Overview
This week we talk to Meredith Noon of Mertini Mercantile about how she sold her handcrafted goods and grew to multiple platforms over the last year and a half. We also discuss how customer service has been crucial for repeat buyers and how she plans to expand.
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the #1 resource for the seller community across all platforms and hub for information on growing your business with List Perfectly. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast, leave a message or ask a question at https://anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@thesellercommunitypodcast.com.
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Links
thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast
Listperfectly.com
Seller Community Podcast on Anchor
Listperfectly Facebook Group
coloradoreworn Instagram
coloradoreworn linktree
snoop.dougie Instagram
snoop.dougie linktree
listperfectly Instagram
Episode 29 Links
consignmentchats.com
Flippin Hippos YouTube
40 Year Old Virgin Buy These Boots Scene
Mertini Mercantile Facebook
Mertini Mercantile Instagram
Mertini Mercantile Etsy
Transcript
Intro
Liz:
Welcome to the seller community podcast from List Perfectly. This is episode 29. The seller community podcast is brought to you by List Perfectly every week for your enjoyment and show notes are found at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast. Let’s get into the show!
Doug:
Wait, wait, wait, Liz, I’m surprised that you can fit this into your schedule with all of your video interviews over the past week or so. You’ve been on consignment chats, flipping hippos. A couple of weeks ago, eBay interviewing Jamie Iannone. Your busy, busy schedule, you can still fit us in, Liz.
Liz:
Doug. This is my number one priority.
Doug:
All right, well, that’s good to know.
Liz:
So, my 15 minutes is over. Yes, yes. Yes. It’s been a crazy month.
Doug:
It has been! You’ve been busy with all of your social appearances. I remember when people would ask Snoop Dougie to be on their show. Nobody wants Snoop Dougie on their show. Now it’s all Liz “Snoop Dougie, Can you introduce me to Liz? Jamie Iannone called me on the eBay bat phone. That’s not true. I don’t know Jamie Iannone.
Liz:
Okay. So this isn’t true because I have been watching more YouTube and especially Katy and Vikki talking about the Boss Reseller Remix and every single YouTube that they have been on, they get to Doug and Liz with the seller community podcast. And so I was like, “oh my God, Doug. Oh my gosh. I met him at Open!” And everybody has a story. Something about a dance off, something about how nice Doug was, something about how they had a drink with you, something about how they saw you on the dance floor. So that’s not true.
Doug:
So basically, partying!
Liz:
And when they saw Doug at the booth and did the podcast, I’m sorry, but no, every single time everybody’s face lights up. And it talks about Doug Smith, snoop.dougie. Well, they don’t say dot Dougie. That’s just ingrained into my head for Instagram.
Doug:
Well, thank you, Liz. You know me well enough that I need my ego stroked, so I’m fine now. Thank you.
Liz:
I’m going to pass the baton. It’s your 15 minutes.
Doug:
Continue with your appearances.
Liz:
No, it’s been a great week. I really had a lot of fun with the consignment chats ladies and Doug. I think that we need to have them on the show because they have such a great community that they have built and they have such great knowledge with consignment and reselling. And I see this topic come up in Facebook reselling groups all the time. Like, I don’t understand how to do this. And they have all the knowledge. I think that they could really give a lot of great insight to our audience.
Doug:
Nice. Yeah, and I like that. And I like, you know, things like that, new ways, the new ways to sell. Like the consignment shop, like the shop in 40 Year Old Virgin. The eBay shop in 40 Year Old Virgin, where she’s got the boots that she won’t sell. She’s like, “you have to buy those online. It’s like on eBay.” He’s like, “well, why can’t I just give you money now and take these boots home and enjoy them?” I always tease Liz whenever she sells boots.
Liz:
Yes. And so now Doug, you’re going to have to find that clip and put it in the show notes for anyone that may be listening that has not seen that.
Doug:
All right, fine. I almost said that was on last weekend. I almost took a picture of the scene and sent it. It’s so funny.
Liz:
No, you can buy them in my eBay store. You can not buy them in person.
Doug:
But the consignment chat ladies are cool. And you were on flippin hippos. Star is super cool.
Liz:
Yeah. I had such a great time. So I got to talk about the List Perfectly Pro Plan and kind of guide viewers through that and kind of what the benefits are of the Pro Plan. Funny blooper, she lost power. So I was left on the live by myself for two minutes. And for those listening, I have never done a podcast before this podcast. And I think that was probably my second live ever. And I was like, “Ooh, what do I do?” But she was a trooper, she came back. She lost power, but we got through it.
Doug:
Those. Florida storms.
Liz:
Yeah. But it was a lot of fun. So thanks to both of them, to both consignment chats and flippin hippos for having me on.
Doug:
Anyway, so Liz, this week is a very special episode. Like a CBS afterschool special.
Liz:
Uhhhh, I don’t know about that.
Doug:
Very, very near and dear to my heart with a guest. Maybe we will wait and tease it. I don’t know. But it’s about relaunching your business.
Liz:
Yes, wait, I didn’t. I was going to ask you about your week. I feel like I just talked about myself.
Doug:
That’s all right. You talked about me earlier. People obviously people don’t want to hear about Snoop Dougie anymore. No, I’m kidding. Teased our guests, Liz. We’ve got some cool questions that we’ll have some fun with. And then there’s a lot of interesting news this week that we’ll probably cover high level, but there’s some interesting stuff going on.
Liz:
There is.
Doug:
So should we get into it with our mystery guest?
Liz:
Let’s get into it, Doug. No, this is a special guest this week.
Doug:
Yes. A special, not a mystery. Special guest. (musical sound)
Liz:
That’s the better sound. Be prepared to hear that sound. Maybe a couple of times in this episode…
Launching and Relaunching A Handcrafted Business
Doug:
All right. Joining us this week is Meredith Noon of Mertini Mercantile. Is it Mertini or Martini?
Meredith:
It’s MERtini. A play off my name.
Doug:
Mertini. Welcome to the show, Mer.
Meredith:
Thanks! I’m glad to be here!
Doug:
How do we know you?
Meredith:
You know me, because I am married to the one and only Snoop Dougie. (applause)
Liz:
There you go! Sleeping on that one, Doug!
Doug:
I know!
Meredith:
And I’ve been online since 2002.
Liz:
I’m sure Doug had to twist your arm to be able to come on the show, but I’m so happy you did, because I have a lot of questions for you.
Meredith:
Oh, thank you. I’m so happy to be here and thank you guys for having me. Yeah. I was a little nervous to accept the invitation. I’m not like the big shot you guys are, or the people that you have on your show, but your podcasts are great. And of course, when I was asked, I said, “okay, yes!”
Doug:
You’ve been online quite a bit. You’ve been selling. And then over the last year, you really grew your online business. And then we had to put it on hold because we moved. But now you are on relaunch mode. So we’re super interested in learning about that, too.
Liz:
I really hope that our listeners, especially those that have stopped and started, or that are just getting started, and some of our sellers that are experienced, have a great takeaway from a fresh perspective of somebody that is coming online and seeing things from fresh eyes. I know as somebody that’s been doing this a long time, it’s easy to get jaded. And I love learning from sellers that are relaunching or that are just coming on to all the different platforms and learning. When did you start selling online?
Meredith:
Well, I started buying online in 2002 on eBay. So I would say about a year and a half later, I started selling online. Again, I started on eBay and it was right after I became a mom and wanted to sell some of my cute little 20 year old something Mer Noon, slinky dresses that didn’t fit me anymore, as a new mommy. And it was easy and it just took off and it was fun! So I remember my first purchase on eBay and I remember my first sale on eBay. That’s how I started.
Doug:
What was the first purchase and what was the first sale?
Meredith:
So the first purchase, I must’ve been pregnant in 2002 and I was just taking time off of work. I was going through some old nostalgic memories and things, and I bought a Charlie’s Angels doll online at eBay because I was obsessed with that show when I was little. Like the original Farrah Fawcett Charlie’s Angels. I bought a doll to complete my set that I had from the late seventies, the early eighties, and that was my first purchase on eBay. And then fast forward, 20-something years later, my mom was helping my daughter, who I gave the dolls to my daughter, and my mom was helping her pack her room and get rid of stuff. And my mom threw away ALL of my Charlie’s Angels dolls!
Liz:
Noooooooo!
Meredith:
Oh yes! Like, legit, all of my original OG seventies, 1978, I think, Charlie’s Angels dolls! Plus the Farrah Fawcett one that I bought. Maybe it was Cheryl Ladd. Either way, my mom threw them out and I was pissed! So anyway, that was my first purchase. And I remember it because of that. My first sale was this super cute, what was the brand? I think it was just a Nordstrom dress. And it was cute and slinky, and it was hot pink fuchsia Paisley. It sounds hideous. But in the early two thousands, it was cute, it was a thing! And that thing went within like 10 hours, like boom! Went. Sold. So, that was my first sale on eBay.
Doug:
Was that the seventies party dress?
Meredith:
No seventies party dress. No! It was like a cute, in early two thousands, like paisley, big, bold statement dress! Yeah.
Liz:
You don’t remember that dress, Doug?
Doug:
Apparently I don’t.
Meredith:
Wow!
Doug:
And we’re done! (all laughing).
Liz:
Rude! Okay. Go do your thing. Mer and I got this! ( all laughing) So we’ve joked about this in past episodes, but you know, that that dress now would probably sell for double and probably sell in. half the time because the Y2K look is in right now. So as you’re describing this, I’m describing, you know, one of my friends, Vicki, she came into a bunch of those dresses recently. She’s selling them between 30 and a hundred bucks a piece in no time.
Meredith:
What? That’s awesome!
Liz:
Those little slip dresses, a little satiny?
Meredith:
Yes!
Liz:
As you’re describing that, that’s exactly what I’m thinking about. And we started selling at the same time, you know, the whole mommy thing, 2002, I’m a mom, these clothes don’t fit. Let me get it on eBay. I’m going to put the kids’ clothes on eBay and it kind of gets you. hooked.
Meredith:
Yes!
Liz:
Yeah. So same thing, same thing.
Meredith:
That’s great. Yeah. I think that’s how a lot of my friends that started out, also started as mommies like, whatever doesn’t fit or when your kids outgrow list it and sell it and boom!
Doug:
Did you ever sell full time? Has it always been part-time? Are you thinking of going full time?
Meredith:
Prior to 2020, I never sold full-time. I was for the most part, a full-time worker in corporate America. I had baby number one and took some time off. And then I had baby number two and took some more time off and then went back to work. In my downtime as I called it, like kids napping, whatever, taking kids to school I would sell. And I would list and I dabbled in it I guess,, for probably 10 years dabble here, dabble there. And it was fun and I made money. And, you know, as a new mom, when you take time off every little penny counts. So that was cool that I was able to feel like I was still contributing, even though I was not in corporate America. Let’s see. I went back to work and about three or four years ago, I was operations director for a local company and thought I needed to leave. I don’t feel good. So I decided to leave corporate America to focus on my health because I have autoimmune diseases, and I was pushing myself too hard and just too sick and not there for my kids. So at that point in my life, I was like, stay home and take care of myself, and make no money? Or stay there and be miserable and really sick and make money? So it was a no-brainer talking to Doug and I left corporate America and started selling again, dabbling in getting my foot back in the water online. And then enter 2020. COVID. And that’s when boom! I started selling full-time, as of now, 18 months ago, I guess is when I really started back in the game and expanded from eBay, into Etsy, into Mercari, into my own Facebook actual like shop-page and Marketplace and then word of mouth. I took a break because we moved, as listeners of your show know. So, I’m back!
Liz:
When you came back to selling, was it selling things around the house or was it more?
Meredith:
What really relaunched me last year was making masks. I’m a sewer, I’ve always been doing crafts and crafting most of my life. And when the pandemic hit, I instantly started whipping out homemade masks with fabrics and different, just fun things and sending them to all of my doctor friends, all of my RN friends, my PAs. So I have a lot of friends that are in the medical field and I used to work at a medical clinic. So boom, I sent out probably 150 free masks to friends on the frontline working during the beginning of the pandemic. And then I started having friends like what they saw and asking, “Hey, can you make me five masks for my family?” And blah, blah, blah. So, yes. So that’s what really, really got me back into crafting, first of all, and then selling. And again, I started out free and then I just started throwing stuff up on Facebook here and there. And then when that took off quickly, I went to Etsy and sold a lot on Etsy. So word of mouth, Facebook Etsy were my main sources of my homemade masks. I stopped counting after 1100 masks. So I made at least 1100 masks and continue to give out free ones here and there again to frontline workers. And as I met them I’d carry stuff around with me in little baggies and hand them out. But I sold a lot. So that was fun making over a thousand masks during that time. And since then, again, I’ve made more here and there. And then on the flip side, I had a lot of things around the house that I listed on Mercari. I used to also be a 31 Bags representative. I don’t know if people are familiar on 31 Gifts. So I had a ton of products that I had that were still in bags that I’d never used as samples. And I listed all of that on Mercari and that was crazy. People wanted that immediately.
Liz:
Have you always crafted? And if so, so did you teach yourself during the pandemic or is this a talent that you’ve already had?
Meredith:
So I’ve been crafty since I was a kid. And then my mom is Martha Stewart Jr. She is crafty. She’s like a gourmet cook and she does everything. She, when I was probably a teenager, bought a jigsaw and she and I, well, she would do most of the cutting. We would cut out Christmas ornaments and then paint them with intricate details and fun, little wooden Santas and angels and snowmen. So I got into crafting probably because of my mom. Then I started sewing as a girl scout in fifth grade. I had to make a shirt that ended up having three arm holes and a neck. Yeah. When the pandemic hit, I was staying at home trying to heal my body. I found a pattern online and a friend of mine shared actual patterns and some fabrics to get us both started. And that’s how that happened.
Liz:
Beyond masks. What other items have you crafted during this pandemic?
Meredith:
Some of the more light hearted, fun things are door signs for people’s front doors, anything from the cute traditional big wooden round, “Welcome”, or your last name established, whatever year you got married. Those were really popular, are really popular as housewarming gifts. People are buying those. Some of the more fun things I make are naughty things. Again, with the rounds that started with “Welcome to the shit show, I hope you brought alcohol” that you hang on your front door. And as I got into things with swear words and certain kinds of adult themed fabrics that I would find online, people were begging for all sorts of naughty things. So, some of my top hits have been, can I say penis on your show?
Doug:
Yeah, we actually, we use proper medical terminology, so that’s acceptable.
Meredith:
Perfect. So I started making penis fabric face masks. Boom! Those flew! Like bachelorette parties, they’d order 20 at a time. Somebody found me on Etsy and she ordered probably seven or eight because she worked in an adult theme shop. Penis face masks, bam everywhere. Then I made penis print pillowcases. So those flew, and then I remembered for my wedding shower, one of my favorite aunties, I have a crazy fun, wild family! One of my aunties bought or made a really cute apron as my bridal shower gift. And I pick it up and I’m like, “oh, that’s a cute apron! And it has roosters on the bottom.” And it was a flap and she said, “Put it on! Put it on! So I put it over my head, I lift up the flap and there’s a giant penis. And so as you lift the flap, the penis rises and everyone’s howling, screaming. I’m like, “oh my gosh, this is my favorite thing ever!” So Doug and I just celebrated our 18th anniversary. So for 18 years, well 17 because of last year, I would wear this anytime people would come over as a prank when I’m cooking, I’d lift it and go, “Oh, my face is so hot. Let me wipe my brow” and boom! There’s a big penis in your face, everybody! (all laughing) So I thought, you know what, I’m going to reinvent this. I’m going to tweak it a little bit. And so I crafted one and I got really cute rooster fabric and chicken print fabric and started sewing flaps on black aprons, and then take a pantyhose and stuff it and manipulate it a little bit.
Doug:
Very realistic. (laughing)
Meredith:
Yes, very realistic. Sew it on. There’s some fishing wire involved, there are doll hairs involved, curly doll hairs from Hobby Lobby involved. And It’s my cock-a-doodle-doo rooster apron that has blown up! And I made over a hundred of those in the last six months or eight months.
Liz:
Are there any currently active for sale on your site?
Meredith:
Yes.
Doug:
When we said you could say penis, we didn’t realize, first of all, that it was going to be every other word. So this episode will go down in history as the one with the most used penis references. (Liz laughing)
Meredith:
They’re made to order. So, yeah.
Doug:
Are you asking for one, Liz?
Liz:
I’m just asking.
Meredith:
Yes. They’re currently active on my Etsy shop and in my Facebook store and a lot of this is word of mouth as well. I accidentally sent one to a famous person, which generated a lot of interest as well.
Liz:
That is interesting. So that whole word of mouth.
Meredith:
Yes. Word of mouth, a lot of orders because of that faux pas.
Liz:
So with these handmade products, you can custom order them?
Meredith:
Correct! Yes. I have definitely had some interesting requests when people order them on Etsy through messenger like can I make different things different sizes? Or different colors? Or larger or smaller for gifts? Yes. You can custom order.
Doug:
On Facebook you started selling via a Facebook group that you created for Mertini Mercantile. And it was like you said, a lot of word of mouth, a lot of sharing, but tell us about that.
Meredith:
So originally I would post here and there on my main Facebook page for family and friends. And then again, when things started taking off, I created my own page as a group, not as a shop, not as anything other than just a group where you can get invited into it, it’s public, but it started off as ‘Mer’s Masks’ because in the beginning of this Facebook journey as well, it was just masks for the pandemic. I stocked my shop with about 150 patterns and prints of fabric and people could just message me directly with the style of the mask they wanted. I offered two or three styles, the size and the fabric. So it started there. And then when I started branching out with making other crafts with my cricut, and personalizing products, I switched over and said, I’m rebranding. I don’t want to be just known for masks. And that’s how Mertini Mercantile came to be. So I switched the page to Mertini Mercantile and all of my fun, eclectic, homemade gifts are listed on there.
Liz:
So how did that go for you? And what did you learn in that process?
Meredith:
The expansion was pretty easy. I already had a group, a captive audience, and then they would tell their friends. Not everybody would join my Facebook group necessarily, but I freely gave out my information on how to contact me. The mask part was great in the beginning. It was just sew, sew, sew. My kids would get in on it. We’d be up till one in the morning for some big orders. I think my first order that I call a big order now looking back, was 40 masks for a medical clinic that was just reopening. And one of my friends is a physician’s assistant and she wanted her staff to feel safe and have cute matching masks throughout the office to wear over their surgical masks. So that was my first big order and the kids, like I said, my kids got in tying the elastic straps and my kids can both sew a little bit. So that was fun.
Doug:
Local radio station reached out to you too.
Meredith:
Yes, that’s right! A local radio station reached out and I made about two dozen masks for them and personalized them with their company logo, their radio station logo. And I got some free commercials out of it. It was a barter and that was fun. And I got some orders through that. Then the mask thing became political. I didn’t honestly have the time or the energy to deal with monitoring posts on my page that became nasty because of people’s political beliefs. So the political rants made it easy for me to transition into opening up my shop into more products, to reach wider audiences. And again, fun products. I’m all about the fun and the funny and the shock value. So that made the transition easy for me to open up my shop to more than just masks.
Doug:
And then from Facebook, what made you expand different platforms?
Meredith:
Seeing the popularity of the fun products in addition to masks on Facebook and through friends and word of mouth again, after discussing with Doug and his background at eBay, we decided why not? Go for it and set up a Mercari account. I’d never used Mercari before. Set up a selling Etsy account. I’d been an Etsy buyer for years. I set up both Mercari and Etsy under my Mertini Mercantile logo and name and shop and brand and transitioned there. Etsy made it very easy for me to start as a brand newbie with step-by-step instructions. I’m not very computer or tech savvy necessarily, so I was nervous, but I hopped on Etsy and within, I don’t know, a half an hour, I had my account set up as a seller and my first picture and listing up and boom, there I was.
Liz:
That is awesome. So two things here. First, with Doug’s previous experience at eBay, I’m surprised you went to Etsy first, but being handcrafted, that doesn’t surprise me. Second, I know you did expand to eBay. And I remember Doug texting me and saying, “Oh my gosh, how do you do variation listings on eBay? What a pain in the butt.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I don’t do them! Like I refuse to do them! I said, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it!” And he did it anyways. And I remember him going, I don’t understand, this is stupid, but it was frustrating. And again, Etsy makes it easy.
Meredith:
Etsy does make it easy. And your advice on don’t do it for eBay because of the variations was great advice. We learned that together and it was crazy. It was too much for buyers, I think. And for us trying to navigate around variance. It was very difficult to list a hundred different fabrics on eBay with a men’s size, a woman’s size children’s sizes by age, then mask style A or mask style B. Very, very difficult. I sold very few masks on eBay. Again, Etsy made it easy and listed all my fabrics and options and sizes. And I was up and running again in under an hour.
Liz:
That’s awesome to hear, especially for those just getting into crafting. And I just want to be clear. Variations are fine for certain things, but when Doug told me what the vision was like, I got a headache thinking about the work you had ahead of you to create all of this, because it was a lot. Variations are good for some things. You did try out eBay. And do you think having Doug work at eBay prior, do you feel that that gave you some type of advantage? Was he able to give you like an insider look or insider tips?
Meredith:
Definitely tips, yes. He had this wealth of knowledge that I didn’t know about when it came to listing things on eBay because of his relationship with sellers, as well as the company on the inside. So tips, yes. He’s the one who encouraged me to branch out of just word of mouth and Facebook group. I would say advantage? No, I don’t feel like it was, I got an advantage there except for what I just said, tapping into his background and knowledge on how to list and you know, keywords, that type of thing.
Doug:
And my connection to Liz. Because I’d be like, ‘I don’t know.’ You’d ask me a question and be like, “ah, let me think about it.” And then I’d be like, (whispering) “hey Liz???”
Liz:
Yes. I think like the third time I was like, can you please just give her my number? Just give her my number.
Meredith:
Right. (all laughing)
Doug:
I was hesitant to do that because I knew you’d both would push me out. You’d want the middleman pushed out. (all laughing)
Meredith:
We’re still trying.
Liz:
That’s why I keep saying, “Hey, let’s have Mer on!” He’s like, “Well, I don’t think she’s ready for that.” I was like, “We’re going to have Liz and Mer hour and he’s going to get pushed out!”
Meredith:
That’s right. That’s right!
Doug:
You took a break because you were moving, you had to put all your stuff in storage, live with your parents for three and a half months. Put your dogs somewhere. So you had to put your business on hold, but now you’re relaunching. That’s awesome. Congratulations.
Meredith:
Thank you!
Doug:
And so has starting back been a challenge?
Meredith:
I would say a little bit and mostly because of moving. Moving sucks! We’re three weeks into our new house, three and a half weeks. So as I am getting to unpacking my craft room and fabrics and my Cricut machine, all that stuff, it’s like, okay! There it is! I haven’t seen this for three months. I am ready. I’m ready! My room is not ready. Let me make that clear. Fabrics are shoved still in boxes and under tables upstairs in the loft. And my Cricut machine, I just found that. My sewing machine is in the back corner. I could get to it if someone needed one of my special aprons today, I could do it. But yes, now I’m excited because I can see it all and I can get to it. And yesterday I shipped my first product in at least three months. So it’s exciting!
Liz:
Well, first congratulations on the new house and getting settled in. And I know that feeling. You unpack and you see all this stuff and you’re like, oh! It invigorates you. And you’re like, yeah! I want to get back to this. It almost feels like normal again through that life disruption.
Doug:
And we had everything set up at the old house. Like we had a photo station, we had a shipping station. Mer had her craft station. We had all our stuff. And then the other day I’m working in my office and I hear “Dammit.” And I go, “What?” She goes, “I got a sale.” I was like, “all right.” (all laughing) So she had to find the thing she sold. And then we’re like, do we have any envelopes? Where’s that? Where’s that? So we had to find that stuff and then do the label. I know where the scale is, my little tape measure. So we got that all out. But it was good to get back into the routine, go through our pirate ship, print out the label, tape it up, send our daughter out to ship it. But yeah, it was good, but it actually technically started with. “Dammit! I got a sale.”
Meredith:
(laughing) That’s true. It did. And it’s again because of the unpacking part. But once I started packaging up my sale in my hot pink envelope and getting it ready, that was exciting. And inspired me to get my craft room back in order and get to listing and relisting and get it back out there. It’s definitely exciting. And again, seeing my products, seeing that sale and looking at my shop saying, “I am ready to beef this back up.” That’s what’s the kick in the pants I needed. It’s a little intimidating again, because I’ve been gone for three months and not in normal circumstances, but since I’ve done it before, and like I said, I got that first sale yesterday, first sale back that’s what’s inspiring me now to get back into the gear.
Liz:
So I know when I package stuff up, I get excited. I like I’ll pull out a pair of jeans and be like, oh, I remember when I bought these. I remember listing it. This is so exciting. This is money. I can’t imagine that feeling when it’s something that you’ve crafted and you handmade yourself. Like, that’s just got to feel, to me if it were mine, I would feel even more excited about that sale because it’s something that I crafted and I created and I’m bringing to the marketplace.
Meredith:
Yes. I think that’s true. Since I’ve done both sourcing products and selling that versus creating products, I think that’s true that it is exciting. And especially when I get a special request from somebody, I love it because it’s making it their own. So they’re invested. And as much as I’m invested in creating something that somebody likes, whether it’s something funny or just a different personalization, I love it!
Doug:
Just a little inside perspective. So Mer mentioned the hot pink envelopes or the shipping packages that she uses, but she also has branded tissue paper that she wraps in, stickers that she uses. She puts a card in, and then she has set messages that she sends like, thank you for your order. You’re supporting my small business. I’d love it. If you leave me a review, if you have any issues or questions, let me know. So she really does a lot of that extra kind of surprise and delight in the packaging, but also following up afterwards, sending out shipping numbers, you know, a little bit of that above and beyond.
Meredith:
I think that that’s absolutely necessary in this day and age, to, especially for Etsy if you’re making something personalized, you’ve got to do that extra step or go that extra mile. And I learned that by being a buyer, when I would buy fabric to make face masks or aprons off of Etsy, the fabric would come with a cute little bow around it and a cute little card from the shop owners saying, ‘thank you for your support,’ whether it was typed or handwritten, it was the extra mile that makes you say, “Oh, I’m going to favorite this store. And I’m going to go back to that store and I’m going to buy from that store again.” So I definitely stole some of those ideas for my own and did get personalized stickers with my logo and Mertini Mercantile on it, personalized cards. But I still hand write a thank you note with every order I hand write it. And I just think that that’s a special touch for me personally. I like that. “Thank you for your order.” And I say their name, or if it’s a gift, I send the gift card to the person and yes, Doug’s right. As soon as I get an order within two hours, I have it on where they’ll get the automated message. “Thank you for your order and supporting my small business. In the meantime, if you have any questions or want anything changed, let me know. I’ll let you know, as soon as your order ships,” then when the order ships, of course I send the “Thank you for your order. Your order is on your way. Here’s your tracking number. Let me know when you receive it. If you have any questions” again. And I always say, because I’m small, I’m still a small business. I’m a year and a half into this, really for my “full-time” job. I ask them for a review before they get the product and say, you know, “if you love your product, please leave me a review. And if you don’t, please contact me and let’s figure this out.” That’s the thing that I think will set Etsy sellers apart is when you’re creating homemade products, put a special touch and your own love and your own flair in your packaging. I love that Mercari makes the sellers rate you before you can rate them and get paid. I like that. Etsy does not make anybody leave a review. It encourages you to leave a review, but you don’t have to. So Etsy is again, if you do that extra little touch of your business or yourself and ask for a review, you’re more likely to get a review. But I still chase those reviews down. And I always review my buyers when I can too.
Liz:
But that is a super pro tip. So a pro tip A) For going the extra mile. And I can see, especially with handcrafted merchandise, like you said, you receive that fabric with that extra touch. You’re favoriting that seller because you are going to buy more fabric and you are probably going to go right back to the seller you know, trust and appreciate.
Meredith:
Absolutely. One hundred percent.
Liz:
So if you’re not doing that as a seller, but especially as an Etsy seller, who is handcrafting stuff, that should probably be a priority. All of that aside, it’s just good customer service.
Meredith:
Correct.
Liz:
Facebook, Facebook group, Facebook shop, Mercari, Etsy, some eBay.
Meredith:
Yes.
Liz:
And what are your plans going forward, and do you plan to expand beyond those platforms?
Meredith:
So going forward, I plan to continue to focus and revamp my Etsy account and to refocus and revamp my Etsy shop and Mercari. And I’m also launching in about a month, my own website, mertinimercantile.com.
Liz:
Nice!
Meredith:
Yes. And that I will be able to showcase all of my hard goods versus homemade goods. And some people might link to my Instagram too. I’m also going to revamp my Instagram account and my webpage. That’s what I’m focusing on and to get the word out to all of the avenues where I’m listing products.
Doug:
All right. I’m going to ask the question that is on everyone’s mind. So what’s it like being married to Snoop Dougie? Is it as awesome as everybody could imagine?
Meredith:
Well, let me tell you a little story about a time Doug, Snoop Dougie, excuse me, and I were at the local Costco shopping and we don’t often shop together, but for whatever reason, about two or three years ago, Doug was still at eBay and we were shopping at Costco. And I hear literally across four aisles, “Oh! My! Gosh! Snoop Dougie?!” Anybody who doesn’t know Snoop Dougie looked because it was so dramatic. (laughing) And my head spun around and I looked up at a fan of Snoop Dougie and Snoop Dougie said, “Yes! It’s me!” So excited to be recognized at the local Costco. And I walked away going, oh my gosh, are you kidding me? Doug does have a fan base. And it’s pretty funny. But being married to him, yeah, we have a lot of fun together. Yup.
Doug:
It’s true, the laughter!
Liz:
So before we started recording, we were talking and it was all fun, but there were a lot of obscure references that I could tell the two of them going back and forth and giggling about. I had no idea, but you can tell that the two of them have a lot of obscure references. I’m sure they have a ton of inside family jokes and giggling before this interview. And I think that’s pretty awesome.
Doug:
We have kind of an interesting relationship because we’ve been best friends for 30 something years. And so we’re very lucky to be married to each other’s best friend. I don’t know if that’s the way to put it?
Meredith:
Umm, creepy!
Doug:
But yeah, we do have a lot of inside jokes. But we’ve known each other 30 something years and been married 18 dating 19 or 20. And then yeah. You know, and we have a lot of fun, a lot of ups and downs, but we laugh a lot. We crack each other up. So, you know, that’s the big part of it.
Liz:
I think the bigger question would be, what’s it like being married to The Mer? But I think everybody already knows it’s gotta be fantastic!
Doug:
No, it’s awesome. She’s amazing. She’s the glue. She keeps everything running. She keeps us all together. Kids have crazy schedules. I have a crazy schedule and you know, stuff just happens. And we have to remind ourselves as a family now and again, it’s easy to take advantage of that stuff because everything just happens. And then you’ll take stuff for granted. You’ll be like, “Well, where’s my towel?!” Or, “Oh my God, we’re out of cookies!” It’s easy to take advantage when everything just happens.
Meredith:
Aw, thank you.
Doug:
And so she’s a wife, best friend, a mom.
Liz:
She makes it happen.
Doug:
She makes it happen every day. I
Meredith:
I squeeze it all in between my penis aprons and my masks. (all laughing)
Liz:
Well, I think the priority is about to shift with a relaunch. So Doug, you better learn what the family cookies that you need to put in the cookie jar are, probably get a special place for your own towel now. I think you might be at that level.
Meredith:
Yes. You know, I learned first on a small scale in 2020 when we were making face masks and my girlfriend, my neighbor two doors down also immunocompromised and was home and sheltering in place and nervous. And she’s a sewer and we started switching fabrics and getting and giving each other just free fabric. Oh! That’s when elastic for the masks were not anywhere. And guess where I found them? I found them on Etsy as a shopper. So we would swap, or we would lend each other the elastic for the masks, give each other cute new fabrics and split it up just because everything was in short demand. And so I thought, “Oh, this is cool!” This is somebody who could be a competitor, but she’s not, we’re both selling in the same circle of friends locally in the beginning and so helpful. And then fast forward to now, that towards the end of 2021, and I’m lurking on the List Perfectly page and I’m lurking in groups here and there to see what people are doing or what they have to say. And everybody is so free with their information and so willing to answer questions for newbies or help or whatever! They just share their info, share their knowledge that they could keep for themselves and just say, “No, this is my top secret.” But there’s plenty for everybody. And I know that and I’m so happy to see that so many people on your List Perfectly page, for example, see that and know that too. It’s awesome! It’s a great community to be in as a seller. There are so many sellers out there that are just crazy-awesome!
Liz:
There really are. And we’re so happy to have you in the group. So get up and running. And once you have time come and join, and post more. I’m sure that people have crafting and Etsy questions. I see them in there. So it’s always great to have people around with that knowledge. And there will always be questions on the handmade goods, on starting your own product line and you launched on Facebook and that’s something that a lot of people haven’t done. And I see questions about that, too. So when you get time, it would be awesome to have you participating in that group.
Meredith:
Yes, I will. I will be there!
Liz:
What is your favorite platform and what is the next platform you’re looking to expand to?
Meredith:
So far my favorite platform has absolutely been Etsy, because again, that’s where I get to sell my stuff, my product, whether it’s a sewing craft or something I use with my cricut for weddings, et cetera. And then secondly, is my Facebook group because that is just crazy and fun. And again, word of mouth. So those two. Etsy’s my first choice. Then Facebook, when I relaunch again through Lift Perfectly, I’m excited to see the different venues.
Doug:
All right Mertini Mercantile. Thanks for joining us. And you can find Mertini, not martini, Mertini Mercantile on Instagram, eBay Mercari, Etsy, and soon coming soon, the mertinimercantile.com website experience.
Meredith:
Yes! Thank you for having me. I had a blast with you guys!
Liz:
Thank you so much for joining us. I’m so happy that you could. And you know, just text me later. We’ll catch up.
Meredith:
Yeah!!
Doug:
All right. Thank you, Mer. And I’ll see you on the porch.
Meredith:
All right, I’ll see you on the porch, Doug and Liz, I’ll be talking to you soon!
Liz:
Yes. Have a great day.
Meredith:
You too. Bye guys!
News
Liz:
I am so happy that Mer agreed to join us. But let me tell you as a seller and somebody that’s been in this community a long time, a lot of things really stuck out to me. Her story is unique. Your story is unique, but it does kind of echo a lot in the community. First and foremost, you know, kind of starting off selling things from around the house. A lot of times just like me, it’s the baby stuff, the clothes that didn’t fit anymore. And then kind of revisiting reselling.
Doug:
And, you know, what’s funny is obviously she’s got this whole journey, but at some point we were going through our garage and we have all these bins and we keep them labeled and way, way back, I found a bin that was labeled literally labeled “eBay” that was buried back in stuff and this was after I started working at eBay. Mer sold way, way back on eBay.
Liz:
It had to have been cool to find that box labeled “eBay.”
Doug:
It was cool to find that box. Yeah. And so we still have that box. She still needs to list that stuff. You know, the health issues that she has, it’s difficult for her to work like a corporate job. Definitely a way for her to contribute to the family.
Liz:
Yeah, and I think that when we look at the seller community, I think anybody listening to this and that caught onto that, I bet you they’re saying, yeah, me too, you know, like selling online, running your own small business on your own schedule allows you to take time for your body to rest if that’s what you need. It Allows you to, you know, get the kids where they need to go at obscure hours of the day, without asking to take your kids to practice or whatever, you know, or can I have this time off? And I think that a lot of sellers really can relate to that. But I think the cool part too, is she was able, you know, I can just tell talking to Mer that she just had this drive to want to contribute and want to continue doing something on the side or whatnot, and then really just building this business. And I think that her story is just amazing. I love how she was able to be like, “oh, I can sell sure. Let me make masks. Okay, let’s expand. And what else can I make?” And now she’s crafting a wide variety of stuff. And it sounds like she’s just beginning again. I want to have her back on in a couple of months or a month or whatever it is because I really want to see what kind of crafty stuff she could come up with next.
Doug:
Yeah. And there’s that, and she definitely has a plan and obviously I’m going to help her out. And we know that Liz will be available for questions. And it’s like, that’s what I’ve told her too. It’s like, we’ve got Liz and then there’s the whole community that is available, but I’m really proud of her and proud of her journey. And, you know, she used to be super high level in the corporate world, like operations director level and things like that. Running, you know, running huge companies basically. And that’s super stressful. So, you know, there’s some stress involved in selling, especially when you move and maybe you can’t find what you just sold or you can’t find your item. It accommodates different schedules. You can, you know, you don’t have to be like, oh, “Hey, I got to go do this, boss.” And you know, depending upon your boss, you get some crap for trying to take some time off.
Liz:
Right. That’s what I absolutely love about reselling, you know, that’s, I did it for my freedom so that I can work. I mean, and I’m not saying I want to hustle 24/7 to make the most amount of money. And I’m not saying, I just want to list things here and there, but if I want to have an 18 hour day and get it all done, I can do that. And then take two days off. I think one day Mer might be your boss.
Doug:
That would be fine!
Liz:
I can totally see that.
Doug:
I’ll be like the shipping dude.
Liz:
There you go!
Doug:
I’ll have a little window. And if you don’t fill out the form and follow the procedure, you have to wait. I can’t ship your stuff until tomorrow. I’m so sorry. You didn’t fill out the P90 form.
Liz:
I have a feeling she’s going to grow this. Big.
Doug:
I think so.
Liz:
And she talked about having the kids involved, how the kids would kind of tie the things on the mask and kind of getting the family involved. It really, I mean, I don’t think that we could have set this up any better, but we did have a question from a listener that kind of ties right into this.
Doug:
Yeah. Big listener of ours, Bonnie Slaven the Balm of the PLX. Hi Bonnie. And thank you for submitting the question. I’m going to read it, Liz.
Liz:
Do it!
Doug:
“Liz, and Doug, I would love to see how you include your kids in your business. I wish to invite my youngest to join me, but I need inspiration so I can explain it to her.” And so we kind of touched on this a couple of weeks ago. You did. And then I mentioned my son. Interestingly, my son has a friend and he and his brothers sell with their mom. So I think it’s something we’re going to talk to them about being on the show, but you start and tell us how you involve your son and your business.
Liz:
Yeah. Well, first my oldest has nothing to do with it. I’m like, “Hey, I can pay you for this?” He’s like, “you know, I’d rather go get a job. I don’t want to do that.” My youngest has here and there kind of helped me out and we have a really good system down. You know, I think that kids and teenagers are so intuitive, that I think I’ve learned some stuff from my son. You know, I’ve been able to be like, “Hey, take pictures.” And I started him off with one type of item. So I sell mostly clothing. Shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, shoes, belts, accessories, blah, blah, blah. I started him off with just men’s shirts. And I was like, “Here’s how you take a picture of men’s shirts. Here’s my set standard.” I wrote it on a dry erase board and I took a picture of it and put it in his phone. “Make sure you get the front, a close-up, details, the back, the fabric content and the tag, and any other special characters of the item.” They’re men’s shirts. That’s not too complex, right? And let me tell you for a teenage boy, that kid is a perfectionist. So what I have him do is I have him take the pictures, upload it to a blank List Perfectly listing and save it so that when I’m ready to list, it’s all right there for me. I use seller notes. He can write his name and that’s how I pay him. We have a set amount to pay per picture. That’s how my son helps me in my business.
Doug:
My kids, a couple of different things. So Murphy, my daughter, she actually does all of our shipping. We usually do USPS and runs it to the UPS store because they’ll scan it for us. So I always want to get stuff scanned just in case. And usually everything’s cool, but every once in a while we got to track something. So she handles that. She’s modeled some of the stuff for listings for Mer. Obviously, you know, they’ve helped her when she was selling the masks, they help Mer put the masks together. Finn helped me a lot. Kind of like you said, he’d do my eBay drafts. He would take the photos and do the title and do like the basic stuff. And it’s like, here’s what I want, you know, free shipping, all this, set it up. So he would do the draft and the draft would be in there until I would get to it. Take the pictures and then, you know, I would list on eBay and then, you know, over on Mercari. And then List Perfectly came along and he really liked the experience because he would start on his phone with my account, take the pictures, set up the drafts in List Perfectly and it’s the same process, but obviously easier to cross-list then. So he would do all the basics and then I would go in and complete everything and then I’d list. And obviously, you know, I don’t know how long it used to take me to list something, but you know, the whole point of List Perfectly is that it cuts out the time. And so he would do that and he really liked the flow much better than going directly into eBay, just doing it there. And so he’s helped, you know, obviously, like we said, everything’s been put on hold, but he asked recently, he’s like, Hey, when are you going to start listing so I can help again? It’s like, yeah, we’ll get everything set back up. Because we did this. One of the big things I learned from you way back is, you know, not only that economy of movement, but have stuff set up, you know, that’s what we used to have a photo station. We used to have a shipping area and you just got that stuff set up. So like when we were going to take a picture, all we have to do is switch on the lights and then you take the picture. Then you’ve got all your shipping stuff there. You’re not running up and down stairs and you know, all that. So we’ll get that all set back up and then he’ll be back into it. But you know, it’s good for him to learn. It’s good for him to make some money.
Liz:
I think what kind of helped me is, you know, yes, paying them a fair wage. I paid my son $1.50 a listing, but he had to take the picture, remove the background, upload it, make sure it was correct and in the right order that I wanted them. And he has to annotate in the notes if he had any problems, but he also has to write his name there. And that’s how I know at the end of the week, I just sort my List Perfectly catalog by notes, by his code in the search bar and okay, you did, you know, 40, there you go and then I just wipe it out. But he sat there, so like the first time he did it, he’s like “Only $1.50?” And then when he got the hang of it, like not even by the end of the week, I was like, “How long did that take you?” He’s like “An hour.” He’s like, “Oh yeah. So I just made like 20 bucks an hour.” I’m like, yeah. He’s like, oh, so I guess that works out. You know? So I think that paying them a fair wage and showing them how that breaks down and do an hourly wage versus, you know, something else and showing them that they did. Like, I put my laptop up and he just puts on YouTube and plays some YouTube videos. I was like, “You’re going to sit there, watching that anyways, you just made 20 bucks an hour doing it.” He’s like, “Oh yeah. I kind of see that.” Like I said, he’s a perfectionist. I also showed him when his listings would sell. I’d be like, “Hey, look, that item, you took a picture of sold for $40.” He’s like, “Oh, that’s cool. Somebody bought something that I took a picture of?”
Doug:
Yeah. That’s interesting. And you’re teaching them business and business skills. It’s like, if you want to launch your own business, sell online.
Liz:
Yeah. He hasn’t shown any interest in that yet. And that’s okay. I think the important thing to remember is you can’t push them into it because my oldest had nothing to do with it and that’s okay. Set the expectations clearly for them. So there’s no questions or whatnot down the road. And maybe, I don’t know. Maybe it’s my parenting style. If he messes up or if he doesn’t perform, he just doesn’t get paid for it. I’m not a slacker. I’m not like, “Oh, it’s okay.” Well, it’s not okay. When I see and he’s messed up pictures, I’ll be like, “Hey, you need to redo these and you don’t get paid for redoing them. So get it right the first time.”
Doug:
And well that, and that teaches stuff like, you know, do a good job, have pride in your work. It sounds like he does.
Liz:
He does.
Doug:
Well my son though, early on had a little racket where he was like, we had all these old video games and stuff and it’s like, he wasn’t playing anymore. And he was like, I asked him if I could sell them. And he’s like, “Yeah, you can sell my games if I get a cut.” And it’s like, technically who bought you those games?
Liz:
I was just going to say who bought those games?
Doug:
But you know what, all right, I’ll give you a little, cut you a little con man! Having him help, you know, really helped that out. But I also got to hop in Liz, because you actually gave a bonus List Perfectly pro tip using the notes feature. That’s a great feature. And so you can put notes in there to yourself, whether it’s inventory, whether it’s whatever, you know, whatever listing notes you want, but that’s how Liz tracks, I think you track inventory, but that’s how you track what listings your son does. So you know, when to pay him or, you know, like you said, “I’ll take a look at this. Oh, this isn’t up to par. No pay!”
Liz:
Right! (laughing) Or it means sometimes he’ll, he’ll just leave me a note. He’s like, “I think this needs to be ironed” or whatever, you know, if he thinks something’s wrong or if he’s like, “Hey, I found a hole or a stain and I took it, I put it in the last picture,” just, you know, notes to me, which is really nice. And I was going to say and the very last thing is, you know, I set these expectations for him. And I hold him to it, but you also have to hold yourself. If I say, “You’re going to get paid every Friday before noon” I have to pay him every Friday before noon because I am his employer and he’s done a great job for me this week. He’s going to get paid on time, on the day it’s expected. So remember that.
Doug:
Yeah. It goes both ways.
Liz:
So anyway, Bonnie. I hope that the big, long tirade of helping to get your kids involved has helped.
Doug:
And then Bonnie. Yeah. We’d love to hear how it goes. So, you know, you can shoot us an email or you can call in and leave a message or post, or all three. Post in the List Perfectly group, you know, maybe start up a discussion about it, get some tips from other sellers. Because we know a lot of sellers that their kids help and even some where the kids have gone on again to start their own businesses. All right. It’s time for the news, Liz. We’ve got some cool news this week, starting out with some TikTOK news, Liz. (music playing) You know how I love the TikTok, even though I’m not super active on there. But I’m planning it out. Following Liz’s example, Liz is much more active on the TikTok in the reels. So I’m working on my video strategy, Liz, so TikTok has adjusted to their community. And that’s part of the reason I really like TikTok is they adjust to the community. They see these trends and they’ve really seen the small business trend and they’re actually really leaning into sellers, too. So basically they’ve launched a partnership with Shopify. So what they’re doing is they are, you have to have a merchant profile, a TikTok business profile, and they are adding a shop tab for your profile. So a shop tab, Shopify shop tab for approved merchant profiles. It’s not like direct instream shopping and you get linked out, but still, I mean, I think it’s the first step to that. And you know, obviously part of social commerce, I think that is, this is a cool, interesting partnership too.
Liz:
I absolutely agree. Like, you know, I’m not really on TikTok that much. But I have the last couple of weeks made like one or two TikToks. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. Really. I’m just seeing what works, if I see something funny that I think should go on there, I’ll do it. My dog walking, I don’t know. I really am just using it to follow other sellers and kind of seeing what they’re doing with their business and with TikTok. Last week, List Perfectly relaunched their TikTok account. And they posted about it in the Facebook group. If you do have a TikTok account, make sure to go to the List Perfectly Facebook group, drop your TikTok account there. Or if you’re on TikTok go follow at List Perfectly on TikTok because they are relaunching. If you do seller related content with List Perfectly, hashtag List Perfectly, and they will see it. Or tag List Perfectly. How does that work? Do you hashtag or tag, Doug?
Doug:
Either. Most people say tag. But, they, they seem to be sharing a lot of seller TikToks about List Perfectly, so that’s cool. They’re doing a good job and you’re doing a good job on there, Liz.
Liz:
Thank you very much.
Doug:
You’re welcome. And TikTok is working to make it easier for creators to list on there. They also just launched an integration with Canva, the easy image creation tool. So they’ve got some, I don’t know if you’d call them filters, I guess, templates in there for your TikToks and you know, again, TikTok is not for everybody, but it is an interesting tool out there for, I think, your consideration.
Liz:
So the reason that I brought up List Perfectly is List Perfectly supports Shopify. I don’t have a Shopify account, but if I did? You’d better believe that I’d be getting on it and posting to TikTok.
Doug:
Yeah, for sure!
Liz:
To link directly to my accounts. Like if you’re currently just on eBay or Mercari, or if you’re just on Etsy and whatever account, you can easily import your items into Shopify and put it on TikTok.
Doug:
You know, the basic concept is there is you get a hub page that you can send traffic to, you can get a URL and do a redirect. So if you wanted to have Coloradoreworn.com as a Shopify store, you can do that. So you’ve got a hub, you can put all kinds of different content on there. You can link out to everything, but you can also sell there. And you know, you’ve got all these integration opportunities. And the point is too is you’ve got these e-commerce tools to help you sell securely.
Liz:
It makes it a lot easier. I recently have been following this TikTok account. I’ve been following the story of this lady that tried to launch her business. Her husband encouraged her to do TikTok. She failed. And I say failed to where she didn’t get anybody, no traction, anything on her items on her lives, trying to sell stuff on TikTok or you know, advertise her business on TikTok. She tried a couple, she was nervous. Her husband secretly filmed her entire journey.
Doug:
Oh wow. That’s interesting
Liz:
Yes. He was filming her doing these TikToks and you know, he was, you can go through and look at his TikTok. So basically he created a TikTok. He explained how he hid it from her. And he would film her reactions like when she did, so he would go on and say, “Hey guys, my wife’s having a hard time doing this. Will you please follow this account and give her some support? Here’s the link. If you want to buy something, do it.” And he would record her like trying to make TikToks. He would record her working at the computer and then he would record her when she made a sale and he would just secretly record her going “Oh my gosh! I got a sale! I made a sale to Washington!” And he would put that up. He’s like, “Do you see how excited she is when she gets an order from you guys?” And this account blew up. What he did is his intention was to hand over the TikTok account and tell her about it. It lasted about a month before he handed it over to her. But having that TikTok account exploded her business. And it just goes to show, I mean, it was just such a heartfelt, awesome thing. And I mean, just following that was super cool. The account Brit.coop is the account that this husband started for his wife. It currently has 27,000 followers.
Doug:
Nice.
Liz:
And 201,000 likes.
Doug:
Wow. That’s awesome.
Liz:
Yeah. It’s B R I T dot C O O P. And just the way he went through. So he started it on July 13th and he just kind of explained how he hid it from her. And then just a lot of like recording her surprise reactions to her sales.
Doug:
That’s cool. It’s like a behind the scenes type of thing. Hopefully she wasn’t mad when she found out.
Liz:
No, no, she wasn’t. And then he handed the account over to her.
Doug:
Maybe we should have them on the show.
Liz:
That would be so cool. Yeah. So I’m going to follow it more. See, this is what, this is why I can’t get any TikTok videos done, Doug. Because I find stuff like this and I scroll through and I watch all of them.
Doug:
It’s called the rabbit hole. The TikTok hole.
Liz:
Yes it is. But it’s really cool. He has her store linked and she was a geologist. Wait, I think she was a geologist. She takes pictures of gems and puts them onto clothing and it’s sparkle style.
Doug:
Interesting. Some bling?
Liz:
So I thought that was really cool. Really ties into TikTok. TikTok for business and how you can advertise and sell your items on a social platform. And we keep talking about, or we keep hearing about, and talking about how visual selling via, you know, how pictures are just so important and how videos are becoming more and more important.
Doug:
And that’s visual clothing, bedazzling with actual gemstones. That’s super interesting. But you know what that’s the other thing we were talking about is she’s taking something she loved and turning it into a business.
Liz:
Yes! Exactly. Exactly. So Doug, what else do we have in the news?
Doug:
That’s it. That’s all the news I think that fits this week, Liz.
Liz:
All right. If you want more news, follow us on LinkedIn.
Doug:
That’s right. The e-commerce news. You should keep up on that.
Liz:
Yeah! It’s pretty interesting. We don’t cover all of it, but there’s some interesting things out there.
Outro
Liz:
So thank you for tuning in this week. Thank you Mer for joining us. Thank you. And listeners, thanks for joining us this week on the seller community podcast from List Perfectly.
Doug:
So let me just jump in here, Liz. You’re sounding very official. And we realize that Mer is my wife and Mertini Mercantile, that’s my wife’s account. But I mean, we just thought it was an interesting story that was definitely worth sharing about. You know, somebody that came from the business world, started an online business based around stuff that she’s into and then, you know, just kind of grew it and had to put it on hold for a bit and now is just relaunching. So hopefully you find some value in it.
Liz:
And she’s a pretty cool person, too.
Doug:
That is true.
Liz:
Yeah. Yeah.
Doug:
I don’t hang out with uncool people.
Liz:
Right, right.
Doug:
But Liz, we also had some questions. You slipped in a List Perfectly pro tip. We weren’t sure we were going to have this week. And obviously we had some news, some interesting seller news. So why don’t we, do you want to pay the bills again?
Liz:
Of course. And we also got to shout out our friends, Molly, Libby, and Tiffany with consignment chats and Starr at Flippin Hippos.
Doug:
And the brit.coop TikTok account.
Liz:
Yeah. That’s so interesting. If you guys just want a cool feel, good story, go follow that TikTok. That’s like almost a story worth falling down the road TikTok rabbit hole for an hour for.
Doug:
Yes.
Liz:
You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast. Leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast. You can email us at podcast@thesellercommunitypodcast.com and you can also post a question in the List Perfectly Facebook group. Use the hashtag seller community podcast, and tag or mention myself or Doug,
Doug:
And then you can listen to us anywhere you listen to podcasts. Be sure and subscribe, tell your friends, and they’ll tell two friends and so on, and so on, and so on. And we would love for you to leave us a review at Apple podcasts, if you listen on Apple podcasts, that would be very helpful. Tell us what you like, what you don’t like, what you want more of what you want less of give us an honest review. It’s very helpful. And then, you mentioned List Perfectly Facebook group. I think that’s good.
Liz:
Yeah. Okay. That’s it, Doug! That’s a wrap.
Doug:
That’s a wrap.
Liz:
Hey Doug.
Doug:
Yes?
Liz:
What are we going to do?
Doug:
I guess we will…
Liz and Doug:
See you next week!