Hillary DePiano's Blog, page 27
March 14, 2016
Finished a book? Let me walk you through the next steps with my latest release
I’ve got a brand new non-fiction book out but this time it’s not about e-commerce… at least not directly. It’s my first ever book about writing and publishing, diving into exactly what happens after you finish the first draft of a book from editing and rewriting all the way to putting it up for saleand beyond. It’s available now in paperback and electronic formats at a variety of retailers and Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited users can read the book for free as part of that program right now...
March 9, 2016
Should you allow Selling Assistant clients to drop their items off?
This is post 44 of 45 in the series “Sell Their Stuff”
Drop-Off Hours
If you’re not willing to go to the client to get their items, then they’ll need to be able to get them to you. Drop-off hours are another great feature to add to your service. These can be a regular block of hours that you’re always available for clients to drop by or just appointments that you schedule as needed client by client. Offering drop-offs can be easier for you because you don’t need to...
March 4, 2016
A Tale of Two FAILS: PayPal & Teapplix compete for worse customer service ever (Teapplix “wins”)
I don’t like to have to put companies on blast. I hate that we live in a world where the only way to get good customer service is to publically shame companies and call them out. They should not be awful to me because I’m a human being and a customer, not because I’ve got lots of Twitter followers and a readership. But sometimes a company, in this case two companies, work so very hard to give you the absolute worse customer service experience you can imagine that the only possible conclusion...
March 2, 2016
Offering pick-up services is an easy way to attract local Selling Assistant clients
This is post 43 of 45 in the series “Sell Their Stuff”
The most common way to secure items from clients is to go and pick them up. This can happen at the client’s home or at a previously arranged public meeting point. This is only practical if the person is within a reasonable driving distance, but most of your clients will be local anyway.
Offering pick-up with your service is a major selling point, as it involves the least amount of work on the client’s part. All they need to do is get th...
March 1, 2016
February 2016: In which I was mostly sick all month but also wrote some stuff
I cannot believe it’s March already!
Here’s what February2016looked like in writing…
YearlyGoal
150,793/600,000 words (25%)
Monthly Goal
Planned to take half this month off so I didn’t set a goal other than to not fall behind (which I very nearly did anyway but rallied in the last week)
Total Words Written
39,128
(I know, I know, I should have gone for 40k but I wanted to sleep)
Average Words Per Day
1,349
Things completed:
Nothing new, though NaNo What Now? is now available for saleOther Works...
February 29, 2016
Whether you’ve finished your NaNoWriMo novel or not, NaNo What Now? is your guide to the next steps
I’ve got a brand new book out today in eBook and paperback, NaNo What Now?Finding your editing process, revising your NaNoWriMo book and building a writing career through publishing and beyond,and you may be wondering if this book is for you. To give you a better idea of what to expect from this easy-to-read guidebook to exactly what happens once NaNoWriMo is over, I’ve included the actual Introduction from the book below. If you’d like a longer preview, several retailers will give you a long...
February 24, 2016
Consider VOIP & internet-based phones like Google Voice or Skype over traditional options
This is post 42 of 45 in the series “Sell Their Stuff”
Beyond the Cell or LandlineA designated cell or landline can be pricey. I’ll let you into a little secret that has served me very well over the years. VOIP and internet-based phone numbers aren’t just cheaper, they often give you more features and flexibility than a landline ever could.
My business number is actually a telephone number I have through Skype. It only costs me a single yearly fee that is less t...
February 23, 2016
SumAll to close all free accounts at the end of February
If you’ve been using SumAll to import your eBay data or utilizing any of their other free services, login and download your data now before it’s all gone! SumAll is moving to a paid-only service focused on social networking starting March first and everyone who doesn’t upgrade before that point’s data will be disappearing at that time.
In their words…
Dear Friends,
For years we’ve delivered data to hundreds of thousands of users for free. We’ve sent you email digests, thank you tweets to your...
February 19, 2016
Making the best of bad feedback
No one likes getting bad feedback, especially the annoying kind. From buyers with unrealistic expectations or complaints that are just plain wrong from the ones who clearly don’t understand how the feedback process works in the first place, it’s incredibly frustrating no matter what platform you sell on. But it’s a mistake to dismiss negative feedback because you can learn a lot from it and use it to better your business.
I delved into this topic at greater length in an article...
February 17, 2016
Designate a business phone line for more professional client contact
This is post 41 of 45 in the series “Sell Their Stuff”
Does your SA business need a phone number? You aren’t required to have one. You can also just use your existing home or cell phone number. That said, there are a lot of advantages to getting a designated phone line for your SA business.
Many of the details of your business and domain registration will be public record, and nearly all require a phone number. Wouldn’t you prefer to have the designated business line be the one that’s publi...
