A Jewelry Reseller's Guide to Prepping for the Holiday Season! - Episode #82

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Jewelry Resellers Podcast, your go-to source for all things shiny, sparkly, and of course profitable. I'm your host Desiree and I'll be your guide on this dazzling journey through the world of reselling jewelry. We'll be diving deep into the art and science of reselling, uncovering valuable tips, insider secrets, and sharing stories from successful jewelry resellers. We'll explore market trends, industry news, and even discuss the new jewelry resellers.

[00:00:30] How to find those hidden gems just waiting to be discovered in thrift stores, estate sales, and beyond. So if you're dreaming of turning your hobby into a hustle, or if you're a seasoned pro looking to stay at the top of your jewelry reselling game, join me each week for insights, stories, and more on the Jewelry Resellers Podcast.

[00:00:53] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Jewelry Resellers Podcast. My name is Desiree and I am your jewelry reselling bestie. On today's episode, we're going to talk about how to prep your jewelry reselling business for the holiday season. Now, technically, I guess you could say we are already in the holiday season, but I thought it would be a good idea for us to break down some things that we could do to

[00:01:21] to ensure, to boost, to improve our sales because this really is probably the busiest and most profitable time of year for us as resellers. So today we're going to dive deep. We're going to talk about all the things that we can do. Hopefully I'll be able to share some ideas with you. Maybe you can start thinking about what's going to work for you and even what isn't going to work for you and what you might want to do differently as it relates to your jewelry reselling business.

[00:01:51] All right. So before we get started with that, you know, I always like to remind you to head on over to our website because over there you can listen to past episodes. You can also read some blog posts. I just posted one today and I talked about what did I post about today? Hold on. Let me look it up because I know I think I might be getting old because I, I can't even remember, you know, what I do. Anyways, today's blog post,

[00:02:21] was about, oh, luxury versus costume jewelry, which is more profitable to resell. So if you'd like to read that article, I do have that for you on the website. And it's also where you can join our monthly newsletter.

[00:02:35] I have a list. Well, it's like a free download that you can instantly access once you sign up. And it's the 20 bestselling vintage jewelry brands that all resellers should know. So if you're just getting started or if you have been doing this for a while, it may be something you want to check out.

[00:02:51] Again, that download is free and you can get your copy at jewelry resellers podcast dot com. All right. So let's go ahead and get into today's topic because we do have a lot to cover.

[00:03:05] Now, one of the things we want to think about as we are starting to move into the holiday season, Q4, is our inventory needs.

[00:03:15] This is probably the thing that is going to be the most important. So if you have not already made plans to increase your inventory or maybe to start listing more of the inventory that you already have,

[00:03:30] now would be a really good time for you to figure that out. Whether that means scheduling more time to do listings or maybe you have to schedule in more time to go sourcing.

[00:03:40] Right. Especially if you're a live seller like me, you would be surprised how quickly you can move through inventory, especially when you're running a live show.

[00:03:50] All right. So holiday season is very, very hectic. And, you know, the last thing you want to you want to think about is not having inventory to sell.

[00:03:59] So, you know, you don't want to miss out on the opportunity or the potential of making that money because you don't have anything to sell.

[00:04:07] All right. So if there are certain things that, you know, always sell well for you or if there are things that your particular customers or buyers are looking for,

[00:04:17] you want to make sure you have enough of that on hand in order to meet the demands.

[00:04:22] You know, what are people consistently buying from you? What are they asking you about?

[00:04:27] Make sure you do have as much as much inventory as you possibly can manage.

[00:04:33] All right. Because like I said, you will be surprised how quickly you go through it.

[00:04:39] Buyers tend to look for giftable pieces.

[00:04:42] So if you have jewelry items that would make excellent gifts, you know, make sure you showcase that.

[00:04:48] And we'll talk about how to promote and advertise some of the things that you're going to be selling during this holiday season.

[00:04:55] All right. Now, you also want to consider diversifying the type of inventory that you have.

[00:05:02] Again, if it makes sense for your business, you know, you want to stock up on the bestsellers,

[00:05:08] but you also want to have enough variety in case you have a bunch of new buyers coming to your page, your website, your profile or whatever.

[00:05:17] All right. Consider adding in a few holiday specific pieces or limited edition collections,

[00:05:22] maybe some festive jewelry and holiday colors.

[00:05:26] Or maybe you can do some type of seasonal designs or motifs or, you know, things that are really popular,

[00:05:33] you know, like snowflakes and stars or things like that.

[00:05:37] I know that I do really, really well with Christmas brooches and I have for the past couple of years now.

[00:05:44] And I have customers who actually ask me about the Christmas brooches that I have.

[00:05:51] And I have hundreds of them.

[00:05:53] I probably have sold thousands of them at this point in my career.

[00:05:57] All right. You also want to think about limited time collections that can create a sense of urgency as it relates to your inventory.

[00:06:05] And this will encourage customers to buy quickly.

[00:06:08] Right. And not him and ha and maybe wait in order to shop with you.

[00:06:13] All right. So you always want to communicate that, especially if you have a limited supply of something or if you're only going to be offering that particular piece or pieces during a certain time.

[00:06:26] You want to make sure that your buyers know that.

[00:06:29] Now, the other thing we want to think about, too, is your supplies.

[00:06:33] And I've talked about this in previous episodes.

[00:06:37] And you want to make sure that you pay attention to your supply chain as it relates to your supplies.

[00:06:44] All right. So not only are we talking about our actual jewelry inventory, but we also want to make sure that we have all of our envelopes, all of our bubble wrap, tissue paper, boxes, tape, all of that stuff, because you don't want to run out during this busy time.

[00:07:02] And then usually sometimes it's a problem.

[00:07:06] You know, shipping tends to be a little backed up or things may take longer to get to you, you know, if you need supplies or stuff like that.

[00:07:14] So now is the time for you to go ahead and order and make sure you have everything you need that will take you through the end of the year.

[00:07:21] Now, you also want to make sure that if you do have certain types of jewelry pieces that you buy wholesale, that you get enough of those ordered now so they're not sold out.

[00:07:33] And so that way you have exactly, again, what you need during this busy time.

[00:07:39] Now, delays can happen, like I said, especially during the holidays.

[00:07:43] So it's smart to order early and in bulk if that's possible and if that makes sense for you.

[00:07:52] All right. So let's move on to the next tip idea, and that's optimizing your online store or optimizing your listings depending on where you are selling.

[00:08:06] All right. So some of us do sell on other platforms besides the reselling platform.

[00:08:13] Some of us have our own websites and some of us sell on our social media pages.

[00:08:18] Wherever you're selling, you want to make sure that your listings are optimized so you can attract the exact buyer or maybe the volume and the amount of buyers that you are hoping to attract this season.

[00:08:31] Your online store is where the magic happens, especially if you're an e-commerce focused seller.

[00:08:37] With holiday traffic increasing, it's crucial to make sure that your shop is optimized to convert visitors into buyers.

[00:08:45] All right. So let's talk about exactly how we're going to do that.

[00:08:50] So the first thing we want to think about is updating your product listings.

[00:08:54] Now, I know on eBay, this is a very tedious task.

[00:08:59] You know, nobody wants to go into their hundreds or maybe even thousands of listings that they have in order to optimize those or maybe add the item specifics.

[00:09:09] And I know realistically, that's probably not going to work for a lot of us.

[00:09:14] But again, if you are selling on your own website or maybe on a social media page, you can probably go back and refresh some of those listings to some degree.

[00:09:26] Right. You want to make sure that you have really nice, clear, up to date photos.

[00:09:30] Your descriptions and your titles are accurate and they are keyword rich.

[00:09:36] Now, you also want to add in holiday themed keywords.

[00:09:40] Again, if it makes sense for the piece that you are selling.

[00:09:44] Now, sometimes people like to throw phrases like, oh, this makes the perfect gift for her or the most, you know, sought after gift this season.

[00:09:55] Now, if you are going to throw in those catchphrases, you want to do that in the description and not in your listing title.

[00:10:04] All right. Because people are not really searching for those specific words, but they can help to some degree in your description.

[00:10:13] So you want to save those types of phrases for the description area only.

[00:10:18] All right. Oh, here's something, too.

[00:10:23] Because I've seen people do this and they'll say, oh, it makes a great stocking stuffer.

[00:10:28] Or if if there's like a set that you have, like maybe.

[00:10:33] Like if someone buys a bracelet and you say, oh, we've got the matching earrings as well.

[00:10:39] And you may want to include a link to the matching earrings in your description, too.

[00:10:44] OK, so again, if that makes sense for where you're selling, where you're listing your jewelry, you want to cross promote as much as possible.

[00:10:55] All right. So and the other thing you want to think about as it relates to your listings and your descriptions is to include as much information as possible.

[00:11:05] Because, you know, the less somebody has to message you about something, the better it is for both you and the buyer.

[00:11:12] So include your sizing materials and even some care instructions, you know, to avoid unnecessary returns.

[00:11:20] And so that way your buyer is educated on exactly what it is that they're getting.

[00:11:27] We talked about this a little bit, offering bundles or gift sets.

[00:11:31] Like I said, you can either sell the set together in one listing or you can sell the pieces separately and just kind of cross promote.

[00:11:40] You know, we've got the matching earrings.

[00:11:41] Here's the link or whatever, however you want to do it.

[00:11:44] But we always want to think about how can we upsell?

[00:11:48] How can we increase our average selling price per transaction or per order or per buyer?

[00:11:57] Right. So we want to make sure that we're giving them ideas.

[00:12:00] And and I really think that we do our customers a disservice by not doing that,

[00:12:07] because you don't want somebody coming back and saying, wow, I didn't know you had the earrings.

[00:12:12] I would have bought them had I known or I didn't know you had the matching whatever.

[00:12:17] I would have bought that had I known.

[00:12:19] All right. So we want to make sure that our our buyers are informed and that they know everything that we have available for them.

[00:12:26] Right. Because, you know, when people go shopping for gifts, they they want it to be as simple as possible.

[00:12:31] So we want to help them through that process.

[00:12:34] All right. And the other thing we want to think about is streamlining checkout and shipping.

[00:12:39] Again, if you're selling on some place on like on eBay, you don't really have to worry too much about that.

[00:12:46] But if you have your own website, this is something you want to pay attention to as well.

[00:12:51] You don't want to have any hiccups or any, you know, things that just don't go well because we don't want any abandoned shopping carts.

[00:13:00] You also want to make sure that you offer combined shipping.

[00:13:03] If that, you know, if that is something that your customers are looking for, I'm going to say 99 percent of the time they are.

[00:13:10] And also you want to make sure you offer expedited shipping because there's going to be a lot of last minute shoppers looking for that perfect gift.

[00:13:19] And so tell them, say, hey, you know, I'm willing to ship this priority or, you know, overnight or today, you know, whatever, whatever you can do to help them.

[00:13:30] Obviously, make sure that they know they have to pay for that service.

[00:13:33] But, you know, sometimes just by offering that you can make the sale where another, you know, reseller won't.

[00:13:43] All right. So don't forget to set clear shipping cutoff dates.

[00:13:47] All right. So I think on sites like eBay, they tell the buyer in order for it for the item to get there before Christmas or whatever they say, order by this date.

[00:14:02] But depending on, you know, how you do your shipping, because not all of us have like a one day turnaround time.

[00:14:09] Some of us may have three, five, seven days, whatever.

[00:14:12] So make sure that you communicate that to your buyer and say, hey, I ship once a week.

[00:14:18] So if you want this, make sure you buy it by such and such date.

[00:14:22] That way they know that they can expect to get this either before Christmas or not.

[00:14:31] OK, that's another thing I would I would really recommend, too, is if you can shorten your shipping time.

[00:14:37] I do one day shipping time. I try to get it out same day if I can.

[00:14:44] But usually it's just one business day.

[00:14:46] If you can shorten your shipping time in any way to help the buyer get their items quicker, I would definitely do that.

[00:14:54] All right. So here's where things get really fun, because you guys know I love social media.

[00:15:00] Again, so I love to promote what I'm selling, what I'm doing, whatever.

[00:15:05] So let's talk about some holiday marketing strategies.

[00:15:09] So once your inventory is stocked and your store and your listings are optimized,

[00:15:14] the next step is to focus on your holiday marketing strategy.

[00:15:19] Now, don't be scared off by that term.

[00:15:22] I know it may sound like, oh, this sounds very complicated and very elaborate.

[00:15:28] It doesn't really have to be.

[00:15:30] It's just really a matter of you promoting the items you have for sale, wherever that may be.

[00:15:35] If it's eBay, your website, on your social media pages, in your live shows, wherever that may be.

[00:15:42] All right. So you've got to figure out how are you going to let people know what you have for sale?

[00:15:47] Now, you can always run ads, paid ads on the certain platforms.

[00:15:52] You can promote your items on certain platforms as well.

[00:15:56] But the thing is, is that this time of year, we cannot rely solely on organic traffic.

[00:16:04] Really, it's going to be very, very difficult to hit the numbers and make the sales you want to make

[00:16:11] if you're strictly relying on people to organically find you.

[00:16:15] All right. So we want to be a little bit more strategic, have a little bit more of a solid plan

[00:16:21] in order to make our items findable and viable for our customers.

[00:16:27] All right. So like I said, you can't rely on organic traffic alone to boost your sales.

[00:16:32] So here's how we're going to drive more buyers to our stores.

[00:16:36] Now, for those of you who do email marketing, this is a fantastic way to let your buyers know,

[00:16:45] let your customers, your community know what you're selling, what you're doing,

[00:16:48] if you're having any type of specials, discounts, sales, whatever.

[00:16:53] And if you don't have an email marketing list, I highly encourage you to create one.

[00:16:58] And I probably should do a podcast episode about email lists because I have had a couple people ask me about that.

[00:17:08] And I do think that it is a beautiful tool for you to kind of cultivate or curate, I should say,

[00:17:16] your specific clientele who may be looking for the type of jewelry you sell.

[00:17:23] And you can send an email out once a month. You can send it out whenever you have a sale, whatever.

[00:17:30] But for those of you who do have an email list, now is the time for you to start sending out emails on a regular basis.

[00:17:37] All right. At least once a week. But if you're having, let's say you're having live shows every day,

[00:17:43] you may want to send one out every day. Although I don't know, some people would consider that spammy.

[00:17:49] So again, you're going to have to gauge whether or not that makes sense for you.

[00:17:52] All right. So that's tip number one. Email marketing for those of you who do have email lists.

[00:18:00] And if you don't, don't worry. I will do an entire podcast episode on how and why and all of the details.

[00:18:09] OK. All right. Next up, we do have my favorite, which is social media.

[00:18:14] All right. I've talked about this many times. I love social media.

[00:18:18] I know it's not everyone's favorite, but it really is the best way.

[00:18:22] And it's free for you to promote what you are selling as it relates to your jewelry.

[00:18:28] Now, people love beautiful pictures of jewelry. They love videos of jewelry.

[00:18:32] So you really want to leverage this to your advantage so you can attract buyers to your listings or to your website.

[00:18:42] All right. Now, there's social media, the free, the free part of it.

[00:18:47] But you can also run paid ads. All right.

[00:18:50] So it really just depends on what you want to do, what you have the budget for and what you can be consistent with.

[00:18:58] Because if you're just going to run one ad here and there, it's probably not going to be as effective as a four week campaign running ads consistently.

[00:19:08] OK. So, again, think about that when you are trying to decide what's going to work for you and what you can actually manage as it relates to doing this.

[00:19:20] So whether you're running Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest ads, this is the time to invest in paid promotions.

[00:19:26] Again, if this is in your budget, you want to highlight your best selling gift gift pieces and limited edition items.

[00:19:34] Don't forget to create holiday themed content for your organic posts.

[00:19:40] All right. Whether it's a behind the scenes look at your packaging process or a festive flat lay of your jewelry, get your audience involved and into the holiday spirit.

[00:19:51] OK, so a lot of people do like to see behind the scenes videos because when we are using social media to promote our listings or to promote what we have for sale,

[00:20:01] we don't want every post that we do to be a sales post like come by this or check out my listing or whatever.

[00:20:10] We really want to kind of, you know, engage and create a relationship with our buyers, with our followers, you know, our subscribers, whatever the case may be.

[00:20:23] All right. So I like to do if I'm going to promote what I'm selling on social media, I like to do it every third or fourth post.

[00:20:35] All right. So I will do two, you know, non salesy posts.

[00:20:40] And then my third post will be, oh, here's a necklace I've got for sale in my shop.

[00:20:47] Come check it out. And then I will do two non salesy posts and then a sales post.

[00:20:52] All right. That seems to work pretty well.

[00:20:55] And people don't think that, oh, she's just spamming what she's selling.

[00:20:59] All right. Now I'm going to say.

[00:21:02] As it relates to jewelry reselling, Instagram is probably the best platform for that because it just seems to work, you know,

[00:21:12] the visual aspect of the platform and a lot of people who love jewelry, collect jewelry, sell jewelry,

[00:21:20] have some type of Instagram presence.

[00:21:24] Now you can also, you know, post on Facebook, TikTok, wherever your people are.

[00:21:33] But I'm going to say you're going to get the best bang for your buck on Instagram.

[00:21:37] And that's been my personal experience.

[00:21:39] I've talked to other jewelry resellers and they have told me the same thing,

[00:21:43] that if they could only post on one platform, Instagram would be the one.

[00:21:47] All right. Now, Pinterest also is a very powerful and strong platform, especially for the visual aesthetics of jewelry.

[00:21:56] I don't know if Pinterest allows direct links like to eBay or anything like that.

[00:22:02] I know that was an issue a while ago.

[00:22:04] I don't know if it still is, but that's OK, because you can definitely at least get people attracted to your listings.

[00:22:14] If you use the social media tool on eBay.

[00:22:20] All right. So if you don't know, there's a social media sharing tool built into eBay and you can promote your listings that way, too.

[00:22:30] And if you do sell on eBay, I highly recommend you do you you do that.

[00:22:34] OK. And it's very, very easy to set up.

[00:22:39] And it's just a good way to get more exposure to your items.

[00:22:45] All right. Now, the other thing I want you to think about is collaborating with other resellers.

[00:22:52] Now, I see this a lot in the live shows, but I know not everybody does live shows or likes live selling.

[00:22:59] But if you can partner with another reseller and maybe cross promote each other's items, listings, social media pages and all of that stuff.

[00:23:12] It's a really good way to increase exposure to your items and to the things that you are selling.

[00:23:20] All right. Because you're going to you're going to share your items to your followers and also to whoever you're partnering with their followers as well.

[00:23:29] And the thing is, is don't worry if it's another jewelry reseller because you guys aren't selling the exact same items.

[00:23:36] So you guys could both sell vintage jewelry and it could totally work.

[00:23:43] Right. Because you're going to have some unique pieces and they're going to have some unique pieces.

[00:23:47] And it's a great way, like I said, to increase your exposure for both of you.

[00:23:53] All right. So partnering with other resellers, jewelry resellers specifically,

[00:23:57] who have an audience that aligns with your brand can help you get your products in front of more eyes like we talked about.

[00:24:05] Offer them a holiday discount or promotion or something like that or send them a free piece of jewelry,

[00:24:12] you know, even to like as a giveaway or something like that.

[00:24:16] Like you can get so creative with all the ideas out there.

[00:24:19] All right. This is really good, too, because it helps to it helps to boost your social credibility and it helps to boost the trust.

[00:24:29] When people see that you're partnering with somebody else, you know, because most people will not will not collaborate with someone they don't trust or feel good about.

[00:24:38] All right. So it's a really good way for you to get more attention on your items.

[00:24:44] All right. And that was the other thing I wanted to to talk about, too, is to think about how you can have fun with this.

[00:24:55] We talked about giveaways a little bit. You can have a giveaway.

[00:24:59] You can do countdowns, you know, like four more days to the sale or four more days until this giveaway.

[00:25:08] All right. Now, this is something I did last year and I was doing a lot of Poshmark live shows.

[00:25:16] And what I did is for every purchase in the month of December.

[00:25:22] So from December 1st to I think I went all the way up to December 22nd or 23rd.

[00:25:30] I gave away a free Christmas brooch to anybody who bought anything for me.

[00:25:36] And I ordered like these. I mean, they're really cheap Christmas brooches.

[00:25:40] I ordered them off of Timu and they were a dollar.

[00:25:44] I want to say a dollar, maybe a dollar 20 each.

[00:25:48] And I bought a huge, huge, big, big bag of them.

[00:25:53] And I use those as a free giveaway to encourage people to shop my shows.

[00:26:00] And it totally worked. I mean, I gave all of them away.

[00:26:03] People absolutely loved it.

[00:26:06] Some of the brooches were different.

[00:26:07] You know, I had like maybe five or six of the same one.

[00:26:11] And so people, you know, they got to choose whatever they wanted.

[00:26:15] I had Christmas trees, snowmen, wreaths, reindeers, I think.

[00:26:22] And maybe some poinsettias, I think.

[00:26:24] But people loved it and it really helped to boost my sales.

[00:26:28] All right. So you don't have to do that.

[00:26:30] But that is just one idea that I did last year.

[00:26:33] And it worked really, really well.

[00:26:35] And I'm thinking about doing something similar this year.

[00:26:39] But remember, if you're going to order off of those sites like Timu and AliExpress,

[00:26:45] you need to order well in advance.

[00:26:47] Because sometimes it takes two, three weeks for your item to get to you

[00:26:52] because it's coming from China.

[00:26:53] So you want to make sure you order well in advance.

[00:26:57] So you have the cute little, you know, gift with purchases.

[00:27:02] You have those ready.

[00:27:04] So once December 1st hits or whenever you decide to start it,

[00:27:07] you have those little, you know, gifts that you can give away.

[00:27:12] And I'm telling you, they loved it.

[00:27:14] Like my buyers loved it.

[00:27:15] I actually had one lady asked if I was going to do something similar this year.

[00:27:19] So I probably will.

[00:27:22] All right.

[00:27:23] So let's continue on and see what else we can do to prepare for our holiday selling season.

[00:27:31] Now, here's something that I think is really, really good for us as jewelry sellers

[00:27:36] because people love the whole experience of buying jewelry and opening a gift.

[00:27:42] And that is holiday themed packaging and an experience we're creating, right?

[00:27:48] So if you have colorful tissue paper or maybe fun envelopes like, you know, those bubble mailers,

[00:27:56] I see some of them come in little Christmas patterns and things like that.

[00:28:00] If you use jewelry boxes, maybe you might want to add a cute little holiday bow.

[00:28:05] Now, I'm not saying you have to go overboard with this stuff,

[00:28:09] but offering that sometimes will be the thing that seals the deal with your particular buyer.

[00:28:16] Because if you say, hey, I can gift wrap this for you, no extra charge.

[00:28:22] You know, you just add the pricing of that into the price of the item.

[00:28:28] Like maybe, you know, price your items at a dollar more if that makes sense.

[00:28:32] Or it could be a separate add-on service that you charge, you know.

[00:28:37] Maybe you have a listing for $5 and that's for gift wrapping, you know.

[00:28:42] And people can just pay the extra $5 if they want that.

[00:28:45] But I've seen somebody do this on Poshmark and that's what gave me the idea.

[00:28:49] And she did have people paying extra.

[00:28:52] Now, she wasn't a jewelry seller.

[00:28:54] She was a clothing seller.

[00:28:56] But she had a listing in her Poshmark closet for gift wrap.

[00:29:01] And a couple people did buy it.

[00:29:03] And I think she charged $5 for it.

[00:29:05] So, you know, that's a nice little way to offer more for your buyer and to improve the experience of shopping with you.

[00:29:16] Plus, it's really fun too.

[00:29:18] I love wrapping gifts.

[00:29:19] And so I would totally do that.

[00:29:22] Maybe I might do that this year.

[00:29:23] I haven't decided.

[00:29:25] Because I have a lot of cute little packaging.

[00:29:28] It's not really Christmas themed.

[00:29:30] But maybe it doesn't have to.

[00:29:32] And I might, you know, I might do that this year.

[00:29:36] I think that's a fun idea.

[00:29:38] All right.

[00:29:38] Customers love unboxing an item that feels special, especially during the holidays.

[00:29:43] Enhance the gifting experience by offering holiday themed packaging.

[00:29:48] This can include branded jewelry boxes like we talked about with festive designs, metallic tissue paper ribbons, or even a personalized holiday thank you note.

[00:29:59] All right.

[00:30:00] Now, I remember one year.

[00:30:03] Again, this was on Poshmark.

[00:30:05] I want to say it was maybe two or three years ago.

[00:30:07] So I bought a dress from a girl and she actually put a Christmas card in my package, which I thought was very sweet.

[00:30:16] Now, I don't know if we all have time to do that.

[00:30:19] But I thought it was very thoughtful.

[00:30:21] You know, I was like, wow, that's really nice.

[00:30:24] She put a Christmas card in there and she said, thank you for shopping with me.

[00:30:27] And it was just a nice touch.

[00:30:29] Again, if you feel like doing that, you know, obviously it's not a requirement.

[00:30:34] But again, it's just another idea of, you know, kind of standing out as a reseller.

[00:30:40] All right.

[00:30:41] We talked about adding in a small freebie, like I said, a gift with purchase, like I talked about with the brooches.

[00:30:48] You can even do things like a polishing cloth, depending on what kind of jewelry you sell.

[00:30:56] Yeah.

[00:30:56] You know, I think customers like the surprise and they like getting something extra, you know, in addition to what they pay for.

[00:31:05] You know, that's that's always appreciated.

[00:31:08] I've never had anybody complain about that.

[00:31:12] All right.

[00:31:13] Now, the other thing we want to do to be prepared for holiday sales is to make sure that we are prepared for the increase in questions, emails or whatever like that.

[00:31:28] You know, maybe depending on if you have a website or not, you may want to have an FAQ on your website or even in your eBay descriptions.

[00:31:39] I've seen that, you know, you can create a template.

[00:31:41] You can call it a holiday template on eBay and you can maybe have your listings include some text about, you know, anything that may be a commonly asked question as it relates to your jewelry.

[00:31:55] Maybe about your shipping or returns or whatever.

[00:31:58] Now, you don't have to do this, but if it's if it's going to help you get ahead of the curve and help you not have to answer so many questions through direct messaging, it might be something you want to consider.

[00:32:13] OK, so now I wrote down on here, automate as much as possible.

[00:32:22] But there may not be a whole lot of options for that, especially if you're selling on eBay.

[00:32:29] But if you have your own website, that could be an option for you.

[00:32:35] All right. The next thing we want to talk about is think about.

[00:32:40] Running some type of holiday sale or event, OK?

[00:32:43] Now, we all know Black Friday is going to be very busy.

[00:32:47] We all know Black Friday is going to be.

[00:32:51] Just crazy, right?

[00:32:53] So are you planning on doing a Black Friday sale this year?

[00:32:59] If you are, what does that look like?

[00:33:01] Are you going to give a percentage off?

[00:33:03] Are you going to do maybe a two for one?

[00:33:06] Are you going to maybe on Black Friday give a free gift with purchase?

[00:33:11] Like whatever your Black Friday special is going to be, if you're going to have one,

[00:33:16] now is the time to work out those details.

[00:33:18] All right. And make sure that you are fully prepared for that.

[00:33:22] Now, a lot of people do sales on Black Friday, but a lot of people will do sales that whole week,

[00:33:29] you know, and then they do sales on Cyber Monday.

[00:33:33] OK, so figure out what's going to make sense for you and what time frame is going to work for you.

[00:33:39] And do you have enough inventory or whatever in order to make that, you know, make sense for you?

[00:33:49] OK, but like I said, now is the time to really plan that because we're already almost to November.

[00:33:55] And if you need to order anything, you want to make sure that you have the time to do so.

[00:34:01] OK, so everyone loves a good holiday sale.

[00:34:04] Well, an offering, discounts or limited time deals can boost traffic and sales during the holiday season.

[00:34:11] Think about hosting a flash sale or a 12 days of Christmas countdown or offering exclusive Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals like we talked about.

[00:34:21] And some people will actually save up and they will tell you because I've had people say this.

[00:34:28] They say, hey, are you going to run any Black Friday sales?

[00:34:31] And if you tell them, yes, I am, they'll say, oh, OK, great.

[00:34:34] I'm going to wait until then and then I'm going to buy all those 20 pieces or whatever it is that they're looking for.

[00:34:41] All right. So you want to make sure you let your buyers know that you're going to have a Black sale or a Black Friday sale, too,

[00:34:47] because I'm telling you, they will save up for it and they will come back looking for any type of deal or discount that they can get.

[00:34:56] And it's a good thing, right? Like I want people to shop with me and I want them to, you know, get get what they want at a good price.

[00:35:06] OK, so you want to use urgency tactics like countdown timers on your site.

[00:35:12] I think you can also do this on eBay.

[00:35:15] They have stickers, little countdown stickers you can use if you're posting stories.

[00:35:20] I think that's a great way to promote your sales or your discounts or whatever you're doing.

[00:35:27] You can also do flash flash sales.

[00:35:30] I think we talked about that, too.

[00:35:32] You can do that again.

[00:35:34] Instagram is a great way to promote that.

[00:35:36] I've seen a lot of people do that.

[00:35:39] And if you don't know what a flash sale is, it's an example would be 50 percent off all earrings for the next 24 hours or for the next 12 hours.

[00:35:51] And so only during that time period are you offering a discount or, you know, a bonus or whatever during that time period.

[00:36:00] That is called a flash sale.

[00:36:02] And those do work really, really well.

[00:36:04] All right.

[00:36:05] You can also do a buy one, get one 50 percent off.

[00:36:08] I do know one reseller.

[00:36:10] She does this.

[00:36:11] She does, I think, a buy three, get one free.

[00:36:14] You can do whatever you want, you know, whatever kind of creative way you want to do it.

[00:36:20] Think about how you can offer more.

[00:36:22] I think that's a good a good a good one to do.

[00:36:27] You know, buy three, get one free.

[00:36:29] You can also do buy two, get one free, you know, whatever.

[00:36:32] But again, your customers love that kind of stuff and they will buy, you know, buy from you if you're offering some type of bonus or some type of deal.

[00:36:44] Okay.

[00:36:46] Okay.

[00:36:47] All right.

[00:36:47] So I think that might be all I got for you.

[00:36:56] But I am really interested in.

[00:37:03] And what you guys have planned, because I have some ideas and I've already kind of prepared for some.

[00:37:10] But I don't know if I want to try something different.

[00:37:13] You know, do I want to do what worked for me last year or do I want to try something new and different this year?

[00:37:18] You know, because this whole thing is is there's an art and science to it.

[00:37:23] And you're going to constantly be experimenting with trying new things, seeing what works and seeing what doesn't.

[00:37:29] But the thing is, this can be really, really fun.

[00:37:33] And your enthusiasm and your passion and your joy for jewelry is definitely going to come through in whatever it is that you're deciding, you know, deciding to do.

[00:37:43] All right.

[00:37:45] So we also want to remember customer service and post-sale follow-up.

[00:37:50] If you do have somebody that spends hundreds or thousands of dollars with you, please, please, please make sure that you follow up with that customer.

[00:38:01] Okay.

[00:38:01] Because we want them to come back.

[00:38:03] We really do.

[00:38:05] And if there is anything we can do to make the experience better or to invite them to shop with us again, we want to do that.

[00:38:14] Okay.

[00:38:14] I can't tell you how many times I've seen resellers, you know, have a great sale and somebody will spend hundreds or, like I said, thousands of dollars with them and they don't follow up.

[00:38:25] At the very least, we want to, you know, make sure the package gets delivered and then send them a quick message or an email and say, hey, I saw your package was delivered.

[00:38:35] I'm just checking to make sure everything's okay.

[00:38:38] Do you need anything?

[00:38:40] Do you have any questions about anything?

[00:38:42] I'm telling you that goes such a long way.

[00:38:45] All right.

[00:38:46] And especially with jewelry.

[00:38:48] Jewelry is such, in some cases, like a very intimate thing.

[00:38:52] You know, it's very personal and it can be very sentimental.

[00:38:56] Right.

[00:38:56] So we want to make sure that we can connect with our buyers in whatever way to help give them the best experience possible.

[00:39:05] Okay.

[00:39:06] And I'm telling you, you will have some of those buyers who have never bought from you before.

[00:39:13] And then suddenly they're spending, like I said, hundreds of dollars with you.

[00:39:16] All right.

[00:39:17] So please make sure you follow up.

[00:39:19] All right.

[00:39:20] So we also want to make sure we're clear on our return policies.

[00:39:23] Again, this is going to vary depending on where you're selling.

[00:39:26] Places like eBay, the return policy is pretty much whatever you decide it is.

[00:39:32] But then again, eBay has its own rules as it relates to returns as well.

[00:39:38] But if you have your own website, make sure that your return policy or your refund or exchange policy is very clear.

[00:39:46] Okay.

[00:39:47] We talked about this.

[00:39:48] I said offering gift wrapping.

[00:39:51] I think this is an excellent service to provide.

[00:39:54] It's also a way to kind of kick up, you know, kick up your sales just a tiny little bit by offering a gift wrapping service.

[00:40:01] And like I said, post-sale follow-up after the holidays.

[00:40:04] Don't forget to follow up with your customers.

[00:40:06] You can send a thank you email.

[00:40:09] I'm also asking for feedback and or reviews.

[00:40:13] Again, if that makes sense on the platform that you're on or your website.

[00:40:18] And sometimes you can even offer them a gift.

[00:40:21] You know, you can throw in a little business card or a coupon and say, thank you so much for shopping with me this holiday season.

[00:40:29] Here's 20% off your next order.

[00:40:31] And you can give them a coupon code.

[00:40:33] All right.

[00:40:34] I know that works really well.

[00:40:35] I know a lot of resellers who use that.

[00:40:38] And it does bring them back.

[00:40:40] It really does.

[00:40:41] All right.

[00:40:43] So I think this might be everything I have for you today as it relates to preparing for your holiday sales.

[00:40:57] You know, this is the time where we need to be on our A game.

[00:41:02] This is the time that we need to do the absolute best that we can we can do so we can make the money that we want to make.

[00:41:10] Because I just I just feel so good and I feel so positive about this Q4.

[00:41:17] I think it's going to be it's going to be amazing for a lot of us, especially as jewelry resellers.

[00:41:23] All right.

[00:41:24] So let me know your thoughts.

[00:41:26] Let me know what you are doing or what have you already done to prepare for Q4, to prepare for the holidays.

[00:41:35] All right.

[00:41:36] Because maybe you can share some ideas and some tips or strategies or hacks that could work for all of us.

[00:41:46] I've shared with you some of the things that work for me.

[00:41:50] And if I come up with anything else, I'll definitely make sure that I share it with you as well.

[00:41:57] I'll either leave a comment on this video if you're watching it on YouTube or I'll do a blog post follow up on the website and I'll let you let you guys know what I decide to do.

[00:42:10] But like I said, I'm really excited about the holidays.

[00:42:13] I'm so looking forward to it.

[00:42:15] I'm getting my inventory ready because I think that's probably the only area that I need to kind of really, really work on and figure out is kicking up my inventory because I like to do live sales.

[00:42:28] And like I said, I know how quickly I will go through inventory, especially if I'm doing daily shows on multiple platforms.

[00:42:36] Then I really need to make sure I have the inventory to keep up with that.

[00:42:42] All right.

[00:42:42] So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.

[00:42:45] I hope it was helpful.

[00:42:47] And again, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, please let me know.

[00:42:51] You can leave a comment, like I said, on this video on YouTube.

[00:42:55] You can also leave a comment on Spotify if you have any type of feedback you'd like to share with me.

[00:43:01] All right.

[00:43:02] So thank you so much.

[00:43:04] And I will check in with you again really soon.