[Biz Talk] Selling Online

Tried posting this question and never saw it come through, will try
again. I know there are lots of websites out there where you can
sell your jewelry or craft. I was lead to one wwar.com by one of
our illustrious members.are there more ? I’m looking for websites
that are maintained by one or more individuals and for a precentage
will display and promote your artwork for sale. In your opinion do
they sell? What’s your favorite? What are their drawbacks? Thank
you, Lisa

Dear Lisa;

If you are a registered company you can work with Bidz.com hth
hanuman

Lisa, The gallery/online marketplace type sites typically do not
work very well. The only people I know who have any success in
online sales have their own website. The gallery/online marketplace
typically does not do a good job (most don’t even try) of getting
your name into the search engines so it makes it hard if not
impossible to find you on the web. Also none of these sites have
really made a name for themselves on the net in a way that a
consumer will say “gee I need some jewelry I think I will go to
jewelrymarket.com to buy some” so unless the customer stumbles on
the site then stumbles onto your section of the site they just will
not find you. The only one that has come close was guild.com and
they were bought by ashford.com last year and have for all intents
and purposes disappeared. They are still there but there has been
almost no marketing of the guild.com name since its acquisition. But
even on guild.com the people I talked to who had been on the site
for a year or more had very small sales volume if any.

So if you want to have success as an online artist you need your

own website. You can do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you
but you need your own site. It takes some work but all forms of
selling your work do.

Good Luck

Jim
James Binnion Metal Arts
Phone (360) 756-6550
Toll Free (877) 408 7287
Fax (360) 756-2160

@James_Binnion
Member of the Better Business Bureau

The only one that has come close was guild.com and they were
bought by ashford.com last year and have for all intents and
purposes disappeared. They are still there but there has been
almost no marketing of the guild.com name since its acquisition.
But even on guild.com the people I talked to who had been on the
site for a year or more had very small sales volume if any. 

While I have not had consistent success with my work on Guild.com, I
just re-upped my contract with them, precisely because they HAVE
continued their marketing efforts, James. I’ve certainly had some
problems with them as they’ve undergone various transitions (they are
no longer part of Ashford.com), but they continue to actively promote
their site and their artists, especially through catalog mailings to
their very extensive mailing list. Unfortunately for me, their
catalogs feature items that can be ordered (which only makes sense)
and I do all one-of-a-kind items which can’t. Regardless, it
certainly beats mounting and maintaining one’s own website given
limited time and resources!

Beth