News from the Blog...
1970s Fashion Trends
Gotta love the 1970s... Bell bottoms, flares, suede, fringe, long hair, braids, peace signs, drab colors, holes, dirt, free love and so much more. There is something so natural about the look from the 70s that has left it a classic style for centuries to come.
Perhaps the most popular of the decades fabrics to make a comeback is the lightweight paper-thin cotton gauze from India. Even with holes, a vintage block print dress from India can be worth up to $1,000 USD. The ethereal, draping, flowing, breathable fabric is highly sought after. Garments of this type from the 1970s are unrivaled in quality, even today. They just don't make fabrics like they used to.
High waist or hip huggers, be sure to grab a pair of those bell bottoms you always wanted own. Pair that with platforms and a hip length flowing top, plus a few long chain necklaces of different metal types and you will be right on trend.
1920s: Flapper Chic
There is nothing like the glitz and the glam of the roaring twenties. Not to mention the beautiful dress styles, cloche hats, feathers, fringe, long strands of pearls and painted red lips. Oh and let's not forget furs galore.
The drop waist cut was a classic style of the 1920s, yet we only saw it come back in the 1980s. It is an elegant cut that flatters the body by leaving alot to the imagination. The delicate fabrics and incredible craftsmanship of each garment is incredible.
Not many dresses have survived to recent days, but the ones that have are sheer art pieces. They are virtually impossible to recreate. Just beautiful and oh so RARE!
Be sure keep an eye out for that perfect 20s dress for the next Gatsby party you attend. Grab a fun head crown with feathers or chains, long antique gold metal chains and several strands of pearls to complete your outfit.
Vintage Winter Fur Fashion
Once costing in the tens of thousands of dollars for a single garment, vintage fur coats have made a come back. But, this time around they are signifigantly less expensive. Used furs are "all the rage" right now.
Vintage fashionistas love fur, but only ones that were once loved by someone else. The whole idea is to reuse and recycle. A used full length mink or fox fur coat can be purchased for less than $500 nowadays.
Vintage weddings have become very poepular in the last few years, and many brides will purchase 1950s fur stoles for all of their bridesmaids. The Chinese love American vintage mink fur and will also purchase them as wedding gifts. And the Japanese love American fox fur.
So, if you are planning a vintage wedding either here or abroad, be sure to keep an eye out for white mink stole capelets and waist length jackets with 3/4 length sleeves. Silver mink is also a lovely bridal color. And of course there is the traditional taupe color.
Start Your Own Online Store
Follow these easy steps to get started with your own business today...
1. Decide what type of business you want to have (retail or service).
2. Choose a Business Name (preferably only two words).
3. Search all social media for that name. Make sure it is not taken on any other site. If it is, come up with a different name and repeat the search until you find one that is unique.
4. Purchase a URL / Website Domain. Preferably the .com version of your business name with no spaces, dashes or other characters. If it is not available, repeat steps 2 and 3 until you find a name that has a .com available.
5. Create an e-mail account with your new domain. For instance, yourname@yourdomain.com. Then, go to Gmail and sign up for a free e-mail account with your business name. You should not use the Gmail account professionally, but you do not want anyone else to sign up for an account with your business name and try to use it maliciously. You should also sign up for a Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo e-mail accounts. Cover all of your bases.
6. Sign up with your business name on every social networking site and every retail and / or service venue website you think you will use. Do this immediately before or after purchasing your website URL. Do not wait. All of these steps should be done simultaneously.
7. Sign up for a Seller's Permit / Tax ID and Fictitious Business Name at your County Clerk's Office.
8. Sign up with GoDaddy's Bookeeping service. Link all of your current online stores to it immediately. Let the software do the work for you. When tax time rolls around you will be thankful you paid the $9.99/ month subscription fee!
Back to Recent PostsHow to Sell on Etsy
1. Etsy is a fantastic site to sell on if you are selling crafts, handmade items or vintage clothing. This leaves out a huge market. However, if it is a good fit for you, then it is the one option that allows you to keep the most profit from your sales.
2. At this point you have already researched your name on Etsy. You know it is available and you have probably already signed up for a shop with it. BE FORWARNED, you can only change your Etsy username name ONCE! So, choose very very wisely. As I said earlier, less is more. Choose a name that is only two words. Be sure to make your shop name the same exact name as your username. You may want to put a space in-between the words. For instance, if your username is treasuretrove then your shop name should be Treasure Trove.
3. Now that you have gotten this far you need to research, research, research. You will be creating a brand now; a look and feel for your shop. Collect examples of photos you like from other seller's listings. Ask yourself what it is that you like about them. Is it the background color, the setting, the lighting, the proportion of the object within the photo, the clarity or blur? You are going to create a look and replicate it over and over in every single listing.
4. You will need equipment... a DSLR camera is preferable. If you are selling clothes, you will need a dress form or real life model. I would not recommend a mannequin, as they are just not on trend at the moment. You rarely see mannequins in listing photos anymore. Again, less is more. Simple is better. If you are selling jewelry, create a nice display that you can use consistently throughout your photography. This step sounds very easy but can be very difficult to execute... we tend to want to experiment as we go along. This is fine, but the quicker you can decide on a theme and stick with it, the more sales you will have, guaranteed!
5. You will also want to research your competition, which will probably be thousands of people selling almost the exact same thing as you. Look at prices, but don't get discouraged and undersell yourself.
Back to Recent PostsHow to Sell on eBay
1. It is free to open a general seller's account on eBay! If you want an official shop and discounted fees, eBay offers a monthly or yearly shop subscription package for a nominal charge. Though, I recommend starting with the free account, until you have a few sales under your belt and you are making enough profit to justify paying for a shop.
2. Sign up for an eBay ID. This should be your business name. The exact same name as your domain name. Later, if you open a subscription based store, you will be asked to create a store name. Again this should be the same as your User ID and Domain names.
3. Listing on eBay is significantly easier than listing on Etsy. Many products already have predefined specs or details and it is easy to copy listing formats. However, the same rule applies... take GREAT photos. Great photos are consistent photos, with similar backgrounds, easy to see objects and simple colors.
4. eBay has a very strict seller scoreboard system. The nice thing is, the higher you keep your score, the more sales you will have. eBay rewards their higher rated sellers by driving more traffic to their shops. In other words, they receive more visibility. So, how do you stay on top? Well, it is easier for some than others. NEVER ship a package after the handling time stated, ALWAYS track your package, offer RETURNS on all items, leave positive FEEDBACK for the customer immediately after they purchase your item, NEVER cancel a sale unless it is absolutely necessary, package your items VERY carefully and make sure your listing description ACCURATELY describes the item. Basically, if you are honest, pay attention to detail and follow through on what you promised you should be VERY successful on eBay.
5. When I was full swing selling in all three marketplaces I made the highest profit on eBay. It has been nicknamed FEEBAY, but those who are serious sellers reap the rewards of lower selling fees and an unmatched algorithm for driving traffic to your listings.
6. eBay provides a lot of support by way of customer service and community forums. There is always someone around to answer your question. This is in contrast to Etsy, which has virtually no support at all. For almost ten years, Etsy literally had no phone support phone number.
How to Sell on Amazon
1. Amazon is the GOLIATH of all e-commerce sites. Individuals are free to sell using their site, but it is not very common. Amazon is for big business. Wholesale and warehouse businesses. The seller fees are very high. In order to make a profit, your business has to sell mass quantities.
2. If you are a bigger business or want to grow into one, Amazon has the customer base to get you the sales you will need to grow! It is almost impossible to sell on a scale as large as Amazon on any of the other e-commerce websites.
3. Amazon offers drop shipping services. The seller never has to physically touch or see the item they are selling. It can all be set up to run through Amazon Prime services. They will store, package and ship the item for you. All you need to do is create the listing. This is a GREAT way to make money while doing very little to no work. And you will not have store inventory in your home. However, this does have a steep start-up cost price tag. And depending on what you are selling the profit margin could be quite small. You will need to sell A LOT to make back your start-up fees.
4. Items on Amazon can sell quickly, but certain items tend to take a longer time to sell. If you want quick sales use eBay's auction feature.
5. One other drawback to selling on Amazon is that they keep the money from your sales for up to 3 weeks before releasing the funds to your bank account. There is a long lag in turn-around time. For the small time seller who is depending on the profit from one sale to fuel the next, Amazon may not be best venue.
6. I honestly have not dabbled with selling on Amazon very much. I sold about 100 obscure books I had. It took over a year to sell them and I still had many left. The profit was very, very small. I do not think it was worth the bother of packaging and shipping for a side project.
