ZOLANTA .COM

Busy week this week on Zolanta - new sellers new buyers,  competitions and all sorts of stuff - forums are very busy with all sorts of tips and hints on how to maximise selling power and get your items all over the web - shock of the week is the closure of one of the other UK alternative auction sites which is cutting down the selling venues for sellers yet again.  However Zolanta will be weathering the storm and going from strength to strength !

Though the summer seems to be restricted to sunshine only in between the torrential rain showers that we have been having Kiddy Gifts has some great outdoor games - frog skittles and duck skittles and a giant compendium of huge games to play outside - great for picnics or just on your lawn - check out the listings here

Heavenly Soaps continues to make some gorgeous summery smells for us with gift baskets and also individual pots and potions ideal to cheer yourself up when the weather is gloomy !

Pink Diva has great pet accessories - activity tunnels for rabbits and guinea pigs which can be outside and a fab popup tent for those little furries to rest in - sport and leisure items in her store check em out !

Must mention too Jewellery By Shalini - Shal has been listing items in aid of the Dogs Trust and I have bought some beautiful shell bracelets - the charity auctions have finished now but the bracelets are to be found in her store and they are really gorgeous and very summery !

Several new sellers on board now - Mistress Morgana is listing some very interesting items in the Goth / Emo line - fantastic mascara in gorgeous violet which I am definately going to try looks fab - gorgeous bracelets tending towards the unusual so if you are into that kind of genre which I am, take a look you wont be disappointed !

I also bought a couple of lovely mounted photographs of vintage police cars from Mills Classic Motors - they are great and beautifully mounted make a lovely gift for two guys I know - also listed in their store are all sorts of car themed memorobilia - VW camper mugs and Mini Cooper money boxes - even a 2cv which took me back to the days when I owned one - useful stuff too Haynes Manuals and owner hand books for specialist cars ! So if you are a petrol head check it out !

Jenny Sells Foils is a must for those of us who love nail art - listed on Zolanta are many exclusive foils absolutely gorgeous stripes,holographic whatever you are looking for to make a statement you will find it I am sure and Jenny is a lovely seller, always ready to help with any queries you may have - get ready for the summer, ditch the polish and get foils easier and classier !

Pink Diva is another newbie to the site and has a range of goods at excellent prices listed in her Everything4u store,
ranging through electronics, garden,babycare, games and PC games,gifts etc great store and approved seller!

Fantatic penny auction this week on Zolanta - 100 White China Tea teabags - starting bid one penny - further special offers instore at Simpli-Special include, buy 2 boxes of quality REAL tea and receive a FREE sample of another type of teabags - forget bogstandard supermarket tea and treat yourself to proper teas at best prices !

Several new sellers on Zolanta this week including Jewellery by Shalini - beautiful handcrafted Jewellery made from mineral crystals and pearls and beautiful shells - I am already a very happy customer - could be addicted !

Simply Essential are listing natural aromatherapy product for you to pamper yourself or someone else ! check out the stores on Zolanta for top quality products from top sellers now !

I dont know about you but I really struggle to find something a bit out of the ordinary to give to my Mum on Mothers Day, there is a limit to how many boxes of chocolates,books or smellies you can buy for them but fear not ! the Penny Auction on Zolanta this week is just the thing - a glass bowl with stars and silver glitter and floating candles in it - gorgeous and on offer with an opening bid of just one penny .

The item has been listed from the Silvaroma store and there are plenty of other gorgeous gifts in the store all just that little bit different, all top quality and all at very reasonable prices. The store owner is as lovely as the things she sells, helpful and friendly so go check it out !

Make your Mum's day !

What a week for weather here in the UK, we are just not used to it are we ? However shopping without going out of doors is a doddle these days and sales online are booming.
For the latest online news and views and discussions for online marketing come and look at Pheebay, join in the community plus the latest on Penny Auctions on various sites !
At Zolanta we have had a really good week sales wise and our sellers and buyers are on a roll !
The promotion is going well and we are sending out our first free posting packs to new  sellers who have listed and sold this month as well as existing sellers who have sold 5 items or more - its proving a popular promotion so dont miss out come and join us !

This weeks Penny Auction is a beautiful Valentines Pamper Basket and if you have missed it then dont despair as Heavenly Soaps has several listed in her store so count some brownie points and give your Valentine a lovely gift.

This weeks Penny Auction at Zolanta is from the store belonging to KitKare - I am not sure what he is listing but it will be a bargain for those post and packing moments so check it out either in our news section or on the front page !

I treated myself to a new printer this week from Cushty Deals - top quality printer fast delivery and lovely comms and of course he sells the inks too ! Bargain !

This time of year is a time of cards and crafts so check out Zolanta's crafting folk - beautiful embroidered cards or the wherewithal to make your own all at keen prices and best quality from knowledgeable people - if you are a crafter you cant go wrong ! visit today ! and unleash your creativity !

We have a new seller on Zolanta - Equestrian items - bits, bridles etc - I know very little about this kind of thing not being a horsey person but from what I can see the prices are good and the items are top quality - take a look !

Well Zolanta is starting the New Year off with a bang !
We are once again participating in the Pheebay Penny Auction promotion
and it is attracting people to the site in numbers which of course is
the idea and which is also very pleasing for us !
You can check out what the current auction is on our Squidoo Lens

or on our main site which is

We have special offers for both new sellers and existing sellers
check out our free postal pack on the site news section of the main site !

Several new sellers have joined us and I would like to welcome Cushty Deals
a brilliantly helpful seller of inks and printers, nothing is too much trouble
for this seller and we are glad to have him aboard

Mels Baby Shop does what it says on the tin ( to use a well known phrase )
beautiful items for babies, Moses baskets especially !

Books From Sharon is also one of our new comers, a professional book seller with over
500 listings already including hard to find books, if you read I recommend you
check out her store

Following a consensus among the participating sellers in the Pheebay forums, it has been decided that the Penny Auctions Pheebay.com promotion will start in earnest on Sunday 4th January 2009.

The initial period of five weeks during which we have run these penny start auctions across a range of eBay alternative auction sites, the feedback has been positive from the participating sellers. We are pleased with the increase in views and in items sold and many of the eBay alternative auction sites have enjoyed a boost to their membership.

As a participating seller myself, I have found an overall increase in traffic to my listings and, most satisfyingly, a number of sales to brand new customers on the site

After discussion in the General Auction Site Chat forum on Pheebay.com, the participating sellers have reached a decision to start this promotion in earnest on 4th January 2009. In the few days running up to that date I expect to put a number of Pheebay members’ auctions into preview on my Penny Auctions Squidoo lens as they are announced.

I also hope to welcome new sites and sellers onto the list of participants. If you are interested then come and join us in the Pheebay.com. It doesn’t matter which eBay alternative auction site you sell on, nor does it matter what kind of items you sell, as long as they are suitable for any eyes - in other words, no porn - and you are prepared to list an item for a 1p/1c auction start price with no reserve to run for seven days, Sunday to Sunday.

To date the range of goods has covered collectables, jewellery, toys and gifts, perfumes and more practical items. The current sellers all recognise and are seeing the benefits of collective promotion which brings the attention of a wider buying public to your listings and helps you to build links around the net.

We are all getting busy with the oncoming festive season but put a sticky on your computer or a note in your diary to check out these links again at the end of December or beginning of January or join the Pheebay forum now to get involved in the planning for the restart of the Penny Auctions promotion.

Zolanta items currently running

eBay Alternatives Offer Bargain Penny Start Auctions
Date: 10/27/2008 DropJack!
If, like me, you enjoy surfing the online auctions looking for potential bargains then maybe this week eBay isn't the obvious place to be. Several sellers have come together to list a wide variety of valuable items for auction with a starting bid of just a penny at sites like eBid, MilBid, Biritzs, Tazbar, WantOneGotOne, Zolanta and ChallengeCoinAuctions.

With eBay constantly changing this year to be more like a mall for larger but less interesting retailers, many of the alternative auction venues are looking to provide for smaller traders and their more interesting items - the kind that originally helped eBay get established. So, in the first of what we plan to become a weekly article to highlight potential bargains, these 15 penny start auctions are all running now with an end time next weekend:

Auction 1 is a new deck of Spanish Tarot Cards listed at eBid.net: Le Tarot de Marseille bilingual vintage sealed BNIB.

Auction 2 is a 10 Carat (apx) Sterling 925 Silver necklace listed at WantOneGotOne.com: Sterling Silver Emerald Necklace.

Auction 3 is for an Old GOEBEL Hummel FIGURINE-LITTLE GARDENER listed at eBid.net: Old GOEBEL Hummel FIGURINE-LITTLE GARDENER #74 TMK2 nr.

Auction 4 is for another Vintage GOEBEL HUMMEL FIGURINE - BAND LEADER #129 - TMK5 No Reserve listed at MilBid.com: Vintage GOEBEL HUMMEL FIGURINE - BAND LEADER #129 - TMK5 No Reserve.

Auction 5 is for a brand new Alba DVD player listed at Zolanta.com: BRAND NEW ALBA DVD / CD PLAYER.

Auction 6 is for a Sterling Silver 16 inch Necklace and Earing "I Love You" set listed at Biritzs.biz: I LOVE YOU - Sterling Silver Necklace & Earring Set.

Auction 7 is for an illuminatd puchbowl Cocktail Fountain listed at Tazbar.com: Illuminated Punch Bowl Cocktail Fountain No reserve.

Auction 8 is for a rare motoring book (not available on Amazon) about the Paris Dakar Cairo route listed on Zolanta.com: Paris-Dakar-Cairo-Dakar 2000 As New $98 On Bookfinder.com.

Auction 9 is for a "Magical wizard" ornament listed at Tazbar.com: Magical wizard *new* ornament 20cm high ~ low 1p start no reserve.

Auction 10 is for a lucky dip of eight romance books plus a free pen bonus listed at Biritzs.biz: Lucky Dip of EIGHT Romance Books plus pen - no reserve.

Auction 11 is for a Pretty in Pink Silk Taffeta Handbag - Handmade Fairtrade listed at Biritzs.biz: Pretty in Pink Silk Taffeta Handbag - Handmade Fairtrade.

Auction 12 is for a Fisher Price baby grand piano listed at MilBid.com: Fisher Price baby grand piano.

Auction 13 is for an exquisite 18K White Gold Plated Round Brilliant Cut Amethyst Bracelet listed at WantOneGotOne.com (fundraising for the RSPCA animal welfare charity): 18K White Gold Plated Round Brilliant Cut Amethyst Bracelet - RSPCA (WOGO Management will match sale price and add to donation).

Auction 14 is for a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division Challenge Coin listed at MilBid.com: U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division Challenge Coin.

Auction 15 is for a U.S. Army 112th Transportation Battalion Challenge Coin plus a "John McCain Commander In Chief" bonus coin listed at ChallengeCoinAuctions.com: U.S. Army 112th Transportation Battalion Challenge Coin plus a "John McCain Commander In Chief" bonus coin.

0ctavias0fferings has also kindly published a Penny Auctions Squidoo Lens to keep track of all these auctions in one location and Pheebay plans to continue promoting similar penny start auctions each week from now on.

So why not pop over to any of the auctions featured and see if you can snag a bargain!!

Sellers that are offering a penny start auction can get their listing featured here by following the directions in our Auction Forums.

For more information about Penny Auctions visit Auction Buzz.

Barbie is much more than a toy, she is a symbol of the age, estimates are that there are more than 100,000 Barbie collectors buying more than twenty Barbie dolls a year, just under half of which spend upwards of $1000 per year.

Vintage Barbie dolls from the early years sell at auction for huge amounts, the original cost of Barbie in 1959 was $3.00 a mint boxed Barbie from that year sold for $3552.50 on an auction site in 2004.

In 2006 a Barbie doll set a world record, selling at auction for £9,000, the doll was from 1965 and was "Barbie in midnight red " and was from a collector who owned 4,000 Barbie dolls.

A colour tier system has been introduced for the collectors edition Barbie dolls , pink, silver, gold and platinum depending on how many of the dolls are produced .

In more recent years the maker of Barbie, Mattel, designed and sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors. The range includes porcelain versions, vintage reproductions and Barbie as a range of characters from televison series such as the Munsters and Star Trek.

There are also dolls depicting Barbie with different ethnic identities and styles.

Barbie will celebrate her 50th anniversary in 2009, and Mattel plans a new reproduction of the original 1959 Barbie doll.

Zolanta.com is therefore very pleased to announce that we have a huge range of special outfits made especially to fit and compliment the various guises of Barbie, these outfits are designer and top quality, stunning to look at and at very good prices.

Whats even more exciting is that they have been donated by one of our top sellers to be sold to raise money for Little Hen Rescue, needless to say they are flying out of the store ,

Race towards the Christmas buying spree with a very special offer from Zolanta.com
we invite you to list with us in the run up to Christmas:–

In the great retailing tradition of buy one get one free
open a store with us, pay for one month
and get the next month free – no catch, just free, simple as that !

This is a bogof you wont want to put in the bin !

Of course, along with this offer you get our standard personal customer service
and help from our knowledgeable support team
Live Help -
Automatic upload to google -
Items on rss feed –
google checkout direct payment option as well as paypal and other pay methods

PLUS
stay with us through December and get a special Zolanta posting pack free

Contact support@zolanta.com or use our livehelp facility on the main site
to take advantage of the offer

Existing sellers, refer a friend who opens a store and you too will get a rent free store
for a month !

Free stores are a great reason to list on Zolanta - 10 items or less no charge as we wish to attract the smaller seller as well as the big boys - our emphasis will always be on quality items and professional sellers so that our buyers can be confident that they are paying competitive prices and recieving top quality goods
If you are an Avon cosmetics fan then come take a look as we have a bona fide Avon agent listing the full catalogue -
If you are a quality perfume buyer then also come and browse Fragrant Folly store for all the big names at great prices !

http://www.zolanta.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3564

The way to maximise your exposure is by getting your listings and stores out there on the web.
As a new and upcoming business we at Zolanta do a lot of this for our sellers by submitting our site to search engines and networking sites - it's good for the site and of course its good for the seller
to increase your exposure even further, this in turn makes it good for buyers.

Please go to this site and bookmark Zolanta - its like google the more hits the more your items will attract buyers - so please when you get a minute visit and bookmark - its not a site voting system by the way

http://del.icio.us/

By OctaviasOfferings

Zolanta - last but not least.

I’m always looking at auction sites online, I wouldn’t like to think I might be missing out on something, but there are so many sites out there, where do you begin? Well, don’t go around them in alphabetical order or you might miss out on a gem of a site, Zolanta.com.

Zolanta launched in 2007 and, though initially it was well supported by sellers, the site suffered a major hiccup and was offline while a server move was completed and problems ironed out.

Zolanta.com. has been quietly back up and running since April 2008 and is now very much open for business.

From a browser’s point of view the site runs smoothly and very fast. Google Checkout is fully integrated alongside Paypal, a real plus in my view to have the alternative whether buying or selling. It’s also an advantage that the forums are open to view without having to register on the site. Of particular interest to sellers will be the Working Lunch forum and Zolanta has a management which encourages suggestions from its users for improvements to the site.

Everything required of an online auction site is there on Zolanta.com but there is something more.

I had spent a good while wandering around the site when I realised that whether it’s down to the relaxing colour scheme, the open forums, the freedom from fakes, the range and price of the goods or, simply put, the general feel and functionality of the site, Zolanta.com is a comfort zone.

Zolanta is a warm sitting room with a log fire on a rainy afternoon and it should be the Housewife’s Choice of auction sites.

Registration and login are secure and I came across some beautiful indulgences browsing the site, take this fabulous Venetian Trinket box from Wilmer Wonders store, Party on Wilmer,
or spoil yourself with Ylang-Ylang Shower Gel from the Heavenly Soaps store of dippy cat. If you really feel like a pampering then why not make
Fragrant Folly your online Avon Lady. Feel like doing some knitting or crochet? Try seller Yarnfest for your knitting and crochet needs, she carries a comprehensive range of supplies. If you can’t see what you’re looking for, you can place a wanted advert and don’t forget to check out any special offers on the site.

Zolanta.com. has a polished and professional feel and, from a seller’s point of view, there is no risk in trying the site out. It is free to list on Zolanta and a basic, small store is also available free so that you can test the water. When you’re ready to upgrade, the process is simple and straightforward and the longer listing periods enjoyed on Zolanta can help to reduce the time spent managing your listings.

These days most online sellers also blog about their listings and the sites on which they sell, Zolanta provides RSS feeds to assist in your off-site promotions. Why not start your own Squidoo page about your Zolanta store and listings and make use of those feeds? Every link helps those search engines to find you and you’ll be helping the Zolanta techies who are constantly working to improve SEO on the site, helping buyers to find your items and, another boost to promotion, your store name is included in your url, you are not just a long string of numbers and symbols.

As a seller or buyer you have access to live help from real people who are passionately involved with the site. It isn’t available 24/7 - real people have to do other things sometimes - but has been available more times than not when I’ve visited Zolanta lately. I’m sure as the site grows the live help coverage will be extended. It is, after all, a tremendous bonus to be able to communicate with a real human being.

It’s that comfort zone thing again.

And perhaps adding to the feeling of ease is that it comes across strongly the management team is intimately involved with Zolanta.com. This is one site which recognises both buyers and sellers are its customers and they continually strive to improve the site for their community.

So, pull up a comfy chair, make sure that box of chocolates is at hand, steady the laptop and let’s go shopping on Zolanta.com..

Sellers - take note and get your listings on there.

If that sounds ok then I'll get the piece published today on Pheebay and tomorrow on Squidoo (I have pictures of the items specifically mentioned in the review which I'll place on the Squidoo lens) and I'll get Sunray to include a banner for Zolanta in the rotation at the top of the forum.

Let me know what you think.

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On Zolanta you can list as many items free of charge as you wish AND put ten items in a free online shop to showcase your products!

It is free to list, up to 3 images on your listing are free, and upgrades are very reasonable. Low final value fees.

Make it easier for buyers to find items in your store, by making your own custom catagories within it. It is easy to make your own catagories, and means buyers can easily search for exactly what they want.

Create your own Custom Categories in your store.
These can make it much easier for your customers
to search your store, and for you to keep track
of your listings.

Items still come up in search, buyers can still
see all your other non Store listings, and you
can have a featured store for as little as £1.

On Zolanta you can list as many items free of charge as you wish AND put ten items in a free online shop to showcase your products! It is free to list, up to 3 images on your listing are free, and upgrades are very reasonable. Low final value fees. Make it easier for buyers to find items in your store, by making your own custom catagories within it. It is easy to make your own catagories, and means buyers can easily search for exactly what they want.