I normally like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person but a couple of incidents over the last few days have really got me wondering about my IQ levels.
The first thing was me bemoaning the fact that I would have to go to Aldi as soon as I got home from Bristol last Monday because there would be no fresh milk or anything for our evening meal in the fridge. Mum said couldn't I just nip to the corner shop for milk but I said that basically Aldi is our corner shop and if I was going to schlep down there for milk I might as well pick up salad stuff for tea too. All of a sudden, like a bolt from the blue, I thought of the Sainsbury's supermarket at Paddington station. I've been shuttling back and forth through Paddington station for the past five years and, much as I knew the Sainsbury's was there, I'd never been in it let alone bought anything from there. Well, it worked out wonderfully. I got two pints of organic milk, some very tasty salady things for the evening meal and some organic chicken breasts to go with it. As we can't buy organic chicken where we live, and P and I won't eat chicken that isn't organic, it was a rare old treat indeed to be able to enjoy it lightly grilled for our evening meal. So, that is something I'll be doing again, why oh why had I never thought of it before!
The second thing was concerning ebay listings. A few weeks ago, when I sold the Liberty tana lawn, I had the good sense to list it internationally (I normally list items UK only). This week I had listed some Rowan yarn (UK only as usual) when I had an e-mail from somebody in the US asking if I could post them there and what the postage would be. I have no problem posting overseas so I amended all the listings for the yarn so that they were international sales too. That afternoon I sold three lots to the US. Then I thought why not list some of my bags internationally too. That was a couple of days ago and since then I've already sold one to Japan and another to Denmark. D'oh! Why hadn't I thought of doing international sales ages ago. Sometimes I scare myself with how dense I can be!! Still, never mind, better late than never, eh?
Well done on the international sales - what a great way to reach more sutomers!
Posted by: Shoestring | 06/06/2009 at 10:18 PM
Well done on your sales, I list worldwide too and often send items overseas...it opens up the market and sometimes they're prepared to pay more. Your week in Brisol sounds lovelt BTW,lucky you to go to the Vintage fair!
Posted by: gill | 06/06/2009 at 11:50 PM
Congratulations on the sales. As a sometime buyer on Ebay I am always disappointed when US sellers won't post overseas so that must work the other way round, as well. I hope that your new sales strategy continues to work for you!
Posted by: Lindsey | 06/07/2009 at 09:23 AM
I've started selling internationally over the last 12 months, Elizabeth, and have sold all sorts of things to all sorts of countries - it definitely opens up your market at a lot (particularly at the moment with the pound so weak). Touch wood, haven't had any problems so far.
Posted by: Caroline | 06/07/2009 at 09:23 AM
I sell on ebay from the US and the weak US dollar certainly has kicked up the overseas sales.
Also: where in Paddington is the Sainsburys? In the station? Haven't been there in about two decades but we always stayed in the Paddington area, which then only had small grocers.
Posted by: Jeanie Senior | 06/08/2009 at 03:01 AM