Abandoned
A Caesar Hernandez Water Color Painting
Aloha! When I'm not lounging around in my favorite coffee shops in downtown Walla Walla writing profusely while sipping on a tall cup of bold or, whenever I feel like splurging, guzzling down a venti-sized caramel frappucino, I'm diligently taking photographs and working on listings for my eBay business, Lords of the Fly.
The large majority of our sales have been through our fixed-price items in our eBay store. Lately, we've opted to complement those Buy It Now listings--on a weekly basis for now and, hopefully, more frequently in the future--with a nostalgic throwback to the good old days of eBay...the 99 cents listing.
Yes, there's always a risk, more so in an unsteady economy, that we could take a loss. But the marketing psychology behind the move is akin to driving in slippery conditions: Turn your wheel in the direction of the skid!
What?!
Call me crazy (don't worry, I call myself that all the time), but nothing in life worth striving for ever came without risk. Sales have been down these last couple of months, so I'm simply retrieving the old welcome mat from storage, giving it a good dusting, and laying it out there for the global marketplace to tread upon.
My metaphorical welcome mat--the 99 cents sale--says loud and clear in my language of origin:
E komo mai!
Come on in!
So here are some of the items that I'm listing today. First, a mention of the artwork at the top of this post. Caesar Hernandez was a prominent watercolor artist in California. His paintings have sold for hundreds of dollars. My listing of this particular item for a starting bid of 99 cents without any reserve (a set amount that the seller determines ahead of time that is unknown to the buyers, unless the seller chooses to tell them; if it isn't reached, there is no winner...thus, no real risk to the seller) is probably the highest kind of risk I could take with my eBay item(s). Ah, but what the heck? What's life without risk? Besides, read the beginning of paragraph 5 again.
Here are more interesting items.
Collectible Vintage Hershey's Kisses Christmas Wishes Mug
Collectible Vintage Set of 3 Teddy Bear Porcelain Thimbles
Collectible Vintage Duck Figurine
Collectible Vintage Brooding Hen Salt or Pepper Shaker
Collectible Vintage Bee, Hive, & Flower Salt or Pepper Shaker
Collectible Vintage Leanin' Tree Greeting Card featuring
Norman Rockwell's 1947 Saturday Evening Post Cover--"Family Outing"
National Geographic--October, 2009 Back Issue
The Tallest Trees
Collectible Vintage Schramberg Cow Figurine
Collectible Vintage Konica Minolta AF Maxxum 70 SLR Camera
With Quantaray Lens 28-90 mm f/3.5-5.6
Dipinto A Mano Hand-Painted Vintage Collector Plate
Venezia Ponte Di Rialto
Vintage Collector Plate
Mission San Juan Capistrano, California
We earnestly pray that our eclectic 99 cent auctions will be a fruitful venture and a great win-win experience for our buyers and us. We truly believe it keeps us entrepreneurially sharp, focused, and motivated to honor the heart of the buyer. Empathizing with our customers and uplifting their perspective will help us make steady progress on the road to becoming better sellers.
