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If your email inbox looks anything like mine, you’ve got a stockpile of invites to join the “next best” online selling marketplace.
Everyone from your mom to casual acquaintances on Facebook are spamming you with requests to partake in yet another way to digitally buy and sell secondhand goods.
So when I first learned about Tophatter I was skeptical it’d be anything worth blogging about, assuming it was yet another Etsy or Yardsellr with fresh wrapping paper and a different bow on top.
I was wrong. After spending some time exploring Tophatter’s live, interactive auctions and setting up my own profile, I was hooked on the idea of using Tophatter to quickly and easily sell anything from vintage to secondhand clothing and jewelry to handmade goods, craft supplies, electronics and even delectable sweets, like fudge!
In a nutshell, Tophatter is where tons of themed live auctions happen everyday for buyers to list their wares and sellers to bid on them in a chatroom that feels like vintage AOL meets the Sims video game.
An auctioneer announces items for bid via a speech bubble in an illustrated three dimensional interpretation of an auction room, and the item up for bid appears in the right hand corner for you to click, bid and hopefully score for a steal.
Almost like a hyped version of an online garage sale, you get immediate gratification from being able to watch your items go up on the digital auction block. I saw a Google Android tablet valued at over $200 start at $5 and rise to $48, a great deal for the lucky buyer and hopefully a good sale for the seller!
Knowing how to thrift store shop and filter the racks for cheap vintage fashion is one thing, but knowing how to have fun online while listing those hidden treasure is another. And since I believe that selling and buying secondhand goods should be as much fun as possible when done online, I reveal the top 10 reasons why using Tophatter is more fun than your average selling platform and definitely worth checking out for yourself!
Had you heard about Tophatter before? Let me know in the comments on the post!
And for anyone hesitant to try it out, here’s a coupon for $10 credit to use right now. Happy bidding, vintage lovers!
CLICK HERE to use the coupon above!
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xx, SD
Reason #1: Auctions That Feel Like a Video Game
Why It’s Fun: Buying and selling online has never felt like a video game … until now.
The auction room is set up around a chat room and a live feed of the current item up for bid and upcoming items. Standby items are added to the mix if you or another buyer decide to bid on them.
Yours and all other buyer/sellers’ avatars bounce up and down in anticipation as bids are announced by the auctioneer standing in front of a themed room, like this intellectual room for the “New Age” auction!
Move your cursor above the avatars to learn who they are and click to read their profiles. When someone types a comment in the live chat, it also appears as a speech bubble above their avatar’s head!
Added Bonus: Simply sitting in an auction is entertaining enough, and there’s always at least one live auction you can enter without having to actually buy or sell anything to participate.
The noises (chimes for a new auction, a thud for a bid and the celebratory thump of a gavel for a winner) are smile-worthy on lunch breaks spent at your desk, too!
Reason #2: Immediate Gratification for Sellers
Why It’s Fun: Listing and waiting for an item to sell on another online marketplace can be mentally exhaustive and frustrating. But on Tophatter, you can witness the sale of your item as its happening during an auction and when concluded, feel the immediate gratification of what it sold for in mere minutes.
That’s why Tophatter is a lot like an online garage sale, because it feels like you’re getting money in your pocket ASAP.
Added Bonus: The immediate gratification of selling something online is the reward for a new behavior that will influence your habit of listing frequently online. Like any habit or behavior, the more successful it feels the more you are more likely to engage in it.
So if you continue to have what are called “small wins” with selling on Tophatter, you’ll want to expand and continue to grow to reap the benefits of what immediate sales can do for your personal or business income.
Reason #3: You Can Sell Just About Anything!
Why It’s Fun: Selling on Tophatter is less pressure than the average marketplace, simply because you can list and sell just about anything — including delectable goodies like fudge, jelly, tea and muffins shown above!
Whether you’re Betty Crocker gone digital or a curator of the best vintage duds this side of the auction block, you can list anything that tickles your fancy or which happens to be lying around your home.
Added Bonus: You don’t need to establish a “brand” of curated items that buyers return to and expect a level of quality and selection, so since you’re freed from the restrictions of setting up a personal shop, it means when thrift store shopping or even perusing your own garage sales and flea markets, you can expand your for-sale inventory by indulging in pieces beyond your Etsy or Ebay shop’s normal selection.
And as I’m sure you all agree, more thrifting = more fun!
Reason #4: Promote Your Online Shop
Why It’s Fun: Tophatter encourages taking advantage of your profile for free publicity. You can be transparent about your Etsy, Ebay or other online marketplace shop.
Part of the reason selling on Tophatter is a win-win situation for any kind of seller is that you take advantage of it to sell goods beyond your normal stock, or simply to cross-list what might not have sold in your normal shop at a buy-it-now price faster and easier through an auction.
Added Bonus: You’ll get additional traffic to your other online shop simply through sharing its URL on Tophatter, and unlike Facebook where you have to now pay for your page posts this added bonus is absolutely free of charge.
Reason #5: You Can Be an Awesome Avatar
Why It’s Fun: The Tophatter experience is a lot like the Sims video game, where avatar characters rule the world and you create their reality with a few clicks of your mouse.
Your avatar is not only the photo of your profile page, but the “person” you see in the auction room when the bidding begins. You can click other avatars to read their profiles, almost as if you were in a room full of people introducing yourself through a computer screen.
Added Bonus: You can change the color of your hair everyday without having to worry about it being over processed!
Reason #6: Livechat with the Buyers of Your Goods
Why It’s Fun: You’re able to communicate with the potential buyers of your goods in the livechat feature of the auction. So if a buyer has a question, you can immediately answer it knowing that you’re providing the most full service experience for a solid sale.
Added Bonus: The auctioneer isn’t promoting your good beyond the price and its estimated value (as set by you). So like Nancy Richardson is communicating in the photo above, you can add your 10 cents of salesperson persuasion.
You’d be surprised how a few ideas can spark interest in an item, or even the suggestion of a “free gift with purchase” communicated in the chatroom if you’re feeling it could rev up a bidding war.
Reason #7: Your Excuse to Clean House
Why It’s Fun: Like prepping for a garage sale, it’s fun to imagine just what of your knickknacks, spare electronics and unwanted fashions and jewelry will sell. Like they say, one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.
So while you may have a Google Android tablet lying around with no use at all to you, there’s definitely a Tophatter user just ready to snatch it up and put $50 cool ones in your pocket, without you having to sit around your driveway all day!
Added Bonus: Your living quarters get cleaned, and it’s not just because you took a bunch of bags to donate to Goodwill. This time around, you cleaned house to fill house in another way: Your bank account!
Reason #8: Invite Friends to Get Free Money!
Why It’s Fun: Spamming friends isn’t actually that much fun, but at least you’re spamming them with the offer for $5 credit to use on Tophatter.
If they use that $5, then you get $5 yourself. It’s a pay-it-forward model that when fulfilled, is a win-win situation for all.
Added Bonus: With so many items going for $5 – $20 on Tophatter anyway, accumulating enough credit to buy a few goodies for yourself shouldn’t take longer than simply uploading your Gmail contacts and pressing send. Magic!
Reason #9: Make Extra Cash Hosting Your Own Community Sale
Why It’s Fun: You can host your own “community sale,” where you can invite other sellers to add items to your auction or simply list items of your own. You can either promote the auction yourself or pay $50 to have it listed on the homepage.
The Added Bonus: Since you’re hosting the auction and doing all of the promotion, your good reputation and marketing tactics might persuade people to pay you to include their listings.
If you’re an online seller reading this post, you already have a vast network of other sellers who could join you in a community sale. Prove to them that your auction is worth listing in for a price, and you’ll get added cash on top of all the great sales you’re already making on Tophatter.
Reason #10: Dish and Gossip with Other Sellers
Why It’s Fun: A 24/7 chat room lets you connect with other buyers and sellers, whether over the latest auction (“Did you see how much that bag sold for?!“) or to talk about last night’s episode of Homeland (“Such a cliffhanger!”)
The Added Bonus: The chatroom is also a great way to find and learn from the profiles of other buyers and sellers. Click on any of the names in the right hand column to be taken to their profile page for their Tophatter stats, biography and contact information.
Reach out to other sellers here to learn tips and tricks for online selling, and to propose other ways to work together, like hosting a community sale or promoting auctions via social media.
Reason #10.5: Because a Man with a Mustache Can’t Be Beat
Why It’s Fun: You can’t help but smile at a man with a mustache and a monocle.
The Added Bonus: If he’s taking good care of his facial hair, you know he can be trusted auctioning off your treasured goods on that digital podium!
Don’t Forget: Your $10 Credit to Tophatter
CLICK HERE to use the coupon above!
Click the coupon for $10 credit to use in a live auction happening on Tophatter now. If you buy something, let me know in the comments below!
This post was sponsored by Tophatter! See our Advertising Policy.
More Ideas for Buyers & Sellers
Other Platforms: Where to Buy Vintage Fashion Online
Spend Less: How to Get Cheap Vintage Clothing
Price Better: The 7 Secrets of Pricing Vintage Clothing
Careers: How to Work in the Vintage Fashion Industry
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