My love for the bathing suits of yesteryear started innocently enough. I recall with great fondness a bathing suit my Mom gave to me that had been hers. It was a corset style suit with a little bit of skirt over the built in panties and made my tiny waist look even smaller and my small bust line look a bit larger. I wore that suit in the hot Phoenix sun for two summers until it fell apart.

Particularly through the slower sales of the summer months augmented by the slow economy, sellers are looking for ways to keep costs lower without charging more to the customers.  One way to do this is with packaging and shipping costs.  I have never charged a handling fee on any of my items, my customers only pay the exact cost for shipping.  But we all know that packing supplies are not cheap and can dwindle any profit rapidly.  Here are some tips for how I keep my overhead costs down:
 

For those with a sensitive nature-don't read any farther. I recently went to an estate sale run by 2 old ladies-REALLY old ladies. It was one of the ladies personal items and her late husbands items. She was moving into a retirement community with the other lady.

I'm sure many fellow collectors can relate:

Some of our significant others feel justified in complaining about our "Dust Collectors" - the pretty things girls just like to have around because they make us smile (or make our girlfriends jealous!).In extreme cases there is pressure to "get rid of" all that clutter (shudder the thought!).

I live in Eagle Idaho which is just outside of Boise, a pretty good sized city by most standards. Boise has had a number of antiques shows by different promoters come and go in the nearly forty years that I have been here. Boise's Best Antiques Show was probably the longest running quality show and after a nearly 25 year run they finally gave up the fight earlier this year.

I have so many things I like to collect, but recently I came across a favorite, an older Royal Doulton Pretty Ladies figurine.   Doulton ceramics began in 1815 when 1815, when John Doulton used his life's savings to launch a partnership with Martha Jones and John Watts at a stoneware factory in Lambeth, London.  During 1901 the Burslem factory was granted the Royal warrant by the new king, Edward VII.

When isn't the phrase, "perfect flaw" an oxymoron? When the flaw actually achieves perfection in the area of customer service by building trust and loyalty for your business.

I am a new shop keeper here at Ruby Plaza and my decision to choose this venue to host my store was an easy one due to my own experience with an Exclusive Ruby Lane/Ruby Plaza shop owner.

I don’t know how sales have been for you lately, wherever you sell, but we’re currently having one of our slowest periods ever. And while that’s demotivating, there’s some consolation, I suppose, in knowing we’re not alone: the talk amongst my jewelry group, and the frequency with which I see them having “clearance sales” “55% off sales” etc etc is increasing. In short, there’s a lot of worried vendors out there, whatever their online venue.

Late spring and summer is prime garage sale season here in Washington County Maryland and across the country. There are multiple church rummage sales, yard sales, tag sales and community sales. The absolutely best time to go is around 7am in our neck of the woods--at least be out the door by 7:30! Even at this hour you may not get first pickin's, as early birds are lurking and have been there by 6am. I have several tips that can help with this process and to ensure you'll score some treasures!

Ruby Plaza continues to offer exciting promotions for sellers who want to join this amazing new site. Now that the popular Ruby Plaza Flagship promotion has come to a close, we continue to make it affordable to sellers who want to join us, with a brand new promotion: We are waiving the one-time shop set-up fee during the month of June. Now new sellers to Ruby Plaza can save $49 when they set-up a Portico or Galleria shop on Ruby Plaza.