Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cathy’s Marketplace?
It’s a website where you can sell and buy quality home items at good prices, and watch video decorating tips showing how to use Cathy’s Marketplace items to add style to your space.
What can I find on the site?
Quality items for the home: all types of furniture; accessories including area rugs, lighting and decorative accents; and art including paintings and wall hangings.
What’s the difference between Cathy’s Marketplace and other online marketplaces?
Cathy’s Marketplace only accepts home items that the seller represents to be upscale, in good condition and being offered at a discount from retail value.
To increase the likelihood that items will be of good quality, sellers will pay small account fees based on the number of items they submit. (During our soft launch, all accounts are FREE.)
Finally, selected items are featured in weekly videos showing designer tips on using them to decorate your home.
How does it work?
If you have items you want to sell, register or log in and upload your item info and photos. All items are filtered for quality and price — meaning submissions are reviewed as quickly as possible to see if they meet our standards before we post them live on the site.
In order to protect sellers' privacy, names and email addresses are never posted on the site.
If you see something you’re interested in buying, you can email the seller using the form on the item page. We'll forward the message to the seller, along with the email address you provide.
Who uses Cathy’s Marketplace?
People looking for good deals on upscale items for their home; people who want to sell their upscale home items on a site marked by high quality, easy sorting and photo navigation; and people interested in video decorating tips using items from Cathy's Marketplace.
Where is Cathy’s Marketplace?
The site is administered from offices in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Is Cathy’s Marketplace only active on Oahu, or are there other sites?
The site launched on Oahu but is active on all major islands in Hawaii.
How did it come about?
Cathy’s Marketplace was created by RSVPstyle, a home design and décor teaching company based in Honolulu, to meet demand from local Realtors and residents seeking an easy, quality way to sell upscale home items they no longer need.
What is RSVPstyle?
RSVPstyle is Hawaii’s first and only home design and décor teaching company. Founded in 2006, it teaches the basics of designer décor to anyone wanting to bring their own style into their space.
RSVPstyle’s live Decorate with Style
workshops have trained more than 2,000 people in Hawaii; thousands more follow
RSVPstyle president/design diva Cathy Lee’s biweekly appearances on Hawaii’s
ABC affiliate and updated decorating videos and articles at www.rsvpstyle.com.
Where can I find RSVPstyle?
Go to www.rsvpstyle.com. The interactive website is where you’ll find free video decorating tips, style articles, latest news, Cathy Lee’s blog, Learn to Decorate with Style DVDs and workbooks, and in-depth pages on home-industry experts.
UPLOADING AN ITEM TO SELL
How do I upload an item to sell?
If you’ve already registered, log in and go to My Items. Follow the directions for uploading info and photos.
If you haven’t registered, you’ll need an account. Go to Register and follow the directions. Once you’ve chosen your account level, just go to My Items and you can start uploading.
Clicking the Submit this button will send your item to Cathy’s Marketplace for review. We’ll send you a confirmation e-mail when your item goes live on the site.
How should I price my item?
Minimum asking prices that you can post are Furniture - $50, Accessories - $25, Art - $50, Miscellaneous - $25.
Please keep in mind what someone might pay for the same item at another venue, e.g. an estate sale or consignment store, and offer your item at a competitive and significant discount from retail value.
How can I edit my posting?
Go to My Items in the My Account section and click on the item you want to edit. The item page will be displayed. Click on Make changes.
When you've finished your changes, click Save for now and your item will be resubmitted to us to post live again.
How can I bring my posting to the top of the list?
It's simple: Just log in, go to My Items and click on Make changes, and update your price, description, any change in number of items you have left. Then save your changes. If everything looks good, we'll post it live on the homepage again.
If you don't make any substantive changes, and your information looks virtually the same as when you first submitted it, we won't approve it for live posting again.
How can I delete my posting, e.g. if I change my mind or sell my item to someone first?
If you’ve sold your item, go to My Items in the My Account section and click on that item. The item page will be displayed. Click the Sold button.
If your item hasn’t yet been posted live, you can go to My Items in the My Account section, choose the item, and click on Delete.
If your item is live and you want to delete it, go to My Items in the My Account section, choose the item, click on Make changes, and choose Delete.
If your item was selected to be featured in our weekly video clip, it cannot be deleted. Even if it’s been sold, these items will remain posted for one year, after which they’ll be archived so that people viewing the clip will be able to see more about the item.
How can I mark something as SOLD?
Go to My Items in the My Account section and click on that item. The item page will be displayed. Click the Sold button.
How many things can I submit?
During our soft launch period, you can submit up to 20 items at a time.
Marking an item as SOLD will take it off your count so you can submit more. For example, say you’ve uploaded your maximum of 20 items. You’ve sold 5 and want to submit more. Mark those 5 items as SOLD, and you’ll now be able to upload 5 more.
How do I add photos to my post?
Go to My Items in the My Account section and click on the item you want to add a photo to. Click on Make changes and add your photos.
You can add up to 4 photos per item, so if you already have 4 photos, you’ll need to delete one before you can replace it with a new one.
Can I submit an item without a photo?
No. The site will not let you submit something without at least one photo.
How long will my posting be live on the site?
It will live there for one year or for the duration of your account, or the duration of our soft launch.
If your item was chosen to be featured in one of our weekly video clips, it will be live for one year, after which it will be archived.
Can I repost something if it hasn’t sold by the time my account expires?
Once we officially launch, you’ll be able to repost it by renewing your account.
How can I post anonymously and still get responses from interested buyers?
Every item posted will have a box at the bottom of the page that an interested buyer can use to contact you by email. None of your personal info is shown. The buyer writes you a message, gives his or her email contact, and sends the email to us. We’ll forward the message to your email address.
From there, you contact the interested buyer directly. If your regular email address contains identifying information like your name, or you don’t want interested buyers to know this address, simply reply from another email address.
What do you mean by “all items are filtered for quality”?
Cathy’s Marketplace reviews each submitted posting to see if it meets our standards for quality and good condition before making it live on the site.
What kinds of things won’t make it past the filters?
We do not accept items that are broken, stained or otherwise in less-than-good condition, or that don’t have a high retail value relative to most other items in the same category. However, we rely on the seller to provide accurate information and photographs and we encourage the buyer to perform their own inspection of the items before purchase.
I know you’re about home items, but can I post a home-related service on the site?
No, Cathy’s Marketplace only accepts home items. If you’d like to advertise a service, call us at (808) 545-7787 for info about our Experts program.
What happens if something I’ve submitted gets rejected by the filters?
We’ll notify you by email within 24 hours after you submit it.
What's the difference between Art & Collectibles and Fine Art?
After launching Cathy's Marketplace with a single Art category, we began to notice that the range of submissions was far too broad to group together. We decided to break Art into two categories to better reflect the distinctions.
Fine Art items are those by noted artists whose work has current value on the art market. This category also includes items represented by the seller as high-value antiques (Cathy's Marketplace has no way of verifying any item as original or authentic; this determination is left to buyers and sellers).
Art & Collectibles is everything else.
Minimum asking price for Fine Art items is $100.
BUYING AN ITEM
How do I buy something that I like?
There’s a place at the bottom of the item page where you can send an email to the seller. You can let them know you’re interested, ask any questions and give them your contact info.
How do I find something that I don’t see on the site any more?
If you don’t see an item that was there previously, it means that it was sold or deleted. Items that have been sold are marked as SOLD. You can find them for a month after their sell date at the bottom of their category page.
What if I find that a posting that’s not accurate?
Email us at friends@CathysMarketplace.com.
How do I flag a suspicious posting?
Email us at abuses@CathysMarketplace.com or call us at (808) 545-7787.
What if I’ve bought something, and it’s not what I expected?
It’s up to you to check the item at the time of purchase. After that, since all transactions are between buyer and seller, you can bring up the matter with the seller by emailing them.
QUESTIONS ABOUT ACCOUNTS
Why do I need an account?
Unlike other online marketplaces, Cathy’s Marketplace distinguishes itself by quality. Charging sellers small account fees after our official launch helps us maintain the high quality of items sold on the site.
How do I sign up?
Just click on the Register or Sell button, and follow the simple instructions.
Do I have to sign up for an account if I only want to browse or buy something?
No. But if you’d like to get automatic email notifications when new video tips go up or when item types you’re interested in (e.g. sofas or mirrors) appear on the site, you’ll need an account. And don’t forget, having an account will let you upload your own items to sell.
Do I need an account if I want to sell something?
Yes.
If I sign up, will my personal info get shared with other businesses?
Our policy is not to share your info with any other business or organization, unless it is a vendor that Cathy’s Marketplace uses to complete a transaction. If a situation arises in which we would like to share your personal info, we will always ask your permission first. Of course you have the right to say no.
What do you do with my personal info?
See the Privacy Policy for more details.
