从收集到销售的乐趣

从收集到销售的乐趣

Canadian sellers Craig Dawson and Rick Belanger are successful entrepreneurs who spread goodwill and create community through toys and collectibles.

Some of Craig’s collectibles

里克和他的一些小丑主题宝藏

2020年10月20日,星期二 - 上午11:45

内容:博客

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从对玩具和收藏品的热爱开始。混合采购狩猎的乐趣。在一些社区建筑中搅拌,然后188bet网址怎么打不开以大量的乐观态度结束,您将拥有长期的加拿大eBay卖家克雷格·道森(Craig Dawson)的企业家成功秘诀。克雷格(Craig)在多伦多(Toronto)的位置,将一生的爱好变成了与丈夫里克·贝兰格(Rick Belanger)分享的繁荣的在线商店,并以纯粹的乐趣开展了业务。

Craig and Rick’s eBay store,2DogsDigs,于1996年开业,但其真正的开始可以追溯到克雷格(Craig)的童年。克雷格说:“作为独生子女,我一直很喜欢玩具。”每当Sears圣诞节目录降落在他家人的邮箱中时,Craig都会圈出他想要的物品 - G.I.乔·娃娃(Joe Dolls),西牛仔队(West Cowboys),热轮汽车(Hot Wheels)的汽车 - “我得到了所有,我都被宠坏了,”他笑着说。

克雷格(Craig)和里克(Rick)于1987年成为一对夫妇后不久,克雷格(Craig)开始建立自己的小童年系列,重点关注电视纪念品,例如查理(Charlie)的天使和老式芭比娃娃,这是他小时候没有收到的。After the pair had been living together for a few years with Craig’s ever-expanding collection, Rick asked the question that proved to be the inception point for their business: “So, what are we doing with all the toys you’ve upgraded and are now in boxes in storage?” Craig responded with characteristic good humor, “Well, I guess we should sell them — so we can buy more stuff.”

Since it was the early ‘90s, Craig and Rick sold many of those unwanted items through Usenet newsgroups, magazine ads and in-person at toy shows. When starting to sell, they saw an additional market opportunity. “We realized that there were things coming out of Canada that couldn’t be found in the [United] States, such as the Maple Beanie Baby, or the Baywatch Teresa Barbie,” Craig said. “And we said, ‘Wait a second, this isn’t just about getting rid of my stuff.” Craig immediately started hunting for more goods to sell, bringing Rick along with him.

Then, “in 1996 we started hearing about eBay,” Rick said. At the time, Craig was collecting memorabilia from the ‘60s and ‘70s, such as Barbie dolls, lunchboxes and G.I. Joe dolls. eBay proved the ideal marketplace for these types of items, a place that “gave us a worldwide audience we could sell to,” Craig said. “Over our 24 years selling on eBay, nearly 95 percent of our sales have been outside Canada.”

“里克讨厌被我拖到车库销售来源,”克雷格记得里克耐心地带走了众多旅行。“But if he got grumpy about it, I’d say, ‘Remember, you get to go to Walt Disney World and Las Vegas because of Barbie and eBay.’ Or, ‘This birthday trip to London was paid for by eBay, so let’s go to the flea market while we’re here.’” Craig did the buying, and Rick was the “backup help,” he said, carrying things to the car, taking photos and assisting with packing when it was time to ship.

But Craig, with his effervescent persistence, got Rick to finally join the reselling game about four years ago. “It was a challenge to make him feel that joy in collecting and selling, but I finally started seeing it,” Craig said. A couple of sales helped, including Rick’s finding a Tiki mug at an estate sale that he bought for 50 cents and sold on eBay for $400. “He just needed a few flips like those,” Craig said.

In addition, and to Craig’s consternation, Rick has taken up his own collections. “He decided one summer to buy the ugliest vase at any garage sale we were at,” Craig recounted, “like a vase made for someone’s mom in a pottery class, and he’d buy it for five dollars just so he could say, ‘Look what we have to display now.’” At one point, they had a shelf in their home full of “the most hideous things he could find,” Craig said. Rick’s other themes now include clowns and bells. “He has an affinity for things that drive me crazy,” Craig said as Rick laughed.

这对夫妇尤其喜欢在寻找“特殊物品”的人出售时。例如,他们曾经在房地产销售中发现了50年代的一些玩具。在混乱中,是一只泰迪熊,有点遗忘。尽管有充分的状态,但克雷格(Craig)和里克(Rick)将熊放在eBay上。“它在一天之内卖出!”克雷格说。“买家给我发了一条甜蜜的消息,说这是她长大的熊,她一直在寻找多年。她不在乎眼睛被擦了擦或在某些地方缝制。当您能给人们带来欢乐的人们,对自己的记忆很少时,这是巨大的。”

Though Craig and Rick are quite different in temperament — Craig is gregarious and chatty, and Rick is his calm, more contemplative complement — the couple both share the same quality of finding the light in any situation. As a result, they decided to build community with other like-minded eBay sellers.

通过在Facebook上转售小组,他们注意到人们一遍又一遍地提出有关从加拿大在eBay上销售的问题。里克说:“我们意识到有一个市场可以帮助加拿大人。”

So in 2017, they started the Canadian Resellers and Fantastic Thrifters (C.R.A.F.T.) group on Facebook, which now has about 1,800 members. “The whole purpose of the group is for people to learn,” Craig said. “How do you sell? Where do you source? How do you ship into the United States and around the world? Those kinds of questions.” The group allows people to trade ideas, offer help and lend expertise in their areas of specialty.

With so much experience on eBay, what advice do Craig and Rick give to others just starting out? “Start with what you’re familiar with,” Craig said. “Go look at your music collection, look in your closet or attic, do research and see if there’s anything there that has value. Sell some jewelry, a purse, an old game, clothes your kids have outgrown. Start small, and ask questions.”

他们的小组被证明是如此受欢迎,以至于六个月后,他们开始了YouTube频道以其商店名称为2DogsDigs。克雷格说:“这全都是在帮助人们在eBay上销售。”“此外,我们可以乐趣分享我们的发现和销售,希望在学习转售时能娱乐他们。”他们真实,乐观的风格使他们在每个星期二晚上赢得了观众的忠实追随者。“每当我们错过星期二时,人们都会给我们发消息!”克雷格说。“我认为尤其是现在,创造这种乐观的教育媒介是有责任的。”

确实,在所有渠道上,他们的目标是保持乐观。克雷格说:“我们总是试图保持积极的态度,我们认为周围发生的事情会出现。”“对我们来说,转售世界很有趣。因此,我们希望将其作为我们任务的一部分。”他们甚至指出要有定期的“快照杯”帖子(从“合法金发”电影中获取的想法)来分享eBay买家的出色反馈。克雷格说:“我们认为我们应该专注于那里的积极因素,而不是少数负面因素。”

然而,他们最大的社区建设时刻188bet网址怎么打不开是一个面对面的活动。更具体地说,eBay在2018年开放。“我们去了那里,遇到了很多人,我们与今天仍然几乎所有的人都建立了联系,”里克说。其中一些人也来自多伦多,这对夫妇甚至与他们的新eBay朋友进行了跳蚤市场的闲逛。

与许多其他人一样,共同的19日大流行改变了他们的人生计划。克雷格说:“由于我的全职广告业务暂时关闭,因此eBay是一个真正的好处,因为我能够产生收入。”Due to a combination of increased buyer traffic from the pandemic, their savvy gained from years of experience spotting buying trends and their fabulous entrepreneurial spirit, Craig said they’ve experienced tremendous growth in their sales, showing over 200% growth in their store during this period. “We’ve doubled last year’s sales in the first six months of this year,” he said.

由于这对夫妇无法去展览或车库销售寻找库存,因此他们很幸运能拥有一个未列出的物品的仓库。克雷格说:“当您购物很多时,好处是您拥有在转售世界中被称为利润堆积的东西。”那些尚未库存或列出的物品将使它们继续前进,而亲自采购选项受到限制。此外,他们已经看到兴趣更多地转向了房屋娱乐选择,人们在室内订购游戏,难题和模型套件,在室内保存下来,他们将在重新开始采购时正在寻找。

As for where they see themselves headed, they are excited about the possibilities. “I think eBay’s giving us a platform for supplementing income for the next 10-15 years plus, if we evolve with how people shop and constantly think about how we can grow and what we’re doing,” Craig said. “We look at eBay as a platform that’s going to be integral to us when we retire.”

“ eBay是我们生活的一部分,”里克说。“周围没有其他平台。它使我们能够出售我们拥有的东西的类型,并将我们与世界各地的人们联系起来。对我们来说,这只是一个了不起的平台。”

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