It's a Ruby Lane Red Tag Sale !!!

Here we go again - have fun getting ready for the sale and hope all of you sell lots and lots of items !

Now that spring is in the air, we are pleased to announce the third Ruby Red Tag Sale beginning on Saturday, May 19th at 8am (Pacific Daylight Time) and ending on Sunday, May 20th at 8am (Pacific Daylight Time).

You may choose to submit up to fifteen percent of your shop's items to be included in the sale, at discounts of either 30%, 40%, 50% or 60% off. Items submitted can be previewed by both shops and buyers prior to the sale, and can be purchased at their original price, but not at the Ruby Red Tag Sale price until the sale starts. Once the sale ends, the price of the items returns to its original price before the sale. 

Ruby Red Tag Sale – A Special Occasion

The Ruby Red Tag Sale is designed to be a special occasion, not a regular event. Each 24-hour Sale will be held at different times throughout the year to mark seasonal milestones, during the holidays, and to drive more traffic to the site during slower sale periods. 

Free To Participate

Currently the Ruby Red Tag Sales are free for shops to participate. That's right – absolutely free.

Here are a few statistics from the first two Sales: 

 
Over 1,000 shops participated in each Sale 
Over 19,000 items were listed in each Sale 
During the September 2011 sale, the traffic and sales on the site were so strong that we had the biggest sales day in our 13-year history. 
Total sales for the December Sale, which includes Ruby Red Tag Sale and non-Ruby Red Tag Sale items, were triple what they normally are on a Saturday. 
Stats from both Sales showed that shoppers also purchased items that were not in the Sale. In fact, during the December Sale (a 48-hr. Sale) they purchased 73% more non-sale items than sale items. This demonstrates that the Sale provides traffic to a shop's entire inventory, not just Sale items.

Your participation in the May 19th/20th Sale is completely voluntary and free. It's a great way to drive traffic to your shop, and to move inventory that has been in your shop for a while

To learn more about the Ruby Red Tag Sale go to the  FAQ for Shop Owners

You may begin putting your items into the Sale starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 12th. Items can be viewed by both buyers and sellers as they are added to the Sale, located under SHOP. To add items from your shop into the May 19th Ruby Red Tag Sale go to Add Items to the Ruby Red Tag Sale under Promotions, on your shop owners home.

Start your engines!!

If you have questions, please send them to Customer Support at Ruby Lane. Click the Help button found on every page of Ruby Lane.

Tags: Carol Augustine, RRTS, Ruby Lane, Ruby Lane Red Tag Sale, online selling, rubylane, venue, www.rubylane.com

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on May 13, 2012 at 10:56am

Now that the items are showing as Red Tag items it seems to be driving some traffic - I'm seeing some of my items showing up on wish lists now.

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on May 13, 2012 at 3:11pm

Did anyone notice the RTS is still free? Way to go, Ruby Lane, I really appreciate that, especially with RP closing down. I'm starting to see RTS items on Wish Lists today and after a week of very few sales, I had 4 today!

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 13, 2012 at 3:23pm

That is great that it's free. Congrats on your sales!

Permalink Reply by Alley Cats Vintage on May 13, 2012 at 5:01pm

I think it should always be free. When the time comes we have to pay fees for the sale, it will probably have almost no participation.

Permalink Reply by TheVintageAdvantage on May 14, 2012 at 5:23am

I think the Red Tag sales are a nice incentive for drawing traffic and, hopefully, an uptick in sales. However, I would suggest that Ruby Lane not preview the sale to customers so early in the game--a week before the sale takes place is too much time. This may result in longer shop wish lists and more browsers, but I think it also deters any orders in anticipation of the Red Tag sale. So shop owners see a little more activity in page views, but few actual purchases, because customers have a wait and see attitude about the items they may like and may be in the sale. I really think one or two days prior to the Red Tag is enough for a customer preview.

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 14, 2012 at 6:43am

In the past Red Tag sales, there was a small fee when the item was sold during the sale. This is the first one I think that is free. I was just reading on the FAQ on Ruby Lane that buyers are notified 3 days ahead of time via social media. I agree that that's enough time for the preview. I think some buyers can get confused that whatever item they're looking at may be on sale. They just see the red banner at the top of the shop.

Permalink Reply by Alley Cats Vintage on May 14, 2012 at 8:41am

I was thinking the same thing as VtgAd. Sales for this week will probably be dead because buyers will wait to see if the item goes on sale. I thought about this AFTER I had already entered my sale items. I was in the first RL red tag sale but didn't make a single sale. I didn't participate in the 2nd sale. I'm thinking this is the 3rd one so I thought I would give it a try since I'm getting ready to do a major cleanout. I'm really hopeful about this one.

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on May 14, 2012 at 9:00am

I have participated in both of the others and for me, sales were disappointing. Other people had better luck though. I think that these sales drive traffic, and that's always a good thing. As to whether this will slow sales this week - I think it could go either way. Some people may wait for the sale to buy, but others will see things they like and/or get afraid that someone else will get the item and may jump in early. I just hope that this time I can use it to clear out some older items.

Permalink Reply by Graceful Antiques on May 14, 2012 at 9:31am

I also think they start this too early. Perhaps 3 days before would be nice. I was very happy with the last Red Tag sale.

Seeing a lot of nice items already even so having to contain myself to sell before I buy. Have added some to the sale and will as the week goes on. I have so much stuff.

I bought a very nice piece of jewelry the other day from a RL dealer. ( I like to mama myself from time to time. )

Lets think of supporting each other as dealers also in this Ruby Lane promotion.

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on May 14, 2012 at 11:30am

No, they've all been free so far. They stated fees that would be charged after the first two sales, which they offered free since it was a brand new idea.

Here's my take on this: RL advertises this sale like crazy, it brings in more traffic which is good for all of us even if it doesn't result in a direct sale for an individual's shop. When RL starts charging for the RTS, I would assume it's to offset the cost of advertising, not to profit, so I don't have a problem with that. Plus, I believe you only pay a fee if you sell an item.

My experience with the last two sales is that I didn't sell a single item I had put on sale, but I had more sales the week before and during the sale than I usually do. After RL announced the sale publicly, I sent an email to my customers with a link to my sale items, posted it on Facebook, tweeted it, etc. So if RL had charged for the first two sales, I wouldn't have paid a fee because none of my RTS items sold, but I did benefit from the increased traffic and it gave me another opportunity to remind my customers I'm here (I only send an email out once per month usually).

I also purchased a few things the last 2 sales and have wish listed a few things for this sale.

The only thing I still have a problem with is that RL allows too many items to be put on sale and unless you are searching for specific pieces, there is no way you can page through all the items for sale to see if something catches your eye. So I do specific searches or visit the shops I like to see what they have on sale. I'm probably missing lots of good stuff that way, but I don't have the time to view every single item in the sale. That's why it's good to let your past customers know about your sale items.

I wish all of you good luck and lots of sales this time!

Pearl's Parlor said:

In the past Red Tag sales, there was a small fee when the item was sold during the sale. This is the first one I think that is free. I was just reading on the FAQ on Ruby Lane that buyers are notified 3 days ahead of time via social media. I agree that that's enough time for the preview. I think some buyers can get confused that whatever item they're looking at may be on sale. They just see the red banner at the top of the shop.

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 14, 2012 at 2:16pm

Oh I see now. I read it too fast. So this should have been the first sale where fees were charged for sold items during the RTS. That's a nice bonus then that it's still free. I agree that there are a lot of items to look through. I don't think I've made it through all of the items during either of the previous two sales. I'll try again this time. Wasn't it originally 10% of a shop's items? It's 15% this time.

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on May 14, 2012 at 8:12pm

Yes, it was 10% the first time, can't remember about the second sale. I know that most shop owners requested the option of adding more items to the sale and RL obliged.