149: How To Sell Memories To Grow Your eBay Business - Jewel Smith-Bolman & Marshall Bolman

Jewel started back in 2003 selling commissioned motorcycle parts for a friend, then opened a store selling vintage items while working full time. Now living in the US, she sells full time & found a niche focusing on vintage toys. She considers it selling childhood memories and making new ones. Interesting Notes Jewel was a preschool teacher in Canada. When she moved to the US, she started selling any items that are vintage, from the 50s to the present. The toys that she sells now come from the 60s to 80s. At first, she did not want to get into eBay. She only did it as a favor to a friend and sold something that she had no knowledge of. As her children were growing, she started listing dollar signs on all their toys. Instead of throwing old toys out, she sold it on eBay and made some money. That is how she started her Plush Toys niche. Toys are where her heart is. She can tell what year the toys are made by what their eyes are made of, by the tags, and by the country where it is made. Marshall is more into old knives and old watches. Jewel and Marshall work together in their eBay store. They go shopping together but Jewel does most of the work because Marshall still has a day job. Today, most people are buying from their phones more than from their computer. Things change so fast that sellers need to simplify things for the buyers. Sellers need to make buyers' shopping an enjoyable thing. Jewel categorized her plush toys by what they are - group into the same movie or the same brand. Grouping is a great way to give someone a very good deal. Jewel and Marshall give deals to preschools and daycare, candy bar companies, and the like. Jewel sometimes finds eBay changes a little bit daunting because she has a huge inventory. But she understands that changes are part of running a business. One only has to be flexible. One has to go with the way the market is going. Jewel and Marshall go sourcing together. They go to second-hand stores, Goodwill, garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales. Marshall's forte is in price bargaining and in getting vendors to sell items in bulk. Marshall built a warehouse for Jewel's stuff. They have a thousand storage bins and tubs. Their bins are all-numbered. Jewel keeps a hard copy of her inventory list. The list includes what bin the items are and the location of the bins. They also have huge heavy duty bags full of stuff that is not yet processed. It took them three years to put systems in place. Jewel's secret to a 100% positive feedback on her eBay store is being completely honest to her buyers. A few years ago, someone in her family passed away. Though she got herself absorb in work, she was not storing her online items properly. There were sales and she could not find the items. One buyer became so upset. Jewel explained her situation and the buyer was so kind and understanding. One of their interesting sales is an old vintage nun doll with a cracked face and looked creepy. Kat Von D, a tattoo artist featured in HBO Show, bought the item. Another interesting sale is a vintage metal Folgers coffee can. The buyer sent them an email thanking them for selling the item. It was what the buyer needed for her father who passed away with a request to be buried in a Folgers coffee can. The ugliest but one-of-a-kind toy that they ever sold is a 6' Slender Man. Slender Man is an online urban legend who comes and steals children. They got it for $60 a year ago. The majority of their items are vintage. They get their hands on the vintage stuff because they believe that a day will come that it will be hard to find. But more than that, they are selling memories, and they want to make children happy. To them, an adult looking for his/her childhood toy is still a child. They have various stories of people making the best offer because the toy is very important. One is because of an autistic child that is so attached to the toy. Another is because the toy brings about the memory of a mother who gave the toy and was no longer with them. eBay gives Jewel the flexibility that it is almost impossible for her to keep track of her working hours. She can work 19 hours for three days straight, listing and all. Then she can spend the rest of the week shipping and be answering questions. October to December is their best time of the year. With the pre-Christmas and post-Christmas time, they could make half of their yearly income. Jewel and Marshall enjoy every aspect of their eBay business. They get the freedom and flexibility of working from home. It allows Jewel to go back to Canada and visit her family whenever she wants to. It allows Marshall to take over their business when Jewel is gone. They could not ask for a better job to have. They plan on doing eBay well into their retirement. And to do this they keep on accumulating a huge stockpile of inventory. Advice, Tips, and Tricks Be completely honest, keep your buyers happy and satisfied. There are times where buyers get disappointed and ask for a refund. In such case, Jewel and Marshall give a full refund plus anything in their store. They want to make their buyers happy by giving them twice the value of the item. If the buyer's complaint is questionable, it does not matter anymore. Jewel and Marshall will do everything to make the buyer walk away satisfied. Jewel does a lot of research on her items but there are items that just came up. If she can't find any data that gives her the answers, she would put the item on auction. If she feels that the item is a valuable one, she would start the auction at a high price. She would know if she is on the right track if people are people looking at the item. If people are ignoring it then it would tell her that the item is not as valuable than she thought it was. Online sales are booming everywhere. There are so many places to sell. There are so many things to buy and sell. And a seller should keep these reminders all the time: 1. Do your research and find a niche that you are happy with. 2. Be flexible enough to go with any changes that are coming your way. 3. Sell nothing fragile so that you will not spend a lot on packing materials. 4. Listen to the buyers out there. They will tell you what items have value. Quotes "I get so much enjoyment selling toys!" "It is so much fun when you really love what you do. It is hard to complain." "You have to go with the way the market is going." "The customer is always right." "Yes, we want to make a profit. And we enjoy the business. But we really are selling the memory." "It's fun but it does not mean it is easy." "Let the customer win. The customer has to win." - Ron Contact Information eBay Store: JewelsThings Twitter: JewelsThings Facebook Page: JewelsThings Sponsors Solutions4Ecommerce 3DSELLERS eCom Chicago Norila Digital Marketing

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149: How To Sell Memories To Grow Your eBay Business - Jewel Smith-Bolman & Marshall Bolman is an episode from So You Wanna Sell On eBay by Ali Young & Ron LaBeau.

This episode is 35:05 long.

This episode was published on Jul 3, 2018.

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