Overview
In episode five we talk with Maria thestylelister, on fashion and more including pivoting, community, and how List Perfectly helped her grow her business. We’ll have a seller shout-out, talk a little bit about hashtags, have a seller tip, and e-commerce news!
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.
Links
thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast
Seller Community Podcast on Anchor
Episode 5 Links
Transcript
Intro
Doug:
So let’s talk about fashion, Liz, you’re a fashion seller, right? I mean, what are your favorite brands to sell?
Liz:
I don’t like any, I like, no, I’m not a fashion person at all.
Doug:
You don’t like the finer things in life? Crinthian leather?
Liz:
Um, no, I don’t. Yeah. In my car, not on my belt.
Doug:
Not on your body.
Liz:
Yeah. No. Wow.
Doug:
I’m sure if I have to, but I like, you know, jeans, I like jeans, jeans and black t-shirts. If only we had somebody that could teach us about fashion and fashion selling. Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Liz:
So, yeah, while I do sell clothing, mostly, um, I sell a lot of everyday clothing at, you know, a normal retail price or at a savings price for a family. Um, women’s, men’s not high fashion, not luxury, really whatever I can find that will flip that I think people will desire on an everyday basis. So I’m Liz…
Doug:
And I’m Doug.
Liz:
Welcome to episode five of The Seller Community podcast from List Perfectly. We’re produced each week by List Perfectly for your listening enjoyment and show notes are always found at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast.
Doug:
This week, we welcome our fashion seller friend and expert Maria, the stylistlister. At thestylistor.com she blogs, offers tips, tricks, and thoughts about selling fashion online. She’s also the creator and admin of the Facebook group, Fashion Sellers Selling on eBay.
Liz:
You’ll get a weekly List Perfectly tip. We’ll have a seller shout out and we’ll have the news.
Doug:
All right, let’s get straight into our chat with Maria, thestylister and talk and learn Liz about some fashion selling. Maybe we can upgrade our wardrobes…
Liz:
Luxury fashion selling…
Doug:
Luxury! The finer things…
Maria thestylelister
Liz:
Today, we’re excited to introduce to our friend, Maria. Maria has been selling online since 2007 and she specializes in high-end fashion. She’s the CEO of thestylister it’s an online space with blogs, tips, tricks, and thoughts about selling online. She is also the creator of the Facebook group, Fashion Sellers Selling on eBay. Uh, it’s a group dedicated to fashion sellers who strive to improve their businesses while also helping each other out, um, a self-created fashion community. She’s also the co-organizer of the Bay Area Seller Meetup Group. So Maria, it’s been awhile since we talked, how have you been doing?
Maria:
I’ve been doing good. I’m just doing my best to survive. I, you know, I, I do sell, I do sell luxury goods. I, my focus is mid to high-end fashion. My items, you know, I always jokingly say the people who buy my stuff, they’re going to run into an ex of theirs and they want them to be sure they regret it. It’s for those special moments, those special days where, you know, you’re going to be taking a lot of photos and sometimes those days end up being expensive. If it’s for a dear friend’s wedding, or if it’s for a cocktail party with your partner and you need to look good. So people, you know, tend to come to my store and check out my goods. Now, unfortunately, events kind of stopped happening, um, you know, in the last year or so, which, which has been really it’s. Um, uh, for example, cocktail dresses that was 70% to 80% of my business and the other 20% was maybe something that’s more every day. So, um, I really felt the business, my business basically outright stopped when COVID hit. So I’ve had to diversify and figure it out. Yeah.
Liz:
You’ve been able to kind of turn it around. I hope…
Maria:
I got lucky in the sense of with my networking, I was able to shift and talk to people and talk to people they knew and work with them. What I strongly believe with fashion, or at least in my niche is that image, unfortunately, image, unfortunately, is everything. Or so when someone would come into my store, they would see I’m a reputable business. They know that when they’re coming in to spend the kind of money that they do, they know that they’re not going to get a knockoff. What ends up happening is when you establish yourself as a reputable seller and you, you can basically reach out to other people, suppliers, wholesalers. And of course, people who are looking to offload their own items for consignment, and they can see your account. They can see your business and they can say, this is a reputable person. I feel comfortable giving her my Dior bag to sell for me, you know, or when I talk to wholesalers, they see that I’m a reputable business and that was actually my saving grace. And that’s really what kept me in business because I shifted, I shifted from, from, like I said, from luxury fashion, like clothing again to, I shifted to handbags. That’s, that’s basically what I did. I learned, um, from my other business, when an economy changes or business changes or the industry changes you need to shift. And that’s what I did. I didn’t have any business for about two months, the entire month of March, the entire month of April. I basically, I think I sold when I say less than a handful of items, I sold less than a handful of items. And I sat down and I said, okay, well, what is selling? I looked at Vogue. I looked at all the fashion magazines. And I’m not saying that if you’re in whatever niche you’re in, you know, you need to look at the industry, the industry fate what’s favored in the industry. And they were all saying the same thing, which is, I, I, you know, I’m not buying clothes. I don’t need clothes, but I am investing in handbags one year. My handbag will still be in style. The value of my handbag will only go up. And then I had just kind of chipped away at the rest of my business. And I completely stopped listing. I, this, I know this sounds terrible. I have a whole rack full. And when I say full, like when I say, I mean, full of luxury gowns, these high-end brands, and they’re all perfectly packed. They’re perfectly stored in there waiting for those days to come out. I have dresses that I’ve worn for the last 15 years and I put them on and they’re still in style because the style is timeless. I know, you know how to pivot you follow those fashions and you know how to run that business. How did you start selling online? What did that look like for you? Tell us about that. So originally I started, I was buying actually, um, vinyl records online. That’s what, that’s what I was buying. I, I still collect vinyl, but I was collecting vinyl back at that point. I’d already had a sizeable collection, but you know, I always, I always would find something I wanted. So I, and the only place at the time, that was really, that was most reputable. You know, that’s the best way I can say it was eBay. I’d use other websites. And what happened was I had a lot of items that I wasn’t wearing.
Maria:
I spent a lot of hardworking money on these dresses. You know, one was, I wore a dress to a cousin of mine’s wedding. I took it to a, um, a higher end secondhand store that buys and sells like a buy and sell one. And the owner actually didn’t help me, her assistant did. And she completely low-balled me on all the items I’d brought in. I brought in a brand new pair of diesel jeans and I had purchased them while I was traveling. I was, I was in Europe at the time, there was no diesel store. And she offered me, it was either, it was like $7 and I had never worn that. And I was like, these are from your, like, I was like, so unhappy with her saving. I was like, no, I’m checking my stuff. You know, and this is, the dress was like $13, you know? And then I said, you know, what, why don’t I just try listing it? And I sold those jeans almost at full price that I had bought them. And then the dress, I sold it for half of the amount that I paid for. And I was extremely happy with that. I started selling stuff that I wasn’t wearing anymore. I just, I, and I that’s how my items found new life.
Doug:
So you started with higher end fashion. Was it all sourced from like your stuff or how much, you know, when you started with source from your stuff, and then how much did you get
Maria:
When it started actually, um, I didn’t start outsourcing, outsourcing or, or are buying from others, you know, sort of like doing the, or, or basically flipping and going into retail stores and flipping, because that’s what I did next. Actually, I didn’t start doing that until about 2015 for the first six or seven years. I was just selling my own stuff. And I was doing really, really, really well. Yeah. I have a lot of clothes in and then my sisters, but I didn’t just wear ’em, I didn’t just sell high-end or mid, you know, I showed everything from, I have sold everything from Zara to top shop forever 21. Um, you know, I had a pair of foreigner in his shoes. I sold vintage vintage clothing that I would buy. So, I basically sold something, anything that I thought could sell, I would just take pictures. I had like three-day returns and I had three return shipping. And then I did like a 15% restocking fee when people would want to return their items. And I was just, I look at my pictures now and I’m just like, Oh dear God, like, there’s a messy room in the background. It’s literally on my bedspread. So it’s, you know, I’ve come a long way. I feel really good about that. How did you know, did you like follow fashion trends? How did you know what to source or was it just sheer luck or did you have a strategy? A lot of it was, I knew what was in style. I’ve been following fashion for a long time. You know, my mom was always well put together and she taught me and my sisters to be well put together and to know the value of a good sale, you know, just keeping an eye on the fashion industry. What is in style, what is not in style. There’s a lot of crap fashion. There’s a lot of things that just didn’t look good. You get smart about the evolution. I did buy things that never sold. I got lucky with fashion because I paid attention and I try and keep up with trends and keep a brand.
Doug:
And then when you made the shift, so where are you sourcing? Are you hitting like the thrift shops? You hitting the Goodwills estate sales, where were you, uh, aware? Were you getting the stuff and you know, where are you getting the handbags? Now,
Maria:
A lot of my stuff, a lot of my sourcing is, is at this point, I’ve shifted to either consignment or wholesaling. And that’s where I’ve been up to lately. Um, before I was mostly, I would literally go to local stores and I’d hit up the sale racks. Nordstrom rack is my best friend. I’m a really big out of season shopper when it comes to doing rack shopping as well. I would buy heavy coats in March and people would say, you can’t sell that. It’s like, I’m going to sell it in six months. Um, but I remember when we first started talking Liz, you stated, um, that you had established relationships with a lot of the managers. And that really, that really helped me out that really actually did help me out because I started talking to the employees because they would see me. I’m sure they figured out what I was doing. And I started talking to them and they were just, they would, they, I found out what days that they were, Oh, you should come on Tuesdays because Tuesdays we put out the new inventory. You should come on Thursdays. We have a really big sale next week where we’re going to post it, but you want to come. Thursday is going to be an extra 20% off these sticker items. We have a bunch of stuff because it’s going to go 75% off next week. If you’re going to come, you should come. Then it really is networking. And that’s how I managed to survive. The COVID. I knew people to talk to. I knew who to have a conversation with. It was these relationships.
Liz:
You’re a meetup organizer in the Bay area. Tell us a little bit more about your meetup and what, what is unique about it compared to all of the other meetups?
Maria:
Uh, uh, the meetup that I’m part of. And I helped organize with an amazing team and amazing group of people. It takes place at eBay headquarters. I think we’re, I think there’s two, even there’s one in Utah and there’s one in San Jose and we are the eBay meetups that are hosted by eBay specifically. And I’m a coroner for the co-organizer for that. There’s, there’s several people that are part of it. My new year’s resolution in 2016. Um, and I completed, it was to be more proactive for my eBay business. So I said to myself, I’m going to go to an eBay meetup and see what it’s like. I met. Um, I first met Alan Gilson and I met Brian Burke at the door. Those were the first two people I met. I paid a dollar, I signed my name. I put a sticker off, you know, like on my sweater. And I walked in and I was, I, I made sure to dress really nicely and to look appropriate. And I sat at a table with, I actually sat at a table with Griff. I sat with a couple of the organizers. I had no idea what was going on. And, and then they were talking about selling on eBay, networking, what they were doing for the next year. And, and then, um, I paid a dollar, so I got a ticket and I ended up winning a Lightbox. There was one woman there that was about my age . she asked me, what do you sell? And I told her, I said, fashion. She’s like, what’s your username? And I told her my username. She told me hers. And it was really awesome. I’m still friends with her. She no longer sells on eBay. And it was just a really cool experience. And I started networking there. I started meeting other people. I started asking them what they do, how they sell. I would literally get so much content from other sellers. You know, it’d be face-to-face interaction, face-to-face and engagement engagement. And I’d get to see people in person who are actually doing the same thing. I was meeting someone and sitting next to them and then them getting a sale and be like, I just sold this. And I bought it for $2 at an estate sale. And I, you, you see how excited they are, you know, or, you know, being again at the eBay headquarters, there would be executives and an executive would come up and say, Hey, you know, um, this is where we’re going to be talking about. This is what we’re on rolling. So it was a really cool experience where I would know about something happening. And then they would say, please, don’t post about it. Please. Don’t say anything. You know, we’re saying here to you guys, but you know, if you could just not publicizing yet. And then, you know, the next Tuesday, it would just, boom, it’d be, it’d be something would pop up on, you know, on eBay and they would post about it or whatever. And that was a really cool engagement, really fun information that you would get. So, um, I just continued going and I really got to know the meetup organizers because they were really wonderful people. And, um, Allen and Sherry Gilson, who are just the two coolest people ever met in the eBay community. They were moving away and they asked if I wanted to take their position or step in and help with the eBay organism organizers. And that’s literally what happened. And I’ve established a lot of great relationships. I’ve met a lot of really cool people, you know, with the meetups and meetups have encouraged me to grow my business. They’ve I’ve learned a lot and I’ve helped people to then, and that’s what ends up happening
Liz:
Out of everything you just said about meetup. You spent about five seconds saying how cool it was to have an eBay employee at eBay headquarters. And you spend all the rest of the time talking about how absolutely amazing it was talking about fellow resellers, but that’s what meetups are all about, right? Like meeting your fellow resellers, have you turned to online at all?
Maria:
I kept in touch with the other meetup organizers and they were incredible. And, um, the last couple of months I’ve been part of the community again, and really being more active, proactive with the organizing. I did attend a couple of the meetings virtually. They are harder. The in-person engagement is a complete one 80 versus, you know, seeing somebody in a box.
Doug:
And then in terms of meetups, that’s, it’s interesting for me because I met you both via meetups. So Maria, I used to, and the, uh, when I could and Liz, you know, Liz was starting a meetup, so we helped her start that up. But, um, you know, it’s a great place to connect and it’s all about the community. And, but let’s go beyond the meetup a little bit, cause we know you do more, you know, what, some of the other seller outreach you’re involved in,
Maria:
I’ve been on the eBay podcast. Um, I do, I do work with meetups. I do have my, um, my own Facebook community, fashion sellers selling on eBay. Um, and I, honestly, if someone were to ask me, what’s the number one thing you should do as a reseller starting out, I would 100% say go to the meetups and go to them every month or go to them when they happen. Don’t miss a meeting.
Liz:
So Maria, where do you see the future of e-commerce and reselling?
Maria:
I think it’s only going to grow and you know, 10 years ago, people didn’t talk about buying pre-owned clothing. I didn’t purchase pre-owned clothing up until the last few years. The thing is, is now people wouldn’t talk about it, but now it’s something that our environment needs. You know, I think that’s just the first thing that we need to address that. One of the biggest factors, one of the biggest polluters is the fashion industry. So we can’t talk about saving our planet without the resell industry. And it’s crucial, you know, it’s, it’s sad that clothing gets, gets thrown into landfills. Clothing gets tossed that people wear things one time or two times. And the resale industry has shifted the fashion industry in the sense of fast fashion disappearing. This is why this is why brands like forever 21 have gone out of business. You know, why would you buy something one time to wear it from forever 21? When you could buy something that’s higher quality. That’s been, pre-owned, that’s been worn once or twice. It still has tons of life left. And that is really well made. And you could purchase that and you could wear it as many times as you want. You could wear it once or twice, and then again, you can sell it yourself. And vintage now is, is just so on the forefront. I love vintage. I’ve been buying vintage for a long time, I guess that is pre-owned, but I didn’t buy it because I loved it for the fashion. I loved it for the style of it. But now when I look at purchasing and what I’m buying, I try and be really mindful of, do I really need something new? Do I, can I, can I buy this? Pre-owned why not buy this jacket? You know, that I could wear a lot more times, but what made people look cool was clothing. It was fashion that really expressed it. And now younger kids. Fashion’s not it. What gives you the social status? It’s really technology. It’s. Now people look at fashion differently, and I think that’s the evolution of how the industry is growing and why the resell and the secondhand market will eventually, I think from what I heard in 2025, I think that’s what they’re calculating. It will eventually overtake brand new clothing. And I think that’s phenomenal and it’s needed our planet needs it, you know, more than anything. And besides human beings, our planet really needs it.
Liz:
But the last couple years have gotten so hot, right? So it went from eBay to eBay and Amazon too. And now, you know, and of course Etsy, huge. Um, but then you’re talking about grilled and Depop and Poshmark and Mercari. And so all of these marketplaces have just exploded. And a lot of it does cater to the clothing market.
Maria:
I had my 2 cents with eBay and, and you know, I, I love eBay and I’m a meetup organizer and I’m a co host. And I, you know, most of my businesses are through eBay. When I say 80% of my businesses from eBay, I really do love eBay. But when you see other platforms and who, who are selling to on these other platforms, they are younger people. They are really smart kids who are much more aware of how our environment has been affected. It really is the hard truth that the way that me, you and everybody else on this planet hurts the planet. The most it’s the clothing we wear. And that’s something that we, we as a society and we, as people need to be smart and we are thankfully and it’s shifting. So I think it’s only going to grow. I think the market’s only going to get better and people are going to get even smarter and more mindful about what they’re buying and they’re going to be selling. I think it’s going to become more of a norm to be selling your clothing or something will shift where if it’s not more normal, the accessibility to, you know, giving it to someone or somebody taking it to a store to have it like sending it off to Tradesy for example, or somebody doing that and saying, okay, I got $20 store credit just to send it to Tradesy and not deal with it anymore. So that’s how I see how the resell market is going to evolve. Because if this many people are doing it now and you know, you and I have seen it shifts so much and just I’m really intrigued about what’s going to happen in the next again, another, in another five or six years,
Liz:
What three tips do you have for first time sellers that are just getting started?
Maria:
Take really good pictures. You sunlight, a plain, a plain white background or a gray one. If you’re selling white clothing. So then you can stand out. You can do flat lay, um, and try different ways. You know, you don’t have to go out and buy a mannequin. You can actually model it yourself, just take off your head. Don’t do a whole outfit, you know, but just do the item itself, take as many pictures as you can, as many detailed pictures, the front, the back, the label, the inside, if something is authentic, if it’s more luxury or whatever, you know, do your research and see if you can find the item, name, the item title, um, what year it’s from. This is actually really helpful. A lot of times, especially it’s from certain lines and everything like that. I also say so good lighting measurements. You have to have measurements, especially if you’re selling on a platform that doesn’t allow returns or you yourself are not allowing returns, which I totally understand. It really is a seller’s option. I do. I’m on eBay. I do a lot. I do have free shipping and free returns. And what you can do is do what’s best for you and your company and you and your business, just because somebody else is doing it doesn’t mean it’s going to be good for you and vice versa. And if you have a buyer that’s communicating with you, engage and respond back and be polite, even when they
Liz:
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started reselling. Like if you could go back and tell your, your first selling self, do this, or don’t do that. What would that
Maria:
Probably pictures? My pictures were abhorrent. I look at them and I’m like, what is wrong with me? What was wrong with you? You know, I’m just, I look at the pictures and I think that’s, that’s probably the number one thing is being really taking the time to take good pictures. A really makes a difference. You will get the sales, you know, you don’t need to be the cheapest one. So I do sell a majority of my items on eBay, but I also do sell a little bit on Etsy. And then I did have an account or I do have an account on Poshmark. I started using lists perfectly back in November. I messaged Liz. I said, Liz, I’m going to try the list perfectly. Let me get your referral ID. I started selling a lot more on Poshmark and Poshmark. It’s been amazing. I’ve been really excited and I do have a Depot account that I’ve uploaded stuff. And I have made a sale on air as well when I started using List Perfectly. So this is just, this is just stupid, easy. Like I cannot, I was just mad at myself that I hadn’t been using List Perfectly. That was the thing that ended up happening. I ended up more upset at myself for not using List Perfectly sooner, because all I could think to myself is I would have made a lot more money.
Liz:
You know how List Perfectly has helped me. How has it helped you in your business?
Maria:
I’ve made a lot of sales and the cool part is, if the item does not come back back in November about the last six months or so, give or take, that I started using List Perfectly before that, that all the time I listed was a year and a half before I just don’t list. I just wasn’t listing on Poshmark businesses shift. And you know, you do, what’s, what’s best for you. This is what’s best for me. And I think, like I said earlier, people sit there and think you need to be doing this, or you should be doing that. Or I’ve had people tell me, you know, try and tell me what I need to be doing with my business. And I don’t need that. And if you’re listening, you don’t need it either. What you need to be listening to is, is what you can and cannot do and what you’re capable of doing and if that’s just selling everyday stuff, that’s great. If it’s selling a little bit of everything, that’s awesome too. I don’t tell people how to run their business. I tell them what I do and what my success is. And I want to be clear. I always try and be 100% honest, everyone’s styles and accessibility are different. What I have access to the stores, I have access to the clients. I have access to the people I have access to might be different where you’re located. So you need to be smart about what you have access to what you can do and where you can go.
Doug:
So you’re a List Perfectly user, you’ve been using it for a bit. You’ve had some success on there. You’re a fan. What’s your single favorite List Perfectly feature?
Maria:
The one that I can just straight up cross post to other platforms, you know, I still am tinkering it, but I’m totally a boomer. Sometimes. I’m just like, how do I do this? You know, that’s just me, you know, but, uh, the cross posting feature is what I use. I’m in the List Perfectly community actually. And I saw Liz, you mentioned the best method is to list on eBay. And then cross-post from there as I use the most specifications. So that’s what I just, I just straight cross posted my items from this perf from eBay to Poshmark. And it’s just, it’s been awesome. And I really appreciate that. That’s actually been the best feature I’ve been using.
Liz:
That’s actually a feature that I think is kind of a List Perfectly exclusive is being able to go directly from marketplace to marketplace. I knew the way I use it, but there’s a lot of sellers like yourself that don’t want to have to go through that process. And they give you that choice to just push that button and be like, put it on pause.
Maria:
Oh yeah. The community has been really helpful. That community is actually a really good community. I like it. I’ve moved all my listings to list perfectly. I have like a hundred items, 150, 160 some listings on Poshmark. Cross-posting itself from one platform to the other has been the best feature so far for me. It had a most amazing feature hands down by anything I’ve ever used. As of right now, it is the best. If someone were to say, what’s one thing you should be paying for as a reseller, I would 100% List Perfectly. You should be on List Perfectly if you’re doing it.
Liz:
Yes, Maria. Thank you for sharing that. Now we’re going to go through a rapid fire question round, um, double points, Doug.
Doug:
That’s right. You ready for rapid fire? Rapid answers. Ready? Okay. I’m ready. I’m ready. All right. Let’s do rapid fire. Uh, your most memorable sale. Ooh,
Maria:
Versace runway coat.
Liz:
What’s your favorite selling platform?
Maria:
eBay.
Doug:
One item you bought for resale but ended up keeping?
Maria:
This Lanvin jumpsuit.
Liz:
So you used to buy vinyl on eBay before you started selling. What are some of your most memorable purchases?
Maria:
Ooh, for vinyl. I actually have a Skatelite original pressing, uh, uh, one that one’s really awesome. Um, let’s see here. I have also a, um, a really cool original pressing from, uh, pink Floyd. That one’s really cool. Um, and that one’s the wall. I have one it’s called the good, the bad and the queen. I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s um, it’s Damon Albarn, he’s the lead singer of blur and the gorillas. He had this one project, I guess they, they released another album, but he had a little, it had a limited vinyl record release and I, I bought the vinyl and I really like that record to remind our listeners where they can find you. So, um, I’m on basically all online platforms. I’m on Facebook, I’m on, you know, facebook.com/thestylister or I’m on Instagram, instagram.com the slide list or where I post, um, random tips.
Maria:
And I items that I sell random. Engagement’s a great way to get in touch with me. And I’m on. Um, I do have a Facebook community it’s called fashion sellers selling on eBay. You can actually get to that if that’s too long for you to remember, don’t, don’t worry about it. Hop on my Instagram, click on the link and the link will, you can scroll down and you can find a link to the Instagram, to the Facebook community, and you can join there. You can also find me on every selling platform I’m on the stylist or everything is the stylist or it’s it’s. And then you can, I do have a website www.thestylistor.com.
Liz:
So Maria, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day, to speak with us, to speak with our community, talking about fashion, luxury, fashion, sourcing, sustainability vinyl, and more. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge.
Maria:
I, I really appreciate you guys. I appreciate you both. You’re both really awesome. I am really enjoying the list perfectly to anybody who’s listening out there. The only advice I can give anybody who’s newer is, is fine. You know, find those really cool communities in person when we can be in person again, you know, the communities are really how my business blossomed because I learned and I networked and the networking really helped save my business. It really did because it really helped me grow my business. And the way I grew my business was from learning from these meetups and these communities and the people that I met in those communities. And that’s how my business blossomed. That’s how my, my business pivoted and grew. And when push came to shove and we had this situation happen, you know, the nobody sees coming. Right. Um, it really, really, if you were to tell me, like, what is the one thing that saved me?
Maria:
It was it’s my networking. That’s what really helped me when this all happened. When I took a step back and said, okay, what, what are my sources? What can I do? And everything really goes back to the eBay meetups in the communities. That’s where I learned the stuff in the podcasts. Like these people in these communities and these groups, these in person, the in person engagement. That’s what saved my business because my business literally is still like what I was doing one year ago, literally exactly one year ago does not work for me right now. And so to anybody out there who really suffered during this whole pandemic, you’re not alone on that. And if you don’t have one, make one, you know, make one in your area, make your own. I’m not kidding. You make your own, there are perks.
Doug:
So you’re a huge part of the community. We appreciate that. We appreciate you. And thanks for coming on, anything to close with or anything you want to throw in.
Maria:
So you guys are, you two are really rad people. And I met, I met the, both of you through the communities are these communities is how I met the both of you. So that, that is also really telling of like, that’s, that’s real. You know, when I met Doug, it was probably like, what, four years ago? I think I met you, Doug, you know, three or four years ago. Is that what it was? I can’t remember, but it was probably about that, that amount of time. I remember you came and you were wearing a Morrissey shirt. I was like, Oh my God, wearing a Morrissey shirt. This is another Morrissey fan. And I thought it was the funniest thing. I was like, it’s a Morrissey fan. Cause I love Morrissey. And I love the Smiths. And, and I thought it was the funniest thing. And it was interesting because that’s how I met Doug. And it’s been about three or four years. And right now I’m on your podcast. And that is what I’m talking about. The networking. And it’s, it’s meeting these real people where you have these real connections with where they’re human, just like you. And they deal with the same crap that they deal with. They’re in the same industry you are. So when you sit there and you’re with your partner and your partner, doesn’t understand you’re with your family member and your sibling or your friend. And they’re like, I really don’t understand why you’re so right now about this item or about this customer what’s going on. And like, who cares that you made this sale? And you’re like, I bought it for 25 cents and I just sold it for $200 and you want to revel in that, but they don’t get it. You know, those communities that, that’s where you go, that’s where you get to humble brag. Right?
Doug:
Yeah. And that’s a great way to, to wrap it up and thanks again, Maria. We really appreciate it. Thank you guys. You guys enjoy.
Seller Shoutout and Hashtags
Doug:
All right time for this week, seller, shout out who do you have this week? Liz.
Liz:
So Doug, this week, I wanted to shout out Karissa Arnold from our Facebook group. She actually had a really good tip about hashtags. She found a site called best-hashtags.com. One of the ways she uses this is to help on Instagram. You can go to this site and type in. So her instance was Harley Davidson t-shirts right. She needed help coming up with hashtags for her Instagram. When she was advertising, you can go to this site and type in Harley Davidson, and it gave her a list of the highest ranked hashtags on Instagram that corresponded with Harley Davidson. And she was able to take that list and choose what best fit her items for her audience to optimize her advertisement on our Instagram page. Super smart. I did not know that that site existed and it just kind of makes me think about, you know, kind of a broader way to use hashtags.
Doug:
And, uh, especially on Instagram, hashtags are very active. And the cool thing about Instagram is people follow hashtags. So let’s say Harley Davidson you’ll have Harley Davidson fans that will be following that hashtag. So those posts that literally come up in their feed. So they’ll see those. And then, you know, hashtag is kind of like a search term gets you more exposure. So you want to do those. You want to do your brand hashtags. It’s always a good idea to have your own hashtag like hashtag Colorado reward. You know, a lot of sellers too, don’t think about using the platform hashtags. So it’s like hashtag [inaudible] hashtag Poshmark, hashtag Etsy, hashtag eBay. And then, you know, in a lot of ways it’s a good idea to think about the community too. So hashtag seller community, hashtag reseller, community hashtag thrift or things like that. And it’s did they just get you more exposure? Hashtags have kind of gone through some evolution to this is like it used to, Instagram’s always been very hashtag heavy they’re back on Facebook again, too. Um, and then obviously some of the other sites tell us Liz about maybe hashtags and listing. I know Mercari, you can add hashtags and listing, and I think you can on Etsy too, not on eBay yet. Hashtags are also searchable via Google,
Liz:
Kind of going back to Maria and her luxury fashion. So I just did a search on the site for hashtag luxury fashion, the most popular Instagram hashtags that go along with luxury fashion, fashionista, luxury, lifestyle, luxury, life, luxury bags, fashion, week, luxury living, and it gives you an entire list of the top. The number one, and the number two tags on platforms can be different and every platform uses them differently. I knew that when we do Maccari, they have three tags. So what’s really great with this perfectly is they have a built-in tag section, their new listing form, which we’ll talk about. They have integrated an auto-generated tags section based on the information that you provided in the listing flow to help with that. Oh, nice. If you’re, if you’re unsure or if you don’t want to take the time to search out these specific hashtags for platforms. So this perfectly does have a hashtag generator for their pro plan. You can log in, go to the pro plan guide and it’ll explain it all to you.
Doug:
That’s good. That’s a great tip. And you know, some people will use a ton. Different people say, use different amounts. I use a few and there are a couple of different ways people do them. Some people will put them directly in the post, like for example, in Instagram. And there’s kind of a new school too, where people will also put them in the first comment there. But so Liz, what hashtags? So you’re posting something. What hashtags do you,
Liz:
I was going to flip it and ask you. Wow, thank you. So it really depends. It really depends on what I would publish. I want to be able to target my audience with my hashtags, to have them find my item, but I don’t want it to be so irrelevant that they lose interest in my item or that they are not interested.
Doug:
You don’t want to be too Nash, but you want to be, you want to be relevant to what you’re doing. So you show up now. So the hashtags I use, it’s like, let’s say I’m posting for the podcast. I would post seller community, hashtag seller, community podcast, hashtag list, perfectly hashtag seller community, hashtag Colorado reward you and your first ladies first hashtag Snoop Douggie. And then, um, you know, I might throw, I usually throw in hashtag eBay hashtag eBay community, some of the other platforms and, uh, just go from there. And then if I’m S if I’m listing something silent, something it’s usually a little different, but what about you?
Liz:
If I’m losing an item, I do like to put the brand, I do like to put the style, um, some of the tags that I’ll use, sometimes it has, it’s not even in my title of my item. You know, sometimes I’ll just simply use fashion. Men’s fashion, women’s fashion, summer fashion, spring fashion, uh, you know, it really just depends on the item. Uh, if it does have a style, uh, or if I’m in a hurry, I just use the tag generator directly in this perfectly and move on because it’s going to pull those, pull those tags from the information.
Doug:
Well, and that’s cool. Yeah. If you use List Perfectly and you don’t know which hashtags to use, you know, use that tag generator, or you can go to best-hashtags.com or the other thing is, is look at similar stuff, look at what some other people are doing. Look at what some other sellers are doing. And then again, don’t forget those seller related hashtags. Very cool. Anything else, Liz?
Liz:
That’s everything. Once again, the List Perfectly group is great for tips such as this, uh, hashtag generator. So thank you for that. Thanks, Liz.
Seller Tip
Liz:
So Doug this past week, List Perfectly launched a new form design and look to the List Perfectly catalog. And with that, the pro plan has been improved. So this week we want to tell you a little bit more about the pro plan.
Doug:
All right, Liz. So here’s, what’s new, there’s a new and improved Add Product to the List Perfectly catalog design, new suggested titles and keywords, a description builder, draft listings, custom footers, and a pro plan guide.
Liz:
Yeah. So the pro plan is so in depth, they actually have an entire section dedicated to breaking down the entire guide that actually goes through and tells you how to use the suggested titles and keywords, the description builder, how you have List Perfectly do that for you. Um, it tells you how to do custom footers. This is a global setting on List Perfectly to where you can have specific scenes for each and every individual platform you decide to sell on. And as we described, there’s also a tag builder in the pro plan.
Doug:
Nice. Yeah, that’s really, those are cool features and it’s a great resource to have that on the site. And there are a lot of, you know, you just go to thesellercommunitypodcast.com and there are a lot of guides and resources on there besides some of the other options available.
Liz:
It really is a lot of information in there. And I will tell you, I’ve been using List Perfectly for over a year. And I started off on the simple plan.
Doug:
Well, I’ve got the business plan, but let’s say somebody has got the simple or business plan. How do they upgrade to the pro plan?
Liz:
You’re going to log in to List Perfectly. You’re going to go to the main menu and go to your account change plan and check out. It is super simple to do it’s prorated. So you never pay extra. You’re not in a contract. You don’t have to wait till the end of the month to do it just when you feel it, you do it. When you know, it’s time to upgrade. You can upgrade if you’re in a plan and you’re like, I really don’t need this anymore. You can easily downgrade to, and then upgrade again, go back and forth. What’s also great is if you’re not sure List Perfectly does have a three day risk-free trial to where you get three days or 20 listings to where you can try out the program.
Doug:
Try it out. Yeah. Give it a test. Drive around the block. All right, Liz. Thanks for that. What’s the secret word, Liz?
Liz:
I don’t know. Doug. What’s the secret word?
Doug:
It’s a secret. I can’t tell you…just kidding.
Liz:
I’ll tell you what. Tell our listeners
Doug:
The secret word is “podcast” and what’s it mean Liz?
Liz:
Use the code podcast when you subscribe to List Perfectly to save 30% off your first month. Here’s the cool thing. Let’s say you want to upgrade. You can use that code one time to upgrade for each one.
Doug:
And once again, the secret word is podcast, P O D C A S T.
Liz:
Use the code podcast for 30% off your first month or 30% off your first upgrade.
Doug:
Thanks for the info on the relaunch of the catalog and the pro plan upgrade process. Liz.
Liz:
You’re welcome.
Seller News
Liz:
Let’s take a look at what’s in the e-commerce news.
Doug:
All right, Liz. So something cool came out of Etsy recently that I think you’re going to like, so they’ve come out with a new goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030. And so they’re going to increase the focus on working with sustainable vendors and suppliers, and then work on decarbonisation of their logistics and transportation sectors. Their environmental goals include powering the marketplace with a hundred percent renewable electricity and running zero waste operations globally. So obviously Liz we’re fans of sustainability.
Liz:
Yeah. We just had a List Perfectly CMO Alex Shadrow on episode one. And, uh, you know, we talked a lot about sustainability as her passion, how fashion selling in particular, you know, helps the environment by keeping clothes out of landfills and, you know, Maria had just mentioned it.
Doug:
Yeah. And that’s, that’s amazing. I hadn’t even made that connection. Just the sheer numbers of stuff that are kept out of landfills because of online sellers and, you know, there’s Earth Day next month. It is, it is next month and we’re going to April 22nd. That’s also my wife’s birthday and she was born on the first Earth Day. So it’s not, not B I R T H it’s B E A R T H D A Y. It’s her birthday in honor of Earth Day. We’re going to do a sustainability special episode and Alex @sustainabae will be back.
Liz:
I’m super excited about that episode, Doug.
Doug:
Yeah, it’s going to be cool. All right, Liz, there’s another piece of news and you know, obviously I love social media and I love commerce and I’d forget, are you on Twitter?
Liz:
No, no. I don’t think that I’ve used Twitter in almost two.
Doug:
And so interestingly, Twitter’s the latest of the social sites that’s rolling into. E-commerce we’ve been talking about social commerce. Twitter’s getting in there as well. They’re working on some e-commerce experiments and they’re starting with a shot button that leads to a transaction page on Twitter. So they’re looking into adding shop buttons to tweets and stores on Twitter and other tools. So, you know, another site to sell on at some point, if you’re interested another move into social commerce, it’s not for everybody. Some people love it. Some people don’t. Liz, if you can sell on there, is that going to get you more active on Twitter? Good to know.
Liz:
Um, my, my view for social media is I can only be so many places at once. There are a lot of sellers that perfect. I don’t even want to call it game, but the social media advantage across multiple social media platforms for social commerce. I am not one of them. So I kind of feel like this is a familiar conversation that we’re having week over week with social media sites, adding, selling, adding, buy buttons, pushing that, um, and really opening doors for sellers that do really well on selling on social sites.
Doug:
Yeah. And that’s the thing that are going to be a lot more opportunities, but also a lot more competition out there. So, um, yeah, it’s going to be crazy this year with social commerce, but uh, stay tuned and we’ll have it here in the new. All right. Thanks.
Liz:
I can’t wait to talk about it again next week.
Doug:
Thanks Liz. That’s all the news that fits this week.
Outro
Liz:
Thanks for joining us this week on the Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. This week, we got to talk to our friend, Maria, thestylister, and we learned about her fashion selling journey. Be sure to check her out at thestylister.com and in the Fashion Sellers Selling on eBay Facebook group.
Doug:
We had seller shoutouts, we had a List Perfectly tip, and we had the news.
Liz:
You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com/podcast. Leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@perfectly.com. You can also post a question in the List Perfectly Facebook group. Use the #sellercommunitypodcast and mention Doug or Liz.
Doug:
And you can listen to us anywhere you listen to podcasts and be sure and subscribe, tell your friends, share, and we’d really love for you to leave a review. And we may have a cool contest coming up soon, but we’d really love for you to leave an honest review. Tell us what you think we want your feedback. You know, we want to know what you like, what you don’t like, what you want more of what you want. Less of any suggestions, facebook.com/groups/listperfectly. Follow us on Instagram. Liz is @coloradoreworn. I’m at snoop.dougie. You can also follow @listperfectly. Ready. Let’s go see if we get it this time. One, two, three…
Liz and Doug:
See you next week. We’re going to get it in about a year. We’ll get it in a year.