Frequently Asked Questions

What's Sharing all about?

This is a constructive discussion board for and by resale shopkeepers. Sharing is a place to discuss our businesses, explore options, offer tips and ask for others' thoughts and advice. We are not going to spend our time carping, whining, or complaining (that's what spouses are for!)

Sharing has a number of Forums. I've divided up all the info we most want to discuss into wide topics. If you put your questions and suggestions into the right Forum, they will get the most attention.

Everyone is welcome, but be helpful. If you disagree, explain why, and remember, we all have different ways of doing business. Wanting to do things "our way" is a major reason many of us are our own bosses.

First thing you should do is add your shop to our Guestbook. That way, we can "look you up" and see what you sell, where you are, etc. so our suggestions are meaningful. If you don't have a shop yet, tell us your plans. 

Ask any question, even if you think it's a "dumb" one. . . if you have the question, others do too. And give thought to answering questions. I was taught by my retail mentor to consider each customer as "a friend of a friend": someone I didn't know, but whom I genuinely wanted to help. If you think of your fellow shopkeepers this way, we'll have some great discussions.

Think about which forum your message will best fit under, and put it there. If you have a variety of concerns, split them into separate messages under the forum which is most logical. In other words, one topic per message please, and decide which forum is the logical place for it.

Useless, abusive, or weird messages may be deleted at my discretion and/or whim. Please also note, that if you haven't read any of our Products for the Professional Resaler, you may wish to do so, since there are many many answers available there!

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Joining in:  Reply to a message, or add a message

There’s two ways to participate:

First, you can REPLY to a message that’s posted. When you're reading a message, you will see all replies to it below the message itself. Keep scrolling down, and there's a nice empty box ready for your reply. In fact, it's even posted Reply to this message.  Simply fill it in (You'll notice, after you've replied to one message, that subsequent boxes "remember" you, filling in your name and email automatically.)  Note that a reply to a message automatically has as a subject line "Re: (whatever the previous subject line was)." I highly suggest that you change the subject line to a hint of your reply (erase it and type in what you want). You can and should change that subject line to reflect your opinion. For example, delete "Re: Need advice on handling toddlers" and change it to "Add a play area". Then type your reply in the box. If you think the original message should be quoted, click the "quote reply" box and it will be pasted in. (Hint: I always click the "quote" button, so when I'm replying, I remember what the person said... then I delete the quote before I post.)

To add a functioning link to any message (so readers can click on it and go), type the URL including the http:// part and our software will create a link there. For example, if you want to give readers a link to my site, you'd type http://www.tgtbt.com . Be sure that there's no punctuation right next to the URL, such as a period at the end of a sentence (see how I just left a space before the period in the last sentence?)

When you are done, you can "preview" or "submit." 

Or start a new topic within any of the discussions. At the top of each forum's "front page", you will see:

Board Links: messages   post   search   forums 
To start a new topic, click on  post. This takes you to a fresh page where it says Post a new message, and has a nice blank box to do so. Fill in your name, e-mail address (required), a meaningful subject line, then your new message. Misspelled words will be underlined, at least on PCs. You will have the opportunity to preview your message, or you can just "submit". You can also use HTML if you care to by clicking the preserve HTML tags box down below your message (for example, to include your email address as a live link), and you can even attach photos if you'd like.

Tip: Remember, you may have to click "reload" on your Web browser to see your message. If you mistakenly post twice, you'll look silly to everyone. And you have to tape a nickel to a postcard and mail it to Kate.

Board Links: messages   post   search   forums
Clicking on messages will show all messages in that forum.
search allows you to search all forums, both subject lines and text, for words or phrases. Of course, if someone didn't spell correctly, you may not find what you know is there somewhere...so be sure to doublecheck your messages before you submit.
And forums brings you back to Sharing's "front page", so you can see all the forums in one listing.

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Get the best responses to your messages

Think about which forum your message will best fit under. If you have a variety of concerns/ questions/ contributions, post each as a separate message.

Make sure you've read any past messages that might give you some answers. 

When you post, use a definitive subject line: for example, try "How can I sell suits better?" rather than "HELP!" Your subject line is your headline. If you want people to read your message, write a good headline!

Before you post, check for clarity. Include info to enable others to respond meaningfully. For example, a message like "Is $850 too much rent?" won't get you thoughtful answers unless you add: "in a strip center with a major grocery, for 1200 square feet with good visibility, on a major highway in a suburban area of New England." With the right input, you get good feedback.

Spelling counts. Periods and paragraphs are your friends. And typos are confusing. Kate reserves the right to ignore anyone who doesn't respect the time and intelligence of her/his peers by using standards of communication.

TIP: Use an informative subject line to lead readers in, just like a good headline leads readers into your newspaper ad.

Yes. And no. It's free for you to use, because I believe that by improving even one shop even one iota, every shop benefits with improved public perception. And because as a group, resale shopkeepers are the most friendly, down-to-earth types in retail. And because resale is a prime way to "save the earth."

But, no, this is not a free service. It costs Too Good to Be Threw time and effort and money to host this site. So if you don't have your own copy of Too Good to Be Threw : The Complete Operations Manual for Consignment Shops, or our many other Products for the Professional Resaler, may I suggest you visit our Products page and see what will help your shop be even more fabulous than it already is! Already have all our Products you need? Donate whatever you think this site is worth to your business. I promise to spend it on something fun. Like this site!

Tip: Yes, there's more to the biz than just the Manual. That's why we have all the other Products available. If you want to explore an area of the resale business in more detail, chances are it's on our Products Page.

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Stay on topic. If you have something to ask or add to the conversation, make sure you're in the right discussion and the right message.

Be clear. If we need to know something, tell us: otherwise we might be barking up the wrong tree. If you want to explain something, do so clearly. Paragraphs are your friends, and so is standard spelling. That is, if you wish to be understood. And NO apologizing for "sorry long" messages. This Board is not text messaging, it's clear and helpful business information. 

Stay civil. If you disagree, say why and offer pertinent advice. Don't fault others for having different opinions or goals.

Tip: Have fun! Don't be afraid to add your thoughts and opinions! We can all learn so much from others.

Searching Sharing

Glory hallelujah! Sharing can now search across all forums, in both the subject line (header) and within the text. But only, alas, if the author of the message has spelled correctly. Simply click on search  in the
Board Links: messages   post   search   forums which appears on every page and you will see all sorts of parameters to choose from.

To search any other TGtbT page for a word or phrase, use Google. In their search window, type
george site:tgtbt.com
(assuming you're looking for george!) and you will get results with "george" in them. 

Differences from the OLD Sharing to this new one:

You have to use http:// before a URL you wish to make a live link. That's no problem if you just cut-&-paste from a browser window. (The old sharing, you only had to use the www. prefix.)

SMILEYS! Yes, indeed, you can make them...in subject lines or in text. The following 3 are allowed:
:-) or :) makes a happy face (you can also use a semi-colon like ;-) or ;) if you like your smileys winking)
:-( or :( makes a frowny face (notice, it's a colon and not a semi-colon. Guess those who frown don't wink.)
:p (that's a colon and a lower-case p) makes a stick-out tongue face, which I hereby declare is the symbol for "Swallow your beverage before reading this message" and is to be used in the subject line so we do not spew liquids over our keyboards (it's good to be Queen.)

SEARCHING! If you have scrolled past my wonderful prose above here on this page and missed the fact that you can now SEARCH... go back. That function alone is worth the price of admission, isn't it?

Your email address is NOT clickable. That's a security thing to protect your address from being "harvested" by those nasty spammers. 

SPELLCHECK works, at least on my PC... it underlines things IT thinks are misspellings. Whether or not you agree is a whole 'nother subject.

Reading a whole thread at once. A thread consists of the original message and all the replies that people have added on to it. You can read them one by one by simply, or get them all in one long page, one after the other. To read all messages in a thread, you click on read all messages in thread which is under the actual message, on the left. It's very efficient, but if you are moved to reply to any of those messages, you must revert back to "standard view" by clicking on standard view which appears on the upper right, when you're in that "all messages" mode. (BTW: the read all messages in thread is part of read all messages in threadmessages... and if you run your mouse over that you will see you can click the word messages by itself, which takes you back to the "front oage" of that forum, where the messages are listed. Don't ask my why there is no space there. I cannot be responsible for the ENTIRE world (sometimes it's a pain to be Queen.)

And coolest of all: RSS FEEDS which is better than getting email notifications! Here's how Deb of Designs by Deb explains RSS feeds:
If you'll note the orange Icon in the URL address bar when you are on the Sharing Board, you'll recognize the RSS feed. To me this is a GREAT feature. Almost as good as getting an email when my post has been answered.

If you use firefox, I use the add on Sage for the feed reader. It's set up like book marks When I'm at a site that has the rss feed indicator in the address bar and I want to set it up, I have sage add it - two mouse clicks.

Then several or as many times throughout the day I update my feeds and can see in summary form the threads to this message board, to Kate's auntie Kate blog and many more.

I even have craigs list searchs entered in as a feed (my oldest is looking to buy a car and so I have that search set up). It is so worth the time (and it's very little time) to set up a feed reader, if you don't already have one, I'd certainly encourage it. Here's the link: http://sage.mozdev.org/

I'm not too familiar with IE's options - I think it's referred to as live bookmarks. I like firefox too much to mess around with IE. I use IE sparingly. ----Deb

Okay, I got it! Take me to Sharing, I'm ready to participate!!!