Things cluttering up the space at home? Children outgrown the items? Somehow, you just have to get rid of them to make room for new things to come in, especially it's spring cleaning time now!!!
These past 2-3 weeks have been a good one for me when it comes to selling or even blessing out things. I have managed to sell away few slightly larger or bulky items, such as children playyard and bumbo chair, and quite a number of smaller items that I could mail out.
Friends have been asking me how I managed to sell away those things as they have been having difficulty trying to get rid of their stuff. Well, I have to say, I really took a lot of efforts and quite a bit of time as I posted my stuff for sale at 3 different Facebook groups, Gumtree and even Singapore Motherhood Forum! For items that are not deemed good enough to be sold, I would bless them out via a blessing Facebook group.
Here's some tips when trying to sell your stuff:
1. When choosing which Facebook group to post, you must know what you can sell and the maximum sale price for each of the groups. For examples:-
Xchange Corner group for parents by Buzzy Tots allows you to sell children and maternity stuff, and there is no cap on the selling price. This is good to post all the things that you're allowed to sell with no restriction on selling price.
Low Cost Spree Clearing allows you to sell things with a cap of $4 and the price must include postage cost. This is good to post the things that you're trying to clear at relatively cheap price.
Budget Corner for babies , mummies , ladies @ $10 n below ! allows you to sell baby, mummy & lady stuff at no more than $10.
Choose Facebook groups with different budget as there are people who look into the lower cost groups. Afterall, who don't like things that are relatively a lot more affordable?
2. When posting in Facebook groups, it's good to read the terms and conditions of each group frequently as each of them has different rules and they are updated as and when. Read carefully and understand the difference between the different groups, and see how you can take "advantage" of the rules to promote your items so that it would attract people's attention.
If the group said that you can only bump the album every 24hrs, do remember to bump it frequently and try bumping it at different timing, sometimes in the day, sometimes at night, sometimes at wee hours, hopefully it would attract people who is awake or accessing Facebook at different timing. If the group said not to bump more than 3 posts, choose 3 items that you think might stand a higher chance of selling, and bump those posts instead of bumping the entire album.
3. Reach out to people who might not have a Facebook account, and you can do so via Gumtree and Singapore Motherhood (SMH) Forum.
When posting on Gumtree, you can't bump the posts like you can in Facebook groups, but what you can do is to remove those that you had already posted for some time, and post them again so that they appear on the front pages.
4. Capture picture of the items that you're trying to sell, and post it on your sale thread. A picture speaks a thousand words! Hence, do make an effort to take a presentable looking picture.
5. Set notification for Facebook postings and email notification for Gumtree and SMH so that you are prompted when someone posted on your post.
6. Check and monitor responses frequently!!! It is pretty pointless if you just keep posting what you have to sell but you don't check and monitor the responses on a frequent basis. With smartphone technology, you can access Facebook and your emails almost anywhere, so it isn't too difficult to check and monitor responses.
7. Most importantly, don't be lazy or procrastinate, do spend some efforts and time to set up the things for sale, else don't complain that you have difficulty trying to sell your stuff. Not forget to mention, make sure you can wait it out for some time, don't be in a hurry to get rid of the items like in weeks' time as you probably end up selling much cheaper than you expected or giving it to people instead. Also, don't give up when a trade fails, just persist on, and the item would be sold in time to come. If it doesn't get sold for a long long time, like a year... see if you have been working hard enough trying to sell your stuff or it's relatively a difficult item to get rid of. If it's the former, move your butt, remember that the longer you wait, the lesser the value of the item as it gets depreciated over the time and might become more & more worthless. If it's the latter, probably consider to donate to a charity organisation that probably has means to refurbish and sell the item, or sometimes, people may just buy to support a charity effort.
I hope the above tips can help you to sell away your things faster, have fun selling! :)
Showing posts with label My Advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Advice. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2014
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
More Tips on Buying from Amazon
After I blogged on AmazonGlobal Saver Free Shipping to Singapore on Purchases Over USD125 (you should read this other posting first before reading this if you haven't read it yet), the pageviews on my blog suddenly shot up, seems like many of my friends couldn't resist shopping? But then again, I didn't make my blog site known on my FB until now when I used Blogger to share about shopping on Amazon with free shipping to Singapore.
If it is your first time trying to buy from Amazon and want to ship via AmazonGlobal Saver Free Shipping to Singapore, you may wish to read the following tips as well:
1. Ensure that you only select items that are "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com". If you select an item that is not sold by Amazon, including those that said "Fulfilled by Amazon", it is very highly possible that such item is not eligible for free shipping.
You would have to take particular attention, especially when you choose an item from the list of filtered items that are "AmazonGlobal Eligible" and when you launched that item page, you realised that there are other colours available, which you start thinking of buying the item in your favourite colour, but before you do so, do check it out if other colour options are also sold by Amazon, which sometimes may not be the case and probably why those colour options did not appear in the filtered list in the first place. Besides the difference in colour options, the price is also different, and those sold by Amazon are generally more cost effective.
Take the example below, only the black one is sold by Amazon and thus, is eligible for free shipping while the blue and green ones are not eligible for free shipping.
However, not all "AmazonGlobal Eligible" and "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com" items are eligible for free shipping even if your purchase is over USD125, read the other Amazon posting to find out how you can determine if an item is eligible for free shipping. I hope Amazon can do something about it and make shopping less painful for us, then again, maybe it's a deterrent for us not to buy too much, lol!
2. If you need some of the items urgently, you may wish to avoid eligible items that state certain delivery lead time as it would take much longer for your order to be shipped out.
3. I would not recommend using Amazon's exchange rate as I personally feel that the rate is less attractive than your credit card rate (unless your credit card is from a bank that charges high admin fees).
4. Do not spend more than total SGD400, which this amount includes the items charges and shipping fees, as you would need to pay for GST if you spend beyond that. If your purchase is eligible for AmazonGlobal Saver Free shipping, just need to ensure that the items charges do not exceed SGD400 and set a higher exchange rate for USD to SGD, just to be on the safe side.
5. If you would really like to get an item that can be shipped internationally but not eligible for free shipping, you may wish to purchase this particular item separately. There is no point lumping all the items together in one purchase and pay shipping for items that are eligible for free shipping just so that you can get this item as well? Of course, you can try your luck to get Amazon staff to help you waive off the entire shipping fees, questioning them that that particular item is AmazonGlobal Eligible, and hence, there should not be any shipping charge, but no one can guarantee the success rate of doing so. If you are purchasing that particular item separately, you can check it out if there's any on-going Amazon spree on singaporemotherhood forum as it's often more economical to poll orders to share out the shipping charges.
Hopefully the information I shared on this post helps as well. :)
AmazonGlobal Saver Free Shipping to Singapore on Purchases Over USD125
I finally have time to figure out how to shop on Amazon for items that are eligible for the AmazonGlobal Saver Free Shipping to Singapore, and just placed an order to get some Christmas presents and other stuff. *happy* For a start, it seems a little confusing to shop for items that are eligible for the free shipping. However, after you know how it works, it gets easier albeit troublesome. Hence, you would need to have patience and shop when you have time to browse through the site so that you can trial and error on the items that you are interested to get.
A few friends had asked me how do we know which items are entitled to free shipping to Singapore. I did some screen captures and going to do some kind of step-by-step instructions, as follows. Hopefully these instructions would help people to understand how to go about shopping on Amazon with free shipping to Singapore.
Instructions to shop on Amazon to get AmazonGlobal Saver Free Shipping to Singapore:
1. Logon to Amazon. Create an account if you don't already have one and make sure you have a Singapore shipping address saved in your account.
2. In the search bar, type the item that you want to search for. In my example, I used "hello kitty toys".
3. The search results which are considered as "hello kitty toys" would be displayed. Scroll down the page until you see "AmazonGlobal Eligible" under International Shipping (see the black arrow), and checked it. Once you've checked it, the search results would be refreshed to show only items that are eligible for AmazonGlobal; however, note that this does not mean that all the listed items are eligible for free shipping.
4. From the list, select the item that you would like to buy and add to the cart. To test out if the item is eligible for free shipping, select the quantity so that the total cart amount would be more than USD125 as you need to buy at least USD125 worth of items to be eligible for free shipping. In my example, I used Mega Bloks - Helly Kitty Treehouse that costs USD19.99, so need to buy at least 7 (see the black arrow) so that the total cart amount would be more than USD125.
I choose this item as an example as it's currently selling in Takashimaya as an "exclusive toy to Takashimaya" at SGD99.95, so you can see the amount of savings that you can get if you buy from US website, e.g. Amazon instead. For the price that you pay in Singapore, you can buy 3 from Amazon and yet, still have balance amount to buy yourself a decent meal or get McDelivery to deliver a late night supper while you shop online, lol!
5. Proceed to checkout the cart.
7. If the selected item is eligible for free shipping to Singapore, you would be given the option "Free AmazonGlobal Saver (averages 9-14 days)" as a shipping speed (see the black arrow). In my example, the item is eligible for free shipping. If you do not see this option available, it means that this item is not eligible for free shipping.
8. Continue your shopping spree and do steps 2-7 as above until your actual total cart amount reaches USD125. Actual total cart amount means the sum of your intended purchases, and not based on the amount that you test out if the item is eligible for free shipping (see below picture which shows the testing amount as one is unlikely to buy so many pieces of the same item unless it's a consolidated spree by few people who are buying the same thing). Hence, as you proceed with the shopping and when your purchases have finally reached more than USD125, do remember to adjust the quantity to the actual quantity that you intend to buy. Do a thorough check on the quantity of all selected items before you make that final purchase.
Hopefully, you would benefit from my sharing and enjoy a better shopping experience on Amazon for free shipping to Singapore! :)
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Building up Immunity for the Young Ones
I'm sharing this based on what I've learned from other mummies and what I'm giving to my 2 children (aged 6yo and 18mo as of Oct 2013). Hence, this is very much my personal views as there could be other equivalent supplements as well. While some may not agree to give supplements to children, I do find that the supplements I'm giving to my children do help them build up their immunity and fall sick less often, which is so important as they are in childcare centre.
Scott's Emulsion Cod Liver Oil - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo. I would advise to give the original one; don't give the orange one as the latter does not have DHA & can cause phelgm.
Childlife Colostrum with Probiotics, Orange/Pineapple Flavor - this can be given when the child reaches 6mo. Colostrum is nature's first food for the immune system. ChildLife uses the finest bovine Colostrum that has been naturally harvested and especially prepared with Probiotics to enhance the health and vitality of your child's immune and digestive system. This is sold at local GNC at $78.50, VIP price $62.80, but don't buy from local as you can spree from US that costs about 1/3 of the VIP price, depending on where you purchase it from and the promotion from time to time. I prefer to order from Vitacost as it's cheaper than iherb. Both Vitacost and iherb have international shipping to S'pore, which you can upfront know the shipping cost before checking out the cart. However, to make the purchase more worthwhile, you have to join spree or gather friends to spree, so as to share out the shipping cost.
Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears - this can be given when the child reaches 2yo. This comes in handy if your child doesn't like to take cod liver oil since it's kind of fishy, so use it like some kind of "reward". The bottle of small Rhino gummy bear on the right of the pic, contains 60 gummy bears, which is sold at local GNC at $29.95, VIP price $23.96, but you can get from Vitacost at less than S$10, abt $8. The big bottle of Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears, contains 190 gummy bears - http://www.iherb.com/Nutrition-Now-Rhino-Gummy-Multi-Vitamin-190-Gummy-Bears/7911, is what I spree from iherb. There is no cost comparison with local GNC as they don't sell this but this is more economical as it costs slightly more than S$20 for triple amount of gummy bears. My son prefers the big bottle as it's not sour type of gummy bears.
Sambucol (not in the above picture) - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo for the UK version and 2yo for the US version. Besides the age limit difference, I'm not sure if there's other difference, and if there is, what's the difference(s). I've bought the US version as it was easier to spree since I can get it from iherb. I've personally taken it when I was having a bad cough, especially at night when my throat was so itchy that I kept coughing non-stop. I felt it works even better than my cough medicine as the medicine couldn't stop me from coughing and I can't sleep, but this actually helped to stop my coughing and get back to sleep.
US - http://www.iherb.com/Sambucol-Black-Elderberry-Immune-System-Support-Liquid-For-Kids-Berry-Flavored-4-fl-oz-120-ml/16697?at=0
UK - http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/sambucol-for-children_1_12228.html
If you would like to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, you can use the following discount code or referral link to get some discounts: -
iherb - use discount code "BUN642" to get USD10 off your 1st order of USD40 & up, or USD5 off on smaller orders!
Vitacost - use referral link "https://www.vitacostrewards.com/9G9SduF" & get US$10 referral discount code off your 1st order of USD30 or more!
If you need to learn how to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, feel free to leave a comment with your email address so that I can contact you. :)
Scott's Emulsion Cod Liver Oil - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo. I would advise to give the original one; don't give the orange one as the latter does not have DHA & can cause phelgm.
Childlife Colostrum with Probiotics, Orange/Pineapple Flavor - this can be given when the child reaches 6mo. Colostrum is nature's first food for the immune system. ChildLife uses the finest bovine Colostrum that has been naturally harvested and especially prepared with Probiotics to enhance the health and vitality of your child's immune and digestive system. This is sold at local GNC at $78.50, VIP price $62.80, but don't buy from local as you can spree from US that costs about 1/3 of the VIP price, depending on where you purchase it from and the promotion from time to time. I prefer to order from Vitacost as it's cheaper than iherb. Both Vitacost and iherb have international shipping to S'pore, which you can upfront know the shipping cost before checking out the cart. However, to make the purchase more worthwhile, you have to join spree or gather friends to spree, so as to share out the shipping cost.
Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears - this can be given when the child reaches 2yo. This comes in handy if your child doesn't like to take cod liver oil since it's kind of fishy, so use it like some kind of "reward". The bottle of small Rhino gummy bear on the right of the pic, contains 60 gummy bears, which is sold at local GNC at $29.95, VIP price $23.96, but you can get from Vitacost at less than S$10, abt $8. The big bottle of Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears, contains 190 gummy bears - http://www.iherb.com/Nutrition-Now-Rhino-Gummy-Multi-Vitamin-190-Gummy-Bears/7911, is what I spree from iherb. There is no cost comparison with local GNC as they don't sell this but this is more economical as it costs slightly more than S$20 for triple amount of gummy bears. My son prefers the big bottle as it's not sour type of gummy bears.
Sambucol (not in the above picture) - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo for the UK version and 2yo for the US version. Besides the age limit difference, I'm not sure if there's other difference, and if there is, what's the difference(s). I've bought the US version as it was easier to spree since I can get it from iherb. I've personally taken it when I was having a bad cough, especially at night when my throat was so itchy that I kept coughing non-stop. I felt it works even better than my cough medicine as the medicine couldn't stop me from coughing and I can't sleep, but this actually helped to stop my coughing and get back to sleep.
US - http://www.iherb.com/Sambucol-Black-Elderberry-Immune-System-Support-Liquid-For-Kids-Berry-Flavored-4-fl-oz-120-ml/16697?at=0
UK - http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/sambucol-for-children_1_12228.html
If you would like to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, you can use the following discount code or referral link to get some discounts: -
iherb - use discount code "BUN642" to get USD10 off your 1st order of USD40 & up, or USD5 off on smaller orders!
Vitacost - use referral link "https://www.vitacostrewards.com/9G9SduF" & get US$10 referral discount code off your 1st order of USD30 or more!
If you need to learn how to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, feel free to leave a comment with your email address so that I can contact you. :)
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