Charity Auctions for Fallen Firefighters

OnlineAuction.com has organized a group effort to raise funds to benefit the families of the firefighters who were lost in Prescott, AZ not long ago. Sellers from all across the U.S.A. have donated various types of items to be put up for bid. From jewelry and collectibles, to top-brand name purses and golf clubs, there is sure to be something to tempt even the most discerning buyer!

The sellers will be donating the cost of shipping, as well, so don't miss this opportunity to save on shipping fees and, more importantly, support these national heroes and their families!

How can you participate in this worthy cause?

Join in by bidding, of course!
Browse the current auctions right now!

Do you have something you can donate for resale?
List your item now!

You must be an OLA member to participate, but that is as easy as filling out a quick form.
Click here to join for free!

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Memories . . . . .

Hi, my name is Amy and we (my husband and I) manage KornKountryTreasures. How did we get started doing this?

Well, we love garage sales . . . . I mean, we LOVE garage sales!! When we started, it was the first year of the HWY 141 Sales, here in Iowa. This is a 100 mile stretch of towns all the way north from Des Moines, participating in this sale!! It is usually the first Friday and Saturday in August.

What do we look for? Well, we love to find old things. I particularly like to find old things that tweak my memory banks a bit.

Growing up, my sister, brother and I spent a lot of time at my maternal grandparents place in Joliet, Montana. Grandma "Pete"  was  a very special grandma, letting us play "house" upstairs in the little apartment in that huge old two story house!!

The "big" house!! Gosh, it shrunk!!

We each got to spend a week there, sometimes two. And Grandma would let me use some of her dishes, measuring cups and pans to "pretend".

Me as a toddler

My mother was a working mother (even then it took two incomes), a seamstress and a very good one!! So, I never learned how to sew correctly . . . .  I like to cheat!! I never had the patience that Mom had. And Mom liked to collect dishes, lots of dishes! My sister liked that more than I did but as I have gotten older, the dishes I see in some of these sales and flea markets remind me of Grandma Pete and my Mom. And now, they also remind me of my sister.

Grandma and Mom 1958

Today I thought "Now I've seen everything" when I saw a recipe come up on Facebook for Macaroni and Tomatoes . . . . . does anyone else remember eating that with a little sugar on top? This was a staple at our house. Or stewed tomatoes. And I thought of the memories . . . . .

And Mom had ironstone dishes (I still have one) and then went on to Blue Onion dishes which I now have . . . . I don't collect all the things that Mom did but I do like to have them in my sight for just awhile . . . 'til they find a new home. So, I compromise. I don't collect the dishes but I love finding the dishes and other things that spur that spark of memory!!

So, now that I've rambled on . . . . . and on, perhaps you might be looking for something that will spur a memory or two, or perhaps something brand new. Whatever it is, come on over to OnlineAuction.com to check and if you are selling, this is the BEST place to be!! No listing fees, no final value fees, one $8 fee a month or $96 a year, however you wish to pay. That's it!! Period.

Now, just so you know that we do have some fantastic items here on OLA.com, I'm going to list a few for you:

Fiesta Mixing Bowl at Goldi's. Remember Mom or Grandma mixing the bread in one of these? I do.

 

Here is a signed hardback Ruth Wakefield Toll House Recipe book offered by TaraSevich5gsh at Two Antiques.

 

I don't quite remember churning butter but here is a super Dazey churn offered by RoundPrairie2. I do remember drinking "raw" milk, however. But since we didn't live on a farm, I missed out on the churn part!!

 

And of course, the Blue Onion patterns  . . . . . so many of them that my Mom collected! This is a Kensington Staffordshire Plate, a little different, but equally beautiful, offered by RoseGarden!

So, come on over and take a peek!! If you are on Facebook, join us at OnlineAuction.comFacebook! We'd love to have you!! And, please, stop in at our store, KornKountryTreasures and see what we are offering . . . . you just never know!!! See what things we have listed that will trigger your special memories!!

A little word search fun!!

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RESPOND, instead of REACT, to obtain the best end result.

I had an experience over the past couple of days with a "less than desirable" website inquiry in regard to providing my services and ultimately, a sale. I thought it was worthy of mention, and so I am sharing it with the masses to prove a point that you can maintain your temperment and integrity with a little self-dicipline, and that it always pays off in the long run.

Going back a few days from today, I started receiving text messages from my web form notification to my cellphone, that I had a customer inquiring about buying a Flatbed Body for a Pickup Truck. That's exciting to me every time I get a notification, proving all my time and efforts (and other's time for that matter,) has started to show fruit from all the work put into developing a website and getting connected with social medias. I can not count the hours I have invested into all that, but that's what it takes. Momma didn't say it was gonna be easy...

The first day started off with emailing back and forth several times, various information requested by both of us to get an idea what we needed from each other to determine a price. Measurements, sizes, etc. are critical when making a decision to purchase the right Flatbed Body, for proper installation. That was OK, but I learned eventually, you need to make a telephone call and get a "feel" for the customer on the other end. This took place over the course of 3 consecutive days, and it looked as if I had a solid sale towards the end of the many emails and text messages....but it turned sour unfortunately.

I called this customer early on 7/17/13 to get the ball rolling. Maybe I shouldn't have; emailing was much more pleasant. The first thing that was mentioned to me was, that I "didn't return the last email message yesterday..." but that was a false accusation. I return EVERY SINGLE ONE, regardless. You can't sell something if you don't communicate right to the end. I don't know why he never received the last transmission, but we all know how cell phone service can be, and maybe that was the problem...? can't really say for sure, but I sure don't ignore any inquiries about my business, that's a fact.

Then, he started into me about how my price "went up" with the last few emails. I defended myself by stating "I quoted the price as you gave me the specifications you wanted," but I did make a mistake and re-adjusted it back to what he expected originally.(I thought he requested an additional gooseneck ball hitch option, so I had to add $150.00 to the original quote.) We all make mistakes. Next, he's wanting things that aren't offered with these stock, streamlined bodies we carry such as rear lights, tow hitches, etc. Our Flatbeds are built in Oklahoma, and we refined our ordered/inventoried bodies down to keep the costs as low as they can be for the majority of customers who just want a new body without all the excess cost of accessories. It's cost prohibitive to order a single body, due to the high cost of freight per body. About every 90 days, we have a shipment of between 30-40 bodies come in on a tractor trailer, and they are built to spec. based on years of learning what and what not to offer.

Lighting is a bit of a  problem. We offer clearance lighting only; any rear tail lights and/or utility lighting has to be added after the purchase. Reason being...we never know who's buying a body from us. Municipalities use specific style lighting such as LED (light emitting diodes,) and strobes lighting for safety, and the normal truck owner doesn't necessarily need that fancy lighting for every day use. So we emphasize that lighting is not included other than rear clearance, license plate, and front corner lights only. They are still "plug & play", all pre-wired, which is an advantage.

Another factor is, some folks like round, incandescent bulbs mounted in rubber grommets, some like oval, some like to mount pre-built lighting boxes in the rear aprons, etc. So there's so many options, how do you offer something like this? Unfortunately, we can't, unless we do the installation ourselves, then we can certainly discuss the options and give the customer exactly what he or she desires. Well, I was getting "beat up" verbally yesterday over this issue by this customer, and I must admit, human nature started to take a foothold with me as he went on and on about how "other" dealers offer much better options, and that all he really needed to do was to drive to another state (not going to mention which one, but it's about 200 miles one way,) to buy one down there, but I was closer, so he would rather use me.

The guy kept "poking the bear", saying I shouldn't say one thing and do another...and I should answer my customer's emails all the time...all the things I went out of my way to do I DID, but this dude was just getting a bit obnoxious and was kind of proud of himself as I detected.

In the past couple of months, I'll bet I spent 5-6 hours of my time pricing, figuring, quoting prices over the internet for people that once they got all the information they needed, vanished into thin air. Heck, I even recently ordered a special body for a customer without getting a deposit, (very, very bad mistake,) as I felt he was sincere about buying it, and he changed his mind. Now I have a nice, brand new body for sale here awaiting some other customer that will eventually show up of course, but it was another lesson learned on my part. I call it "the Stupid Tax", or more mildly, "The Cost of Doing Business".

At the tail end of this abrasive individual's conversation, it ended with "I'll call you back in a couple hours with the measurements", was his last words. I repeat, LAST, lol. I never heard back from him, and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't be happier.

The message here is simple. I could have "flown off the handle" very easily after the first couple of "verbal assaults" from this joker acting like he was some sort of elite individual insisting that I did everything wrong...but I remembered a verse I read in a very informative book one time, that stated " be kind to your enemy, it will be like pouring hot coals on his head", to paraphrase it the best I can. At the highest point of this very non-productive phone call, I implimented that very strategy. I remained calm, steadfast, and professional throughout the whole ordeal, (deep down inside I admit, I wanted to push the "punch-through-the-phone button"...,) but I maintained my dignity. (And if I were to admit it, I pictured pouring a 5 gallon pail of hot coals on this joker's head, lol.)

In the end, I didn't make a sale. But, I gained something much more valuable; I learned how to "respond, rather than react"...Worth 100 fold more than a few dollars depositied into some account.

Just some information I thought the nice folks out there that strive for the best possible customer service they can give and when they do, it usually pays dividends in time, even if it's months down the road. I recently had another customer call that was at the totally opposite end of the solar system than this "featured customer" I have written about here, commend me for my customer service and that was a nice comment to receive. Those outweigh and delete the negative ones fortunately.

So the next time you feel like the bear's getting mad in YOU...remember to picture the opposing person hopping around trying to put his hair out from the hot coals....!

Thanks to the people of OnlineAuction.com for the opportunity to share some thoughts.

Have a great day!

Tom at Iron Mountain Iron & equipment, llc
http://www.ironmountainiron.com

Advantages of joining forces with OnlineAuction.com...

Online Auction.com has been a real positive experience since my discovery and membership this year. Before joining OLA.com, I was floundering around other auction sites, trying to find a way to buy and sell things for additional income and to establish a foothold in my market area. At first without any knowledge, I thought I was really doing something...thought I was in "high cotton"...

Navigating through endless emails from other sites on rules, regulations, fees, etc., I was starting to wonder if there was an alternative to all this madness. Seemed as though whenever I went to sell (or buy) on another site, it would cost me more than I bargained for. It really started to make me wonder....is there a "better way" to shop for the things that interest me in my industry?

I did a quick i'net search, and lo & behold, OLA.com came up as one of the TOP 10 alternatives to "the other" sites for buying and selling, with just ONE monthly fee of $8.00/month!!! The kicker is NO FINAL VALUE FEES!!! I sold something earlier on in my auction site marketing campaign on another site for a fair amount, and the fee I had to pay the site made me want to cry. Shortly after the emotional trauma and pain, I discovered OLA.com...

 I said, "Huh...let's have a look see here"...The rest is history, I was hooked on OLA.com for the duration of my i'net marketing campaign. I and many others were completely blown away with the ease of use and the friendly people in the help forum community that go out of their way to assist you in whatever questions you might have about the site. That in itself was the deciding factor for why I switched to OLA.com...not to mention the amount of MONEY I save not paying excessive fees!

Since my signing on with OLA.com, the results have been astounding! I have had numerous site views, and more every day. With linking to other advertising media, I have had excellent exposure and overwhelming activity with our primary product line, Flatbed Bodies for Pickup and Work Trucks.

Now that we know there's an alternative to the high fees and rules and such, let's take a look at some of the great stuff from OLA.com that's offered every day, by the nicest folks you can ever dream of dealing with.
Just log on to OLA.COM to see for yourself. Better yet, if you're already established on another auction site, I encourage you to take the steps towards joining the team on OLA.com, and have another source for  marketing your items...you just might be surprised how easy and affordable it is compared to the current situation. I'd like to see as many people as possible switch over to OLA.motors and start listing their trucks, cars, parts, equipment, tools, bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks....whatever you have that you want to sell...come join a growing, positive and forward-striving auction site that is going nowhere but UP in terms of exposure and market share. The sky's the limit for OLA!

There's many categories to shop in there too...from A to Z. Great deals on household items, collectibles, antiques, abacuses to Zamboni's. (I better provide an explanation of those two items...abacus' haven't been used in a few years, and Zamboni's aren't exactly a common household name just everwhere either.)

This is the early version of a cash register. Back in the day, before Ben Franklin flew his kite in that lightening storm and got a new hairdo, these were used to count things. Fortunately, since Thomas Edison's contributions in electrical systems, we now have a lot easier methods to keep track of transactions.

This is a "Zamboni". It was invented by the Zamboni family as a way to smooth out the surface of an ice skating rink by applying a spray of water, and then screeding the top layer of ice to a mirror-smooth finish. Prior to the Zamboni, the skating experience wasn't as pleasant...the guys were fighting for the smooth parts of the rink, thus the first hockey game fights were created. (that's just a joke, please don't take that as gospel...)

 With all that out of the way now...I hope you get the BIG picture. From A to Z, abacus' to Zamboni machines, OLA.com is definitely a great way to get your items out in front of the masses.

Please visit OLA.com and see for yourself.

Have a great day!

Tom
Iron Mountain Iron & Equipment, LLC
http://www.ironmountainiron.com

http://www.onlineauction.com/index.php?page=search:searchCategory&category_id=2527