Sales on One Kings Lane - Happy New Year!

Settee sold on One King's Lane - heading to North Carolina!

I have been an admirer of One King's Lane (OKL) link to site and first listed on this online site about one year ago. It is an "invitation only" venue and my refurbished heirloom pieces are listed in the vintage category. OKL does take a hefty commission (about 35%) so my prices on the site are considerably higher than other sales venues. It is, however, a very respected source for buying lots of home decor items and their advertising is ubiquitous. They also offer some pretty good discounts to the buyers - today's adds include a 15% off sale.

The site does have somewhat rigorous photography requirements including the placing of items against a clean background. I have tried to "rig" such a system but with my storage capabilities/challenges and the fact that many of my items are actually photographed at my upholsterer's shop, the lack of background clutter and distractions is very hard to achieve. I was able to work with the OKL sales team to have their photography experts take care of most of the background clutter and am very impressed with the cleanness of the images they were able to produce.

So, how is it going? I have sold eight items since December 21 - a very respectable number given the slackness of the holiday season. I will continue to list there but when not on One King's Lane, will be listing on Etsy and eBay as well. My website has DIED and is about to either be totally eliminated or revised. My sweet husband (recently retired) has offered to try to build it back anew for me which would be wonderful.

SO, this turns out to be a report on selling on-line and the various methods usable - I am trying them all. Here are some more of my OKL images and a link to today's "new product on line" - link to settee on OKL

Selling on One Kings Lane - An Update

Most recent sale on One Kings Lane - French Style Bench. I like the clean look of their photographs.

Recently, I reported that I had been approached by One Kings Lane "Vintage and Market Finds" Team inviting me to sell some of my refurbished upholstered furniture through their site. Here is a link to my current sale in this section.They actively search out other sales and websites and seek potential vendors for their sales. I described in my earlier post that there were two issues that I needed to deal with in order to take advantage of this offer.

1.  Their "take" is 35%, so my sales prices would have to be higher than those offered on eBay and Etsy in order for me to make the same amount. Etsy is the lowest priced in this group.

2.  The sales team wants photographs against a very clean, preferably white background so that their photoshop folks can easily post the photographs based on their standards.

I struggled with the latter until I found that I could use either my garage cream background (placing a cream colored sheet or sheets on the floor to equalize the two areas) or my lower level fabric room which has goldish walls and carpeting that are similar in color.  I have successfully used both to photograph over a dozen items and submit them to the site for sale. I must admit, I like how the site makes my pieces look and have downloaded their photos to include in my other sale sites.

So, what is my experience to date?

I have listed about 10 items on the site - some twice. I have had three sales - two to the same individual. The sales run only for five days which seems to spur a lot of activity.

This set of chairs was my first sale. I took the photos in my garage against a plain background and placed a sheet on the floor. The One Kings Lane photoshop team created the crisp version by eliminating the background.

One thing that is very nice for me is that all my sales on this site are subject to "white glove" delivery service that is paid for by the buyer and totally arranged by the site. They send me the bill of lading and the shipping company notifies me when they can pick up - super easy!

I just sold these striped club chairs on One Kings Lane - waiting for pickup.

Other items listed on One Kings Lane - none sold on that site but the yellow wing backs and bench are no longer available. I will be re listing the others unless they sell before they are scheduled.

 So, what do I think?

This is one more on-line selling venue and I would guess they might be open to being contacted if someone is interested in using them - they contacted me so I did not have that experience. Because of their portion of the sale, the prices are higher than other venues but the site does seem to attract quite a following. It also has a very professional appearance and appears to be well-run. Lastly, I can only address the selling side of their transactions since I have not been on the buying side - I cannot afford their great offerings for reasons that I now fully understand!

The Virtual Storefront

For only a brief period in the seven-year history of my little business was I actually a "store".   When I first starting out selling refurbished upholstered furniture, I was approached by an entrepreneur who was setting up an "eclectic" selling space in the heart of Atlanta.  My lovely pieces were integrated with fine oriental carpets, original art and other eye candy - it looked great!  BUT, she had almost no traffic and was forced to close after nine months.  I explored other space options and determined that I neither wanted to stand behind a counter nor pay the freight of leased space - so I started using eBay as a selling source.  I designed a simple listing format and haven't changed it much since.  I also have a website link to wydevendesigns.com  These two sites provide me with a virtual storefront that has brought customers from all over the United States.   I have had sales from Washington State to Florida and from Connecticut to California.  Over 90% of my sales are not in the state of Georgia.  The vast majority of my furniture pieces are bought sight unseen (and not sat on ... which may be even more important)!

There are some virtual storefront tips:

• Create a simple format and stick to it - changing the look and feel of your site too often (whether eBay or website) does not generate viewer/client recognition
• Use photographs to generate visual appeal - make certain to get all the angles and features
• Be brutally honest in the descriptions - customers are already weary of online buying so they need to have confidence in you
• Encourage and use feedback to create comfort for potential buyers - I use a testimonial page on my website and strongly encourage buyers to leave eBay feedback (it is REALLY important)
• Respond promptly and courteously to all inquiries even if you can't provide all the information immediately (e.g., away from your product and cannot immediately get an additional measurement or obtain shipping rates)
• Use a standard shipping rate whenever possible and explain carefully what that shipping process entails - I use Greyhound Package Express as my standard shipping rate since their pricing throughout the continental United States does not vary greatly 
• Discuss speed of shipping by option immediately - some methods take much longer than others

Like everything else you do, the obvious attention you pay to the customer through the virtual storefront either promotes or harms the selling process - act like the customer is standing in front of you and you are trying to make a very good impression!