Blog Sale Hosting Tips

I did a post last week about how to shop in blog sales so I thought it would be useful to write another about hosting blog sales. Holding a blog sale is a great way to get rid of unloved make up in exchange for some extra cash. 

The Instructions

Most blog sales will begin with a list of instructions so you need to decide what your terms are for the sale. Some of the information you should have there includes: where you're willing to ship to and how much postage will cost, when you plan to ship the products, how and when you'd like to be paid and how the buyers should go about making a purchase. Postage and packing costs should be as reasonable as possible. Royal Mail recently put their prices up so make sure you're charging enough to cover your costs but it's probably best to avoid setting really high postage costs. I charge £2.50 with no extra charge for additional items because it costs £2.20 to ship a parcel that weighs less than 750g (most blog sale parcels will) and the extra 30p covers the costs of the new mailing bags I use. A flat rate price is good because it should encourage buyers to pick up a few items to take advantage of the fact they won't need to pay extra in shipping. I'd recommend only taking payments via Paypal. Some sellers will state that returns are not possible and others will say that they'll accept offers on multi-item purchases. It's up to you to set your terms but just make sure you do so clearly.

Photos, Descriptions & Prices

Clear photographs of the products and the degree of usage are important. There are lots of blog posts and articles out there about taking good photos of beauty products if you're unsure about this. The descriptions of the products should be clear and should detail how used the product is, any damage to the packaging or product and anything else you think is necessary. Be honest in your descriptions so that your buyers are not disappointed; if you're unsure always overstate the usage to cover your own back. The prices you choose to set are probably the most important determining factor in the success of your blog sale. I usually charge around half of the RRP price but will charge a little more if the product is brand new or hard to find and less if it's been used more than a handful of times. Make sure your price including postage costs is not more expensive than the RRP. Try to be realistic; there's nothing more frustrating than a blog sale where everything is overpriced because no on will buy anything!

Advertise

When I post a blog sale I advertise it via a blog post, on Twitter and sometimes on muablogsales. Use the #blogsale and #bbloggers hashtags on Twitter to increase the chances of your sale being spotted. If you're selling some items which you know may be desirable you can also tweet those individually but try not to spam anyone with individual tweets for each and every product. If you have YouTube channel, Facebook page or any other relevant social network profile highlight your sale on those too. 

Manage Your Sales

It's important once you've posted your sale that you keep track of what's sold and to whom. I operate on a first come, first served basis and usually ask that items are paid for within 24 hours so I will invoice the first buyer and if they've not paid within 24 hours I will cancel the invoice and release the items for sale or offer them to the second buyer in line. When an item has been requested but not paid for, I mark it as 'pending' on the sale. That means other buyers will probably not request the item and it reminds you not to invoice several people for the same item. Once an item has sold I'll mark it as 'sold' or put a strike through it. If I've taken individual photos I'll just delete the photo and description.  Once your buyer has paid be sure to ship their parcel when you said you would. If you're unable to ship on time, let the buyer know as soon as possible. Once you've shipped your parcel you can let buyers know if it's possible to do so - I usually tweet that I've sent everything out. All being well, your buyer will receive their parcel and be delighted with the products.

I've held several in the past but I'm by no means an expert so feel free to leave your tips in the comments! Happy blog sale-ing and keep an eye out for another sale from me very soon :)

Stace xx