104: So You Wanna Sell On eBay - Candace Pitt

Candace is a 34-year-old disabled mom. She has a daughter who is 7 years old. She has a Lupus and a Lung disease and she is on chemo and oxygen. But, she also runs a plus sized clothing store on eBay for men and women's items. Interesting Notes Candace is a registered nurse. On April 2014, she got hospitalized for 33 days. She found out that she had a Lupus and a Lung Disease. The doctors told her that she has a few months if she got lucky to be around. Due to her disability, they moved to a smaller and manageable house - a 2-bedroom trailer. They use every space they have and put up shelves and racks in the corner for her eBay stuff. They even have clothes rack in their living room. Candace started selling on eBay when she was in her early twenties. She only wanted to make a couple of dollars, nothing serious then. When Facebook groups selling stuffs started, Candace sold their kids old toys. She made some money there. But she needs to meet up with people who bought the items. So she switched back to eBay. On eBay, she started selling their extra stuff. Then she started wearing big sizes. She found out that big sizes or Plus Size clothing were selling well. She stuck with it. It has been 3 years now and doing well. Candace runs her eBay biz alone, except that her husband does the shipping for her. She purchases the shipping materials ensuring that all are complete when needed. She goes out to source her items. She goes to thrift stores in their area, mostly Salvation Army. She also goes to Savers and Goodwill stores, an hour away from their area. Sometimes, her mom would take her into the stores and help her source. Her daughter, Destiny, when tagged along, helps pick up things when they are sourcing. Destiny can find things that are colorful. Candace has membership cards that give her a percentage off. In the Salvation Army, she gets 35% off on her purchases. A couple of days before the interview, Candace broke 8,000 in 60 days. Candace has sold more than 600 items. She targets to make a thousand items listed in her store for the next couple of months. And stay around it because of limited space. She plans to take an extra room to store her eBay stuff in. Candace defeated the odds. Now, she can drive anywhere she wants to go. She can do pretty much anything she wants to do as long as she takes her oxygen tank with her. She is not trying to make a million dollar on eBay. She is only trying to make an extra few dollars so she can take her kid to McDonald's or to the beach. Last year, Candace took her daughter to Disney World from the sales she made from her eBay biz. Candace does not rush. She does not push herself too much. If she only makes 5 sales in a day instead of 25, she is okay with that. eBay keeps Candace going. It makes her feel good to receive good emails and feedback. It is mentally helpful to her. eBay gives her the opportunity to take care of people. She believes that some of the items she sells are for people who can't get out of their house like the elderly. eBay gives Candace a big purpose, besides her daughter. Advice, Tips, and Tricks With her physical limitations, Candace lists as much as she can. It takes her a couple of hours to list 15 items. But if she can list only 10 for a day, it is 10 more items than she had yesterday. She considers it an accomplishment. Whatever she feels enough is enough. In writing a good description, she makes it a point to include the item's: 1. texture 2. different colors 3. patterns, if there is 4. the kind of material use (stretchy, silky, cotton) 5. thickness To maintain a high and positive feedback, she treats her customers with kindness. There would be one or two people that you could not make happy no matter what you do, but it is best to try to be kind. A day before her interview, she has a buyer who ordered 2 shirts, but Candace could not find the other shirt. So, she messaged the buyer and apologized. She gave a full refund and the other shirt for free. The buyer turned to be the happiest lady who gave a positive feedback. What could have been a complete disaster, Candace is able to turn it into good. Candace uses her Apple iPad Mini to take photos of her items. She takes pictures against a poster board. She has one piece hollow plastic mannequin hanging up on her window. Behind it is a poster board with a black sheet that serves as the background of the photos. To get a lot of attention to their store, Candace runs Low Price Auctions. Auction draws people's attention to the store. It puts your store higher on the search engine because auctions will be ending in a few days. Quotes "I just utilize all the space I can and do the best I can with what I've got!" "The harder you work, the more you can make!" "It gives you a purpose and it keeps you busy. It makes you feel good that you are doing something." "Whatever you feel is enough is enough." "If you do a few things today, don't get down on yourself because you do a few. You did something! It is better than nothing else." "I do whatever I can possibly do and whatever I need to do. It is definitely good for the mind and the body to keep going like I am." "There is so much in one piece that you can find to talk about." Contact Information eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Plus-Size-Clothing-Shop Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandacePitt1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clacossecook?fref=ufi Sponsors Premium DIY eBay Template M2E Pro ecomdash