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[Genuine-Gina]

Oops- was just going to add that you guys are super nice- of course.
Refering to my paragraph about NZ being a small country.
That paragraph sounded weird.
My point was- repeat customers are soo important for my business.
I’ve had one lady spent $5000 with me last year.
A large parcel every month.
I’ve started noticing same business addresses with different recipients lately- most likely the collegue has been recommending my shop.
I think a lot of these people come back because I will have more of what they bought before.
Like bags or shoes or jewellery.
I have to make sure that everything is top notch in my sales funnel to keep them coming back.

Anywho- Loooove you guys- thanks to you I am all motivated again- beyond trying to survive.

Cheers
Gina

[Genuine-Gina]

Hi Ryanne!

I’ve just listened to your episode about selling higher value items for 2017.
My plan is to try and make more money.

I’ve been selling on Trade Me in New Zealand for 7 years now- full time.
My strategy has always been aiming for higher value items.
( I just have trouble asking top dollar- which is something that I need to work on- since I don’t have a partner it’s kind of hard))

But- I think TRUST is something very important in this equation.
The higher value items require more trust on the buyers behalf.

That is why I think specialising- which is something you always adviced against- is important.
I started with just leather bags and shoes and became known as the baglady.
I got pretty good at doing my niche.
And gained knowledge that I could use in my description to help me sell a bag or shoes so much better.
People still call me the bag lady now and I have no trouble selling bags for good prices.
I have a lot of repeat customers-because of TRUST>
I know exactly which brand of bag is save to auction at $1 reserve to achieve the highest price.

New Zealand is too small to have your Ebay strategy I think.
You better be nice to everyone in a small country like this cause you might end up living next door to them or becoming their mother in law in 10 years time.
( which is why kiwis have a reputation for being super friendly)

Now I have moved onto vintage jewellery and am getting pretty knowledgeable with this too.
The more history and provenance you can give – the higher the price you can achieve- I believe.
On Ebay buyers will trust you because of your feedback but can they trust that you are knowledgeable about say a certain collectable item?
Selling a whole collection of one type of thing has taught me that you don’t know if this collectible is the best of it’s kind or the worst- until you can compare it with similar items.
I sell a lot of stuff by saying it’s the largest or the softest or the rarest or the best condition- I have come across.
AND- the more you know in a particular field the more of that kind you’ll find- I believe.

I have only about 200 items in my shop and will only list them for 5 weeks.
My sell through rate is around 30%

I am by no means saying that this is the way to go- just my thoughts.
In fact- I am really considering trying your method on Ebay with things that fit in envelopes.

I am even thinking of just doing your method on Trade Me.
I just think things go stale here quicker as Trade Me is a much smaller site.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Cheers
Gina

[Genuine-Gina]

Hi Jay,

thanks for your reply.
Ha- I hope you’ve learnt your lesson once you trashed your own country.
You’re most welcome if you can come and make NZ a healthier place- cause we’ve done a pretty good job trashing it ourselves already.
Godzone has gone from 95% forest cover to 5% in the space of not even 200 years.
And lets not even mention the Moas.
Kidding aside – you guys are more than welcome to pop in for a coffee any day- we’re in Auckland.

I do agree- we are in the middle of the throw away society- well trained consumers will chuck almost anything- even 10 years ago this was not so- not here anyway.

‘Buy for $1 and sell for $30’ doesn’t work here on many- if any.
My rule of thumb is: if I can buy it for 1/3 of what I can sell it for I’ll go for it.

I am motivated by the fact that quality- even well used quality- is still better for the planet than new stuff that’s crap.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing your bit to try and make this world a better place- in such a unique and entertaining way.

I have another question for you:
Do you guys have to pay income tax and Goods and services tax?
Do you have to have a secondhand dealers licence?

On Trade Me I have to fly an ‘In Trade’ banner.
The tax department is watching closely
I pay a lot of tax and GST
I’ve yet to get my secondhand dealers licence- but should really have one.
It’s just another large bill to get one.
I hate dealing with accounting stuff- so I pay a bookkeeper ( the only word I can think of with 3 double letter in a row) to tell me how much I owe the government every other month.

I know it’s boring stuff but I believe it’s better to be 100% legit than not.

Cheers
Gina

[Genuine-Gina]

Kia Ora from New Zealand.

Just found you guys this week and binged on your episodes while working.

There is no New Zealand Ebay as we are too small or something- we don’t have Ikea either.
but- we have Trade Me- our version of Ebay.
I have been a Trade Me seller for 7 years now and make a full time living for a family of 4.
I’m a 1 woman band.

I learnt a lot from listening to you guys.
And I wondered a lot..
I have lots of questions…
The most burning one:
Why do you tell the world how you make money on Ebay?
Do your podcasts generate a lot of income?
(If I would tell my fellow Kiwis how to do it on Trade Me- every man and his dog would be in the Opshop trying to score.)
So-I hope you don’t consider me too rude when I ask:
What’s in it for you?

With my best wishes
Gina

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