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Jay is correct on those app sites. But there is a bonus feature we use. Forget if all 3 have this feature or 1, 2 or… But you can put in key words and if any of those key words pop up within the sales listed with them they will send you an email. You can select to have daily or weekly updates sent to you every morning.
Something to note, if your keywords are broad, like furniture you will get everything, sort of like Jay’s “firehose”. But if you input mid-century, retro, stained glass lights, and things like that your email will be more focused. These sites save those key words until you change them. Also I think one of them allows up to one hundred key words. Then on a few you can select a mileage radius that you are interested in. Since you are very remote, and you have the time and are willing, you might use 50 or 100 mile radius, then select which sales you would want to attend. Also there are lots of photos to help you decide if you want to travel that far.
Here in Atlanta we keep it to about 10 to 20 or 25 miles. Just so much stuff here that finding inventory is not the problem, it is self restraint from buying too much at a time.
Just a few details to help you use those sites Jay suggested.
mike at mdc galleries in atlantaThe ones we sold went for $69.95, paid $10.75 a consignment shop, I think. Never heard of or seen any barbells or weights made out of wood? Didn’t know there was such a thing. Live and learn.
Will be doing some experiments with photog tomorrow. Will see how it goes. Hoping to get in a position whereby as we create Ebay listings, then cross over to the second monitor and cut and paste and attach photos as we go. That way we will be doing the Ebay and Etsy at the same time. I stress the word “Hopefully” Thanks for your input Sue … 🙂 mike in atl.Yep, that is exactly what I am talking about. We turned the camera vertically on that tall item. So we will just have to shoot everything holding the camera horizontally and backing up. Since we are just starting off, we will only start listing items that we did not turn vertically. But on the vertical ones we will have to re-shoot the first photos over in horz. format.
P.S. we had a pair of juggling table items just like yours sell about a month or so ago on Ebay. Ours were black, one taller and both had a parallel grove around them carved into the wood and filled in with gold paint.
mikeHey Omfug: That first test photo was with the camera turned vertically. We shoot in a rectangle format even for Ebay, not a sqaure. 1600 l/r x 1200 u/d. And all turn out ok. When we turn the camera vertical for real tall items they still turn out ok. But that Etsy item was tall and Etsy chopped it off some top and bottom. Would we then be better off to always shoot items with our camera held horizontally, shooting in the 1200 x 1600 size for all shots in the future? That would mean on tall items we would have to back up somewhat and that will result in a smaller image, but maybe Etsy will auto crop and it will be larger. Unsure.
mikeNancy: Just ran into this with our first test item on the new Etsy store. Starting with just one listing to use as a test and work out the bugs.
All photos are on our rig and when we did the drag and drop it was from our photo directory. Yep, the first gallery photo was cropped harshly at the top and bottom. We use a 35mm digital camera, shooting at 1600×1200. rectangle format. We sometimes turn the camera side ways for tall vertical pieces. All of the Ebay photos turn out fine.
So, what is the preffered [we assume also the easiest and quickest way] to get that #1 Gallery photo sized correctly for using the drag and drop to Etsy?
We have approx. 750 items in our Ebay store x 12 or more photos each = approx. 9,000 photos +/-. Do we have to go back and re-size one photo of each item to be suitable for Etsy?
The Ebay photos as they come from the camera are already rectangles and you mention Ebay coverts it to a square, but we see that nothing is cropped out of the thumbnail that Ebay uses. So that means that the Ebay Gallery photos still come out fine just as we shoot them from the camera.Hope we don’t have to go back through 750 listings and do a resize on one photo.
Thanks for any input from all the Etsy sellers…. mc in atl.03/21/2017 at 9:54 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 302: How to Deal with Dreaded eBay Scammers Lurking Everywhere!! #14961Hey J&R: Question about your “Return Policy SOP” [standard operating procedure]. Where do you see your 20% Restocking fee play into the picture? I have had people email me asking for a return then later get a “never mind” note from them saying they were not going to pay that high of a re-stocking fee. In those cases it acts as a deterant to them making a return. Also with having it, we have applied it a few times to returns during the refund process.
So what are your opinions on having it, using it, when to apply it, and how do you use it to leverage your position on a return and your thoughts on it even being seen on your sites?
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
03/20/2017 at 3:19 pm in reply to: Does vacation and extended handling time affect top selling seller status? #14900Yes, but you re-gain it back pretty quickly. And it also depends on when your Ebay invoice date is. If they do your monthly billing and / or your TRS review on the 20th of the month and you go on vacation and get back before that date, you loose it for the period on vacation [since you are on the extended ship times], but if you get back before your next review date, change everything back to your 1 & 2 day handling time then when they review you on the next go around you will meet all the TRS requirements and they will reinstate your TRS status.
I believe that is how it works. Now when J&R go on their month long trips I think they have to wait until the second review cycle, but a week or two in between reviews gets re-established quickly.
If I am wrong someone will probably get it straight.
mike at mdc galleries in atlanta
Hey shortcut:
Found three of them that sold.
All at $49.99, including frame. Also a lot of 6 of them sold for $103=$17.17 ea. They have made them each year back into the late 70’s 80’s. I saw several from 1985 [different image each year of course] for the two hundred dollar range, but as they got newer the prices went down.Tip many times I get better results if I use [and the site will let me], use “Boolean” language in your searches. BTW.. Ebay last 90 day sold searches is just the tip of the ice berg in research for real old and-or high dollar items. We subscribe to several databases and research sites along with having a long list of saved sites in our browser side bar. On our antiques we subscribe too and use Kovels Antique Price Guide, published each year. It also teaches the reader a lot about the items researched. History, who made, when closed down and lots of stuff that is great to use in our descriptions. But we usually go with gut on items less than $50 due to the time to do deep research.
Main page link:
http://www.worthpoint.com/inventory/search?query=%22book+country%22+poster* New York Is Book Country 1996 Poster By James Gurney 20X26 Books Of Wond Sold for: $49.99 Source: eBay Sold Date: Jun 11, 2016
** New York is Book Country 1996 Framed Poster by James Gurney Books of Wonder RARE
Sold for: $49.99 Item Category: Fine Art Source: eBay Sold Date: Nov 19, 2016
New York is Book Country 1996
The Poster is in great condition The frame has some scratches
Measures approximately 20 1/2″ wide by 27″ tallHope this helps…
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta-
This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Having been in the screen printing business for over 30 years.. the best way to get an over all print on t-shirts and even large bolts-rolls of fabric that you buy at fabric stores is done by Sublimation Dye Transfer or also called heat transfer. Material is Sub. Heat Transferred at the mill in large rolls then broken down into bolts and sold to fabric shops. Thus we have the phrase woven printed fabrics.
On pre-made goods such as shirts and even ceramics [plates, mugs and cups] depending on the chemical composition of the actual dye and substrate printed on [also a “mirror” [backwards image], the transfer is done by using a heat press and pressing the material in between two heated “platens” [rubber coated] plates.
At the mill the mirror image is using printed by large web presses [just like large newspaper printing presses]. Then that material is, at high speed, unrolled out onto various fabrics and then the two pieces are run through heated, pressure rollers pressing the sub. dye top sheet against the lower layer ofg fabric, then as they come out of the press-transfer roller the paper image is rolled up on a “take-up” roll and the fabric, peeled away and rolled on the lower take up roller. this then printed material is broken down into the “bolts” you buy or is sent to mills to make into mostly women’s printed dresses and blouses.
now that process is the same for heat transfer of decal like images to ceramics. Many plates that you see, even by companies like Limoges, Staffonshire, even Tiffany will use a pre-printed decal and mechanically transfer that sublimation dyed decal image by laying it in contact with the ceramic-porcelain object and apply heat and dwell time, then peel away and the image is transferred, onto that non-porus surface. Many mugs, cups, plates, vases are done this way. Even J&R mugs they sell are done this way.
Now in today’s world you can even buy heat transfer paper for your home printer, buy heat transfer sublimation dye ink cartrideges and create your own “Iron on Heat Transfer” and create your own custom images in Photoshop and make and sell your own T-Shirt designs.
I believe your T-shirt was probably done by the heat transfer method.
Unlike a older “silk screened” image, the dye transfer has a “soft hand” or in other words, feels very soft since the dye is impregnated “into the fibers”. With “silk-screened” items the ink layer is very thick and you can “feel” the ink layer and it feels thick and if “plastisol” inks were used, even feels rubbery. Many athletic garments use silk screen printing and the thick Plastisol inks for the jersey numbers and names. Many of these garments thugh will begin to crack after a period of time and going through the laundry [process numerous times.
A tip on determing if your ceramic item was done as a heat transfer is to look at the image with a magnifier or loupe and see if you can see if the image is composed of tiny dots [half-tone screen]. If you see tiny dots, then it was printed on a printing press or digital printer and then fused by heat onto your object. Even when something says hand painted, it is usually meant that the original was hand painted, then photographed [a reproduction made in to a transfer], then that substrate material applied with pressure and heat and the final reseult is a dye transfer onto porcelain-ceramic objects.
Hope this helps you with your shirt, but everyone as to identifying real hand painted work, real silk screen printed garments from the high production heat transfer process.
take care… mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
This is what is called an offsetting expense. Yes, everyhting you spend on paying Ebay for shipping labels and fees are an “expense” BUT you also have to declare the money you receive from your customers as “Income”, thus “offsetting”. You will pay taxes only on the difference if you “receive” more income than your expenses, except if you have other deductions to declare that will wipe out that small profit.
Example, you get $4,000 income from your customers [which you can see those break outs on your monthly PayPal statement] that is their share of the shipping they paid, then you have to pay [reimburse] Ebay/PayPal for what they do [labels, pay USPS for you and their fees] of $3,750, that then leaves you a profit that would be taxable of $250. But once you deduct all your other “office expenses”, such as “office supplies”, tape, plain vanilla boxes, staples, pencils, pens, trash bags, etc., etc. that $250 dollar profit is pretty much wiped out, so a wash. But in a double entry accounting system, you have both an income stream and an expense stream which pretty much “offsets” each other.
Hope this makes sense. If I am wrong there are others here who are practically Accountant type guru’s who will straighten me out.
mike at MDC Galleries in AtlantaSame for me here in GA. Jay. When I sign up to bid at auction houses, they take a copy of my certificate and just keep it on file. We only pay Sales Tax on sales we make here in GA. I paid the state of Georgia a whopping $25 last year. No sales tax needs to be paid on anything sold out of state.
The Feds have been trying to get this altered nationally for some years now but it is so convoluted. It would mean we as sellers would have to paqy taxes in every state and in some cases even in multiple counties if the Feds ever get this type of thing passed. But for now, we only pay sales tax on items sold within our state and I think most are like that.
If you have been paying sales tax to your state on all of your sales you make nationwide and overseas, they “owe” you a bunch back big time. !!
mike in atl.
Appreciate the reply and reference links. I listened to several of her videos using headphones. Boy her rapid fire, non-stop delivery with her high pitched voice, gets a little tough after several of these, :-).. but found some interesting tips here and there.
Thanks… mike at mdc galleries in atlanta
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This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Thanks for the reply and info. Omfug. Appreciate it.
Good Morning and just having my first pot of “Hot” coffee. Mmmm….
Here is an interesting link explaining the details of the Hot vs Cold Coffee question, and the why’s to the flavor differences.Coffee Brewing Chemistry: Hot Brew vs. Cold Brew
mike in atl.
Give this a try. On anything “unglazed” [which is probably bisque] or any surface as a matter of fact, try Benzine [that is lighter fluid]. It has a high “Flash” point, which means it evaporates extremely quick. Use a cotton T-shirt piece of rag, soak a small spot on the torn rag piece of cotton and try that. Do a small section at a time and as you do the areas, just blow on the area and the Benzine will flash off in half a second. This way you won’t be leaving anything on the surface to “soak into” the porus surface. Things like “Goo Gone” or “Goof Off” will have a petroleum base, which is oily, and those oils will start to soak in and cause slight staining.
Depending on the time you take on the item, you will have to keep wetting the cloth due to the fact the Benzine will keep flashing off quickly, so you have to keep re-wetting the cloth.
We use Benzine all the time. We usually buy 2 or 3 cans of it when we go grocery shopping. We sometimes will wet a large area and wipe off a whole piece to get the yellow, sticky haze from a cigareete smokers house. Kitchen items that has years of cooking grease coating a whole piece will clean up nicely and the colors come to life.
We use Ronson Brand, in the yellow and blue can. That seems to be the purest of them. BTW Benzine was used for many years as “Dry Cleaning Fluid” at your cleaners. If you are going to be using a whole can on a large object, we suggest opening a window or having a small fan for ventilation [unless you are a child of the sixties and like the “Buzz”.. LOL :-)]. But point it away from the piece and your rag. Remember it flashes off very quickly.
Give it a try in a small test area first and if works, then have at it !!!
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
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This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by
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