Tinker Around

Welcome to my blog. It is full of basic projects and tutorials for things that I have done and feel like others out there would benefit from learning too. Be sure to take time to leave me a comment. Thanx, Pam

Friday, February 17, 2012

Online Garage Sales through Facebook.

That is correct, there are several online garage sales through Facebook.  I have belonged to four or five different ones, and there is some serious money to be made.  First of all, you need to do a search for garage sales under your facebook search area.  Be sure that when you join one of more of these groups that you read ALL the rules, they are a bit different for each group.  AND, you need to be willing to travel to pick up stuff you purchase, to deliver stuff that you sell, and to possibly have folks over to pick up at your home.

From here, you can see where the groups that I have joined show up on my facebook page.  I can just click on the group at the bottom left that I want to go to...and I am there.


Here, we are going to go into one of the local garage sale sites and show you how to upload pictures into an album...very easily done, as it really does walk you through the process.  Though, before we go there, let's look at how to label prices and info on a picture before we load it.  And yes, I whited out personal info.

Let's say I take a picture and want to put the information on the picture so that I don't have to answer a bunch of questions about the item later.  This will make it easier for the shopper to just click my pictures and see exactly what I am selling, how much it is, where I am located, and if there is anything wrong with the item.  Being upfront and honest about all this will help you develop a name for yourself as a seller.  

First of all, take a good picture of your item on a neutral background.  I like to set stuff on my tile and lay a yardstick close by for a reference to size.  Then, download the picture to your computer.  Pull up the picture and go to the top right and click "open" and I do mine in "paint".  See picture below of my picture and then of me pulling it up after it was downloaded...




Now, after I click paint, the program takes me to paint and the picture is right there ready for me to manipulate it however I want to.  The picture is usually pretty big, just use your scroll bars to go around wherever you want to be on the picture.  See below where I am in paint and my mouse is on the "text" icon?  That is where I can drag a box to any size and write what I want to.  Let me go make you another picture to see what I am talking about.


I have my lettering set to the largest possible setting so that it is readable on the page when someone pulls it up.  If I were to leave it at 12 like it is here in the blog, there is no way they would be able to even see it on the picture.  Below is the box I made just by clicking on the picture and dragging the arrow to the size I wanted.  In this picture there is a doll that is NOT for sale, so that is the first thing that I am going to put a note about.  I just thought that it would help reference the size of the chair, so I left it there.


It is kinda hard to see here, but there is a box in the above picture with a dotted line around it where I could just start typing.  Also, take not of the three shapes at the left bottom of that column on the side.  See how the second to the last one is lit up in blue... that means that when I type, the entire box will be white...it just has not turned yet in this picture.  IF I want the lettering to go right over the top of the background, then I would click the bottom box before I put my box in place for typing.  I sure how this is clearer than it is sounding to me. 

After you do your typing, click anywhere on the picture outside the box and that will keep it there.  Then, you can move to another area and do some more of the making of a box and typing, and continue till you have all your information on the picture.   See below....


In the above picture, you can see where I did some of the typing in the white box, and some right over the top of the background.  Play around with it and see what looks best to you.  On this picture, I wanted them to know that the spot was not on the chair, but the main focus was what I did in the white areas.  This picture is different than the mock ups that I have been showing you, it is the one that I finally decided to load for the sale of the chair.  Now, let me just add that one more thing that could have been added on the picture (and on ALL pictures!!!) down across the bottom is what area of what town I live in.  This is information that lets the buyer know how far they might be driving to do a pick up.  

Now, how do we download all these labeled pictures to an album??  Let's go back to the Sachse Online Garage Sale site....



See up at the top, in the center, it says.... Add Photo / Video... you click that.  Then, the picture below shows you what will pop up next.  Click the one that says "Create Photo Album".  




From there, it will ask you what pictures and you will click your pictures and add them all to the one album.  The next button you will click should be "upload" after your pictures are all on that screen.  Now you are set with an album.  I sure hope this is helpful to someone out there.  I know there are a lot of steps, but it really is not that hard.  Please be sure to leave a comment if I have left out any steps.  When something sells, you need to go back into the album and delete that photo to keep your album up to date.



Do you see the little icon at the top right in the photo above?  That is where you click and the drop down box will ask you if you want to delete the photo.  And, IF the item has sold AND been picked up, by all means....please, Please, PLEASE delete it!!!  

Again, this can all be very time consuming.  BUT, there is some money to be made, homes are getting cleaned up, and things are getting recycled!!!  I am now finding myself looking at things as I walk through my home and asking myself...."does that really get used?  does that really make me happy?  could I sell that and not miss it?"   Welcome to the life of a shopaholic!!!!  To shop, I have to sell to make space for the new stuff.  I hope that I have not scared you off and that you will be back again to see I come up with in a couple of weeks.  Be sure to post a comment and let me know how you are doing.  - Pam

No comments:

Post a Comment