UsedNorthisland.com & Lion's Club Community Garage Sale

We had a fantastic time this weekend in Port Hardy, British Columbia. The UsedNorthisland.com & Lion's Club Community Garage Sale was a ton of fun! There was so much to buy: from saris to kids' clothes to yummy loaves.

Check out the Facebook photo album here.

The Lion's Club of Port Hardy would like to hold another sale in March, so let us know if you'd like to be involved: events@usedeverywhere.com

Is your community having a garage sale? Tell us about it; we'd love to help!

Fun for the whole family

Janey, our amazing Community Coordinator!

The Port Hardy Community Garage Sale

Port Hardy is as far north as you can drive on Vancouver Island. It's a beautiful westcoast community with lots of outdoorsy activities such as whale watching, hiking and kayaking.

This weekend, November 14th and 15th, we will be there hosting a community garage sale with the Lion's Club.

We're very excited to be involved with this fun-filled event, meet the community and introduce Usednorthisland.com. Plus, a little birdy told us that there is an amazing local sushi place we have to visit. Can't wait for the weekend!

Upgrade your ad. But don't just take our word..

This is Trent Fehr of Ottawa. He just won a $100 Future Shop gift certificate for sharing his experience of buying an upgraded ad.

Upgrading your ad dramatically increases the exposure and the amount of views your item gets. Depending on the type of upgrade you purchase, your ad can receive anywhere from 3 - 112 more views than a basic free ad. Essentially this means that when you purchase an upgrade your item sells faster.

No one knows this better then our users, which is why we put on the contest. Congratulations Trent!

The Title: Which is more appealing?

I'm doing an experiment on what title sounds better. I've chosen that I want to sell a toaster. But I'm not sure what title would grab your eye - here are some options:

1. A $5 Toaster

2. Good Toaster - $5

3. The Best Toast You've Ever Tasted

4. Vintage Toaster - $5

5. My Grandma's Toaster for only $5

6. $5 for Old Toaster

What would grab your eye?

Creative Commons Image by Donovan Govan

International Day of Climate Action

Saturday October 24th 2009 is United Nations day. Did you know it's also the International Day of Climate Action? Sponsored by 350.org, people and organizations will doing something ( a.k.a. "actions" ) to support and address the issue of climate change in nearly every major city in the world.

In my hometown of Vancouver BC Canada, I'll be biking with my kids for Bridge to a Cool Planet.

Find out what's happening around your area, either search by map, or search the action list
to take part.

Update: The northbound lanes were shutdown and I estimate that there were over a thousand people supporting this event. Before marching the 2km to Science World organizers unfurled a long banner on the side of the bridge which read: "CANADIANS CARE - CLIMATE ACTION NOW".

Really Simple Sharing

More on our 10 Ways to use MyLists

Get notified immediately when a MyLists page is updated. The power is in one little click with a fancy acronym.

R.S... What?

On Monday, I threw out a term (Subscribe to MyLists with RSS) which you may or may not have heard of before. RSS? Think about it like Really Simple Sharing.

What does it do?

It let's websites share information. Instead of waking up in the morning and checking a whack of websites, you can subscribe once, and let the site come to you.

All you need to do, is goto the MyLists page you want to follow, and click on "[RSS feed for this page]". Then you can bookmark it or subscribe to it.

Bookmark it.

If you bookmark the RSS page, your web browser will indicate in your bookmark bar that the MyLists has changed: something new, or something updated.

Subscribe to it.

Email programs like Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird will allow you to get new listings like email. Or you can use a newreader application like Google Reader.

Share It.

MyLists isn't the only page with this feature. All our categories have it. Just look for this link

Let us know how you are using our RSS to make usedeverywhere useful everywhere.

Use MyLists for your community

To Conitnue, 10 Ways to use MyLists, today we'll look at using mylists in a group.

1. Sell items for Fundraisers and Charities
2. Share listings for Swap Meets, Groups & Communities

When you register your MyLists you are asked for an email and password. Any listing you add with the same email address and password, will automatically be added.

So how do many people manage MyLists?

Share that email address and password with several people.

Your MyLists then becomes a one stop view of everything from your group or community.

• Show products which have the proceeds go to charity
• Share products and services that will be at your upcoming event
• Explain more about your cause
• Inform viewers about when your event will happen

10 ways to use MyLists

If you have more than one listing on any UsedEverywhere site, then MyLists is the way to go. It's easy to set-up, all you need to do is register.

Here are 10 ways to use MyLists:

1. Sell items for Fundraisers and Charities
2. Share listings for Swap Meets, Groups & Communities
3. Advertise what's going to be at your garage sale
4. Manage several online stores
5. Put your MyLists website address on business cards & posters
6. Link to your MyLists from your website
7. Share your MyLists on Twitter and Facebook
8. Subscribe to MyLists with RSS
9. Put your MyLists on your website
10. Email your MyLists to buyers

All week, I'll explain more and show you tips on how to customize the look of your MyLists, and share your MyLists.

In the meantime, how do you use MyLists?

In Moderation

Recently we had an ad selling a jet pack. The ad boasted that the thrust could launch a person 10 feet in the air. I wouldn't buy it, but was curious who would. Would it work? Would the buyer post a youtube video, when they tried it out?
Yes, this was a prank.

But how did we find out?

We picked up the phone and called them.

Our moderators go to great lengths to review as many listings as they can and to review each reported ad to make sure that what we are selling is legitimate. hey work with buyers and sellers everyday. They are the life blood of what we do here at UsedEverywhere.com

To our moderators Wendy, Terry, Michelle and Kim and to all the volunteers we thank you! You make all of our UsedEverywhere sites safe!

If you want to help make sure that your community's site is as safe, let us know any listings which might be questionable. It only takes one click, report it.

Get involved with the moderation team, email wendy@usedeverywhere.com