Episode 31: Consignment For Your Reselling Business With @ConsignmentChats
Overview
In episode 31 we talk to Consignment Chats founders Libby, Molly, and Tiffany about consignment and community. We discuss what consignment is, and consignment as a business model along with tips and tricks for a consignment business. We also have the news and an eBay Seller Update recap.
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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Episode 31 Links
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Consignment Chats Community
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eBay Community Seller Update Discussion
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Transcript
Intro
Doug:
All right, Liz. So we’re about a month out from fabulous Las Vegas.
Liz:
I can’t believe it. So I’m leaving in five weeks.
Doug:
Yeah. That’s pretty sweet.
Liz:
I’m so excited!
Doug:
We will see each other. It’s been a couple, actually a couple of years now. Right? Since we’ve seen each other and some of our other seller friends.
Liz:
Yes. Well, it’s been about almost two years since I’ve seen almost anybody. So the last trip I took actually pre pandemic was Vegas.
Doug:
Wow.
Liz:
Yeah, that was the last trip I took. But anyways, it’s going to be fun to go back. I’m super excited to learn from so many other sellers that have such great insight.
Doug:
Yeah. It’s going to be awesome. So many friends, so much learning, so much information!
Liz:
And we’re going to be there.
Doug:
We will be there.
Liz:
Recording for the podcast.
Doug:
Yeah. People can come speak to us. We’ll interview. We’ll do some live streaming we hope.
Liz:
Yes, I cannot wait!
Doug:
Yeah. It’s going to be all crazy. So we’ll figure it out though.
Liz:
So anyways, if listeners don’t know what we’re talking about, we’re talking about the Reseller Remix in Las Vegas, October 19th, 20th and 21st. You can go to resellerremix.com and learn more information. Or you can ask List in the Perfectly Facebook group. Somebody just did that last week saying, “Hey, what’s the thing going on in Vegas?”
Doug:
Okay. There you go. And reseller rewind is the eighties reseller festival that I will be putting together.
Liz:
That Doug has put together in his head. (laughing)
Doug:
Yes, in my head. The bands are amazing. Liz?
Liz:
Doug?
Doug:
Sit down. Are you sitting?
Liz:
Yeah! I do a lot of sitting. What’s up?
Doug:
It’s a little awkward. I didn’t want you to find out this way, Liz.
Liz:
Uh on. What’s going on, Doug?
Doug:
Someone has asked me to be on their show.
Liz:
What? Okay. This does not surprise me.
Doug:
I’m as shocked as you are, Liz.
Liz:
No, I’m not surprised. Whoever this person is, is extremely lucky to have you on their show.
Doug:
Actually it’s three persons.
Liz:
Three persons?
Doug:
Yes.
Liz:
Huh! Coincidentally, the guests that we have on our show this week are three persons.
Doug:
All right, it’s them. Consignment Chats.
Liz:
Yes!
Doug:
Yes. So I’m very excited. They want to have me on their show. It’s very touching.
Liz:
I’m excited to hear your interview with them coming up on a future episode. You know, maybe it’ll be 45. So we can be number 35 and number 45. I would guess 35. So I just sign all of my posts in the group, number 35.
Doug:
Yeah.
New Speaker:
A cryptic numeric code.
Liz:
Yes. It’s an honor. But speaking of which we do have Molly, Libby and Tiffany on the show today from Consignment Chats.
Doug:
Yes. On episode 31. Not 35, 31. But it was fun. They were super cool. It was fun to chat with them. And they’re like, “all sellers should be ready to consign,” because you don’t think about that because people are going to ask you to sell their stuff and they’ll give you some good tips on it. We’ll talk about that. I’m sure you’ve been asked to sell people’s stuff. Have you been, and what do you say? What do you do?
Liz:
So I’ve been casually asked by family, “Hey, wonder if you could sell this for me” and my big deterrent, because at first look, I’m like, I don’t want to deal with this big stuff or breakables or you know, stuff that people want $500 for, but you know it’s only worth 20. And my big thing is I really don’t have time right now, or eh, people aren’t really paying what they used to, for that stuff. Just to kind of deter them. One instance, I have a friend that had to move a lot of clothing and I know her style and she’s like, “oh my gosh, I need to take all of this stuff to the Goodwill. I’m doing this whole closet purge.” And I’m like, “Hey, Hey, Hey!” She wears a lot of Lululemon. A lot of Lululemon, which, I mean, this was a couple of years ago. The market’s still stable, but not as good as it used to be. And I was like, “I will just pay you. I will give you labels, ship me your stuff and I’ll give you 50%.” And I was like, “but you have to have zero expectations.” She’s like, “well, I was going to give this stuff away anyways.”
Doug:
Well, there you go!
Liz:
So that worked out for us because we were just very clear. I was like,” look, you know, you’re not going to get too much.” And she’s like, “I’m just going to give it away.” So I pushed a lot of Lululemon, a lot of Frye boots and purses.
Doug:
No idea.
Liz:
Yeah. Okay. But listeners that sell clothing, yeah. Sellers that sell clothing, you know, that’s just a staple. Kind of like a higher end bread and butter. We’re not talking Gucci and Burberry and whatever other high-end stuff, because they don’t really deal with, but that was nice. I’ve only done that once.
Doug:
I’ve had a couple, I mean, we all get, “Hey, what can I sell this for?” A friend reached out to me wanting to sell an RV and I wasn’t even gonna touch that. I’m like, “here’s the info from eBay. You can sell it on eBay.” Most people come to me and want to sell stuff on eBay. Or friends will come to me if they have a problem with eBay. So if there’s an issue. The big one I have is my friend, he’s had a bunch of books that he wants to sell. So, I like to sell books because you know, my stuff’s not super high margin, I like to sell smaller stuff. I like to do media mail stuff. So books are fine for me. I don’t mind, you know, I don’t mind that whole thing. So I’ve got a bunch of boxes of books. But I’ve still got, I’m still frankly going through my own stuff that’s backed up to list. So, we have a lot of bands. Yeah, everybody’s going to get asked to sell stuff or, “well, I know this is worth blah, blah, blah,” makes me think of Antiques RoadShow or that pawn shop show where people come up with stuff and it’s like either, “oh, this is a fake or this isn’t what you thought it was.” Or grandma’s chair is not worth something.
Liz:
Right? Like Hummel figurines. Like,” oh, these are surely collectible now because I’ve had this for 40 years, they must be worth hundreds of dollars.” You’re like, “Hmm, yeeeaaaahhh…” So that’s got to be hard.
Doug:
Yeah, it is. And the big thing too is like trends have changed. What people are into has changed. And like stuff that used to sell, doesn’t sell. It’s like my mom’s got this classic convo we have every few months, the “I’m gonna die” convo. Where she’s like “when I go,” because she talks like this. “When I go, I want Mer to have the crystal and Mo to have my silver.” I was like, “nobody wants your crystal and silver, mom.” “I want you to have your father’s desk.” I’m like, “I don’t want to have it. I have a nice desk. I don’t need a desk.” “But I want you to have it. And grandma’s chair. You can’t get rid of it!”
Liz:
Right. Yeah. And where 50 years ago people would be like, “ah, yes, I get dad’s desk!” You know? And just trends have changed and people have changed. So yeah, I get it without spilling too much of the interview because Tiffany, Molly and Libby, just give such great insight to where, if you’re not a consigner, tune in and listen, that didn’t make any sense.
Doug:
Yeah.
Liz:
So if you’re a reseller and even if you don’t consign, listen to some tips and tricks that Consignment Chats has to offer. Like I said, I rarely consign, but I love being a part of the community and I learned a lot. So what do you say, Doug?
Doug:
Yes.
Liz:
Should we pay the bills and get started?
Doug:
Yeah! I’ll let you. You can pay the bills this week.
Liz:
Great. Thanks. It’s my week.
Doug:
Yeah. It’s your job, man. I don’t even know what a lululemon pair of tights costs.
Liz:
(Laughing) Right? They are $2. Don’t worry about it.
Doug:
Okay.
Liz:
Just kidding. Again, this is episode 31 of the Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. We are brought to you every week for your enjoyment and show notes can be found at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast. Let’s get into the show.
Doug:
So we’ve got Consignment Chats. So we’ve got as always e-commerce news, we have List Perfectly news and updates and we have a List Perfectly tip but first let’s listen to our interview with the lovely, fantastic fun Consignment Chat ladies, Libby, Molly, and Tiffany.
Consignment For Your Reselling Business
Liz:
Welcome Tiffany, Molly and Libby. I know we’ve all been following and interacting with each other for so long now. I am super excited to have you here on the Seller Community Podcast. Welcome.
Tiffany, Molly and Libby:
Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you! Thanks.
Doug:
And so let’s go around and do some introductions. Please introduce yourselves and we can start with Libby.
Libby:
Yeah. Hi everybody. I’m Libby. I am a consignment store owner. I run an all online consignment store now called Conshy Consignment and the three of us run Consignment Chats together, which is a community for consignment and other online resellers. And we’re going to get into that and tell you all about it and why we started it. But, how I got into consignment was really, I have a degree in environmental science, but I also have this entrepreneurial drive. So this was the way that I meshed the two together about nine years ago. Now I quit working in corporate America and opened the consignment store and it’s just been a wild ride of a combination of both of my passions. So that’s kind of where that came from.
Molly:
So I’m Molly and I’m based out of North Carolina, but I actually work with Libby at Conshy Consignment. And then of course do Consignment Chats with the girls, the ladies. So I always like to tell people I got into it because I’m actually an expert shopper. So it just kind of led to becoming a seller, but truly, I look back and I think ‘my gosh, I was actually born into this.’ I kind of had to do it in the end. So I was born to a father who was an environmentalist. And then I have my aunt who in 1965 actually started the very first thrift store on Hilton Head where I grew up in South Carolina. So I always grew up learning about the circular economy, shopping it, living it in my life. So it just happens to set the stage for what I do now. And I got into Conshy Consignment because Libby and I met when our kids were in elementary school together, we were both active in the PTO and found an immediate connection with our love, for all things local and environmental. So when she decided to open her store, I jumped in to help her get it ready because I have a love for design and craft and fun. And so I got in there and just jumped in and helped her get her storefront ready to open. And then a few months later, she called me and said, “Hey, would you like to help do some listings on eBay?” And I was like, “do what?” (all laughing) So, that’s kind of how it all began. I was like, “Well sure. I’ll come in every now and then, and pick a few items. You know, we can talk about a couple items to put up”. And so we kind of started that part-time, I’d go in the back room, at a little desk and throw a couple of handbags up that we would talk about that we thought were worthy of it. And we keep talking about that day, we listed our 100th item. I’m like screaming from the back of the show. “We have 100 items!”
Libby:
I mean, very shortly after I opened you became the internet sales manager. You took over yeah.
Molly:
Took over the internet. So, and became full time as I started just doing that part-time and Libby’s like, ” just come on in full time and do this and be my internet sales manager.” So 10 years later and a location change and storefront to online change, and here we are. I’m in North Carolina now, but still able to work the same job.
Doug:
Awesome. And Tiffany?
Tiffany:
All right. Well, I started selling my own stuff on eBay when my husband and I got together because it was a second marriage for both of us. We had two separate households. We were bringing together, blending our three kids together, and you know how kids outgrow everything every five seconds, you know, they were all different sizes. So the hand-me-downs didn’t really work. So I just started selling my own stuff on eBay about 2006. And I would do that sporadically, but not really, you know, just as myself, not as a business or whatever. And then in 2018, I’ve always been a bookkeeper, and in 2018 I left my full-time bookkeeping job that I had been working 50, 60 hours a week at, it was crazy. And I left that and I thought, ‘well, I just want to do maybe switch to a part-time gig, but then ramp up my eBay selling.’ So I started getting into selling more and more stuff. And then my friend says, “Hey, I got a bunch of stuff you can sell for me.” And so she just, she wasn’t kidding. I mean, she has a lot of stuff and she just kept bringing me stuff and stuff and stuff. And I was like, I looked at my husband. I was like, you know, this can actually, after I saw some sales and when I was selling her stuff for, and when I was making, she was making and I said, “This could actually be my business. Like I could sell as a consignment store online.” Like, you know, I just kind of stumbled into it. I was like, I can do this. So I actually created a little advertisement and I was gonna put it out in advertising for consigners. Well, that was 2018 and I’ve never used that ad ever. I don’t need to. The word gets around to people you know and then I have such a backlog downstairs that I can’t even do it because I’m still bookkeeping part-time and doing that plus now Consignment Chats. So, it’s just worked out, yeah.
Liz:
I love all of that. And I want to get into how this came together, but first, if somebody wouldn’t mind explaining what consignment is, because I know a lot of this comes up a lot and sometimes it’s not clear what consignment is. So in your words, what is consignment?
Speaker 4:
Yeah. I’m going to keep this real simple. I’m going to field this one, keep this real simple. So basically somebody gives you their items, called the consigner, and you sell them for that person. And then they get a percentage, well usually it’s a percentage. Sometimes it’s a flat rate. Usually it’s a percentage of the sale price. So that’s plain and simple. You’re selling somebody’s items for them and giving back a percentage of the sales. So after the sale, it’s not a buy outright. So a lot of people do this and they don’t even realize that they’re doing consignment. So I think a lot of people might hear this and be like, “oh yeah, wait, I do that!”
Liz:
Yeah!
Doug:
What is Consignment Chats and how did the three of you get together and come up with that idea?
Tiffany:
Like I said, I sort of fell into the consignments online thing. Through another, through an eBay group I met Libby and we started chatting outside the group. You know, I didn’t ever meet her and I still haven’t met her in person or Molly, by the way. But we started chatting and became friends offline. Outside of the group one day I just said, you know, let me see if I can do it, if I’m doing this right. Like I wasn’t even really sure. I knew she sold consignment. So that intrigued me. But then I thought, well, let me go on YouTube and see if I could find some information, some videos on selling consignments online, or any consignment videos. And I found pretty much nothing. She and I happened to be chatting on Facebook messenger about something else. And I said, “You know what? It’s really funny. I was just thinking about you because I was looking for these videos online and I couldn’t find anything about consignments. And I thought, wouldn’t it be neat if you and I got together and did something about consignments.” And she said, “Oh my gosh, my friend Molly’s been bugging me to do that for years. Let me get her in and see. Let’s chat. Let me take something.” And she runs with it.
Libby:
Yeah. Tiffany didn’t know that about me. Like she mentioned it and all of a sudden we’re like recording a podcast. And we have a YouTube channel.
Tiffany:
It was like a passing thought I was having. And all of a sudden, like three days later I was looking at my husband. I said, oh my God, like, we’re doing this! We need a logo.
Libby:
Poor Tiffany didn’t know what she was in for at that point in time.
Molly:
Tiffany, if I could have talked to you ahead of time, I would have warned you. (all laughing).
Tiffany:
It’s been a fun ride. Let me tell you.
Libby:
Now she has to really consider something before she says it to me.
Liz:
Molly, I’m glad you didn’t get a hold of Tiffany because that leads right into my thought process of why I was so excited to discover Consignment Chats because I’m in and out of Facebook groups in and out of social media, I’ve been selling for a while and the talk of consignment comes up often. But the content of the consignment just really, is non-existent. I found the same thing as Tiffany. I’m not a consignment seller, but so many of my friends are. And so we get into these discussions and it just kind of fizzles out because nobody really knows the answer. There’s no true conversations. So when I ran across Consignment Chats, Libby, Molly, Tiffany, I was like, this is so needed in our community. And I see this talked about so often. So how does a seller really get started with consignment?
Libby:
Yeah, that’s an awesome question.
Liz:
It’s loaded. I’m sorry. (all laughing)
Libby:
So first of all, let me just say, and you’re going to hear this maybe a couple of times from us, is that we think every reseller should be consignment ready. So whether you’re doing consignment now or whether you’re just a reseller at some point in time, and I’m sure Snoop Dougie and Liz can vouch for this, somebody is going to ask you to sell their stuff for them. Right? Probably many, many people.
Doug:
Yes.
Libby:
All right. So how you get started, I think before anything else is done. So we did episodes six and nine, and it’s all about creating your terms of consignment. And I think that’s a brilliant way for anybody to start. So we lay out in these episodes six and nine, how to write up your terms of consignment or your contract. So, you know what you’re going to take on consignment. You know, what your percentage is, you know, all of the basics. So when you have that consignment contract in your reseller toolbox, you can just say, here’s my terms of consignment. When somebody asks you, does this look okay to you, but you’ll also know if you’re willing to accept those items in advance. So it makes it very easy to say no to somebody, but it also gives you the flexibility to not leave money on the table. If you are presented with this awesome opportunity, you’re ready. So I think the contract is really, and your terms of consignment are the first step that anybody should just, every reseller needs that in their toolbox.
Liz:
Have it waiting!
Libby:
I’m done preaching now. I’m sorry I get up and going.
Liz:
No, do it! I love that. Have that waiting. I have had, you know, and Doug said yes too. I’ve done it for one friend. And it worked out because I didn’t know what to do. Even though I’ve seen this conversation, I’m like, “well, um, uh,” it worked, but I feel like I was lucky that it worked.
Libby:
Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of potential minefields you can avoid by just considering that and laying out your terms. And it’s not complicated. It’s not complicated. You could probably do that in the span of a half an hour and have it done and just have it at the ready if you ever need it.
Liz:
And Consignment Chats can help you along the way with that in those episodes.
Molly:
Okay, I want to throw in on that real quick, your attitude. I think that a lot of people that start and don’t really know having that contract is important, but I also think you have to have that attitude to go with it if these are my terms and there’s a reason for them and I’m strong behind them because people will try to push the limit. And so you have to think of yourself as the owner, the boss, in a kind way, but stay strong. Because I’ve had people try to talk me out of things often. And my heart kind of starts to melt and I’m like, “oh gosh, you’ve given and you’re going to pay the price.” And we did learn that with a couple of things. You pay the price, so you do need to stand strong to your contract.
Doug:
Yeah. Those are great tips.
Libby:
It’s a great, low risk, low investment kind of way to build your inventory. You don’t have to put any money out. Like you can start with zero and you can consign and kind of build up your cash reserves. And it’s a great low risk way to start. Honestly, I recommend it for most people starting with reselling because you’re not putting money out. Like I see a lot of people make the mistake and they go and they source and they have these great death piles and they’re putting all this money in not knowing what they’re going to recoup. Well, consignment is a great low risk way to, to build your inventory without risking putting out any money.
Tiffany:
And also if you’re not a shopper like Molly or Liz, like if you don’t like to go out and shop, especially for other people, it really helps to have all the inventory just dropped on your doorstep. I’m just saying, I love that.
Liz:
Yeah. So true. I love that it’s a zero cost way to start a business.
Doug:
I learned it from my son. So when I started selling, he had a bunch of video games laying around like old, you know, upgrade your system, so you have these video games. And I was like, “Hey, can I,” his name is Finn, “Finn, can I sell your video games?” He’s like, “Yeah, what’s my cut?” I was like Oh! Mr.12 year old entrepreneur. And then as Liz pointed out, when we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, who bought the games in the first place? But I gave him a little bit of a cut, but I also have a couple of things hanging out there. But then I have a friend who had a bunch of books he wanted to get rid of. So that’s the sore point because we had to move 12 big, heavy boxes of books when we moved. I still have those and all that space. That now, fill a closet that we need and we need that space.
Liz:
But I love it. It’s a zero cost startup and adds into that circular economy. Even if you paid for your own kids’ games and then they sell them back to you at 50% and you do all the work. Doug, that’s brilliant!
Doug:
Well, the scary thing was, he came looking for his money and threatened to break my kneecaps if I didn’t pay him. (all laughing)
Liz:
Wonder where he learned that.
Doug:
What could I do?!
Molly:
See? You should have had, if you would have been contract ready, you could have avoided that.
Libby:
Next time Finn gets a contract. (laughing)
Doug:
That’s right!
Libby:
I mean, my kids both have consignment accounts and they sell stuff on the account and they get a percentage of the sale and they’re worked right into the whole system we do. Just as if they were any other consigner.
Liz:
I mean, it sounds too easy, right? It makes it feel like it’s, oh, I can just get stuff for free, but I know that there must be some challenges with consignment. Are there any?
Libby:
The number one thing, well we do an episode and it’s what, oh, geez, what episode was it? Let me see, I wrote it down here, sorry.
Tiffany:
Four episode four.
Libby:
Episode four, we go into the top five challenges of consignment. And really, I think we all know what the number one is, and it’s dealing with people. It’s dealing with consigners and we do a whole episode just on how to deal with consigners and how to sidestep the difficulties and different, you know, wording you can use. And yeah, I mean, you guys have probably, you know, stepped away from some consignments just because, you know, people can be very difficult to deal with when you’re in consignment. It is a service industry. It is that you are providing a service. So you have to consider that. You have to do extra customer service and management and figure all those things out.
Tiffany:
Yeah, the ones that weather they’re sure they know how much their item is worth. You know, I’m dealing with that right now. I have an 11 year old family member. Like my nephew, he’s 11 years old and he has a Pokemon card and he saw that someone listed that exact same Pokemon card on Mercari for $425. So he thinks that it’s worth $425. But if you look at solds, it’s not. And if you look at eBay there’s lots of people on eBay selling them for 30 bucks. So I’m having this argument with this 11 year old how I can’t deliver $400. And so, you know, those are those issues.
Libby:
I can see that Molly got really, really good at dealing with consigners and difficulties and things like that. Do you want to share?
Molly:
I did?
Doug:
She doesn’t want to reveal her secrets.
Libby:
Well, I mean, she would take the, sometimes like you told the story about the lady that almost cried, or I think she might’ve cried actually.
Molly:
I did have a lady that cried.
Doug:
You made someone cry?
Molly:
No, I did. She was so sweet.
Tiffany:
With the dolls?
Molly:
With her dolls, yes. She had a doll collection and she was sure it was worth so much money and it wasn’t. Dolls were not selling at all at that time. I mean, this was what, eight years ago. I don’t know what they’re doing now, but eight years ago there was no resale value in any of these dolls. And she was sure there was. And so I ended up showing her that anybody can list anything on eBay at whatever price they want, but you really have to look at the comps. And so I had to show her, but I told her, I said, “Listen, just because they’re not valuable today doesn’t mean they won’t be valuable a year from now. So if they’re really that special to you, hang on to them and check back in a year or so. And let’s look at what the market’s doing then.” Talk about feeling bad. Woo!
Liz:
That’s got to be difficult, that probably has to be the hardest part I would imagine is telling people no.
Molly:
It is because it means so much to them. And especially, we still found, to this day, China, crystal, silver, that kind of thing, all the family heirloom pieces, people nowadays we’re into the fast, quick, easy way of living. So nobody wants to Polish silver, and hand-wash the gold trim China that can’t go in the dishwasher. They want to throw something in the microwave and stuff it in the dishwasher. So, and they’ll come to us and say, “My nieces didn’t want it. My siblings, grandkids, nobody wanted it, but I know it’s a value.” And you know, you have to get them to understand with kind words that if your nieces and grandkids don’t want it, pretty much nobody does. It’s just, and it’s beautiful items that may truly be beautiful quality items. If you can take the monitor, you can sell it, but you have to quit thinking, you’re going to get a hundred dollars for a Chinese, you know, a China plate. I don’t care if it’s 100-something years old, it’s just not there anymore. So it is hard because it’s very emotional. And I just went through it with an estate with my own mother’s estate this past month. And so that’s dealing right on with family through it. And I’ve been doing this for how many years and being on the end of helping others. I don’t know about it as Libby, we always said, oh my gosh, we didn’t realize we had to get a psychology degree to do this. You really have to be ready to be empathetic and help people through it. But, it’s even a whole other level when you’re, I mean, Libby, I know you went through your grandmother’s estate with your family. It’s a whole other level when you are in the field and now you gotta do it with your own family members.
Doug:
Well, I had to do that again with my son. He had these, he knows Star Wars. I mean, I’ll give him that, but he had these little Lego, these old Star Wars Lego guys. And he went through and I’m like, “Go through and research these blah, blah, blah.” He gave me these prices and I listed them. And then the Star Wars fans, they’re very particular, so I was getting messages from some mom’s basement, “Technically that is the StormTrooper from blah, blah, blah, and it’s not worth your dollars.” So I had to have a hard talk with my son. It’s like, “Dude, this is not worth what you think!” (laughing)
Molly:
I have to laugh because Libby and I talk about this often when we’re doing stuff with work and we were talking about this as we were going through my mother’s silver estate and Libby was in town helping me identify some of these pieces and you can identify some, but some of these are truly from what, Libby? 1860-something, pieces of silver and the markings were hard to identify. And so one of them in particular we were like, “well, we’ll put it up with what we know, but you know, somebody is going to come tell us exactly what it is.” (laughing) They will come tell you, you know?
Liz:
Well, thanks for the help, right?
Molly:
Sometimes I love it. You know, but sometimes it can come across a little snarky, but I’m all for learning new things.
Doug:
The good old internet.
Tiffany:
I’ve done that to some people. And I tried in the nicest possible way to tell them that it’s not what they say it is. And then if something else, and then I just get this “OK!”
Doug:
Yeah. Just trying to help you. Okay, so let’s go around. Let’s say somebody like me, I’m asking for a friend, let’s say somebody like me, was going to start selling via consignment. What’s the top tip that each of you have?
Libby:
Well, I already did mine. I’m going to say, get that contract your terms, the consignment laid out. So Tiffany and Molly have at it.
Molly:
I would have to say, you need to know that you’ve got space and that you’re ready for a bumpy ride.
Tiffany:
I would say, make sure that you have a good tracking system set up. Whether it’s the consignment software that you can buy, you know, paid subscription or whatever, or a spreadsheet, but even more so than just being a regular reseller to doing consignment. It’s more important that you are meticulous about what the item sold for, what you owe the consigner, that kind of thing. So I do intense spreadsheets.
Libby:
If you kind of want to see the beginning of a journey, we do a monthly, we are coaching Diva G the Diva G, do over. We’re coaching her on her journey into consignment selling and reselling. And she’s starting from scratch where we do an episode with her once a month to check in and you can kind of follow her journey and see what it takes.
Doug:
Yeah. Those are great start-up tips.
Liz:
I love that.
Molly:
Yeah. I always think of space as a challenge too, but I think that’s across the board for resellers and consignment is space. I mean, where are you going to put it?
Tiffany:
Definitely am and I had to move from mine.
Liz:
So now that my mind is like in a consignment state of mind or mode, and I’m doing this, can you share any pro tips?
Libby:
I can share a really good one. And one, a lot of us make as resellers, is value yourself and your time please. So you’re going to set a percentage and you’re going to earn a percentage of those sales. So think long and hard about that percentage and what you’re actually worth and don’t be afraid to ask for it. If somebody says like in my business, we do 60%. Somebody will say to me, “You take 60% of the sales?!” And I just turn around and I say, “No. We earn 60% of everything we sell” and just be very firm and very confident and your time is valuable. So treat it as such. So that’s my pro tip.
Molly:
Mine is “just do it.” And Libby’s going to get a kick out of this because known me now we’ve worked together for what, almost 10 years going on our 10 year anniversary coming up, but just do it. And like, seriously, just list the item, just move forward with whatever it is you think you’re doing and just do it. Don’t overthink it. You don’t have to be perfect and just get started because I’m a perfectionist. I overthink things and would spend forever overthinking things that I did in the business and lose valuable time. And as Libby always pounded in my head, time is money. Time is money. Don’t spend that much time on it, just move forward with what we’re doing and go. And so that is my tip.
Libby:
I sound so mean.
Tiffany:
You’re not mean, no!
Libby:
Consignment is very rapid, fast pace, but you always have stuff coming in. You always have to just keep moving forward, keep moving forward, keep moving forward. And as with a lot of reselling, but you don’t have a lot of chances to look back.
Tiffany:
You sound very efficient, Libby. It is that you’re efficient.
Molly:
Yes. It’s not mean at all, but it’s, listen, look at how I’ve grown and being able to just pivot. You gotta be able to pivot because in the consignment business things happen, but you just have to be able to have a good attitude, be flexible and pivot. And that’s my thing. Just do it and be ready for the pivots. That’s why I said earlier the bumpy road, you need to know you’re ready for a bumpy road. Tiffany?
Tiffany:
So mine is something I actually want to steal from Libby. Libby said this in one of our episodes, but I just loved it. We always recommend anyone starting in reselling or consignment start with their own items because you know, it just helps you learn about shipping and everything. You know the platform that you’re selling on and all that stuff. Set yourself up as a consigner and put yourself in there as a consigner. And then when you sell the item, you pay yourself out of that portion, keep the other part in your account. But just pay yourself as a consigner first and test out the waters to make sure how your system flows and then go from there before you take on anybody else’s stuff.
Libby:
There’s no crying in consignment.
Doug:
So, part of what you ladies do is the Consignment Chats community. So is that geared towards just consignment sellers, or is there value that other sellers could find from there as well?
Molly:
We started this with the main focus on consignment and it does still lean towards that, but that naturally opens its doors to all resellers. Because as Libby mentioned before, we truly believe that all resellers should be consignment ready. So it really is welcome and open for anyone who is in the reselling consignment business. Because I think even if you don’t think you need to be just being a part of a community, we do challenges and things that we come together and help each other and cheer each other on and push each other to grow your businesses, and do that in a community sort of way. So it is open to both resellers and the consignment community. And I also think it would be hypocritical of me to say only consignment because I actually dabble in both, because I have this physical and emotional need to shop. (all laughing) So therefore sourcing is my way to feed that monster inside of me. So I cannot physically and mentally just do consignment. I have to do both\ in order to stay sane, it’s the only way to keep me together. Right. Libby? I text her and I’ll be like, “Guess where I was today?” And she’s like, “Oh geez. Oh please.” (laughter) But yes, we love and welcome everybody. Yes. Hashtag collaboration over competition. That’s something we all fully believe in, in this business.
Libby:
Yeah, I think that’s like one of the reasons we like List Perfectly and the List Perfectly group is, they really embrace that. And you guys really embrace that as well. It’s all about the community and helping each other out.
Liz:
You know, when I saw Consignment Chats, I was immediately, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is so needed in the community. I’m going to follow you on Facebook. Oh, look, you have a podcast. Oh, you’re on YouTube. Yes.” You know, so I started following you everywhere, Instagram, and then pretty soon it wasn’t just about what are they doing so I can have them on the podcast and share them with the community. It’s now I’m just a part of this community, even though I don’t consign. And so there’s a lot of examples I could share about that. Who knows you might make a good sign there out of me one day if I hear it enough. I’m not against it, I just haven’t run across it. But here’s like the latest thing that stands out to me. So last week I was working and I had your podcast in and you were talking about the DVG on episode 37. And so I was working so it wasn’t a visual thing. And it was, oh, let’s talk about Canva pro and building your brand. And then you’re like, okay, well, I’m going to, and I immediately stopped, and I took out my laptop so I could watch it on YouTube because Molly goes totally into Canva pro and you go so in depth on how to market your brand. And it was just really something that every seller could use, even though they’re helping a consignment seller. So that’s just one of many things that I’ve seen. And I thank you for that because I learned so much. I use Canva pro, but I’ve never even delved into the things that you went into. So for anybody listening that needs Canva help or branding help or logo help, and setting up your brand toolkit, go watch episode 37 on YouTube.
Molly:
Oh, thank you.
Libby:
Molly is good at that. And we are definitely getting more in depth. We will be in the coming weeks more in depth with Canva, but Molly can tell you a little bit about that.
Molly:
Yeah. I didn’t realize until doing that, you know, cause even Tiffany said on one episode, “Wait, I didn’t know you do that! And I’m a pro client user.” So we will break that down into some more, because there is so much you can do inside of Canva or just for your typical social media posting. There’s just so much that you can do and have fun with. And I love it when I really have the time to focus on that. That’s probably my second love behind shopping is creativity and branding on Canva.
Liz:
But I want to be clear, that’s just one of many things that I see in the Consignment Chats community. So that’s not just the only thing that was just the most recent thing because I just watched it .
Doug:
What’s the future of the Consignment Chats community? Where is it going to go? What are the next steps?
Molly:
I think I speak for all of us when I say that the future vision is one that kind of stays on the same trajectory as we are on now. We want to keep it as a safe, authentic space for people to come together, as a community to support each other in their growth of their business and their knowledge. I love it when somebody pops a question out there, because again, like you’re saying you learned from my Canva episode, I’m learning from other business owners on a weekly basis there. When a question is popped out there and others get in and answer. Of course we want to grow in members and continue our podcast and our YouTube videos. And we’re going to add some more lives. We’ve done one and liked it. We’re doing another live. We do lives on our social media often too, but we want to keep that growth going, but we want to make sure it stays with that authentic, safe community feel of truly people who are in that collaborative mode of building each other up.
Liz:
Where can the Consignment Chats community be found?
Molly:
Oh, we’re everywhere. (all laughing) I always tell people the best place to find us is to go to our website, consignmentchats.com, but we are on, and ladies help fill me in if I forget, we’re very active on Instagram and Facebook. And then we do have the private community that Tiffany manages on our Facebook page that gives us again, that’s kind of our safe space to go in as business owners and help each other out and post questions and do competitions and all that kind of fun stuff, challenges and things to make it fun. But, where else, ladies, what am I missing?
Tiffany:
YouTube and everywhere you can get a good podcast, you know, all your podcast channels. And then, we also have a book club. We have all sorts of stuff going on.
Libby:
The website is the best place to go because it consolidates all that you can click and get to where you want to go.
Molly:
And you can find out what your favorite platform is.
Liz:
And we’re going to put that link in the show notes for anybody consignmentchats.com.
Doug:
Anything to add ladies?
Molly:
I love doing this with you guys and getting to know you even better. I feel like I know you from listening to your podcasts, but being here as a part of this with you, because I think we’re all very like-minded in what we do and what we want and what we see. We might sell different things and sell different ways, but we’re all like-minded in what we want and what we see. And so it’s nice to find and have collaboration with people like us. So I really appreciate the opportunity to be here with you, with you all.
Tiffany:
Yeah.
Libby:
Yeah, what an honor.
Liz:
Thank you so much for joining us. This has been in the works for a while. I think episode one, I told Doug, I was like, “We need to do this. We need to get this worked into our episodes.” And here we are, episode 31 and we’ve talked you into joining us.
Molly:
So are we going to be known as 31, 35? Is that how we’re going to be known as?
Liz:
Yes. Yes. So, for anybody listening that missed it, I was on Consignment Chat, I’m just going to plug myself again because we only did it the last three episodes. So I was on Consignment Chats, episode 35. I now refer to myself in the Consignment Chat community as number 35.
Molly:
And Doug is to be numbered.
Doug:
That’s right.
Molly:
Yes. Hold on. He’ll be numbered soon.
Doug:
What number are you at now?
Libby:
We just did 37 yesterday.
Molly:
You’ll be getting your number soon, my friend.
Libby:
And it was so exciting to follow your journey because you know, we started around the same time. So it was just kind of neat to watch something in parallel, go in the reseller community. I’ve really enjoyed that. And I’ve loved supporting it.
Doug:
We’ve talked and we feel the same way. It’s just awesome what people like us do to help and support the community and the community itself is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And it’s like, you referenced it earlier, it’s like collaboration over competition, right?
Tiffany:
That’s right. Yup.
Doug:
That’s a big part of it. And it’s like, you get fascinated that technically competitors help each other. Every once in a while you’ll come across somebody who doesn’t want to be helpful. But so helpful and it’s just so interesting too, you know, Libby, you said your kids consign as well, and it’s just, you know, family business and changing people’s lives and, you know, moving out of the corporate world. Tiffany moved out to be a bookkeeper full time.
Liz:
Tiffany has this knowledge and experience that people are so afraid of.
Doug:
Yeah!
Liz:
I can totally see, like when you’re working your business, Tiffany’s kind of like up here, like I have all this knowledge that nobody wants to touch. That they’re afraid of. They’re like, “Oh, help! Help, help, help.” (all laughing)
Doug:
Well, and I’d be terrified of the giant leather book and the big feather pen you obviously work with.
Tiffany:
No, there’s an episode where I show my spreadsheet. You just need to go look at that one, the spreadsheet on the inventory tracking. That’s really great. And then I do another, I do a quick chat episode where I talk about, or I show how I make that work with List Perfectly and the sales analytics. So that’s really awesome.
Doug:
Oh, nice!
Molly:
And not only is it amazing with detail and information, but it looks so pretty. It’s a colorful, beautiful spreadsheet.
Tiffany:
Yeah, and I’m actually going to be working with, we talked about our taking Diva G on this journey. I actually meet with her Monday and I’m going to show her the spreadsheet and get her started on her own spreadsheet.
Liz:
That’s one thing that we didn’t talk about was List Perfectly. And I know all three of you use it. I think that that’s kind of what brought us together like that was our common denominator when we met and I’m doing air quotes for all of our listeners, you know, we met online or, you know, discovered each other on Instagram, via List Perfectly. And I know all three of you use it and it’s so interesting to see how the three of you incorporate that into your business. So definitely if you’re a List Perfectly user looking at consignment, go check out Consignment Chats and see how you can incorporate consignment with List Perfectly.
Libby:
Yeah, it’s great. And we all three of us use it in different ways, even though Molly and I are in the same business company, we use it differently. It’s amazing
Molly:
Every now and then I have to text her and say, “Get off my List Perfectly.” (all laughing).
Liz:
I love it.
Molly:
Back off my LP girl! (laughing)
Doug:
Are you on my Netflix? (laughing)
Speaker 2:
That’s what it’s like. Yeah.
Liz:
Oh my gosh. I love it. I love that the three of you were able to make it onto the Seller Community podcast today. Thank you so much.
Libby:
Thank you!
Molly and Tiffany:
Thank you. Thank you!
Doug:
Thank you, Libby, Molly and Tiffany. And then again, consignmentchats.com is the hub for everything. And we’ll include that in the show notes, but you can find them there. YouTube, the podcast, all of that. Look for Liz’s episode, number 35.
Molly:
In case you missed that.
Doug:
Yes. In case you missed that.
Seller News and eBay Seller Update
Doug:
We always have e-commerce news, you know, that’s always hopping. And then this week was obviously not as big as usual, which maybe is a good thing, but the eBay 2021 Fall Seller Update. (mysterious music playing)
Liz:
Not so much a mystery anymore, but it’s been released.
Doug:
Yeah, it’s not the big secret it used to be every few months. And I think it’s better. They’re more open. But the funny thing about this is ladies and gentlemen, this part of the show is the one where Liz will explain it to you, and then I will be like “this one time at eBay…” Or I’ll be like, “remember Liz, when you interviewed blah, blah, blah. That was awesome!” Or I’ll be like Ed McMahon. “Yes!” Liz be like, “and here’s what it means to you sellers”. And I’ll be like, “Yes! Free!” (both laughing)
Liz:
So you have no input on the eBay Fall Seller Update?
Doug:
I don’t know. I don’t know. Let me see new ways to grow your business. Liz, here’s what I can tell you. Here’s what I can tell you about it, Liz. A new way to grow your business on eBay, a new feature to send coded coupons, to targeted buyer groups. I actually kind of liked that one. Expansion promoted listings to include a new cost per click campaign type. I think that’s already been announced, but that was good. That’s good. They are also announcing updates to help you run your eBay business, including new features for eBay stores enhancements, to seller hub research and performance tools and more flexibility and security for multi-user account access. So I’m going to, I’ll go off the top of my head, Liz and I would be like super high level, like unfrozen, caveman, “Good! Bad!” Or Frankenstein or Franken Doug. Coded coupons are great because you can highlight those targeted buyer groups are great. So, you know, you can segment your groups from that. Expansion of promoted listings is great. More notice for your listings. Cost per click. I think it’s gonna break down, I don’t know if it’ll make it more affordable for you, but it breaks it down so that you can see where your money’s going more. Let me finish this deep, deep analysis, Liz. You know, new features for eBay stores. That’s good. You should have a store. It gets you more stuff. Seller hub is great. Those metrics because you should always take a look at your metrics and your analytics across the board and see what’s actionable and learn from that. And you know, the things that a lot of people don’t think about, a lot of people don’t even look at that stuff. And what a lot of people don’t think about is you can see, you want to see what’s selling, what’s working and what’s not, and then trying to identify the trend. It’s like, if you sell a lot of music CDs, what are you doing? What’s working? Is there something consistent across the board that’s going to help you? Maybe they’re all like promoted listings that are selling for you, things like that. And then, you know, multi-user account access. I think it’s good to have more flexibility and security. You know, you’ve got multiple people coming into your account, segmenting what they can do, what they can’t do. I think that’s good, too. So there’s my Snoop Dougie high level analysis. Done. Move on. Check!
Liz:
(Laughing) Thank you for reading the page!
Doug:
That’s right and now Liz can go a little bit deeper, but we did talk about this. You and I talked about this briefly. So there are a couple things that stood out to you. You had said there were updates to categories and items, specifics, which, you know, a lot of people hate, but it’s tough because it’s a lot more work. But ultimately, as you could have heard in the SEO episodes, it’s designed to make people be able to find your listings better.
Liz:
Yes. I’ve been following these updates since I started selling. What’s been great as they have been rolling out, we’ve kind of come to expect. We talked about this on the Spring Seller Update, you know, we’ve just come to expect, we’re going to get a spring update. We’re going to get a fall update. The fall update, no matter what is going to affect Q4 good, bad or ugly. I mean, it’s the Fall, it’s coming out in September. Sellers do not want change in Q4 and I am a huge proponent of that. Please don’t be changing stuff around October, November, December when sellers are busy, just trying to expand and update and add more items for the holiday shopping season. But, and I will say this, there’s more good than bad. Like you said, so coded coupons, I’ve been using them for awhile. They’ve expanded on coded coupons. That’s cool. Like you don’t have to use it, but if you want to, you can use it to expand your coded coupon model. If you’re using promoted listings, they’re going from promoted listings, they’re adding promoted listings advance. So you can continue on with the promoted listings pay per sale or pay-per-click so that’s an added feature. So that’s pretty cool. I mean, we saw it during eBay Open building your brand with eBay stores, so newsletters like really cleaning up your store. If you have time to do that, go and do that. If you don’t have time to, don’t worry about it. But it’s there, New research and performance tools in Seller Hub. Of course, it’s going to take no effort on your part if you want to learn it and dive into it. Great. If you don’t have time, you don’t have to. The new multi-user account access permissions, sellers have been asking for that for awhile, while they’ve built up MUAA, it’s been great, but now you can give your employees more permissions and more ways to access your account without taking over your account, which is great. And it’s been needed. A big one is under the listing and promoting tab of the seller hub. And we’re going to link this. I mean, I feel like we could go over all of this, but at this point, sellers have already deep dived into this. There’s a hundred podcasts and a thousand YouTube videos of different sellers giving their opinions and facts about this. But for our listeners, I just want to make sure because we have covered categories and items specifics so much, and clearly those listening have responded really well to that based on the amount of downloads our SEO episodes have drawn. So those have been our most popular episodes by far, because clearly that tells me that listeners out there want to understand this. So we’ve talked about it, episodes 8, 21 and 23. You can go back and listen to those deep, deep, deep dive, three hours about eBay, SEO and listings and categories and items specifics. So once again, eBay is changing up some categories, actually changing categories, which will affect your item specifics. Here’s the thing: there’s going to be new required item specifics. So here’s the categories that are going to be affected. Collectibles and art, jewelry, musical instruments, parts and accessories and sporting goods. So these are all pretty big categories that are going to undergo this change. So you’re going to see updates to the structures and the item specifics names in these categories, which means in order to be seen in the left-hand navigation search, you will need to update this. Clearly eBay has their reason for doing this: more buyers, more structured data, whatever their algorithm tells them that buyers need. But bottom line, I mean, we could get into all of the stuff about that, but we won’t. The bottom line is these are going to be required in early 2022. As a seller in these categories you’re going to start seeing these pop up on your seller hub dashboard and in the mobile app as required soon, if you sell in these categories. Now, if you want to edit them, you can right away. And that’s going to help your search visibility as we progress into the holiday season, or they’re not even required until early 2022. So if you want to wait until January, February, whenever they don’t give a specific date that I can see whatever that required date is, you can wait until then also.
Doug:
Yeah, but it’s probably good to start learning now and ramp up. And like Liz said, these are going to be requirements. These are the rules. And it’s kind of like, I mean, it’s designed to help your stuff be found. That’s the bottom line.
Liz:
Right. It’s more of a buyer tool that creates more work on the seller part. And it’s going to constantly change. I think like I said in the live cast, one of the things that I learned every week is that e-commerce is not static and it’s going to keep changing.
Doug:
Always. I mean, look at now and all the stuff that’s going on. It’s insane.
Liz:
Yeah. I mean, I can’t say that I like it when it hit my categories. I was so mad, but I got through it. Since that time eBay has come a long way in helping sellers with tools to get through these item specifics, they have tools to come up with fixing. They have tools that help sellers update their item specifics more efficiently. If you go to the page for the Seller Update, which again, we’re going to put in the show notes, they have tools to help you find and update missing item specifics under their tools and features section you can download and upload files. There’s quick filters, and then you can edit these in bulk. So I did a video a while back on my YouTube channel. It’s just my name, Liz O’Kane. I did a video on how I updated my item specifics in bulk. Like I seriously would set a timer for 15, 20 minutes and just go to the bulk editor, set a timer, and then every day just work on them. Like I would just add that into my schedule. I mean, everybody’s going to do this a little bit differently. I think it really depends on what you sell, what categories and your level of knowledge on updating item specifics.
Doug:
And then thank you, Liz. That’s the big stuff. So learn about that. You’ve still got some time, but probably a good time to start learning. And they also, they don’t always do this, but they also updated the user agreement. So that’s a big thing that’s on the site. That’s kind of the fine print that you should refer to and look at every once in awhile. And that’s basically the terms of using eBay. They put some new cancellation policy info in there, they clarified the type of information sellers must provide when eBay manages payments. So that’s always kind of a sticking point. We will link to the page in the show notes. And then I guess there was a chat in the eBay community so people could ask some questions. So that’ll be in there, that back and forth. We will link to that as well. And Liz, we have some List Perfectly news this week. (magical music).
Liz:
(singing) It’s magical!
Doug:
This is good. This is cool news. I like this one.
Liz:
So here’s the news. We kind of announced it last episode, but Theresa Cox is now hosting what’s called Office Hours. This is going to be every Tuesday at 5:00 PM. PST, you’ll be able to join via a zoom chat and ask questions about List Perfectly. This is going to be real time. If you say, “Hey, I don’t know how to use this function.” Theresa will be able to share her screen and show you how to use certain functions of List Perfectly. This is not tech support. So if you have account specific issues, you’re going to have to open a help request with List Perfectly so that they can look into your account. This is just for general, how to use and get started on List Perfectly, ask questions, or if you’re an experienced List Perfectly user and have input, join us too.
Doug:
So if that’s like “Liz, if I’ve got like a DAS content media issue with my account on eBay” that’s not the place to go for this. Or if I’ve got something that’s specifically not working with my List Perfectly account, this isn’t the place.
Liz:
No
Doug:
So it’s a place to learn. And it’s like, “Hey, Theresa, how do I bulk list”? Or “how do I use the notes feature?” Or “what’s the difference between this and that?”
Liz:
Yeah, “What’s the difference between the plans? How do I use sales analytics? How do I cross post from a platform to a platform? How do I import?” Any questions you have about List Perfectly and the functions she’ll be able to answer. Be sure to join the Facebook group and Theresa will post the link to that every week in the Facebook group and you can get direct access.
Doug:
And Theresa has a weekly List Perfectly power tip, too.
Liz:
Yes. Theresa is the number one customer of List Perfectly.
Doug:
Very first.
Liz:
Yes. So she’s been in it from day one.
Doug:
And she’ll tell you she doesn’t hold back. I like that.
Liz:
I know! I love It.
Doug:
And then, Liz in other List Perfectly news, what is up with the save and next button in the listings flow?
Liz:
So this is kind of a news / tip for List Perfectly. So List Perfectly secretly added a button when you are in the listing flow, whether it be on desktop or mobile, there is now a button, a floating button that says, save and next. And when I saw this, I’m like, why again, a feature I didn’t know I needed in my life! List Perfectly has added a save and next button on the listing flow. What does that mean? What does that mean for me? So I take my pictures on mobile. I have List Perfectly saved on my home screen. Log into List Perfectly and take my picture. Normally I’d take my picture, scroll down, push save. And it would take me to my catalog and I’d push add products and start the process over. Now I can add my stuff, click, save and next, and it opens up a new listing form.
Doug:
Very nice!
Liz:
Add my pictures, save and next, add my pictures, save and next. So when I sit down, this saves so much time.
Doug:
And so it’s literally what it says. Save and next!
Liz:
Save and next. Yeah. So you don’t have to go back to the catalog and push add products. So we all know time saved even from one click of a button. Sellers love.
Doug:
Is that all the List Perfectly news this week?
Liz:
That is all I have for the List Perfectly news and tips.
Doug:
You know what we talked about? This was your idea the other day. What if, because a lot of times there’s so much news. What if we just run through some headlines and say good, bad. So you want to try that this week?
Liz:
Sure!
Doug:
All right. Let’s see how it goes. ‘Twitter’s testing social commerce, what marketers need to know.’ Good. What do you think, Liz?
Liz:
Uh, good! Underrated/overrated. I feel like Gary V right now.
Doug:
Yeah. There you go. Overrated/underrated. This is, I think, underrated. Twitter’s rolling out some e-commerce features. If you’re on Twitter, not everybody digs Twitter. Honestly, I think this is probably a little bit late to the game. I think they’re trying to play catch up with a lot of stuff. Twitter’s its own little thing. I’m on Twitter regularly. I like Twitter for my business, my other job, we use Twitter and it just kind of depends on what you want to do. Twitter is very real time. Something to look at if you’re interested in Twitter. But I think it’s a good move for them. Honestly, I think it’s probably a little bit late in the game.
Liz:
I just think that when it comes to you and you even taught me the terms, social commerce, I had never heard it before you started talking about it, but I think it just plays into the whole thing. I think every social media platform is going to have some type of e-commerce.
Doug:
And interesting you should say that Liz, because the next headline, and I really liked this article. ‘The next big thing to disrupt the 5 trillion e-commerce market’ using social media to sell. So social commerce, the tie between e-commerce and social media, all coming together across the board, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok. I know you hear this all the time and we joke about it, but don’t sleep on TikTok for online selling. Hype or over-hype, Liz? Hype or under hype for social commerce?
Liz:
It’s just hyped because it’s there. For me the way I see it is e-commerce needs to meet, to reach all platforms. It’s kind of like buying sponsored ads. Know your target audience. There’s a market on every social media platform to sell. People are consumers and consumers are on all of the social media platforms.
Doug:
80% of consumers use social media to discover new brands, Liz.
Liz:
I mean, but on the flip side, I’m not doing social commerce and yet I still have a thriving business.
Doug:
Well, technically you are. You’re using it for your brand, your personal brand. It builds into what you’re doing. So technically you are, but you know, think about Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. You’ve got, it’s another thing you’ve got those options out there. You don’t have time for everything, but we’re hearing a lot more about this. So I’m, I’m big on social commerce. Well, anyway, that was the rapid fire news. Liz, I think that’s all the news, any other news?
Liz:
I think that probably, well, there’s always more news, but again, we just don’t have time to talk about all of it.
Doug:
So that is all the news that fits this week, Elizabeth.
Liz:
All right, Douglas.
Outro
Liz:
Thanks for joining us this week on the Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly for episode 31 with Consignment Chats, our friends, Libby, Molly, and Tiffany, and we have all of their links in the show notes at Consignmentchats.com
Doug:
That was a fun, fun chat with them. I enjoyed it.
Liz:
I did too.
Doug:
So they’re very cool. Very funny. And they’re fans. And we’re fans of them.
Liz:
Yes.
Doug:
We talked about jokingly doing a show altogether.
Liz:
We probably need to do a podcast about the podcast, about the podcast for the Hulu show, ‘Only Murders in the Building’ that talks about podcasts.
Doug:
And they record in a closet like I do.
Liz:
Yes. So Doug, you’re going to have to catch up.
Doug:
Do they have the fabulous chandelier that I have in my closet?
Liz:
I don’t think anybody’s closet chandelier can hold a light to yours. So I didn’t even notice if they did or not.
Doug:
But that was great. We had, of course, some seller news. List Perfectly news and slash List Perfectly tip. Oh, and we talked about the eBay seller update. Everybody’s talking about it, but we felt that we had to weigh in a little bit. You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast. You can leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast. Or you can email us at podcast@thesellercommunitypodcast.com. You can also post a question in the List Perfectly Facebook group. And if you do that, use the hashtag seller community podcast, and you can mention Liz or Doug. And then of course, listen to us anywhere you listen to podcasts. Be sure and subscribe. We’d love for you to tell your friends. And we would also love for you to leave us an honest review at apple podcasts, if that’s where you listen. That really helps us. And you can also give us feedback via the email address. You can give us feedback in the Facebook group. We would love to hear what you like, what you want more of what you want less of. And then follow Liz on Instagram @Coloradoreworn or on TikTok @Coloradoreworn. I am @Snoop.Doggie, Instagram TikTok, and of course List Perfectly is also on Instagram and TikTok. They’re really ramping it up. They’re doing a good job over there. I gotta step up my game. Liz has got like dog walking videos and Liz is doing stuff to music and Liz is doing like voiceovers and stuff. I’m like, I upload a photo and put a song to it.
Liz:
The most unpopular TikTok songs, Doug. You got to do the trending songs.
Doug:
I guess. That’s the only songs that I like.
Liz:
Ok, it doesn’t matter what you like! (Laughing)
Doug:
TikTok is like literally, “all right, we’re going to let Doug get 155 people to look at his posts.” That’s like my limit. And the funny thing is I have this friend, I’ll give her a shout out. Sania K. She had a show for a while and she had me on her show. And then she and I literally launched on TikTok at the same time. And she’s got a zillion followers and she’s like moved to doing it full time because she’s monetized it. And I’m like, “Hey guys, watch the show this week. Here’s the graphic and an 80 song.” I’ve gotta up my game. Maybe I need to do some dance offs or get, I gotta revisit the…
Liz:
No, no, no, no, no, no. You’re welcome listeners. No!
Doug:
The crop top and yoga pants, dance videos got to come back.
Liz:
No. Anyway, so I can talk on and on, because there’s a new documentary that I started on Charli D’Amelio. I don’t know if I’m saying her last name right. But the 16 year old, like the number one TikTok star. Like how she got started. Okay. I don’t even know if I said the name, right. But I started the first episode. I’ve probably watched two of her videos. I don’t care, right? The whole story is fascinating. Like how you can explode on TikTok.
Doug:
It’s crazy!
Liz:
It really is. But anyway, I haven’t been there in like two weeks, so…
Doug:
Well, you’ve got time to catch up. Maybe I need to use the Canva plugins for TikTok.
Liz:
I gave you a head start, Doug.
Doug:
That’s right.
Liz:
And instead of starting, you just sat there.
Doug:
I know. Damn. Damn! (both laughing)
Liz:
Now I gotta catch up. It’s okay. I haven’t been on Instagram in two weeks. I’ve been busy. I’ve been busy.
Doug:
Well, maybe we’ll do some TikToks from Vegas next month.
Liz:
Oh, we’re going to be all over social media next month!
Doug:
We’ll see. No, we will. It’s going to be, we’re going to do a lot of fun stuff.
Liz:
yeah, we’re doing some work for that. Keeping us busy.
Doug:
That’s right. The List Perfectly Facebook group is at facebook.com/groups/listperfectly.
Liz:
Doug, speaking of the Facebook group, because you know, I can just talk, right. I can totally do this for a living. I think we should start a podcast. So speaking of the Facebook group in the last year, it has grown so much! We’re coming up on 7,500 numbers in the Facebook group. There is a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience from sellers across all platforms. So definitely go check it out. It’s growing fast and I’m learning so much from so many people every day.
Doug:
And if you haven’t checked it out, if you’re a seller, you should check it out. It’s the List Perfectly Facebook group, but it’s not just List Perfectly. It’s kind of like the podcast, obviously there’s List Perfectly stuff, but a lot of it is stuff that you are able to use across the board. The whole seller community, people ask eBay questions, people ask Mercari questions. So there’s a ton of sellers in there willing to help. It’s a good place. It’s a great resource.
Liz:
So we’ll see you on Facebook, and Doug?
Doug:
Yes?
Liz:
We’ll also…
Liz and Doug:
See you next week!