1991 Daisy Kingdom 15" Doll
Yay! We found her a home!
(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)
And we placed her sister in the same home, too!
(Hawaiian Odysseus photo)
It's a beautiful thing when an eBay sale takes place for us and my wife and I eventually receive positive feedback from a happy customer. This is what I wanted to share with you today.
First of all, in order for you to completely grasp the scope of what I'm about to share with you and have a deeper appreciation for the importance of well-written auction and store descriptions, creativity, and that personal customer service touch, please read or review the following link. It connects you to a previously published Hawaiian Odysseus post.
Scroll on down to the part about the doll(s) above and get caught up to speed on the front end of this transaction. In summation, it was the first estate sale I actually found the courage to get out of the car and accompany my wife to...although I gingerly did so after she'd been in the home for about ten minutes. In fact, she called me on my cellphone from within the house to coax me to get out of the car. (I mean, if you've ever watched STORAGE WARS, the great reality series hit on the A&E channel, my wife and I are a middle-aged Pacific Northwest version of Jarrod Schulz and Brandi Passante...we're really a hoot of a team!)
So, anyway, I quit being a girl and got out of the car...and I'm so glad I did. Because by that one very hesitant yet fateful move, I was thrust into a whole, brand new, and adventuresome world.
And, if I might wax romantic, it turns out to be a pretty cool way to date my wife of almost thirty years.
One of the things that caught my eye at this first estate sale were these two dolls. Since they were nicely covered in cellophane packaging and lying in the midst of a huge stack of cross stitch magazines and scattered patterns, I figured they'd be worth something. The sales tag said $4, and I haggled the price down a dollar. Walked out of the home like I'd really done something! Big shot estate sales buyer then...while a scared little Walla Walla squirrel just a half hour earlier.
That night, I must've spent three or four hours going through the day's estate sale booty and listing them on eBay. I took that long because there were photos to be taken of each item and, even more so, research to be done and creative descriptions to be written.
I don't always hit a home run with my listings. But in this case, I had lots of fun creating the following.
Before I share that with you, though, I want to include the positive feedback I received early this morning from the customer:
"loved item descriptions; very personable transaction; great experience; delight"
There's a little behind the scenes story I want to insert here. After the kind woman bought the first doll, my wife suggested that I make her a deal with the second one. At first, I thought maybe I'd be coming across pushy...and then, I got pridefully motivated when I started thinking how my wife had better entrepreneurial risk-taking skills than I was exhibiting, and so I decided to take a risk.
I emailed the woman and presented her with a 50% discount offer for the second doll. She accepted my offer in a heartbeat. I ended up making a 400% profit in the transaction.
No matter how small or big the monetary value, doing better than a 100% profit margin is a huge plus in my bottom line any day of the year.
I appreciate my wife's input of female intuition and haggling ability, a character trait she claims she got from her father. Now there's a German who could bargain shop a camel from right under its Muslim rider and convince the Bedouin that he was doing him a favor!
Anyway, here's a description. For newbie sellers on eBay, use a written voice similar in style to the way you would speak to your buyers in person. I have a certain dry wit and creativity that blends nicely into my descriptions.
Above all, don't be too critical on yourself. I am a perfectionist addict, so I should be the last to talk. Point being, just let yourself flow. I never do rough drafts in handwriting...I simply let my fingers free-fall on the laptop's keyboard. Kinda like the way I compose my blog posts.
At the end of the day, no one should ever have to tell us that this is the way to think or act or be. As long as we aren't hurting other people or ourselves, we deserve the utter and ultimate freedom to be whom we were meant to be.
Above all, have a great time!
LORDS OF THE FLY COLLECTIBLES--DOLLS
Presents
1991 DAISY DOLL
DAISY KINGDOM, INC.
The winning bidder will receive a twenty-year-old 15" DAISY DOLL from the folks at Daisy Kingdom, Inc.
Take good care of her...although she had proper nutrition, a good lifestyle, and a smoke-free upbringing, she is only half dressed in her bonnet, black high-top shoes, and muslin undergarments.
Word has it that she is interested in pursuing a career in modeling. She has had some experience with Victorian, early American, Amish, rural American, and country/western fashions, but she admits she also has a certain curiosity about other styles of dress and cultural lifestyles. It may be a stretch, given the fact that her stiff porcelain (or is it hard plastic?) face and neck and hard plastic shoulders, along with her hard arms, feet, and boots that she chronically wears limit her flexibility and range. Nevertheless, there's a bit of a gamer and an adventurer in this young lady.
She's looking for work as a nanny or adult care provider, so if you are willing to accommodate her, please remit her travel expenses via PayPal, our preferred method of payment, and we shall send her off to you via USPS Parcel Post (if you live in the USA) or via USPS First Class Mail International if you live across the pond or in parts more exotic.
Thank you very much for participating in our eBay listing.
For LORDS OF THE FLY, we're Joe and Rita.
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