I HAVE a brand new title. It would be much more exciting if it came with any kind of kudos but, alas, it’s just a description.
I am, it seems, a sellsumer. I’ve been a nameless one for years, but with the practice’s sudden surge in popularity, some marketing person somewhere has decided to make up a moniker for those of us who aren’t real retailers but who sell a little bit of something on the side from time to time. So we’re consumers who sell. Sellsumers. Geddit?
Yippee! Yet another label to add to the lexicon of meaningless marketing buzzwords.
The beloved and I always had a passion for finding and prettying up collectibles, and we turned out to be pretty good at it, so I started selling them on. Then there are my these-days-sporadic sales of my own creations – mosaics; hand-painted ostrich eggs, some of which have found homes as far afield as Spain, France and America; a painting or two; and even a gigantic “fat lady” rag-rug wall-hanging, featuring such recycled materials as a pair of the beloved’s (well-laundered) discarded PJs. I called my flamboyant, thunder-thighed creation Never Say Diet and I was really sad to see it go, but at least it went to a good home (and I still have a photographic reminder).
As a “new” community, we sellsumers are apparently filling a recession-induced need for cash. No arguments there – in fact, I reckon I need to make time to create some more saleable products. Where it all gets rather senseless is in the hype the “official” new name is also summoning up:
“If saving is the new spending, then selling is the new saving,” reckons trendwatching.com. If there was a contest for meaningless sentences – how could saving ever be any kind of spending? – this one would surely qualify.
What the report is right about, though, is the myriad creative ways by which we part- time entrepreneurs make our pin money.
Apart from conventional online South African marketplaces like Bid or Buy, an efficient auction and direct sales site modelled on the overseas giant eBay, sellsumers are peddling everything in cyberspace from clothing and crafts to “ex-boyfriend jewellery”, gift cards (unwanted ones, that is), and even sex. Strange, that last one. I always thought those selling it had an entirely different name…
One popular and novel commodity being sold by sellsumers in space-challenged countries like England is parking spots. Instead of parking in a potentially vulnerable street miles from where you want to go, you can buy regular or ad hoc space in someone’s home driveway or garage. The idea’s taken off so well that there are even organisations, such as ParkAtMyHouse, to connect those who need a space with those who have one.
Offline, one shopping mall in America even allows individuals to lease small sales kiosks for a weekend at a time.
The ideas for temporary traders are endless and fascinating, not to mention useful if you need to make a little extra boodle, but as a new word – or neologism – sellsumer really sucks. For while it’s true that consumers consume, no one will ever get me to agree that I sellsume.
Today’s Chiel is Stevie Godson. E-mail her at
Another silly buzzword
I am, it seems, a sellsumer. I’ve been a nameless one for years, but with the practice’s sudden surge in popularity, some marketing person somewhere has decided to make up a moniker for those of us who aren’t real retailers but who sell a little bit of something on the side from time to time. So we’re consumers who sell. Sellsumers. Geddit?
Yippee! Yet another label to add to the lexicon of meaningless marketing buzzwords.
The beloved and I always had a passion for finding and prettying up collectibles, and we turned out to be pretty good at it, so I started selling them on. Then there are my these-days-sporadic sales of my own creations – mosaics; hand-painted ostrich eggs, some of which have found homes as far afield as Spain, France and America; a painting or two; and even a gigantic “fat lady” rag-rug wall-hanging, featuring such recycled materials as a pair of the beloved’s (well-laundered) discarded PJs. I called my flamboyant, thunder-thighed creation Never Say Diet and I was really sad to see it go, but at least it went to a good home (and I still have a photographic reminder).
As a “new” community, we sellsumers are apparently filling a recession-induced need for cash. No arguments there – in fact, I reckon I need to make time to create some more saleable products. Where it all gets rather senseless is in the hype the “official” new name is also summoning up:
“If saving is the new spending, then selling is the new saving,” reckons trendwatching.com. If there was a contest for meaningless sentences – how could saving ever be any kind of spending? – this one would surely qualify.
What the report is right about, though, is the myriad creative ways by which we part- time entrepreneurs make our pin money.
Apart from conventional online South African marketplaces like Bid or Buy, an efficient auction and direct sales site modelled on the overseas giant eBay, sellsumers are peddling everything in cyberspace from clothing and crafts to “ex-boyfriend jewellery”, gift cards (unwanted ones, that is), and even sex. Strange, that last one. I always thought those selling it had an entirely different name…
One popular and novel commodity being sold by sellsumers in space-challenged countries like England is parking spots. Instead of parking in a potentially vulnerable street miles from where you want to go, you can buy regular or ad hoc space in someone’s home driveway or garage. The idea’s taken off so well that there are even organisations, such as ParkAtMyHouse, to connect those who need a space with those who have one.
Offline, one shopping mall in America even allows individuals to lease small sales kiosks for a weekend at a time.
The ideas for temporary traders are endless and fascinating, not to mention useful if you need to make a little extra boodle, but as a new word – or neologism – sellsumer really sucks. For while it’s true that consumers consume, no one will ever get me to agree that I sellsume.
Today’s Chiel is Stevie Godson. E-mail her at
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