i am listing my awesomely figured, handcarved, finely finished,
orgasmic wood jewelry on ebay and etsy, what does anyone thinke, is
it possible to sell directly on ebay, am hoping for a possible look
from foreign countries, david
I’m just one person, but my experience with ebay was not positive.
Ebay seemed to be populated with bargain hunters. I found etsy to be
a better venue, and I’m sure if I worked at my etsy site more I would
do better, right now I sell mostly at the holidays.
Janet Kofoed
Is it possible to sell on eBay? Sure - I’m a top rated seller on
eBay. but NOT with my jewelry! It is largely an online garage sale.
folks looking for super bargains.
I have had NO luck with my jewelry or metalwork at normal prices.
Your mileage will vary, but don’t count on it…
Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio
i am listing my awesomely figured, handcarved, finely finished, orgasmic wood jewelry on ebay and etsy
Forgive me, but what is “orgasmic wood”? I dare not google it.
One of my IT jobs (1996-9) was consulting licensed auctioneers on
how to sell on the internet and Ebay. One of the reasons I do not
sell on FeeBay is the abhorrant cut they take. Now they have also
started taking money on shipping even if you do not charge any
handling fees they take it in the percentages. You have to make your
own informed opinion on whether your products are worth enought o
allow the loss involved. The last time I calculated the fees charged
was too high for me to consider and that was April 19, 2012.
final value fee + listing fees + paypal fees adds up to quite a
percentage. So unless what you have is a highly unusual desirable
item not easily sold locally worth enough to let you lose minimum 30
pct of your profit it is best not to use Feebay.
Even then since most of what I do have that is that valuable are
Paleolithic artifacts that somehow survived the house fire (YAY for
archival packing) I would chose Sotheby’s or another auction firm
that charges 40%, but does so with a client list available to buy
such rarities.
Ebay remains as stated a very too large garage sale. Still an
excellent source for occasional items mis-listed or poorly listed.
However, so large most more mundane things are found in quantity or
by suppliers who can undercut little sellers. I occasionally get
laptop repair parts there and such. If I had skull plastic cameos I
could make a fortune, but I cannot sell my hand carved cameos in
shell. I think Etsy is a nice place to advertise and get an
occasional sale. If there were a way for us to all stay in studio and
sell all of our work I think we would all be happy. Unfortunately
nothing seems to beat the in person one on one sales venue.
Like anything it takes 20-50 years of hard labor to be an over night
success LOL
Teri
The good thing about ebay is that it does not cost you anything to
list the first 50 listings a month, so why not try it. I look at it
as free exposure. You only pay if it sells, (10%). And some people
like to buy off of ebay. So I put a link to the listing, and offer it
as an alternative.
Best of luck, I work off of a strict business plan. So I committed
to Ebay for two years, and the same amount on Etsy. I have completed
the ebay. I spent over $2,000 and made only $350. Etsy is much
better, i enjoy it more, and i spend time wandering around looking
at how others do, and it seems that the first year is slow, then
picks up. I enjoy Etsy much more because it is cheaper, it is easier
to have a nice site, and it is easier to maintain a store. Even
without profit, i will keep my etsy. I enjoy etsy, and it looks like
a store.
Best of luck, blessings pat
I’m dealing with “is eBay worth the hassle” right now also. I
rebuild vintage machines (grinders/sanders/saws). I start with
quality tools that I buy on eBay clean them up, add new bearings and
diamond wheels, belts, and water feed systems, a couple of coats of
appropriate paint. and resell. I do this with the same attitude I
take to a jewelry project, when someone wants old pieces reworked.
There is occasionally some simple engineering changes, but mostly I
add stainless screws for rusted screws, bronze/copper for plastic,
and do little things that give them more versatility when I can. I
thought I would be able to do this and supplement my jewelry habit,
so I wouldn’t “have” to make jewelry projects just for the money to
pay some bills. My wife and I figured I personally had made 20,000 or
so silver “twisties” (my bread and butter items at the shows), not to
mention the thousands she made when working for me and those that
apprentices and people that I hired made. I still make them, they
still get smiles and bring back customers, but if I never made
another it wouldn’t bum me out. Back to eBay: sometimes I will move 3
or 4 machines for my asking price before the auction is even over,
sometimes no one will give you even what one diamond wheel is worth.
My son works for people that optimize web pages to help you sell
whatever you have to offer. He is in the process of trying to
arrange with his boss and co-workers, trades for jewelry, to get me
out there in the much bigger pool of social media. It seems the
general consensus is, you need to be hooked up as many ways as
possible to have serious e-success. eBay alone is not something to be
counted on
It’s possible with spectacular photos.
Most ebay web shoppers are just looking for the cheapest possible
price on a given item.
David,
I had a horrible experience with ebay.
All I can say is wait until the check clears before sending the
jewelry! And PayPal (owned by ebay) will take money out of your
account without your permission!
Also, please be aware of the various scams out there. The most
common is when the buyer wants to send you more money than you’re
asking.
Paf Dvorak
Ive given Ebay some thought, and am still reluctant to list my work,
for a no of reasons They, Ebay, keep emailing me, asking me to start
selling via their auctions.
I keep replying to say, Their terms and conditions are quite
unacceptable for example, They want unrestricted access to my bank
account, they provide a high level of protection to the buyer, but
virtually no protection to the seller, leaving one open to all kinds
of buyer fraud.
They make it very difficult to contact their customer services.
In exchange for what? If I wanted to sell via an auction, id use a
local auction house, where I can meet the organisation, discuss my
ideas, and agree any issues in advance.
Then I compare all this to the marketing i have done since 1968.
Where I get to meet my customers as said elsewhere, on a one to one
basis, payment is there and then, They get to see and try out the
item their interested in, or we can discuss a contract for a
production run from 100 to 5000 items.
Ok. So it takes 3 days to build the exhibition unit I use, but
because I offer something no other person can, I expect to have free
space, electric, parking, and sometimes a fee up front to take part
to cover what it costs to go, for example to the National Railway
museum of Holland and mint their plaque at the event for the event.
Other event organisers see what I do and ask me to go to their
event. I need of course at least a 3 day event, and a minimum of
25,000 through the gate for me to look at it. Finally, I do enjoy the
interaction with the customer, its always a stimulus and sometimes an
idea develops from this interaction that would not otherwise happen.
If you love making beautiful things it shows in the work. Let it
speak for itself.
Ebay just doesnt compare to what is above. If they want my work on
their auction it would be on my terms.
Ted
Dorset
UK.
Hi Orchid, We sell loose stones on ebay to supplement our jewelry
business in the tourist “low season” here in Alaska. After ten years
our experience has been that ebay is ok for selling loose stones if
you can take really good photos AND you know what you’re doing
enough to competeon the world market. For selling jewelry we have
found that it is possibleto sell but you will not get the price you
would get in person, so we mostly sell old pieces that didn’t sell
before and are just taking up space in the safe. Nothing beats
in-person sales when it comes to jewelry. Etsy is ok for return
customers but not much different from ebay for ‘cold-clicks’ in my
experience. best of luck, Douglas
I have sold on ebay since 1998 and found that collectibles have sold
the best for me. I used to sell supplies for glass fusing and found
that pretty successful for a few years but people would endlessly
undercut my prices and sales would drop. Then those people would
quit since they weren’t making any money and I would do well for
awhile. Finally I after 5 years I tired of the process.
I don’t think 15% commission between ebay and paypal is too much to
pay for listing at my desk.
I pay that and more to do most shows and I have to exhaust myself
doing them. However, with ebay the title is everything.
It used to be 55 characters and you had to maximize the words that
you used.
If you don’t sell something that people are already looking for,
they may not find it.
Also international shipping with tracking is very expensive. I sold
a gold ring to Germany not trackable or insurable and it was lost in
the mail and as a result and lost the ring and the money.
Etsy is a challenge. It is fun and sales are enough to keep me going
but it is work. Lots of pictures, key words, endless relisting and
still when I do a search I don’t always find my items in the first 5
pages of results. Still it offers a better chance of sales to
someone who is looking for jewelry or art specifically. Etsy is not
responsive and emails with questions are rarely answered
satisfactorily, mostly they tell you to check the forums.
I wish there was a better option.
Good luck
Barbara McCray
As to the fees on eBay, if your work is priced correctly, the fees
eBay takes still leaves you with significantly more than you would
get on a wholesale sale, so I don’t see the reason for complaining.
they are a business. they have to cover costs. I sell items at the
low end (again, not jewelry) and in the last 60 days have sold
$671.26; fees were $113.03 - or just under 17%. PayPal fees on those
sales for the same period were $30.55 (most payments had no fee), or
just under 5%. So together they are less than 22% - significantly
less than the 50% of retail you receive for a wholesale order. Works
for me! That is $527.68 in my pocket I would not have otherwise had.
I’m happy.
Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio
I keep replying to say, Their terms and conditions are quite unacceptable for example, They want unrestricted access to my bank account, they provide a high level of protection to the buyer, but virtually no protection to the seller, leaving one open to all kinds of buyer fraud.
They have no access to my bank account - they deposit all my funds
to PayPal, which DOES have access. I don’t ever have a lot in my
bank account, unfortunately, but I’ve known people who do to set up
a separate PayPal bank account, which they just use to pass the
money through…
Seller protection is getting better, but is NOT great I agree. I’ve
never had buyer fraud - maybe lucky or just careful. You can set
parameters for who can even see your listings. I sell world wide.
Nothing ships until payment has completely cleared. not arrived, but
cleared if it is a check.
They make it very difficult to contact their customer services.
NO! Click support, put in your question, click it didn’t answer,
gives you an 800 number and code to enter. always very helpful.
In exchange for what? If I wanted to sell via an auction, id use a
local auction house, where I can meet the organisation, discuss my
ideas, and agree any issues in advance.
Nice you have a local auction house. Our local auction houses are
flea market fire sale places. NOT where you want to sell decent
work! Then I compare all this to the marketing i have done since
1968.
If you love making beautiful things it shows in the work. Let it
speak for itself.
I agree, and personally have not found eBay to be a good place to
sell my jewelry. I do have friends who are painters who do quite
well on eBay. so who knows?
eBay is simply another available selling tool. Not all tools fit all
people at any given time. and what works great for one may not work
so well for the next one. You just need to understand what you are
doing and getting into with any of them.
Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio
I am a new customer with etsy going into my 4th month now. For years
now I have been collecting the good, the bad and the ugly jewelry at
yard sales. I have been selling it in the jewelry antique store where
I work as his bench jeweler. I am paying him 35%. I am retiring in 6
months and facing what do I do with all of this jewelry. A friend
suggested etsy. I bought an Ipad (a must) and went to work posting.
So far I am making a profit of about $450. A month. I am working out
the kinks, but am very hopeful that this will be a good supplement to
my social security check. Of course I didn’t pay much for this
jewelry, so the profit is about 90%. Much of it is what has been in
the store for years without selling. I raised the price and sold it
on etsy. Go figure? I will say that I can not make jewelry and make
any real money. It has to be stuff you don’t have much in. My sweet
spot seems to be $38. So if you have things sitting around that you
just can’t sell, give etsy a try. I’mstunned at the success. I paid
for my ipad the first month on line.
LaVerne
Beth,
How does that math work out? Ebay takes a straight 10%, and Paypal
takes 4% for a total of 14%, give or take a percent. How are you
paying 22%?
Thanks!!!
Dennis K.
I would say its possible to make a profit from Ebay but i wouldn’t
expect to get rich from it. As for the international market, just
make sure international buyers are able to bid! It can be great to
cut out the retailer and sell directly to the public but the
handmade market is very subjective onthat site and its extremely hard
to prove the quality of your work. If you have found a niche then you
may get lucky for a while before everyonejumps on the bandwagon and
if they do then don’t cut your prices so you end up working for free.
There’s no harm in giving it a go and seeing what happens. If your
items don’t sell don’t take it as a personal insult, you will still
have the stock for shows and fairs!
There is a useful and interesting website
devoted to small sellers, with lots of comments from the front lines
of Ebay and Etsy sellers, as well and news and about
other venues. Probably worth reading to see what people are
complaining about.
Ebay is bad. I sold a pair of Tiffany earrings I bought at Tiffanys
in the early 80’s that were stamped with their logo. I posted
detailed pictures of all sides. I said they were not returnable.
About ten days after I sent them to the buyer I received an e-mail
from her stating I was a fraud and she knew the earrings were fake
because the logo was not stamped in the Tiffany font.
I replied that I had personally bought them at Tiffanys and possibly
they changed their font over the years. I don’t know. I also asked
"why did you bid when the logo was plainly shown in the ebay pictures
and they were not returnable"? I closed with “I hope you will
reconsider”.
One week later I got an e-mail from ebay stating the buyer was
returning the earrings and the amount she paid would be taken out of
my Pay Pal account. I called ebay was put on hold for about forty
minutes waiting to speak with a “Dispute” person. There was no
reasoning with him. It was their way or the highway. What could I do?
I said “close my ebay account this minute I’m done with you people”.
He told me I couldn’t close the account for six to seven months to
be sure there were no other “problems”. Ebay is the worst. Does
anyone know if they have a decent competitor or do all the web based
outfits do the same things to sellers? I sure as heck do not.
Richard Langbert