Marketing with Newsletters
Looking for a great, low-cost way to promote yourself and stay in touch with your past customers (or attract new ones)? One way is to do an e-newsletter. Almost every major company has one now, and there’s no reason YOUR business couldn’t follow in their footsteps.
Etsy 101
September 3, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
I am quickly approaching my one-year anniversary on Etsy and have found that Etsy is a wonderful community of artists — artists that are very passionate about what they do and sell.
I’d like to share with you a few things that I have learned along my journey into the Etsy world.
An eBay Alternative
With eBay listing fee sales on fixed-priced auctions only, many sellers are wondering if auctions are on their way out for eBay.
The multitude of changes at eBay, in general, seem to signal a move away from small-time sellers, and Indiepreneurs are eager to find alternatives to the giant online marketplace — to spread out into new ecommerce selling venues.
Here’s an online auction site you may want to investigate. It could prove to be a very good and viable alternative to eBay.
Selling Vintage and Antiques
August 6, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
eBay’s changes and new rules make it a bit harder for ecommerce Indiepreneurs dealing in vintage and antiques to make a sale. Etsy, while a nice venue for handmade items, seems to put vintage items in second-class status.
If you’re a frustration dealer in the vintage and antique, here are a few online selling venues you may want to try.
Armour Sans Anguish
July 29, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
trashion (trash-shon) n. apparel, wear ables, jewelry and accessories made from trash, garbage or thrown-away materials.
Going green has become a consumer mantra. Not only is it smart business to capitalize on the recycle-reuse movement, it’s the right thing to do for the environment.
Creative Indiepreneur Tawny Holt does it in a most beautiful way.
PRISON TERM FOR E-MERCHANT
July 25, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
Jeremiah Mondello was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison, followed by 3 years probation and 150 hours community service per year for selling privated goods online.
“Mondello is a whiz-kid who used his smarts and savvy to rip off software makers and consumers,” noted Keith Kupferschmid, SVP of Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). “We are fortunate that he has been stopped, but there are hundreds more like him running illegal operations on eBay and other sites. The Mondello case demonstrates that these pirates won’t simply get a slap on the wrist when caught — they very well may end up doing serious time in federal prison.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crime Center, Mondello used stolen bank account information to create more than 40 fictitious eBay and PayPal identities to sell pirated software via the auction site. His fraudulent sales amounted to a five to six figure sales volume.
The SIIA, which initiated the action against the notorious eBay pirate, also announced six new lawsuits against sellers of illegal software on auction sites bringing the total lawsuits so far in 2008 to 32.
“We’ve been much more aggressive in filing lawsuits this year and intend to send a clear message that auctioning counterfeit and unauthorized software will lead to serious penalties,” Kupferschmid continued. Today’s six new lawsuits will be followed by even more as the year goes on.”
The most recent lawsuits charged all of the following with knowingly selling software illegally on eBay: Nathanael S. Landsteiner, Fairmont, MN; John Hoyle and Gail La Fortune, Senoia, GA; Gennadiy Barbin, Boise, ID; Tamara Irby, Nathalie, VA; Trisha Carter/Maggie Grace Designs; Denham Springs, LA; and, Andreh Lee, Elmhurst, NY.
To date, the SIIA program has led to judgments and settlements against illegal eBay sellers as well as sellers on other websites dealing in counterfeit, OEM, unbundled, unauthorized education, and other versions of software not authorized for Internet resale. Damages paid by defendants have run as high as several hundred thousand dollars. SIIA also has successfully tracked and pursued the upstream sources of some of these products, and will continue to do so.
Read the press release from the SIIA
Selling Your Story
July 22, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
As indiepreneurs, one of the strongest marketing tools we have is in our very own personal story. Most people that buy handmade are highly interested in our personal stories, as a way to connect not only to us as creative people but to somehow connect to the product we have to sell.
Each and every one of us has a road we have travelled down to get where we are today as indiepreneurs.
Understanding Etsy
July 17, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
Does this sound familiar? You’ve visited Etsy.com and while you recognize some of the terms flying around, you aren’t quite sure what they are exactly.
Don’t worry, Etsy has its own language. Here is a list of the most common terms you may come across.
How to Host a Fabulous Home Party
July 15, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
When customers at trunk shows began asking about hosting their own home “party”, I became very open to the idea. Companies like Tupperware and Pampered Chef were very successful using this method. I’ve worked for such direct sales companies. How different could it possibly be to do it on my own?
I’d like to share marketing techniques you may find helpful to successful home parties.
Product Photography
July 11, 2008 by Lovely · Leave a Comment
Selling online — Ecommerce – presents a unique issue in that customers can’t pick up, touch and examine your product.
High quality, unique products need high quality photography to sell well.
Here are a few tips.
