SELLING : Related and unrelated items

Selling related items:  

 Many sellers specialize in one area - for example postcards or Precious Moments collectibles. They are knowledgeable about their items, enjoy collecting them and can pass along much valuable information to the buyer.

 These sellers feel that once a collector of one type of item finds them, the buyer will put them on their favorite seller  list and come back again and again to purchase more items.

They become known as "the seller who sells ___________" (you fill in the blank)

Selling unrelated items

Visit the countrybaker STORE

See all my REVIEWS & GUIDES

Some sellers feel that selling unrelated items is the way to go. They believe that the buyers do a search on eBay anyway and will find their items. If a buyer has bought from the seller before and knows they sell a wide variety of items, the thinking is that the buyer will browse through the sellers items, maybe put them on their favorite seller list and then check out the seller's listings periodically.

WHICH WAY IS BETTER?

Does one method work better than another? From the sellers point of view, selling one type of item only often streamlines the packing process. A book seller may have a supply of corrugated rolled cardboard example that works well only for books. He doesn't have to hunt around for packing materials for say, a teapot, if he sells only books.

From my personal experience it counts more for the seller if you have good feedback and fair prices. We are known on this ID for selling quality gourmet bakery items at affordable prices. We sell almost exclusively gourmet bakery -fudge, cookies, pies, jams, cake, breads and so on as thecountrybaker.

But, we also sell my wife's miniature doll quilts that she handcrafts and sometimes quilts that she collects. We have found that many of our bakery customers are quilt collectors and many of them are quilt and material shop owners who are too busy to do their own baking and buy from us. They found us through the quilt listings though.