Being part of the watercooler group is somewhat of a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you can find things for sale that you never even knew you needed until you saw it posted for such a good deal! But, on the other hand, there are so many emails that clog your inbox. Even if you filter the messages or even ask them to skip your Inbox, it can get overwhelming. Then, as if that isn't enough, you get follow-up emails from people that say when things have been sold. And, yet, there are still about 400 people on watercooler, including me! So, I have some suggestions on how to sell multiple items on watercooler, while also decreasing the impact on people's inboxes and making buyers love you!
First, we can leverage the power of Google to set up a virtual thrift sale. Just create a new folder and set the sharing settings to "anyone with the link can view." People will be able to open your folder and look at all of your goodies. You can right click on the image to enter the name of the item and a price. You can also put a Google document in that folder that provides descriptions and prices. As people purchase your wares, simply delete the photo from the folder and it will not appear to your shoppers.
To start a new folder, use the red "New" (Or "Create") button on the left side of your Google Drive Screen and choose "Folder." A new folder will be created in your Google Drive. You can single-click on that folder and then use the image of the person with the plus by it to change the sharing settings of the folder. You will need to do this in order for people to be able to open your folder. You will likely want to set it so that people with the link can view the folder so that no one except you can delete images from the folder.
Then, begin dragging and dropping or uploading your photos to the new folder. You will want to probably set the folder to thumbnail view so that people see a gallery of photos in the folders.
Once you try this once, you'll see that the setup is pretty easy and then you'll have it all set to go next time you have things to sell. Once your shared folder is set up, then you can share it in your email with the watercooler group. When you compose an email, click the Google Drive symbol near the "Send" button and you can choose your shared folder. That folder will appear as a clickable link in the email.
This way, you can send one email to the watercooler group with information about the types of things you have for sale, and a linked folder of images and/or descriptions. As you sell your items, delete them from the folder and they will no longer be available for viewing. If you need help setting this up, just get in contact with me. You'll make the other 399 members of watercooler so much happier to decrease their watercooler emails by about 75% while still being able to shop for things you never even knew you wanted because it is such a good deal!
For an example, feel free to see my shared folder "Items For Sale" by clicking the link below.
Folders for shared images work really well for other things also. If you have photos from a field trip, you can upload them to a folder and set it so that anyone with the link can view and send the link to parents. Parents can see and download images of their own students without worrying about attachment limits. You can share a folder of images with students to help further illustrate certain concepts in your classroom. What other things have you used shared folders for?
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