Here is another example of my human’s selling failures. For a while, back when we were living at the old house, she tried hawking stuff on eBay. A friend of hers moved to New York and had to give up a bunch of her collectible bears because she no longer had room for them, so she let my human take them and sell them. When you sell things like this, it’s always best to disclose if they shared space with pets, in case the buyer is allergic. So my human did that one better by having me pose with them!
In fact, not only did I pose with these things, I also had to write the copy! Take this one, for example: “I’m Sparkle the Designer Cat and I can’t believe my human is going to auction off this fascinating Linda Novick Limited Edition Angel Bear! She has so many textures to explore and those pretty faux roses look almost good enough to eat. In fact, I guess that is why my human only let me look at this Angel Bear for a few moments… I think she was afraid I would try to take a bite out of her! This lovely bear is in pristine condition and she says she wants ‘to keep it that way.’ Whoever buys this bear is in for a special treat! (That even goes for humans who don’t want to chew on her.)”
Ugh! wasn’t that embarrassing sales copy? At least my human had the presence of mind to add “Cat NOT for sale!” on every item.
In addition to the bears, sometimes my human would buy some things for cheap and sell them for more money. Like these frames that she found deeply discounted at CVS. She is still sorry she didn’t keep one. They were kind of cute.
The most annoying part of my human’s eBay endeavors was that she kept telling me over and over that the things I was posing with were not toys. Oh, really?
And if I could not play with them or chew on their parts, what good were they?
But selling bears and cheap picture frames doesn’t exactly make much money. In fact, she lost money on the big bear above, because she started it at 99 cents and only one person bid on it. Then he wanted it shipped to Canada via UPS and she accidentally undercharged him. Even though my human was getting less than stellar results at selling on eBay, her boyfriend decided to give it a try. Of course, he was selling stuff like amplifiers, so with his first sale, he made more money than my human made during all the months she was selling on eBay.
That was the end of my human’s eBay experience.
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We have all done some odd things… Forgive yerself.
We liked your post. I sold lots of things on our NZ version of ebay called trademe last year when we moved. You have reminded me that we have more things to get rid off.
Have a lovely weekend.
Julie and Poppy Q
xxx
You are such a pawesome model! My mom says you cooperate much better than I would.
With a presentation like this, I am sure even people who don’t need toys would buy them !! What a great idea your mom had !
You did an excellent job purrsenting the toys. Maybe your mom should let someone else do the selling?!? Then she could spend the free time with the cats!!!
You would make a great saleslady Sparkle – purrhaps you could do an auction for your Mom!
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Those pictures sure are attractive and that Canadian guy was lucky!
Sparkle, we’re surprised you let yourself be used like that!! Our mom tried selling stuff on ebay too, like beanie babies when they were all the craze…she had a little bit of luck, but not a whole lot…she’d spend her profits buying other stuff on ebay!!
We tried to sell things on Ebay and actually did sell quite a number of things and made a little money but not much. That was such a good idea to have you pose with the animals etc.
Love the pictures Sparkle. Take care.
MOL! Sparkle the Ebay Cat….nehhh. You just stick to being oooooo soooooo furry pretty!
Purrsss Lars and Odin
We hope our Mom doesn’t see this post since she sells on Ebay. We don’t want her getting any ideas of using us as shills!
The Florida Furkids
My Mommie tried this but found out that if you try to charge people how much it really cost to ship, they complain about it, but if you charge what everyone thinks is fair, the seller loses money.
Our mom has sold all sorts of “no longer needed” stuff on e-bay. It’s the modern way to re-cycle! We love your poses and reckon you add value to the goods! (hope that doesn’t give mom ideas!)
Oh Sparkle …
Can we commiserate? MomKatt’s been doing eBay for a few years now, selling HER collectible bears, trying to thin out her collection. She HATES it but has had pretty good luck overall & hasn’t used any of us in shameless promotions I’m happy to meow. MOL!
We don’t hold still long enough when DadKatt photos her bears, anyway! (She collected Steiffs VERY seriously for years, now she’s “over it” and is keeping her antique bears and a few that she truly still loves & dumping the rest to use to pair down the credit cards!)
But when she is done, she says, she is DONE! She hates doing it!
I’m so sorry you went thru this … and you’re right: WHAT GOOD IS IT to hawk bears you can’t chew on?? (Or at LEAST bunny kick!)
PURRS!
Selina
Hey…come on…I LOVE it! I love these pictures and you are ADORABLE!
Luna
Well I don’t know how anyone could wresist bidding with you in the pictures,
Your bean should have let you handle all the sales Sparkle!!
I liked all those pretty pictures of you, Sparkle!
Our Mom used Noah to show off her eBay stuff, so he can relate.
Happy Friday to you all,
~ Timothy
I’ve used eBay, too, Sparkle! I tried to sell my brother once.
http://williamthecat.blogspot.com/2008/04/hurry.html
Nobody bought him.
Hi Sparkle, you are such a cute model – “Cat not for sale” signs are necessary, otherwise may try to get you
I would bid on a Sparkle Cat!
You are lucky she didn’t sell you….
I think that your mum should have sold everything straight away with you sat beside them. They were gorgeous pictures… Hugs GJ xx
HH used to have a bear collection… In fact, I think some of them are still in the closet. Your bears are very pretty. I’ll see if I can’t find one to post with the boys some day soon.
Have a great day.
Pawhugs, Max
Aw, Sparkle, I would pay more for an item just because YOUR gloriousness had rubbed off on it!
IF I bought stuff on ebay, which I never have. And neither has my Human. Maybe your Mom just never found the right customers because we weren’t there, MOL!
My Human is the worst salesperson ever: “You don’t want to buy this do you? No, I didn’t think so.”
That’s her pitch.
Sparkle, that was HILARIOUS! What we put up with. It’s mind bending. I was a little embarrassed for you with that big frilly bear-like thing. And the copy…well, let’s just move on shall we?
Good thing your human is on to bigger and better things. Like focusing on You and Your needs.
xo Katie
(Pee S – my video is up and it’s killer) ha!
What can we say, Sparkle, other than that you truly are a saint!!!
Purrs,
The Chans
The humiliation of having to pose with bears and not even be allowed a single chew.
We Canadians are such trouble makers – LOL!!!
It was nice of you to help her try to sell all those things on eBay Sparkle. The bears are very cute! Our mommy has a closet full of stuff she’s been wanting to sell on eBay so hopefully she doesnt’ get any ideas of making us pose with the stuff. Did your human’s boyfriend use Binga in his photos?
Oh Sparkle…I can well imagine the embarrassment this caused BUT if your mom sold anything..that went to your betterment, right? After all, it would not have sold without you!
xoxoxo Katie
Dear Sparkle,
Is this part of the Mystery Posts today?
{{{{{{{Giggle}}}}}}}
Kisses
Nellie
PS, our Mommy did not make very much money on our eBay together either
Loved that copy you wrote to sell the bear w/o mentioning the funky smell. TW always talks about selling stuff on e-bay but she doesn’t want to have to get another P.O. Box.
You sure were a good sport about the whole thing! We don’t cooperate, so we don’t get asked to do things. As soon as we know the flashy box is out we stop looking in that direction.
You did a good job of posing with all that stuff. Maybe the problem your human was having was just with the particular things she was trying to sell.
Honestly, I don’t know why theese Humans wouldn’t have been bidding like crazy with theese brilliant pictures of you Sparkle!
Sparkle, those pictures are fantastic. The first one made me laugh out loud. I’ve tried selling things on ebay before without much luck, so I admire your human’s persistence! Getting adorable you to pose with the items was probably a great advertising technique.
Oh Sparkle, you poor thing. At least you looked spectacular in your photo shoots. I bet part of the problem was your beauty out shined the wares your human was trying to hock. I sold on Ebay for 8 years, and happily quit that gig. That was when I turned to blogging. I’m much happier now as I’m sure your human feels the same.
Oh Sparkle, that is the rocking-est post I have read in a long time! You were born to sell. I wish I had come across your ads. I would have bought those bears by the boxful!
Of course, not everyone is cut out to sell. Our mom can’t even BUY on e-bay (unless it’s BUY NOW which gets dad in a tizzy!) The stress of bidding and having someone swoop in on your precious goods at the last moment sends mom’s blood pressure into a soar!
Hope you have a fun day finding new things to turn into toys… after all, isn’t that one of the things our humans love… the many creative uses we find for things they take for granted?
Legend & Tsunami
http://create-with-joy.com
Oh, so that’s your ebay sales experience you referred to the other day. Your mom sounds like Jan. sigh Humans!