- We're hiring! Looking for an #eBay lister for our growing fashion sector. Interested? Send us a CV! http://bit.ly/aZLATG #
- Just got £1,750 for our #eBay item MOROSO FJORD Armchairs. More than 3.7x average selling price of £466. http://bit.ly/9kA0e2 #
Week’s tweets – 2010-03-05
Week’s tweets – 2010-03-05
- We're hiring! Looking for an #eBay lister for our growing fashion sector. Interested? Send us a CV! http://bit.ly/aZLATG #
- Just got £1,750 for our #eBay item MOROSO FJORD Armchairs. More than 3.7x average selling price of £466. http://bit.ly/9kA0e2 #
Month’s tweets – Feb 2010
Week’s tweets – 2010-02-26
- Thanks to bluemax12300 "Great item! many thanks" for getting us to our purple shooting star #eBay 50,000 f/b http://bit.ly/d3r5n8 #
- 50,000 #eBay Feedback! 99.9% +ve http://bit.ly/d3r5n8 #
- Fuschia-pink Crocs Wellies on #eBay today. How could anyone not want these? http://bit.ly/d4n45z #
- #eBay f/b today: "Came quickly!!" http://bit.ly/d3r5n8 #
- #eBay f/b today: Good communicator. "Top-rated Seller" title is much deserved. Thank you! http://bit.ly/d3r5n8 #
- Very excited: Bidding is upto £1,750 for our #eBay item KORG PA2XPRO Arranger Keyboard and it ends tonight http://bit.ly/9WRc49 #
- RT @GuyClapperton: http://bit.ly/c7BMz2 – should retailers be compelled to have bricks and mortar premises? #
- #eBay f/b received today: "Absolutely Olympic Gold service & communication! Item received in 2 days! Superb" http://bit.ly/d3r5n8 #
- Accredited by #eBay as a Top Rated Seller in today's assessment. Highest award for UK online customer service. http://bit.ly/5IY3TK #
- Lady just called. When she types "stuffusell" into #eBay search she doesn't see our shop or auctions. She has a point. http://bit.ly/a7qdrm #
- Company is buying the drinks in the pub tonight. We're celebrating two new members joining the team. Join us for a pint! #
- Love the raging bull? Chilly parking your Lamborghini in Mayfair? This is #eBay item for you! http://bit.ly/9O8maW #
Week’s tweets – 2010-02-19
- RT@KnowsEbay: eBay Hint #312 – When buying at live auctions, DON'T GET AUCTION FEVER. Know your stop point & then STOP! #ebay #
- We're hiring! Looking for a great customer service / admin person. Got what it takes to sell stuff? Send us a CV – http://bit.ly/ciDkND #
- #eBay feedback left today: "1st class, you MUST use this company, the service is fantastic, thank you. A++++" http://bit.ly/a42lOY #
- Our most watched #eBay item today: LAURA ASHLEY Mirrored Wardrobe (RRP £1,900) asking £500. Ends tonight! http://bit.ly/9Ioy6W #
- Just listed: Alexander McQueen jeans, asking £120 (inc free P&P) http://bit.ly/aHd2Vg #
- Our P&P will remain free. RT @MarketingDonut eBay businesses gain victory on P&P charges http://bit.ly/bCWU4D #
- Very excited: DAVID LINLEY St Moritz Armchairs (RRP £3,400) are our latest #eBay item asking £2,699 http://bit.ly/dk2oVE #
Month’s tweets – Jan 2010
Week’s tweets – 2010-01-22
- Our top #eBay sale this weekend was this gorgeous Burberry sheepskin jacket for a great price of £800 http://bit.ly/5Wq9tK #
- Got #eBay f/b for DVD:HowtoLoseFriendsAndAlienatePeople "not as good a film i thought it would be oh well i'll keep it anyway" @toadmeister #
- We just passed 47,000 #eBay feedback. 99.8% positive. Sweepstake on when we get to 99.9 and 50k? http://bit.ly/6tM4hu #
- Top #eBay item sold this w/e: rather fetching Bathroom with Whirlpool jacuzzi and Hansgrohe fittings for £2,100 http://bit.ly/5NIyCv #
- Top #eBay sale this week was this New Lexicon RX-7 PowerAmp which fetched £1,700. http://bit.ly/6s9Py0 #
- Going into the weekend, our most watched item on #eBay is this Beyer Dynamic microphone for just £65 – http://bit.ly/8Z3Igr #
- Matched our team's donations to double up on Haiti relief. If you want us to sell your stuff on #eBay for charity let us know. #
Week’s tweets – 2010-01-15
- RT eBayforCharity Support the Haiti relief appeal in eBay checkout. Simply add an extra £ or 2 donation to your purchase. #haiti #earthquake #
- Nice to meet you as well! RT @eBayforCharity: Great visit to the eBay trading assistant @7db yesterday. V impressive operation #
- Just passed 46,000 #eBay feedback. 99.8% positive. #
Week’s tweets – 2010-01-08
- Back in the office on a cold Monday – dealing with a lot of unwanted Christmas presents! #
- Best sold item in the after-Christmas sale was this Jaeger Atmos clock – £3,000 – http://bit.ly/8fLTfL #ebay #
- I love our customers and their feedback comments – "Fantastic item as described and very fast overseas shipping! +++AAA++++" #
- #eBay feedback on Xmas Eve "ABSOLUTELY STUNNING SERVICE, LESS THAN 24 HOURS LATER & I HAVE THE DVD !!! 10/10" Yay dispatch team! #
- #eBay feedback left on Xmas eve: "Next day delivery! Thank you. Well impressed. Even at Christmas." #
Week’s tweets – 2010-01-01
- Just passed 45,000 #eBay feedback. 99.8% positive. Happy Christmas! – http://bit.ly/7XyiVl #
- Already received email enquiries regarding selling unwanted Christmas presents to sell on #eBay! #
- Call us! RT @tamebay How to sell your Christmas presents on eBay (without offending your family and friends) http://bit.ly/5O1PEH #
Month’s tweets – Dec 2009
Week’s tweets – 2009-12-25
- All the fours! #eBay feedback at 44,444 – http://bit.ly/79DSSd [fixed] #
- #ff @JamesMaxLBC – help him get to 500 followers! #
- Great work by the packing team today – all the weekend's sales sent, and a second run to get #ebay items out for Xmas! #
Week’s tweets – 2009-12-18
- Looking forward to speaking with @JamesMaxLBC on LBC radio tonight 6pm-7pm (97.3FM, lbc.co.uk) about selling on #ebay and online business #
- Lovely chatting with @JamesMaxLBC and @crobinuk from @firebox this evening on LBC Radio. Follow them all! #ff #
- StuffUSell just passed 44,000 #eBay feedback. 99.8% positive. bit.ly/6tM4hu #
- Glad you liked it! RT@mrremovals what an enlightning show with @JamesMaxLBC on LBC 97.3 FM #
- Looking forward to our Christmas Party tonight – been a great year and looking forward to celebrating! #
- We're hiring! Interested in selling on #eBay? Get in touch. Job details: http://bit.ly/7OKT6c #
Week’s tweets – 2009-12-11
- RT @ebay_uk eBay's fixed price growth on C4's lunchtime news http://bit.ly/8taCwu #
- Currently have over 4,000 items live on #eBay. Our most watched item is this Cyrus CD7 – http://bit.ly/5oNyRu #
Week’s tweets – 2009-12-04
- Our most watched #eBay item going into the weekend is a LG 42" HD TV with opening bid at £230: http://tinyurl.com/yzkg92q #
- StuffUSell just passed 43,000 #eBay feedback. 99.8% positive. http://bit.ly/VAZKM #
In conversation with James Max on LBC
James Max is one of London’s best known business experts. Veteran of The Apprentice and a regular presenter on LBC’s Business Matters – the Property and Finance show, he’s got an experienced insider’s view on business and the economy. You can read his blog about today’s show and you can listen again by subscribing to LBC’s podcast service
We were invited on his show to help answer listeners’ comments and questions about setting up their online businesses. David Brackin, one of our Directors was joined by Christian Robinson from the wonderful Firebox, who had some great advice about Christmas gifts, and told us about the latest craze for the Slanket!
There are many ideas for online businesses and it is important when considering them to ensure that yours will have a market — when we set up Stuff U Sell, over five years ago now, we trialled the service with friends & family and spread by word of mouth. Pretty soon we were overwhelmed by work, and could talk to lots of customers to improve our product. It’s important to take this step before investing a lot of money.
One of the great things about starting-up online is that no-one need know that you are a small company. We now have a large warehouse in Park Royal, but in the first few months we didn’t have such grand premises! The important thing is to present yourself well online and give excellent customer service — then people will keep coming back for more. Stuff U Sell has developed a reputation for excellent photographs and descriptions which results in our getting higher prices for items we sell online — so much so that you can often get more even after our commission that you would selling it yourself.
Finally, in the online world, it is important to use all the existing companies out there to help you focus on the things that you’re really good at. We use eBay because it is the largest online marketplace in the UK. Did you know that with over 17.7m users each month, it is used by more people than watch The X-Factor on average!
We’re always happy to help new (or existing) businesses expand their marketplace by helping them to sell on eBay. It is an additional channel which can really help boost sales whether you have an online shop or a traditional bricks and mortar store. Give us a call on 0800 046 1100.
Collecting in person
We post a lot of items out, but some things are so large or bulky that they can’t go with a regular courier. We offer freight shipping on these items and can get these delivered pretty much anywhere, but some people prefer to save a few pounds and come and collect from our warehouse. Around 200 collections a month are made from our warehouse, so it can get busy for our team.
Collection allows you to check the item over in person as well and it’s the only way in which we accept cash as payment. We will ask you to sign for it, so do make sure you are happy with what you have bought. If it is not as described then you can bring it back, but it saves a lot of hassle to check first!
We have a busy warehouse with over 20,000 separate items in it. It helps if we know the day before you turn up to collect that you’re coming; that way we get it ready for you and you won’t have long to wait when you turn up. When you get to the warehouse park up and ring the bell for attention.
Check how big the item you are collecting is — the dimensions will be on the listing — and don’t forget to bring a suitable vehicle to collect your item: We spotted the mattress above leaving on a Mercedes convertible. He didn’t have far to go he told us!
Directions to our warehouse can be found here – and we are always happy to help if you are lost. Just call us!
Online Business Index: Online sales support retailers through the recession
eBay released today their latest Online Business Index — a quarterly survey of companies trading on the Internet. One of our Directors, David Brackin, is quoted on page 9, and here’s a summary of the key findings:-
Online supplements traditional retail
Rather than being a threat, the survey found overwhelming agreement that online sales have been essential to helping traditional businesses survive — particularly through the recession. In the year of Darwin’s 200th anniversary, it seems that adaptation for survival is going on before our eyes — 79% of traditional retailers said that trading online has made their business more sustainable.
However, whilst many online retailers have a store (48%), there are still many traditional stores who have not yet got their products online. The recession, however, is providing a great incentive for smart retailers to investigate their options.
Stuff U Sell can help get you online
There are, of course, many ways to set up an online presence: you can build your own website with ecommerce capabilities or piggyback off an existing marketplace. eBay is the largest of these marketplaces, and Stuff U Sell works with dozens of traditional businesses to provide hassle-free access to eBay. Typically we are first called to help out with end-of-line stock, and then more and more current stock is listed as clients understand the power of online sales.
We sent out a four-figure cheque this week for a lady who owns a small clothing boutique who had initially approached us several years ago to sell a few left over bits and bobs. The sales we manage are now an important part of her business, with new stock arriving in our warehouse every couple of weeks.
Government: #FAIL
Of course, with the success of online retailing, everyone wants a bit of the action, and the Government are stumbling around with their “Digital Britain” initiatives. However, the Survey identifies some stark realities for them as well: the businesses surveyed think that the Government’s got its priorities wrong (just 13% support the Universal Broadband initiative); that the advice from Business Link just isn’t worth it (26% think it is poor or terrible); and that the Conservatives would be better for small businesses (67% would vote for them).
It seems that the best thing that any Government can do for small businesses is to just get out of the way:
- reduce the bureaucratic hurdles and complex rules,
- keep the VAT rates low, and
- benefit from increased Corporation Taxes as the businesses mature to profitability.
Channel 4 News Coverage on Royal Mail strikes
We were interviewed today for Channel Four News about the Royal Mail Strikes.
You can view the story on the Channel 4 News Website.
Click here to open the video. We are from 3:08 – 3:49, following on from Gordon Brown’s comments.
Our view is that for eBay buyers, it’s very much business as usual as we have developed a network of other couriers. Our eBay sales are up and most items are being delivered without delay. It’s an operational headache, but that’s why people value using our service to sell their stuff on eBay.
You can read more in a previous blog post.
Ongoing Royal Mail Strikes
The Royal Mail is a key partner for eBay sellers, but the strikes mean that we need to develop alternatives – some of which will remain long after the strikes are gone.
We all love to blame the Royal Mail: “it’s lost/delayed in the post” must be one of the most common excuses we hear. As a large user of Royal Mail services over the past few years, however, I have often felt that the criticism was unwarranted. We have historically experienced low loss rates and good handling, all from an organisation which is obliged to provide Universal Service (ie it must cost the same to get it to Orkney as it does to Orpington). It remains fiercely competitively priced for UK small packets.
However these most recent strikes really have put the spanner in the works. They have been going on in key cities for several months now, and are escalating to a national level. Our experience shows that a lot of First Class post is still arriving next day but occasionally items will take two weeks or more. This inconsistency is very hard to manage.
Most eBay buyers understand that there is a strike on, but they just want their stuff, not excuses. We agree. Most items we sell go out within a day of payment and are delivered next day. We are delighted when we see feedback left by buyers who have paid for something on Monday and receive it on Tuesday. That’s what online shopping should be like.
Whilst Royal Mail have been extremely helpful working with us to get our post into the network and delivered, but we also have developed a network of other couriers which we are using for over half our sales now. DPD, DHL, Lewis Day and a host of other providers are all getting increased business from us.
eBay recently suspended the Dispatch Time Feedback (Detailed Seller Rating) to help sellers during the strikes — ours was already above target because of the measures that we have put in place. They also petitioned Lord Mandelson to encourage a swift resolution, who recently made comments about the union’s strike plan being a “suicidal act”.
Whether or not Royal Mail and the union agree, the genie is out of the bottle, and we have the alternatives in place and will happily use them. The tracked service which DPD offer (they email the buyer with parcel progress) is superior to the standard Royal Mail product and we are delighted to have upgraded.
We are also now encouraging buyers to use Paypal rather than post a cheque in – we receive the payment promptly and they get their goods quicker. For our sellers, we recommend accepting payment from us by BACS rather than having a cheque in the post.
We are a small business and we live or die by how well we satisfy our customers. It’s a headache to develop all these alternatives, but that is one good reason our sellers use our service and we can’t allow a single supplier to hold a gun to our (or their) heads.