For the second time in the last few months I got a hit on a patch collection via eBay. I know this is a little odd but I think both times the guys were researching some stuff they had and found my store. They decided to reach out and see if I was interested through eBay messages.
Vintage Scouting Memorabilia On eBay
As you may know eBay doesn't allow you to send an email address or even a phone numbers through their messaging service. So that makes pursuing this kind of lead a little tricky. Back in the day (and I mean a long time ago) a lot of people sold things off eBay to avoid fees. But now eBay has begun anonymizing email addresses so even after the sale you can't communicate with a buyer outside of their system.
The big consequence for myself and others in the hobby is that it's now impossible to harvest emails and stay in touch with your customers. Over a decade ago that's how I launched the Hot Finds and have sustained it through the years by allowing my customers to opt-in. I'm sure many of you reading this got added that way.
Getting people on your email list is kinda a golden rule for running an ecommerce business. You don't really own the relationship with your customers or contacts if you have to rely on a platform like Facebook to stay in touch with them. Certainly having just a website is not going to move the needle either. So thankfully my several thousand person strong mailing list has been cultivated over the years and I can figure out ways to add new people as they come into the hobby.
I have 272 live auctions on eBay this week. I'm continuing my run of OA conclave auctions during the week with a big finish on Sunday when I have 127 OA auctions closing.
Tonight I'm doing a camp promotion but I won't have to leave my house. This one is completely via Zoom. Ironically a few things during the pandemic are going to make life easier for me and not having to pack up and travel long distances to give a 15-minute talk to a troop is one of them.
Keep Calm And Scout On,
Jason Spangler Hot Finds Newsletter
In Charlotte, North Carolina I have an antique mall booth that is filled with nothing but Scouting stuff. I call this location my clearance center because I've marked down everything to move. A lot of what you will find there are items that are too bulky to easily ship from an Internet store. The booth is located in The Sleepy Poet which is a well established antique mall on South Blvd in Charlotte. The mall is open 7-days/week year round. So the next time you are in the area come check it out.
