Who sells on e-bay?
 

Cynthia - I would love to see some of your pieces - if you have the gift - I bet you'd do wonderful - I don't sell on Ebay - but want to say GOOD LUCK ! you could start off with a few select pieces and see how it goes ? I bet you sell...After all - you belong to the biggest yorkie site on the net - you have a GREAT customer base right here !

Thanks Villette! I am going to take some pix of some things I have available. I've been on the ebay Q&A pages for about 2 hours now reading and it's a wealth of info. But boy is my head spinning!

I sell Lenox and clothes on ebay. Haven't done any selling since christmas. But it can be profitable, if you have what the people are looking for. Word to the wise.. When you post add some extra money into the shipping price so you can add tracking to your items.. I shipped two items out at different times and I was told the people never recieved them. They gave me negative feedback, which doesn't look good to the people your trying to sell to..
Good luck, oh and one more thing, people are ALWAYS looking for the bargain.

Just make a nice template for your goods and have clear, big pictures. People love pictures! :)

Also, if you don't have a Paypal account, you can create one so you can then accept money via credit cards. And shipping with delivery confirmation is a MUST (I think insurance is too, but that depends on the value of the item you are selling). Good luck on your venture!

Ha Ha! Shana (Shanatink) and I are always moaning to eachother about bad ebay customers. But the good ones far outway the bad. I have had an excellent experience. I started last october selling just two colors of my dog coats just as a little hobby to keep me busy. But gradually added many more items. It has turned into a very nice little business for me, that at times far exceeds the time I have in a day to make the items and keep up. I could never have imagined that I could do this, but thankfully ebay is so popular you have a wide variety of people seeing your items.

You will learn as you go along how you will like to sell things. I used to take any form of payments from ebayers, but have since started only taking paypal as it's easiest.

Feel free to ask me any questions

I sell on ebay and the fees are rediciculous. So you want to have most of your items in your ebay store becasue they are much cheaper to list that way. Your best bet is to have several really good items up for auction to draw people into your ebay store. Competition on ebay also stinks for sellers. It can be really hard because ebay customers excpect low prices but yet sellers have to raise thier prices due to the amount of fees but cant raise them too much because of competitions so in the end you just end up losing out on profit. It was several months before I realized how much I was throwing away on ebay. I am personally backing off on ebay. I used to love it but not anymore. If you want to get serious about doign your jewelry business you should start a website. Good LUck, Hope it does well :) .

She is right. As much as I want to complain about fees I do have some wonderful customers because of ebay. Ebay is also how I got started with my whole business so I ahve to give them some credit. The good thing about those HIGH fees that you have to pay is that ebay does ALOT of marketing with it on search engines and the web so they draw in a huge customer base. Ebay is great to get started with :) . I just need some reminding when they take the fees out of my bank account ;)

Wow, thanks so much for all the advice guys! Troubletb, thanks for the heads up! Great advice.

Dan, I was looking at some sort of template subscription service web site today. I know it would make my things look more desirable. And I had already decided to include tracking and insurance. I think that's an important safeguard too. Thanks for the input.

I know I am able to do creative things that people are impressed with, or else all my friends and family are lying dawgs, lol!! I've got quite a few beads that are calling out to be strung. My daughter has a fabulous jewelry wardrobe. I'm itching to start selling some things but I'm just scared I'm gonna get burned a lot. I've been reading lots of horror stories on the e-bay forums.

Jodi, my dream would be to make some money off my obsession, lol! You and Shana do so well! I've spoiled myself because I only like to work with natural stones and expensive beads and crystals. So the fear that paralyzes me is that I have priced myself out of the marketplace.

I have designed using Swarovski crystals, tourquoise, strawberry quartz, pearls and sterling silver among others. The small creme beads with polka dots in the pic below are dalmatian jasper. Very cool! And I love to do pendants with wire wrapping. I never use plastic unless they're seed beads or very very unusual. I don't know...maybe I'll go for it. I just have no confidence in myself!! Ugh! Anyway, what do you guys think of these? Gosh these pix are awful. Sorry!

Shana, you and Jodi are so my hero!! Thanks so much for the advice! It's great to know I have some wonderful YT friends who have experience on ebay.

WOW you have some very beautiful pieces there! Quality shows and you should have a lot of confidence in those!

List a few and see how it goes. When it comes to jewelry people enjoy quality, genuine stones and they like original designs! I love your style of jewelry too! People who wear nice jewelry know that it's not cheap either. And in my opinion there would be a market for it. As Shana said, a lot of ebayers are looking for cheap deals. But not all. Have you checked on ebay to see if there is anyone selling handmade necklaces using similar items? You can get an idea of what price things are going for and if they sell well.

What were you thinking pricewise for your items?

Hey Jodi, I just PMed you cause I wanted you to see my pix. I'm gonna take some more in a minute. I couldn't get the pix I wanted at 4 am...hmmm. Thanks for the compliments. That means a lot to me. I'd love to do one of a kind pieces. Prices?? I don't have the foggiest idea. I'm gonna get on ebay and do some more research.

I just looked at them again, I just wanted to say that I REALLY like your style and I'm very impressed. I can tell you put a lot of time and thought into these.

Cynthia, you have beautiful things.

I didn't know that you have to pay to list items if you don't sell them. I think that's ridiculous. I listed a few things, didn't get any bidders and had to eat the fees :(

I sold 2 things on e-bay.. 2 sport plaques... I think the highest bid I got was 25 dollars but it was like 15 to ship so i only made 10 dollars but it was worth it!! Good luck

Thanks guys. Kristy, what types of things did you list? I'm just real hesitant about this. This is what really discourages me, check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/S-SILVER-FW-PEAR...QQcmdZViewItem

Did you notice the item location? Yep, China. I can't make my items that cheap.

I have seen little dog outfits for like $5 and I can't believe my eyes, but they are from China. I can't compete with that either. But I try to make items that are different so people might want my items. Competition is bad on ebay. There are so many people that will copy you and sell it for cheaper. That sucks! That's why a website of your own is so much better. But it's just the advertising part that I hate and for the most part why I haven't gotton mine going yet.

I've sold a bunch of sport realted items, purses and other items I no longer had use for very successfully. Just make sure you charge enough to cover your shipping expenses, too.

I've also listed 5 or so handmade items (jewelry for people and dogs). I've only sold one :(

Kristy, I'm the same way. I think they'd sell but would they really??? Can you tell I second guess myself till I fall down exhausted, say "forget it" and go eat some chocolate??? I know, I'm pathetic!
Jodi, it sounds to me like you're ready for a website. If I had the business that you do I think I'd go for it.

Yeah that has become the problem. That is what I was talkign about. Fees have gone up & competition has increased. There is alot of dog clothes made in china that people sell on ebay for dirt cheap that competes with me & Jodi but like she said some people will actually want quality items from a seller they trust. Like us you will be offering unique one of a kind items and people like that.

Shana, I really appreciate your input. I'm with you guys. I've always wanted something that was unique. Something that's not available everywhere. You and Jodi have awesome things and I would not hesitate to recommend you guys to anyone looking for great stuff for pups! Boy, I gotta get a girl!!! Your girl things are tooooo cute!!

I was thinkin about selling my jewelry on ebay, i didn't want to get tangled up in all the fees and stuff. So i just sell mine in my parents store. Some weekends i do really well. I have gotten in to custom jewelry a little bit, but i make it they say it's perfect and a week later they want it like 1/2" shorter, and i have to restring it all! They don't realize the work that goes into it!

Hey my cousin sells her jewlery/ handmade clothes at little stores/boutiques in town. Maybe if there are any inyour area you could do that because she sells hers to the store then they mark it up so then she doesn't have to worry about it. Just a suggestion!

Maybe for starters you can list a couple of pieces on here for sale and see if anyone bites. I don't know how admin would feel about it since it's not really yorkie related, but i know there were two or three pieces you posted that i liked. Just a thought.

On the same thought I have a couple of things I'd love to sell on ebay but I'm terrified of the fees and such. That being said I have a pair of Low-rise Lucky jeans I don't wear anymore if anyone's interested PM me.

It is also hard to find something on ebay , unless you know exactly how to describe it in the description,,,, ya know,,, if ya put bracelet in , you get millions.. and unless you enter jade/ silver/ bracelet... you wont find it,,, Its hard to find things you wouldn't normally be looking for... did i say that right?? :confused:

Great ideas Sarah! You're a saint to be doing custom things. I have thought about taking some things to boutiques. I just haven't had the courage to do it yet. Man, I can totally relate to the term 'starving artist'. I'm compelled to create these things but it's just too expensive to just be a hobby. Especially when you work with semi-precious stones. I'd love to see some of your work. You're very lucky that you have a place to market your creations! Good luck with it!

My work isn't that great since i don't have much of a budget! The people that buy them seem to like them. I don't use the expensive beads, because people don't understand why they cost so much (and they can't tell the diff) plus it's mostly kids that buy my stuff anyway, so i can sell em for a reasonable amount that they can afford($6 for a necklace and $3 for a bracelet). I get most of my beads from joanns and micheals, sometimes firemountain (love them). I wouldnt have the courage to go in to a store either. I'll try to take some pics of my stuff. BTW Your work is awesome!

Beautiful work. Show us more, and maybe add some prices.
Joy, Nikki :animal36 and Chloe Rose :rose: :good job: :star: :star: :bravo:

Thank you! I know what you mean about people not understanding the expense of higher-end beads. I've just spoiled myself by using them. I love Fire Mountain too! I've ordered lots of things from them. I also love Hobby Lobby. And we have a little bead shop that carries really beautiful beads and crystals. But they're more expensive. Post pix if you can!

These are just three of my necklaces. I have like 10 of them! Simple to make! I like hobby lobby too, but they don't have much for beads ( that i like) i like their scrapbooking stuff though and thier sales! The only thing i don't like about custom stuff is the time line. then you have to get it done, where other times i just when i have time