exactly. Check your banner messages. Please look at them on List Perfectly. They are important. They’re going to give you information, but they’re also going to give you the latest things like this. If you had been paying attention to those, you would have had automatic delist, maybe four or five days ago.
Doug: So if you go there, you’re going to see a banner entitled Autodelist and Issue Finder Listing Sync are now available for ProPlus.
And so it’s for the pro plus plan and all the instructions are in there. So it tells you what auto deist is. It tells you what issue finder is. It tells you how to set each up and it tells you if you’re not in Pro Plus and want more information, it tells you how to opt in. But basically, the big news is that auto delist and listing sync are now available in List Perfectly.. We’re the first to do it all platforms, no matter what voodoo you hear out there, they’re not the first, ours works great. It’s I can tell you stuff. I see stuff out there, ladies and gentlemen. You can believe me. Get closer to the radio. Listen to my voice…
Trish: get closer and listen to Dougie. But here’s the thing. This is a game changer and the community has been talking about an auto delist option since I started reselling seven years ago. So this is not an easy task. This was not an inexpensive task. This is a big investment for us, but it’s also a really big investment for you. This can change your business. So it’s going to be awesome.
Doug: And let me tell you, even though again, Trish is a six-figure reseller and I’m a one to three-figure reseller, but it’s good to have this peace of mind when you’re out and about. And, it’s the next big step and there’s bigger stuff coming. There is. It’s amazing. I wish we could say what’s coming because we test it all.
Trish: I’m really excited to be honest with you. I think the next six to eight months of reselling is really going to look different. I think.
Doug: Yeah, I think so. I think. Alright, should we move on then? Let’s move on, my friend. Alright, in really thrilling reseller news that we can’t really make that entertaining, Mercari has some shipping updates, Trish. And Trish, each year, they’re good, I mean they’re good updates, it’s like numbers and stuff but each year, Trish, shipping and delivery carriers review their pricing and they have to adjust for fluctuations, inflation, demand, and shipping fees for Mercari prepaid labels are also changing for certain weights, Trish.
Trish: Some went up and some went down. . It seemed to me to be a wash, really. The one pound, which I think is a weight that a lot of us use, especially clothing sellers, it went down from 7.40 to 6.99. Which is great. And also 0. 25 went down from 4.30 to 3.99. So a couple went up, a couple went down. I think just as long as you’re using shipping through Mercari, you’re good.
Doug: Okay. Anything else we need to know about this?
Trish: You really don’t have to do anything. When you go to do a new listing it will update if your existing listings you don’t have to take any action on existing listings. They will fix them when they re up them next month.
Doug: Okay. And so this started recently, January 18th, 2024. So existing listings posted before January 18, 2024, with buyer-paid shipping will automatically update with the new shipping prices. So there you go. And they say Mercari says it may take up to two weeks for changes to apply to existing listings with buyer-paid shipping.
Trish: And another good thing is that Mercari labels are now covered nationwide shipping in peak surcharges. You don’t have to worry about if there’s a Christmas surcharge or anything like that. And it also went from a hundred dollars to 200 in shipping protection.
Doug: Oh, that’s nice. That’s what you said. That’s a little bonus thrown in there. Mercari wants you to know that affordable shipping, they understand it’s important to the community and their team is working hard to continue providing competitive and convenient shipping options.
Prepaid labels offer single-price shipping to any of the 50 states, Trish, and an average of 39% savings for items between a quarter pound and 50 pounds reminds me of a burger, not 50 pounds.
All right there you go. Mercari shipping updates.
Trish: And that is all the seller news that is fit to speak of this week.
Doug: Thanks, Trish.
Trish: You’re welcome.
Outro
Trish: Thank you for joining us on The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com.
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