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

4 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alley Cats Vintage on May 14, 2012 at 9:11pm

Where does RL advertise this sale?

Permalink Reply by TheVintageAdvantage on May 15, 2012 at 11:48pm

As I feared, I have not had one sale since the Red Tag event was announced to customers on Ruby Lane. I took a look at the day's new listings in Antique and Vintage Jewelry (my category) and out of more than 400 listings, there were only eight sold or sale pending items by midnight (EST). And the items on my customer wish lists are all items marked for the Red Tag. Hopefully that will result in sales, when the Red Tag takes place. But for now, the week looks bleak for any sales action. I really hope that Ruby Lane re-thinks the timing of announcing the Red Tag events in the future. Two to three days prior is more than enough. Anything more just encourges customers to lay low in anticipation of the event and shop sales languish. If anyone else agrees with this (and I saw a few others), please make a note in the RL suggestion box about it, as I did.

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 16, 2012 at 7:55am

I do agree with you that things seem to be at a stand still, awaiting the sale. I just sent a suggestion that they lower the preview time from 7 to 3 days.

Permalink Reply by Alley Cats Vintage on May 16, 2012 at 8:52am

I agree too and will add it as a suggestion.

Permalink Reply by TheVintageAdvantage on May 16, 2012 at 10:51am

Thank you for adding a suggestion, as well. The more voices the better on this. Sales are at a premium as it is these days. A week without any orders really hurts!

Alley Cats Vintage said:

I agree too and will add it as a suggestion.

Permalink Reply by TheVintageAdvantage on May 16, 2012 at 10:53am

Thanks much for adding your voice to this matter.

Pearl's Parlor said:

I do agree with you that things seem to be at a stand still, awaiting the sale. I just sent a suggestion that they lower the preview time from 7 to 3 days.

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on May 16, 2012 at 12:10pm

As I understand it, even though the site shows the Red Tag Sale tagline when we are able to start adding items 7 days prior, the Ruby Lane email to customers and Facebook and other social networking site announcements go out 3 days before the sale. I believe the PR dept also posts online ads in various AVC venues and issues a press release.

So really only people who are shopping the site from Saturday to Tuesday before the sale will see the promo line. The big blast does go out 3 days before the sale.

Permalink Reply by TheVintageAdvantage on May 16, 2012 at 12:57pm

I’m not sure about that since Ruby Lane did not mention it, when I sent administration a message about too early announcement of the Red Tag event. And even if that is true, the Red Tag notice on the RL site is enough to slow sales in anticipation of the sale. Not only is the announcement headline running across all site pages, but listings chosen for the Red Tag by individual sellers are tagged that they are part of the sale and disclose how much discount there will be on that particular item.

All I know is my sales have dramatically dropped off since the Red Tag was announced (whether just on site or otherwise) and other RL dealers apparently are experiencing this, as well. And my customer wish list shows only those items now marked for the Red Tag. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

Suzy's Timeless Treasures said:

As I understand it, even though the site shows the Red Tag Sale tagline when we are able to start adding items 7 days prior, the Ruby Lane email to customers and Facebook and other social networking site announcements go out 3 days before the sale. I believe the PR dept also posts online ads in various AVC venues and issues a press release.

So really only people who are shopping the site from Saturday to Tuesday before the sale will see the promo line. The big blast does go out 3 days before the sale.

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on May 16, 2012 at 1:11pm

I hear you, I am seeing the same thing, although I did have a decent Sunday sales spurt and I usually don't get sales on Sundays. Here's hoping that your sales on Saturday more than make up for this week!

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on May 17, 2012 at 7:00pm

Well, I just sold one of my tag sale items. I think part of the problem may be the time of year and time of month. We're heading into nice weather, which usually slows sales and I find that the middle of the month is always slower than the beginning and end. I hope this sale perks things up for all of us!

Permalink Reply by COBAYLEY on May 18, 2012 at 10:56am

Because of the number of items in my shop, I'm allowed 131 RTS items. And I'm going to use every one of them. The last two sales generated lots of interest in my shop and I made sales. I made a couple of sales before the sale with folks that had wished my items and when they saw them in the sale, they made me an offer and I accepted. I think it's the perfect time of year for a RTS. I'm trying to clear lots of "old" merchandise and this is a perfect way to promote that...

Permalink Reply by San Marcos Art Glass on May 18, 2012 at 11:21am

I don't think the RTS has an effect on sales. We're going into the slow season, so sales will probably drop off until fall. I would be happy if they didn't, but it is usually not the case.

If you don't want the red tag banner on your item ahead of time, you can hold off adding things to the sale until the day before the sale. Personally I like to give customers a chance to look at things that will be in the sale whenever I participate. Come to think of it -- the only RTS items I've sold have happened before the sale by a customer who asked if they could have the discount early. I don't have anything in the sale this time because I'm having a clearance sale all month. The RTS would add a little too much sale to my shop. :)