Holiday Buying habits 2010 its all over the place like stock market

I want to get into the stock market more but the stock market is not doing what its supposed to do. Well, I guess if the stock marlet was easy to figure out we all be rich :)
The numbers are in and consumers spent a ton of money after Thanksgiving Day! Good Morning America is pushing gifts under $50. Neiman Marcus has gifts for under $100 front and center of its website. Employment is still hard to find and more people are out of work longer so what do we sell?
I did an online experiment the week BEFORE Thanksgiving and I found that items under $20 were selling like hotcakes. Of course its great to sell high end unique luxury items for those home run profits but I would focus on those smaller items mixed in with high end luxury stuff because its chic to buy intelligently these days (think green gifts, gourmet foods, etc). For most people its hard to make money selling $20 items but if you have 200 items for that price the money gets good especially if you bought that item for $5 or less :) Holidays seem like they will go well for most of us and sells should be steady. I suggest you be smart about what you offer because consumers are buying smarter for sure. They are thinking about purchases and it makes sense if its something meaningful.
I am going to do another experiment during the holidays. I am going to visit all of my competitors stores. I did this once before but I wouldnt buy anything just because I think most of them are greedy pigs. But I do learn from watching them. Most of them have been in the auction game much longer than I have been watching it. More on this later.

On Madoff Auction, The holidays, black friday, cyber monday, Mike Vick, SiX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

I tend to spend about half of the day researching and looking for deals around the world. This week we saw a mans underwear sell for $1700 (disgraced wealth manager bernie madoff). Considering this is the busiest time of the year for us people who live and die by auctions I had to write about all the exciting news surrounding used socks and underwear. One comment about the Madoff auction >It never fails that people get caught up in the excitement and pay too much for stuff. True there was shoes that were worth more than my car but when at an auction I thought the goal was to pay less not more than what an item is worth.
The new tv shows show some promise but are not showing the true excitement of the auction life. Im not saying I could do what they do better but im promising that I could deliver much better content than these shows like auctioneers and auction king are presenting. The producers of both of those shoes need to give me a call because I would guarantee better ratings with me and my competitors, we can call it city pickers or something similar.lol. Its Monday night and Im glad Mike Vick is flying high again. I love underdogs (no pun intended). Im flying high too because the six million dollar man comes out on dvd 2 days before Thanksgiving. Since they call me the six million dollar man maybe I can hire some ebay models..lol
Anyone who loves me knows that the holidays are special times for me. I do my best work, I give the most, I love the hardest during this time. I dont keep people around that I dont care about especially close to Christmas (cell phone delete, unfriend fake friends you get the idea)
If you are like me you get stoked when black friday commercials air but this year they came on too early. who wants to shop for black friday this early? it takes all the fun of talking about it on Thanksgiving night and watch the weirdos stay up all night or get up at 3am in the morning to buy a $9.99 made in china dvd player that wont last you until next black friday. im betting on cyber money this year. no its not sexual but its the next best thing its supposedly the biggest shopping day of the year for most online sellers. Prediction that Ebay/paypal will sink below Amazon.com even further because they continue to piss off sellers and make dumber decisions.Amazon is much better place to sell because you bypass dumb paypal who borrows/steals your money imo in some cases for 180 days. also try boocoo.com, bonanza.com, etsy.com, craigslist.com
I will edit this later today just wanted to spill what was on my mind at the time.

Authentic Hermes Lindy handbag 30cm Purple-For sale!

When I woke up yesterday morning I never knew that the morning would bring as much excitement as it did.
To make a long story short I was able to purchase an authentic Hermes Lindy handbag. For those who dont know what I do I travel around the world to buy luxurious things.
The bag is purple and is 30cm size. I will say condition is 9.5 excellent nearly new. I will not give a 10 because it does have some surface scratches on the palladium. The color is Purple clemence calf skin.
The bag includes brand new Hermes bag raincoat, original dust bag cover, and original orange Hermes box.Retails for $5,500. Will take the first $4,500 or best offer.
send me an email if you want photos.

New TLC Television show "Auctioneers"

I will edit this blog continuously because of the intricate details.
There have been shows about auctions before but I havent seen it from the angle that TLC is showing "Auctioneers." The show chronicles operations at a successful auction house based in phoenix. The first show was a little slow in my opinion although im not sure how may viewers tuned in. I am sure it will provide ample entertainment for people wanting to get a quick live auction fix. I have done several deals throughout the years with this company and I have mixed feelings about them due to customer service issues and counterfeit issues that they have yet to address. I have talked to Jacque Weiner and she basically ignored the fact that they sold me fake Nike shoes on 2 separate occasions and would not refund my money. I went up the ladder to Deb Weidenhamer "the owner" and didnt get any help from her either. I know they dont think they can have a successful television show by screwing its customers our of money selling counterfeit shoes and clothing. They are selling fake merchandise to this day and im sure Nike, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach would pay them a visit if they knew about it. Companies are getting tough on enforcing intellectual property rights for Brand names. I will leave it at that for now. I will tune in to their televison show this week and hope for more excitement.

What people are buying now! and Why?

Due to the economic situation in America, Canada and beyond buying patterns have changed and retailers are taking notice and changing what they offer consumers.
Purchasing decisions can be influenced by many factors. Buyers are purchasing more of what they need and not so much of what they want. The days of boasting about paying $600 for pair of shoes are on pause. People are bragging about how cheap they got something. Seems like the "going green" status resonates to us all and not wanting to be wasteful in anything including our spending habits.
Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Macys and other retailers are paying a lot of attention to new ways to connect with its buyers through multi channel integration. The CEO of Neiman Marcus direct was guest speaker at Luxury Interactive 2010 Conference and noted the ascension of Social media. The company will be fully mobile soon and allowing consumers to use cell phones and ipads to buy products directly from its website.
Macys big pay off came when it recently catered inventory to local tastes.
New kids on the block like GILT and others have attributed to impulse buying and some other related forces that affect our buying patterns. More on that later and the effects of post-purchase behavior.

Crime and Counterfeit goods

There is a new show coming on tonight that will discuss counterfeit goods and how it relates to criminal enterprises.

I love the quality of things that last forever and ever so I never have been an advocate for fake stuff. I would not accept it and my clientele wouldnt either. The crazy part is government agencies seize the fakes and sometimes sell it again. We have proof of that unfortunately.

Most people dont know that criminals bank roll their operations through the sell of fake clothes, shoes, jewelry, counterfeit drugs etc.

Intellectual property law practices are thriving because of rising trademark infringement issues.

I just wanted everyone to be aware so they know what they might be contributing to.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/37824359

Ebay Revolt- Amazon gets tough-Blue Jean bandits and more

This blog was created in 2009 to discuss the rise and fall of ebay and all aspects of online selling community. I consider myself a brand expert and have written extensively about how to find good deals on just about anything-including how to steal an education! Through no fault of my own the original blog was compromised(still trying to get it back)and I cannot retrieve my original posts as of today so I started a new blog.

There has been so many changes since then for sellers and buyers alike. We all love to score a good deal but I get just as much joy out of giving good deals. It is definitely a buyers market because of so many factors including the economy,  ebays awful policy changes for sellers, and amazon.com rise to top selling online community just to name a few.

Locally,  the smash and grab type of robberies (some try to sell designer online-more on that later will surprise you because the stuff is not going to flea markets) have affected everyone including Saks 5th Avenue (several Louis Vuitton handbags stolen out of the display window at wee hours of the morning on July 5th 2009 while most police are sleeping after busy holiday) and several specialty boutiques that sell expensive designer jeans (loved by blue jeans bandits) have since moved or closed their doors (More on this later-must mention blue genes) 

Internationally, there seem to be more seizures and confiscated items ending up on our shores. I recently had access to several Marc Jacobs handbags all brand new with $2400 tags believe it or not. It is almost impossible to see so many authentic items fall out of the normal distribution chain but for people like me its good news! People are amazed and in shock and awe as to the high level of luxury items I get my hands on. I cant tell all my secrets. Well, I will for the right price :)

It seems that what was once a hobby of collecting sneakers could snowball into something that I never thought imaginable. So, I will travel the world for unique things to share with the world and see where it all takes me.

Need any advice on dealing with amazon, ebay, paypal?

Need advice on how to save money on designer clothing?(this is not your normal flea market, estate sale discussion we travel the world looking for cool stuff. pickers  have nothing on us.)

Need advice on hot to get an education for free? (and no I dont mean defaulting on your student loans.lol)

I will get this blog more organized as I go along. I intend this space to be helpful and fun. I promise.