It’s always hard to sell your goods, but what is the proper way to get your stuff noticed by the audience? What should you do, and maybe even more important, what shouldn’t you do. Here are some tips & tricks to get you started.
I mostly sell goods in the Netherlands, but just recently also started to research the possibilities to expand to a bigger market. That is mostly because of the fact that in general, the dutch people do not often see the value of collector items, deadstock items and so on. You can, if you want, sell almost anything here. But instead of getting a good price, you get a very low price.
Top 5 must do’s:
- Get good photographic material, made by you
- Make proper descriptions of the item, and be honest! Any defects, let them know. People don’t care about them if it’s a rare item, as long as they know before hand, and not find out when they unpack the package.
- Define a starting price to prevent dissapointment
- Add proper keywords to your ads
- Spread the word !
Top 5 don’ts:
- Leave the price free for offer. Stick to what you know, and what it is worth!
- Only send stuff through post, no pick up’s unless you have good emailcontact and trust the person.
- Be clear about shipping costs. People want to know what they are in for.
- Dont’ add words to your add that are not relevant, or your add will get suspended or deleted.
- Keep waiting … that doesn’t help if people don’t know that you are selling stuf!
To find a site that fits your needs is always hard. I’ve never used Ebay for selling, because I don’t like the freedom you have that can easily work against you. When I buy I almost never bid, only use the “buy now” function. If you do decide to go with an auction site, make sure that you set a starting bid that you can be ok with, even if only one person bids on it. You can think that the product is the max, but others might disagree and start bidding at $1,-. If only 2 people would bid on it, that would be a ptiy.
Site’s to sell INTERNATIONAL
Ebay
iOffer | *verification needed by phone* FREE
Etsy | *CC needed to activate, not to pay*
Site’s to sell NETHERLANDS
Marktplaats | Free, and belgium customers can purchase aswel.
Speurders | Free
Etsy | Not free, but really well known by the dutch audience
Getting to know each other
Selling stuff is like setting up a marketing campaign for a brand. You need to have the stuff ready, photographed and all, but also need to let the people know that it is there !
Steps I take to sell my goods
- Make photographs with my Canon 1000D of full product, feature (like fabric, detail on shoe etc) and tag which often contain the useful information like shoe size.
- Set up the ad with catchy title, proper description with additional keywords and photos
- Define shipping, start bid and that it is an send only ad.
- Post on different online forum, add message to twitter, link the page on facebook, all to let people know what I sell
- Start receiving your bids !
I used to be on allot of fashion forum on the net, often full with 16 year old girls that are dying to follow the latest trend for ofcourse a lower price then in stores. That’s where I post my stuff, because that is my audience for wedge ankle boots, chanel inspired bags etc. Because I post my stuff there, I often sell my goods allot faster then usual.
Some dutch forum:
Girlscene
ElleGIRL
Fok!
Fashionscene
One important thing we often forget are keywords. When people buy a certain icon shoe at H&M, and don’t put H&M in the title or ad itself, it will most likely not be found by the crowd. Someone who is dying to find them, will find them eventually. But it’s not easy. Also be international ! The dutch crowd, and then i’m especially talking about the 16 year olds again, are crazy about Ebay and others, that they often search for “ankle boots” on dutch site’s too. So it never harms to add those international keywords to your ads as well.
Example: ankleboots, ankle boots, enkellaarsjes, enkel laarsjes, laarzen, enkel, H&M, Divided
First two are US language, 3rd and 4th are Dutch, words after that are just written separately and some brands. To come up with the ultimate keywords think about what you would type if you wanted these boots.
Don’t let the crowd search for it, bring them to you!
