The Monocle & Moustache

Dear Katie,

I get SO frustrated sometimes. I post on the Forum about my problem, and they tell me to email you…and then, other times, I email you, and you say I need to contact Support. Then, I go to Chat Staff with other problems, and they tell me to post it in the Forum. Aargh! How the h-e-double hockey sticks am I supposed to know where to post my questions? I just need help!

Thanks!
Dumbfounded in Detroit

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Dear Dumbfounded,

I know it can be confusing sometimes…which Help is the right Help? It seems like an odd problem to have when you think about it, but, when you need help NOW, it’s good to know who to go to.

Here is a list of the Help options on Tophatter, along with an explanation of when to use it:

1) Chat Staff: These are your go-to people for immediate issues.

• Where can the live Chat Staff be found? Under the “Help” menu on any page of Tophatter. Just type in the chat box when it pops-up and a staff member will be with you shortly.
• What Type of Issues can they help with? Frozen auctions, rude user in the room, trouble with creating a new listing, etc.
• These are all great instances of when to go to Chat Staff, but be aware that the fix may not be immediate. Depending on the issue, they may ask you to contact Support or they may flag your chat for further staff review. If you DO get asked to email Support with your issue, that does NOT mean you’re getting the brush-off. Instead, it means that your case requires more time & consideration and our team wants to provide the best support possible.

2) Email/Support: This is for situations that concern your personal account.

• How can I contact the support team by email? Contacting the team through the Help Center ensures faster service - we’re able to better organize emails this way and we want to make sure you get a response within 1 business day.
• What Type of Issues can Support help with? Questions about unscheduled items, problems with your account, advice on how to deal with a customer service issue, etc. That way, we can take a deeper look into your account to see what the problem is and help you resolve it.
• These support issues tend to take more time and we need your account information in order to resolve the problem.

3) Forum: This is a place to go to post ideas you want Staff and the Tophatter Community weigh in on.

• How do you find the forum? Under the Help menu, it’s called “Seller Forum”.
• It’s also a great place to go if you need general advice about a situation or need a general question answered. 
• Remember that the forum is public, so it should NOT be used to a) call out other users by name, b) post personal account details (we’ll most likely request that you email support because we don’t have enough account information to resolve the problem) or c) make comments that are not constructive or are negative in nature.
• The forum is meant as a place for members of the community to help each other. 

I hope this helps you better understand who you can contact for assistance and in which cases. We are all here to help you, but the ways we can help differ based on where you track us down. Following the suggested avenues of support outlined above means you’ll likely receive a much more accurate and efficient answer.

And, if you’re ever unsure about who to ask, either email me (Katie) or pop in to Chat Staff to find out where to go next.

Best, Katie

Seller stories are a wonderful opportunity for us to share some of the amazing individuals in our community. Susan, of SuMo, is one of those individuals.

Susan stumbled across Tophatter by accidentally clicking on a Facebook ad. She says it was a very happy accident! But before this fateful event occurred, let’s go back to the beginning of Susan’s story.

It begins in 2010 when Susan had leukemia, that manifested as a lymphoma on her spine. After waiting for a diagnosis, for which she thought would be for a minor form of cancer, she was delivered the news that she had a very aggressive and rare form of cancer that required a stem cell transplant. Susan left her job at Parsons School of Design, her apartment and her friends to move to Seattle, Washington to partake in the procedure. Afterwards, she found herself incredibly weak, barely able to stand and was being fed through a tube. With the support of her family, she slowly recovered and moved to South Carolina, where her parents had retired.

While there, Susan took up jewelry-making again, a pastime that she had thoroughly enjoyed as a kid. “It felt good doing something fun and easy, and just worrying about colors and sparkly things…making people happy felt good”, she says. She opened up a store on Etsy and had been thinking about opening up a supply end, and that’s when she accidentally found Tophatter.

Susan has been recovering ever since the life-changing procedure, making it difficult to have steady employment. She says that Tophatter has given her a great opportunity to grow her thriving supply business while simultaneously dedicating time to her art. Using the money she made on Tophatter, she was able to fund several art projects she showed in Brooklyn, NY and Ashville, NC. The connections she has made in the auction rooms are amazing, she says, and she particularly loves being able to help new crafters just starting out.

What’s most impressive though, is Susan’s dedication to the emerging art of 3D printing. She’s been experimenting with 3D printing at a maker space in Greenville, SC, known as the Greenville Markers Group (aka GMG). She’s been invited to do a local Tedx talk and has also applied for an artist business initiative grant from the state to continue developing the maker space.

The Makers group is now fundraising to purchase a 3D Printer Kit. The group wants the larger community to have access to it, so that they can “bring ideas to life in new ways and help personal and professional dreams become realized”. You can see their campaign on Indigogo. To learn more about 3D printing and some of the current projects in which the Makers group is currently involved, watch this video. 

The group is gearing up for a number of different development phases for the future, and ideally will be fully equipped with woodworking, metalshops as well as the robots. 

As Susan has successfully built her brand and has begun to develop these groups that harvest creativity, we asked her a couple of really important questions:

Tophatter: How important is customer service in order to run a successful business?

Susan: Customer service is very important to me - as a buyer as well, I appreciate it when somebody goes the extra mile to ensure a good experience…and I try to do my best and do the same for my customers. What this means is coming to an equitable resolution. Sometimes if things go wrong, I remind myself to think of the bigger picture. What is worth more: a sale or a good reputation? Sometimes there are situations where you just need to write it off as the cost of doing business.

Tophatter: How did you discover your brand and image? You have a great logo and great store presence. How does a new seller go about starting their own brand?

Susan: Finding something that personally relates to you is great inspiration for developing your brand. For me, I took a cue from my name. Su - Susan, Mo - Molnar…SuMo. I also have an interest in Asian history and graphics, so I try to incorporate those elements into my branding. Another thing to consider is consistent lighting and setups for products, so that your store looks professional. If possible, learn programs like Photoshop or GIMP to add watermarks to your item photos and ensure that they are of high quality. Maintaining a consistent color palette is key too. Here’s a great place to start.

We’re so excited to see the outcome of Susan’s 3D projects and how their initiatives impact the future of design. 

If you have any questions for Susan, leave them in the comments below!

You can find Susan on Facebook too.

The foundation for stellar feedback is excellent service, both before and after the sale, paired with a quality, clearly-represented product. Assuming you have that covered, how can you increase the chances you will get the positive feedback you’ve earned? Here are some simple tips you can start using now, both to cultivate positive feedback and handle any problems before they become the dreaded negative:

1. Educate your buyers. Many buyers are not aware of the impact their feedback can have. Develop a way to let your buyers know how important feedback is to you, both personally and professionally. If your buyers know that positive feedback helps you out, they will be more likely to take action. 

2. Open your door. Have an open-door policy by encouraging buyers to email you before leaving negative feedback. If buyers know there’s; a) an outlet for their concerns, b) a promise they will be listened to and c) help provided to the best of your (the seller’s) ability and policies, then you can often turn a potential negative into a positive.

3. Give a little bit. Even if it only costs you a penny or two, a little thank you gift can go a long, long way. Low-cost thank you gifts are a great way to leave a positive lasting impression. For some reason, candy works particularly well but if you send it, make sure it’s not candy that can melt and is individually wrapped.

4. Listen to your mother’s advice. She may have been wrong about some things but she was right about writing thank you notes. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; even a quick, hand-written thank you on the invoice is worth it’s weight in gold and will leave a lasting impression. For added flair, use brightly color markers or showcase your mad doodling skillz with a funky smiley face. 

5. Spell everything out. Store policies, shipping info, and item descriptions should be written clearly with all the details a curious buyer might need. As well as being a preventative measure for any disputes that could arise, well-written policies and detailed descriptions set accurate expectations with your buyers, ultimately leading to less misunderstandings and better overall feedback.

6. Take a P. Eliminate email ugliness by checking your messages before you send them. Make sure your message is a shining example of the 3 P’s: Professional, Personal, and Positive. Even with angry buyers (actually, ESPECIALLY with angry buyers), sending emails with a personal touch that are professional and positive not only lets you keep the moral high ground but also deescalates the intensity of the situation and moves on to the problem solving phase. 

I combine tip number 1 and 2 together with a professionally printed card I created that lets a buyer know both how to leave all the positive feedback they can, and asks them to email me first if anything has gone wrong.

Although not every customer will take the time to leave feedback, there are ways to gently encourage buyers to give you that little green plus-sign you so richly deserve. 

This guest post was written by a member of our community, Paul J for Feline Strays.

Dear Katie,

Help! I had Priority Add-in status yesterday, and now it’s gone! What can I do to get it back? I only sell in the Jewelry and Bazaar auctions, and I can’t schedule anymore…and I KNOW I shipped everything on time and was in my auctions and had tracking numbers for everything. I just want my status back….can you help me please?

Frantic in Fortaleza

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Dear Frantic,

I’m sorry you’re so frustrated with this. Fear not - there’s a way for you to check into why your status has changed! This will give you a detailed look at why you don’t qualify so that, if you do think your status changed in error, you will have specific information for us to work with as we try to help you out. Where can you get that information? It’s all in your CSV file.

I’ve been using the CSV file to help users out since they were first made available, and I am going to share with you the process that I follow to gather the data and check a user’s priority add-in status.

Here are the steps:

1) Download the file. Seems like one of those “duh” moments, but the first step is to go to your Items for Sale tab and download the file. If you haven’t done this before, follow these instructions with information on how to get started.

2) Open the file. These steps are included in the blog post I just mentioned above as well. That post covers opening the file using Google Docs and Excel. Why just those two? Excel is fairly common and, if you don’t have that, you can use Google Docs for free. When I open the file to do this analysis, I add filters to the file (Data - Filter) and hide the columns I don’t need to look at for this process. Those columns include the details about shipping amounts for the US, Canada and International orders and the columns with the Buyer’s information and notes. That’s not a necessary step, but I like to do it so I’m only looking at the data I need.

3) Now that you have the file set up for the real work, this is what you need to do:

a. Filter Column M (Hammer Price) to exclude any Hammer Price equal to $0. This eliminates any item that has not sold.

b. Filter Column AB (Bidding Started Date) to only include the last 10 days. Do not include today’s date when doing this in the file.

c. Filter Column AF (Canceled Date) to exclude any dates. We only want to look at the items that have NOT been canceled.

d. Filter Column AC (Paid Date) to exclude any blanks. We don’t need to look at unpaid items for this process.

4) Your file is ready to work with and now it’s ready to check! What does that mean? There are specific columns within this file that you can use to check on priority status  requirements such as your attendance, tracking information, and on-time shipping:

a. Column O (Seller Present in Auction): This is the column that will help you figure out if you’ve been at your auctions. In this column, TRUE means you were there, and FALSE means you were not. Count how many total items you have in that column. How many of the items have TRUE in that field? Divide the total TRUE by the total number of items. If the result is 0.75 or higher, then you were there for 75% of your auctions and should be OK.

b. Column U (Tracking Number): Because some tracking numbers are so long, you may see a funny number like this one in the cells of the spreadsheet: 9.40011E+21. That just means that it’s a really long number. What you can do is go to Format - Cells and change it from General to another format that works for you. I generally use “Special” because it only takes one click to get it in the format I want. If you see any blank cells in the file, that means we don’t have a tracking number in the system for that item.

c. To check for late shipments, there is a little more work involved at this point in time. A “Late Shipped” field should be added to the file soon. Right now, in order to check for late shipments, this is what you have to do:

• For the items in your list, use the Paid Date in Column AC and the time to ship (from your listings) to figure out when the item should have shipped. Compare that to the Shipped Date in Column AE. If the Shipped Date is later than it should be, then the item shipped late.
• If you extended the shipped date on any item, then the item is still considered late. The new shipping date is only meant to let your customer know when they should expect the item and does not “reset” the late date in the system.

If you don’t have 75% in Step A or have any blanks in Step B or have any late shipments in Step C, then you won’t qualify for priority add-in status. When you go through the data, if you see something that looks incorrect to you, feel free to email me, Katie. I will work with you to see what is going on, and, if there’s a problem, I will see what we can do to take care of it. And definitely contact me if you need any help getting your file ready to use!

Dear Katie,

HELP! I got negative feedback today, and I don’t know why! I do everything I can to provide the best customer service to my Buyers, and then this stupid person comes along and leaves me negative feedback? Actually, while I’ve been typing this, I JUST got another! One says she doesn’t like the shade of green in the necklace? It didn’t look like that to her in the pictures? What the ??? And then this other %#@()*#$ comes along and says they didn’t get their package? Puh-lease! I have the tracking number to show this person that it was delivered to them. Ha! Let them try to lie to me!

So, now that I have the negative feedback, what do I need to do? Please help! I want to sell more stuff!

Thanks!
Angry in Amsterdam

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Hi Angry!

I’m sorry you feel like you’ve been wronged in some way by the feedback you’ve received. As I start typing this, I want to make two points right off the bat:

1. Responding to upset customers is a very important part of customer service and building a name for yourself.
2. Don’t take it personally. 

Before I even discuss WHAT to say in your response to the negative feedback, I want to make it clear that selling items on Tophatter is BUSINESS. Everyone on the site should bear this in mind and remember that feedback is a part of the business transaction. That’s precisely why we have a process for dealing with unwarranted negative feedback. 

There are always going to be some who take things more personally than they should, and we can work with you on that. But, let Tophatter deal with those issues. Replying to feedback is not the place to get angry; it’s the place to find a way to work WITH your customer and find a way to resolve the problems. In a perfect world, everyone will leave the resolution process happy. Some days, happiER is all we can get, and that is plenty.

Now, you may still be angry at this point. There are a few things you can do to move past the anger and be ready to calmly reply to the feedback:

1. Walk Away - Sometimes that is all you can do. Take a few minutes to do something you love - play with your kids, talk to a friend, go for a walk, just get away from the computer while you cool down.
2. Type the Angry Reply and DELETE IT - Some of us just can’t walk the angry thoughts away. I’ve been there more than once in my life! But, if you can sit down and type out the angry thoughts and then delete it, you will be in a better place to write the real reply afterwards. At my former day job, I had a co-worker in the next cubicle who wouldn’t have made it this long in life without that rule! I would hear her banging away on her keyboard and remind her to delete it when she’s done and start over. She thanked me for that more than once because it did make things better.
3. Deep Cleansing Breaths - Sometimes, even after doing the first two tricks, the anger may show up again…Try taking deep breaths to help calm down. You may not notice, but I bet your breathing sped up just a little bit the last time you got angry…but slowing things down will help you relax.

So, now that we’re relaxed and chill, what do we write in this response? First off, remember to NEVER be rude or disrespectful under any circumstances. I don’t care what they called you in their feedback, this is your chance to rise above and be the bigger person! Do NOT use profanity. Think about it for a second, if they used profanity in their email to you and it upset you, wouldn’t you expect them to get angry if you used it, too? Finally, please do not tell your customer your life story. We are all very sorry that your husband lost his left foot in an awful weed whacker accident, but that isn’t pertinent information when it comes to resolving negative feedback.

Now that you are in your Zen place, let’s write that feedback response! A good response should contain these basic ideas:

1. Sympathize with their plight: What does that mean? Let them know that you’ve heard what they have to say and that you understand where they are coming from. A good example is: “I’m sorry that you were unhappy with your purchase.”
2. Offer any other facts relevant to the situation: This includes tracking information, delivery confirmation, color information, whatever information it makes sense to include based on the situation. In the instances above where the person complained that they didn’t get the item, you could say something like this: “I shipped your item via USPS on 3/17/12 and sent you delivery confirmation #123456789. When I check this number via USPS.com, I see that it was delivered to your address on 3/20/12.” In the other instance, you could try something like this: “The green beads in your necklace are Swarovski #5301 in Emerald. If you look those beads up and they look different than the beads in your hand, then it could be related to colors looking different from one monitor to another.”
3. Treat each buyer individually. Sure, even though other people may have been happy with their purchase of the same item, this particular Buyer wasn’t. Focus your attention on their experience, and their experience alone. Telling them that others were happy with the item doesn’t resolve their concern. In fact, it may make them even more upset as they didn’t receive the same great experience that you’re telling them others have had.
4. If your policy is clearly stated in your profile and pertains to the case, mention that now: If you have a no refund policy or a no return policy, mention that. If you sell your items “as is” because they are vintage, mention that in your policies. If you accept returns but cannot refund postage, make sure your policy states it. As always, make sure it’s pertinent information. 
5. Offer a resolution: Just like in negotiations to buy a car, you make an offer, and they counter it. That is what you do here. Make a reasonable offer to assist them with their issue. Some of this depends on what your policies are. With jewelry items, I often suggest that Sellers offer a pair of earrings or something similar in order to help make things right between you and your customer. You’re trying to find a middle ground you can agree on. 

To sum it all up, your participation in this process is the last chance you have to close this transaction in a way that will benefit you AND your customer. By continuing to provide great service, even when faced with a VERY unhappy customer, you can turn things around and have it end great for both of you. Please feel free to contact me, Katie, if you have any other questions or concerns about this process.

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DISCLAIMER: The letter for this post, like all of the “Dear Katie” blog posts, is fictional and not a copy of any actual email received. The email content is made up based on general things seen and heard since the start of Tophatter.com.

Dear Katie,

I just read in the forum about sellers being rewarded for helping new buyers have a great first purchase on Tophatter! I don’t have a lot of money lying around to do extra stuff like putting all kinds of freebies in a package when I mail it. But, I don’t want to just provide so-so customer service. I know I love it when I see an extra little “something” when I get a package in the mail.

What sort of tips and advice do you have for me when it comes to providing a super-duper experience for my customers? And remember - I’m looking for something that is low cost, too!

Thanks!
Penniless in Pacoima

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Dear Penniless,

I first want to stop and tell you thanks for being SO thoughtful! We, at Tophatter, LOVE it when our Sellers want to make sure that their customers have a great experience on the site! And there are so many things you can do in order to help provide a great customer service experience from the beginning of the sale to the end of the transaction.

Here are a few ideas:

1) After the win - Email the winner & thank them for winning the item you had for sale on Tophatter and tell them how much you appreciate their business. Also, this is an opportunity to get that additional information you might need (size, color, etc) in case they forget to leave a note when paying for the item. Finally, if you are thanking someone who hasn’t paid for their item yet, you can also give them a friendly reminder about paying for the item. When I was selling, I always phrased it something like this: “Hi! I saw that you won XXX item from me yesterday. I haven’t received payment for this item yet, so I wanted to check in with you to see if there is anything else you need. Please feel free to let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you.”

2) Mailing the Package - There are a lot of things you can do in this step to make the buying experience better:

• Provide tracking information and enter it into Tophatter - Even if it’s “just” the Delivery Confirmation Number, that’ll work too. This will 1) put you on the way to qualifying for ‘priority’ status for in-auction scheduling in the Bazaars and Jewelry auctions and 2) give you AND the Buyer a way of looking up where your package is. When you enter it into Tophatter, that also means that the Buyer will get the tracking number in the email you send letting them know that the item has shipped.

• Include a quick thank you note - It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. There are sellers on Tophatter who sell die-cut shapes with “Thank You” stamped prettily on one side, and you can use those as a thank you by jotting a quick note on the back. You can buy cards and include a quick thank you note. Another option is to write a quick thank you on the packing slip you print from Tophatter. Notice I say “quick” a lot. It is entirely up to you how long the note is, but seeing a handwritten “Thank you” with your name written or signed underneath it is FAR more personal than doing nothing at all. And, while you’re at it, throw a cute sticker on the card or packing slip. Everyone needs a little bit of kindergarten joy in their lives because, let’s face it, life is too short to be serious all of the time.

• Eschew the “usual” brown kraft paper jewelry box and bubble wrap - Even if you don’t sell jewelry, I hope you get what I mean. Find some way to make your packaging cute and unique. How? Instead of a plain little jewelry box, try making your own origami box. If you make the box with heavier cardstock type paper, then the box is much sturdier than if you made it with origami paper. What can you use besides bubble wrap? Shredded paper works nicely - but don’t use boring shredded paper! Run a couple of pretty pieces of paper through the shredder. That will look so much nicer than a shredded grocery store ad! If you’re feeling more creative than that, you can make a bunch of origami paper stars to include as your packing material. They are small and hollow and will do a great job of cushioning the treats inside the origami box!

• But what if my item is too big for this origami stuff? - If you’re using a “spare” box from around the house for your packaging, do a little extra to make sure it doesn’t JUST look like you saved the empty diaper box to repack something. You can easily do something like this with that old Froot Loops box sitting on top of the fridge! Or, if you do need to use the jumbo Costco-sized box of diapers to ship something, wrap it or cover it with something that doesn’t say Pampers. The little things like that really can make a difference in the end.

• If you are going to be late mailing the package, email the customer to let them know why - Sometimes, a little “I’m sorry” goes a long way! If you need to take an extra day to ship something because Aunt Ethel’s beloved potbellied pig, Roy, passed away, then please be sure to email your customer to let them know.

3) The Feedback - Personally, I am a huge proponent of personalized emails. Even if the PERFECT template is out there for me to use, I would much rather write one in my own voice. So, if you do want to send an email reminding your customers to leave feedback, you can opt for the Tophatter one (under the ‘Actions’ menu for a shipped transaction), which is perfectly fine! Otherwise, you can send one that is more personal:

“Hi Frida! I was checking my recent shipments on USPS.com and saw that you received the vintage set of the original “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” that you won from me on Tophatter. I hope everything got to you without any problems and that you enjoy the set! I am so happy to have found a fellow Richard Simmons fan! If you were happy with your experience shopping with me, I would so appreciate it if you would leave positive feedback for me on Tophatter! I hope to see you in the auction rooms again sometimes soon! Thanks, Katie”

Or, if they leave positive feedback before you send them an email, why not send a quick email letting them know how much you appreciate the positive feedback? Definitely let them know that you would be happy to do business with them again!

In my opinion, the easiest way to look at setting a Buyer up for an awesome experience is to make them feel “loved.” Or, to put it another way, it’s all about letting them know how important their business is to you. You don’t have to spend a lot of money or get too “touchy-feely” and sappy about it, but you can still let them know that you do appreciate them. At the end of the day, the internet (and Tophatter, too) is a busy place with a lot to choose from. Let them know you’re happy that they chose you!

Dear Katie,

I heard about the new CSV file for sellers and all of the cool data in it and wanted to take a look at things. I even read your first blog post about it. I just don’t know much about spreadsheets and don’t know what all of the data means - can you help me please?

Thanks!

Flustered in Frankfort

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Hi Flustered! 

Of course I can help with that! The easiest thing to remember is that each row (1-?? on the left) contains information about the specific item in the first cell. Each column (A-AG at the top of the file) contains data for a specific field. The very first row of the file contains the Column Headers, which are the names for each piece of information in each column. Some fields are only populated (otherwise created) in certain circumstances, which I outline below.

To help ensure that you understand the data you’re being given, here is a list of each column name, as well as what that data is:

Now that you know what the data means, you can use this information to do all sorts of things - stay tuned for how to analyze your CSV in the last part of this series. And, hopefully by now, you know how to get the file downloaded from Tophatter. :)

By Katie, Community Liaison

If you have any questions about your CSV file, let us know the comments below!

Dear Katie,

I logged into my profile earlier today and saw this button about downloading a CSV file? What’s a CSV file? Are you sure that’s not a typo? I know I drive by a couple of CVS Pharmacies on my way home everyday…What does Tophatter have to do with that? Help!

Thanks for your help!
Lost in Louisville

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Hi Lost,

Don’t get too excited! The CSV file doesn’t have anything to do with pharmacies, and we’re not instituting a Tophatter pharmacy plan! The “Download All of Your Items (CSV)” button is an awesome new tool to help Sellers keep track of the items they’ve scheduled and sold on Tophatter!

To begin with, CSV is an abbreviation for Comma Separated Values. What does that mean? CSV files are “files containing data sets separated by commas, where each new line represents a new database row, and each database row has one or more fields separated by a comma; can be organized into cells by a spreadsheet program or inserted into a database. CSV files are commonly used for transferring data between databases in a simple text-based format.” That means that you can export the file from Tophatter and open it in a database or spreadsheet program like Excel, Google Docs, Quickbooks, or any number of programs.

Now that you know WHAT it is, you may be wondering what to DO with it, right? Here are some quick notes on how you can get the files downloaded and set up for you to work with:

1. In Tophatter, go to the “Sell” menu and select “Manage Your Items”. This will pull up the Items for Sale tab of your profile.

2. Click the button to download the file (featured in the picture above). The button is on the top right, next to the “List a New Item” button.

3. The internet browser you’re using will determine what you do next.

Google Chrome: Once the file has finished downloading, click the icon at the bottom of the screen to open the CSV file. 

Internet Explorer: Choose Open in the “File Download” box that pops up.

Firefox: Click “Open With” and select the name of the program you want to use to open the file. I suggest Microsoft Excel.

Safari: Once the file has finished downloading, click the download arrow in the top right and double-click on the file name to open it.

If you don’t have Microsoft Office or any other spreadsheet program on a Mac, the file will open in File Upload. I suggest opening it in the TextEdit program and saving the file as a CSV file on your computer.

4. In most of the circumstances listed above, the file will open in Microsoft Excel if you have it. For anyone who does not have Excel or some other software on their computer, here is another option for you…Google Docs. If you have a Gmail account, you can utilize Google Docs to crea documents, spreadsheets, presentations & more. To open the CSV file in Google Docs, do the following:

a. If you are in your Google Mail (mail.google.com) account, click on Drive at the top.

b. When you’re in Google Drive, click the Import button (the red icon with the up arrow). Select “Files”.    

c. In the next screen, select the file that you’d like to open (ie. the CSV download from Tophatter) and click “Select.”

d. The Upload Settings window will open next. Select the option to: “Convert documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and drawings to the corresponding Google Docs format.”

e. Click Start Upload.

5. Now that the file is open, you can add filters to the file to check on Customers and see if items have been shipped or not. You can create pivot tables to analyze data. You can graph the data by sale date to see if there’s a day of the week when you sell best.

I hope this quick how-to informs you on how to best access this information! There’s a ton of data from your sales that you can optimize by playing around in these spreadsheets. If you have any questions about how to work with the data, feel free to email me.

Thanks! - Katie

Sources: FileInfo.com

Dear Katie,

My Great-Aunt Millicent passed away not too long ago, and she left me a trunk full of buttons…buttons! I wanted that cuckoo clock that was on the kitchen so badly, but nooo…she gave me buttons. Ahem, sorry about that…back to business: I have a trunk full of buttons I don’t need, and I keep seeing fantastic crafting ideas online, so I’m sure they’re in demand by someone. So, I thought I would sell them on Tophatter. But, I don’t think someone would want to pay for the whole trunk. I keep seeing these tiered auctions and was wondering if you think those would work? Can you please tell me more about them? Maybe this way, I’ll finally be able to by a cuckoo clock myself!

Thanks!
Cuckoo in Connecticut

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Dear Cuckoo,

What a lucky lady! I would love to get my hands on some buttons! I could sort them, and count them, and put them in jars and bags and oh, the many ideas for what I could do with them! :)

As for how to sell your buttons, I think a tiered auction would be great a great way to do it! My advice on doing one of your own? In a world of too many acronyms, I’d like to toss out one more: KISS - Keep It Simple, Silly. The auctions move quickly, so it’s always easier when things are kept simple. When you keep it simple, it’s easier to convey straightforward directions in your description. That way, if you aren’t able to make the auction for one reason or another, there’s still information available for anyone in the auction.

So, what is a tiered auction exactly? Tiered auctions are a way to potentially sell a lot of items at one once by increasing the items won based on how high the bidding goes. The higher the bidding, the more items you’ll get!

This is one possible description for your auction, including the tier structure:

“For sale today! Wonderful vintage buttons from my Great-Aunt’s attic! I have, literally, a trunk full of these buttons, all in great condition. The auction starts with 1 cup full of beads for the low, low opening bid of $5. The tiers for this auction work as noted below:

$5 ———————- 1 cup
$9 ———————- 2 cups
$12 ———————- 3 cups, etc.

In other words, for every new bidding tier unlocked, I will add another cup of beads! Beads include - resin, bone, metal, shank, glass. Happy bidding!”

The key is to make sure the tiers are fair for both you and the buyer. It’s not worth it for you unless you’re profiting from the sale and the buyer may not be interested unless they spend less to get more. Starting at a fair opening bid and decreasing the difference for each tier is appealing for the buyer - just make sure you start at a price with which you, the seller, are comfortable.

Now that you’ve got the tiers figured out, you can work on getting your auction scheduled! Your buttons could be scheduled in Supplies, Vintage (if they’re 25+ years old), and any of the Bazaars. But, there are a couple of auctions every week specifically tailored to your tiered auction needs - the Bid More Get More (BMGM) Auctions!

I hope it all goes well for you with your tiered auctions! If all else fails, you could always take a fun crafting class and learn to use your buttons. Who knows, you may just get good enough to sell your handmade items in some of the other Tophatter auctions. :)

If you need anything else, just let me know or leave a comment below. 

Katie
katie@tophatter.com

Dear Katie,

I’m a huge fan of the Bath & Beauty and Bon Appetit auctions! Not only are the products great, but the Sellers are too! I did, however, notice one thing I wanted to ask about. When I was reading the descriptions of the items in those auctions, I saw that they list ingredients & allergens their foods (hello, peanuts!) or products? Should I do that for all items that come from my house, even though my items are Jewelry? I have an Alaskan Malamute that sheds enough to make a whole other dog, and my teenager sometimes likes to be a rebel and smoke in the house. Should I mention that in my listings too?

Thanks!

Worried in Waukesha

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Hi Worried!

What a great question to ask! It is only required to note allergens for the Bath & Beauty and Edibles (Bon Appetit & Gourmet) auctions. This is especially important because of the severe reactions that some people can have when exposed to things like peanuts. I’ve also seen some diabetic and gluten-free offerings in the Edibles auctions, which I think is great. Just because your body doesn’t process sugars properly doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a treat now and then!

So, in response to your questions, I think that would be a great idea to note in your listings whether your items are from a pet-friendly and mostly smoke-free home or not. I took a quick look online and was surprised to find that so many people in the US are allergic to dog and/or cat dander.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America,“Allergies to pets with fur or feathers are common, especially among people who have other allergies or asthma. From 15 percent to 30 percent of people with allergies have allergic reactions to cats and dogs.People with dog allergies may be allergic to all dogs or to only some breeds. Cat allergies are about twice as common as dog allergies.”

A lot of people know me as a “crazy cat lady” with 6 cats and 1 dog…and I’m allergic to them. But, my allergy is not severe and I only really feel the effects when they all shed heavily. So, in that sense, I’m really lucky. On the other hand, some people have really awful and serious allergies to dogs and cats, and knowing that you have an animal-friendly home could really help! If you only have a dog, you could say dog-friendly. That way, people who only have cat allergies can still purchase your items.

As for cigarette/cigar smoke, that’s useful information for those who already have other allergies. I’m sure we’ve all heard people say that they are allergic to cigarette smoke. Technically, that’s not true. They could be allergic to a component of cigarette smoke, or it could just be that secondhand smoke is a known irritant to existing allergies, as published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study confirmed what many had suspected: “Secondhand smoke can exacerbate allergic responses and…patients with allergies should avoid tobacco smoke.”

So, noting that your items come from a “sometimes” or infrequently smoking home could be very beneficial information for someone who has bad allergies or asthma or has a child with those problems. If adding that note can prevent an allergy and/or asthma attack, then you’ve done a great thing!

Overall, include whatever information you can in your listings so that everyone can make a more informed decision about purchasing an item. Buyers will find you a trustworthy and professional seller. I know I’ve unknowingly purchased items from a smoking home, and I just remind myself to set the package aside to air out a little bit before I use it. But, if I’d known ahead of time, I could have stopped by the garage to open the package & let it air out.

Thanks for being so thoughtful when it comes to your fellow Tophatters! 

Best,

Katie