New Question: E-bay / Marketing / Sales

They didn't for us, and they don't help much on my regular web site either.
Most of my web site customers first saw me on eBay. Search engines are
also a big help, but take a lot of time to list sites.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

]It wouldn't be hard to set up a site that would feature a group of
artists,
]but the trick is in getting the large numbers of buyers to come in to the
]site.

do web rings and such help with that?


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
The Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.
Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

I sure wish I could get the same prices on Justbeads as I do on eBay,
because I would love to sell there. But there just isn't the same customer
base. Wonderful place to sell, if you have a following there, though.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net


so many of the people here have gone to only selling on E-bay.
can i ask why?


don't know ... I find their posting to take forever, and quit selling
there
because there are sooooo many auctions...

but - you can always find me on Justbeads.com... LOL V
Cheryl of A HREF="http://www.dragonbeads.com" DRAGON BEADS /A
Flameworked beads and glass
http://www.dragonbeads.com/

"vj" wrote in message
...

Marjean's store
completely confuses me, because it says "buy-it-now", but then it says
not to use E-bay's checkout.


It's very simple - you "buy it know" whatever beads you want - I send you an
email with the total and the CORRECT amount of shipping (which is why I
don't use eBay's checkout - it doesn't calculate the correct shipping for
multiple item purchases), and then you either pay me by check or money order
through snail mail OR you can pay through PayPal OR you can call me with
your credit card information and I'll charge your credit card account
directly through own merchant account just like you were at a bead store.

I no longer maintain my website store because I had to divide my stock
between what was in the store and what I put on eBay. Seemed stupid to keep
stuff off eBay when I was doing 99% of my business through the auctions and
then starting last year, through my eBay store. I wasn't getting new
customers through the website - they all came from eBay.

Mj


--
=================================
Marjean Cline
Halsey Trading Company
eBay ID: ladymorgause
http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=1146230
=================================

my original question was why people abandoned selling on their own
sites.

I'm only speaking for myself here, but here's my take....

I had my own website, own URL, etc. for 2 years. I made a grand total of
$785 from it in that time frame. It cost me $35 to register the URL and
$14.95 a month to run it. That's roughly $380 in overhead, plus time to
maintain the site, etc. PLUS the actual costs of making my beads. Not a
whole lot left over for profit.

OTOH, it costs me a grand total of SIX cents per bead to list in my Ebay
store. I currently have an inventory of 120 beads when everything gets
listed monthly. That's $7.20 per month on store item listings. I use the
auctions to get attention for my store items. Since it's Ebay, it's more or
less a captive audience, versus someone being willing to scroll through
several pages of Google or other search listings. And I used META tags like
crazy. I still appeared on the 4th or 5th page on a good day. Not many
buyers are that determined. So, in terms of instant searchability and
instant gratification, Ebay is way better than having your own website. As a
real solid example, IF you do a search on Ebay Stores, and click your way
through to Jewelry & Watches/Loose Beads/Lampwork, Crystal & Glass/Handmade
Lampwork/US (those are the nested categories) I'm currently #3 on the list.
(Wow!!!!) I'm #16 if you go up to general Lampwork. Way better "hit odds"
than with my own URL, believe me.

So, for me, in terms of exposure and overhead, Ebay Stores are an excellent,
cost-effective solution. The other perk is that it's minimal effort for me.
I have it set up so everything automatically relists at the beginning of the
month. I get notified automatically of purchases, without the hassle of
shopping cart software and all the other "paperwork" details. It's as simple
as any other Ebay sale. Oh, and I use Turbo Lister to make listing that much
easier, too. I'd much rather make beads than do the secretarial stuff! G

--
KarenK
Desert Dreamer Designs
http://members.cox.net/desertdreameraz/
Ebay Sto http://www.stores.ebay.com/desertdreamerdesigns
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=DesertDreamer

It wouldn't be hard to set up a site that would feature a group of artists,
but the trick is in getting the large numbers of buyers to come in to the
site.

Exactly. It's all about tagging a site properly to be discovered, and it's
not easy to do out on your own. It really IS all about bandwidth. Dayum. ;-)


--
KarenK
Desert Dreamer Designs
http://members.cox.net/desertdreameraz/
Ebay Sto http://www.stores.ebay.com/desertdreamerdesigns
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=DesertDreamer

do web rings and such help with that?

Not really. I used tracking software on my old site, and got maybe 5
hits/sales from the 3 webrings I participated in, out of roughly 50 sales.
10% sucks.

--
KarenK
Desert Dreamer Designs
http://members.cox.net/desertdreameraz/
Ebay Sto http://www.stores.ebay.com/desertdreamerdesigns
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=DesertDreamer

I sell on eBay mostly because that's where I get the best prices for my
work.

Kandice, if you can afford the time and effort, DO think about Justbeads
too. I had "issues" with them for a while (long story) but I have to say I'm
very pleased with them since I've gone back the last several months. My
last crop of auctions I sold one of 6 items on Ebay, and 4 of 6 on
Justbeads, and THREE of them had multiple bids. I think there is a bit more
focused buying there, as opposed to bargain hunting on Ebay. Just a hunch,
though. I've said for years (going back to when I sold on Ebay, Justbeads,
AND Amazon) that it's a crap shoot, no matter what. Must be sunspots. G

--
KarenK
Desert Dreamer Designs
http://members.cox.net/desertdreameraz/
Ebay Sto http://www.stores.ebay.com/desertdreamerdesigns
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=DesertDreamer

I know I am not MJ, but I have purchased from her 2x now. You don't follow
the E-bay checkout thing when you purchase from her. She sends you an Email
and THEN you send her money via Paypal (directly from their sight not
through E-bay checkout links) or money order or check, but NOT using E-bay's
Checkout. HTH!!

Marissa


"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Mj" :

]It's very simple - you "buy it know" whatever beads you want - I send you
an
]email with the total and the CORRECT amount of shipping (which is why I
]don't use eBay's checkout - it doesn't calculate the correct shipping for
]multiple item purchases),

okay - so i go ahead and use their checkout, but ignore the total it
gives me, is what you mean? so i still need to sign up with E-bay?

[p&e]


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
The Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.
Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

It would seem to me that a place like Wet Canvas would be a central place
where serious artists could be accessed. I guess you have to be invited
into the group. But even if they had a list of participants it would give
access to a list of artists known to be serious, and who make their own
beads.

Tina


"Karen_AZ" wrote in message
news:JqFZa.41041$Bp2.27424@fed1read07...
It wouldn't be hard to set up a site that would feature a group of
artists,
but the trick is in getting the large numbers of buyers to come in to the
site.

Exactly. It's all about tagging a site properly to be discovered, and it's
not easy to do out on your own. It really IS all about bandwidth. Dayum.
;-)


--
KarenK
Desert Dreamer Designs
http://members.cox.net/desertdreameraz/
Ebay Sto http://www.stores.ebay.com/desertdreamerdesigns
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=DesertDreamer

But I think people follow those bids a while even if they don't buy til the
very end. And they use proxy bid that may have been put in quite a while
before.

Tina


"Karen_AZ" wrote in message
..............
I have to say that the past week's auctions proved that "last minute"
thing to
me beyond a shadow of a doubt. I had ZERO bids on anything until the last
18
hours, and then I was blessed with 3 bidding skirmishes. It was the first
time I've had multiple bids on anything in quite a while.
.................
KarenK