New Ebay rates!! Ouch!!

It's still a risk, Tina - a big one for sellers like me who are pretty
successful on ebay.
We need incentive to take that risk.
--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

If you want more traffic, put beads up there. Beaders like bead stores
and
will go where they are. And prefer it to be a beady site.

You have recommended other starting out bead auction sites. If one wanted
to go someplace other than eBay to sell beads, the choice seems obvious.

Tina




"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
When I say that they are the only game in town, I mean that they have no
real competition on a large scale. Justbeads is tiny in comparison, and
they get far less traffic. I am not saying that they are not worth
looking
into - what I am saying is that they are not a real threat to ebay.
Maybe
in our own little category - **maybe** - if people can get their
customers
to follow them there. But from the standpoint of quite a few handmade
bead
sellers, Justbeads still doesn't offer the same potential sales-wise that
ebay does. It's not a nice thought, but it's true.
There are some sellers that do well on Justbeads, but on the larger
scale,
there just isn't enough traffic yet. I am sure in the coming months as
people switch, there is a chance for Justbeads to become a better venue
for
sellers of beads.


--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net
"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
...
Why do people keep saying they're the only game in town?

JUSTBEADS is in town too. And personally I like them very much, as a
customer. I ALWAYS check out their auctions.

Tina


"Kandice Seeber" wrote...
Ebay Cons:

3. At this time, they are the only game in town (really, there's no
equal
competition, but that will change hopefully) so they can charge
whatever
they want and get away with it. Monopoly. Almost as bad as
Microsoft.

Well said Su,
There are a couple of main reasons why I am reluctant to list at
Justbeads.

Firstly - and this is based on my experience selling in the polymer
clay category, so it may not be the case for lampwork - but there is
*way too much* old stock at Justbeads.

They really need to address this issue, because free relists are a
doubled-edged sword. Yes, they encourage the sellers in the short
term. But many polymer artists left Justbeads because they were sick
and tired of their auctions being swamped by relisted items that we
have been seeing day-in, day-out for months on end. I know that
Justbeads are supposed to clear out all the images on their servers
every 3 months or so, but this doesnt seem to happen.

So auctions are lost in a sea of auctions that buyers have seen over
and over again. If the relists were limited, say to 5 relists and
then listing fees would be payable again - it might encourage sellers
to be a little bit more discriminating and figure that if it didn't
sell in that time - maybe it was time to rest that peice for a while?

No-one wants to see an end to free relists, but I really think having
it as *unlimited* - which essentially it is right now, is a false
economy in the long term as it will slowly drive down quality overall.

The second reason I am reluctant to use Justbeads, and that is simply
that I don't see the good beads, especially lampwork, reaching the
prices they deserve there.

I would *love* for Justbeads to rise to the top - but it is
overly-simplistic to say that all it will take is for more sellers to
list there to make that happen. It takes more than that to bring it up
to the same level as ebay for bead sales. There are plenty of good
bead auctions at Justbeads already after all. It is hardly empty or
bereft of sellers. But auctions are ending without bids or at low
prices. What is needed is new *customers* not sellers.

No-one can expect the sellers to make a mass exodus from ebay over to
Justbeads in order to build them up. Many are making their living from
their work and cannot afford to see their beads sell for less that
they could expect to make on ebay I imagine , just to support
Justbeads while they wait for that market to grow. Its just not
realistic, however emotive the "build it and they will come"
sentiments are.

Justbeads has a window of opportunity opening for sure, but to get
people to list and *sell*- they need to proove they can bring in the
customers and keep those customers returning. Then the sellers will
flock there for sure.

Emma
(saying her peice on the issue too!)
www.ejrbeads.co.uk



On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:20:49 +0000 (UTC), "Su/Cutworks"


wrote:


Right now, when there's so much unrest with eBay, the folks at
JustBeads are really missing out on the magic moment in their lives by not
working hard as hell to get the bead makers and bead sellers to move to
their site, and to push the boat out in a major way by scraping together
every penny they can afford to get some BIG advertising in the main mags
like B&B, to tell people 'HEY, there's an alternative to eBay, one that's
great and friendly and has great beads.' I would imagine that if they
approached some of their biggest sellers and asked if they could work with
them on promoting the site they'd probably get a very positive response.



There, I've said my piece on the issue.

-Su

Ahhhhhh thank you Emma!! Just what I was trying to say, but had such a hard
time saying.
Of course, there will be different views from buyers than sellers. Buyers
want more selection on Justbeads, and I can't blame them. Sellers want more
traffic on Justbeads, and I can't blame them, either.
--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net


Well said Su,
There are a couple of main reasons why I am reluctant to list at
Justbeads.

Firstly - and this is based on my experience selling in the polymer
clay category, so it may not be the case for lampwork - but there is
*way too much* old stock at Justbeads.

They really need to address this issue, because free relists are a
doubled-edged sword. Yes, they encourage the sellers in the short
term. But many polymer artists left Justbeads because they were sick
and tired of their auctions being swamped by relisted items that we
have been seeing day-in, day-out for months on end. I know that
Justbeads are supposed to clear out all the images on their servers
every 3 months or so, but this doesnt seem to happen.

So auctions are lost in a sea of auctions that buyers have seen over
and over again. If the relists were limited, say to 5 relists and
then listing fees would be payable again - it might encourage sellers
to be a little bit more discriminating and figure that if it didn't
sell in that time - maybe it was time to rest that peice for a while?

No-one wants to see an end to free relists, but I really think having
it as *unlimited* - which essentially it is right now, is a false
economy in the long term as it will slowly drive down quality overall.

The second reason I am reluctant to use Justbeads, and that is simply
that I don't see the good beads, especially lampwork, reaching the
prices they deserve there.

I would *love* for Justbeads to rise to the top - but it is
overly-simplistic to say that all it will take is for more sellers to
list there to make that happen. It takes more than that to bring it up
to the same level as ebay for bead sales. There are plenty of good
bead auctions at Justbeads already after all. It is hardly empty or
bereft of sellers. But auctions are ending without bids or at low
prices. What is needed is new *customers* not sellers.

No-one can expect the sellers to make a mass exodus from ebay over to
Justbeads in order to build them up. Many are making their living from
their work and cannot afford to see their beads sell for less that
they could expect to make on ebay I imagine , just to support
Justbeads while they wait for that market to grow. Its just not
realistic, however emotive the "build it and they will come"
sentiments are.

Justbeads has a window of opportunity opening for sure, but to get
people to list and *sell*- they need to proove they can bring in the
customers and keep those customers returning. Then the sellers will
flock there for sure.

Emma
(saying her peice on the issue too!)
www.ejrbeads.co.uk



On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:20:49 +0000 (UTC), "Su/Cutworks"


wrote:


Right now, when there's so much unrest with eBay, the folks at
JustBeads are really missing out on the magic moment in their lives by not
working hard as hell to get the bead makers and bead sellers to move to
their site, and to push the boat out in a major way by scraping together
every penny they can afford to get some BIG advertising in the main mags
like B&B, to tell people 'HEY, there's an alternative to eBay, one that's
great and friendly and has great beads.' I would imagine that if they
approached some of their biggest sellers and asked if they could work with
them on promoting the site they'd probably get a very positive response.



There, I've said my piece on the issue.

-Su

Kandice wrote:

I'm going to be completely and brutally honest, here, and it may seem like
I
am bragging or being selfish, but I'm not - honestly. I am afraid to list
there, because I just haven't had great luck there, and because I have had
great success on ebay.

It's not bragging to state a simple fact. We're seeing the same problem on
JustBeads, on a smaller scale of price of course, but all of Mike's auctions
are just sitting there, we've had one sale at the starting price and that's
it. Now, with the same beads on eBay we would have a number of people
watching the beads, and KNOW they were watching, and usually get at least
the one bid and usually more than that. And we're nowhere near as
well-established as you are but we also worry that we've put things on
JustBeads that won't sell for any price worth the listing.

I've never listed beads on Justbeads that don't sell on ebay - simply
because my beads always sell. It's just a matter of pricing. It's scary,
but I know I need to take the plunge.
It's the same reason why I haven't listed at any of the other auction
places
yet. Fear.
I have to make a certain amount of money to get by - I can't afford to let
things go for a really low amount.

That's the one thing that's always bothered me, the constant encouragement
to put a .99 starting bid on things. If you KNOW your beads will sell for a
lot it's not as scary but for us we cannot afford to do that. It's
something that eBay constantly harps on, lower starting prices actually
encourage bids but I don't see that as a practical approach for the
middle-range of beads. It is honest to worry about how you are going to
sell your work, and reasonable. If you weren't worried it would be one of
two things, either you sell everything for dazzling prices or you're not
bright enough to know when to worry.

I've had success on ebay because I have worked really hard for a long time
to get that success, and it's hard to consider backpeddling to list on
Justbeads and work my way up to where I am at ebay.

That's a consideration for us too, we're starting with 0 feedback and that's
always a difficult thing, to get people to have confidence in a 'newcomer'.

It's scary to think that some customers who are loyal to ebay may not
follow
me to Justbeads.

I doubt that would happen, but the new people who would see you, that's
where I worry. How are they going to find you? Or us, or anyone?

This is my own issue, and I know it's somewhat irrational. I *am* working
on the idea of listing over there - in small amounts at first to test the
waters - when I feel I am able to absorb any loss I may take monetarily.
I'm more keen on selling on the website, because that's already pretty
successful.

When Mike has his next sets of beads up, we're going to start pushing for
more items on the website and try to balance the rest between using eBay and
JustBeads as 'advertising' to draw people to find us online. The excitement
of a big auction is one thing but having bead sets that sell regularly is
another and that's what we'd like to have happen. It does take work, lots
of it and patience. And confidence and all sorts of other things. But work,
mostly.

I am looking at this purely from a business standpoint, because I need to.
I understand the ethical issue, and at this point, I am having to endure
an
ongoing inner battle when it comes to what's best for me. I want to take
the high road and support venues which I think have integrity, but I still
have to do what's best for me, otherwise there will be no more beadmaking.

You will have a hard time eating a good meal of integrity. And this is
really in the greater scheme of things a minor issue. eBay is hiking
prices, it's not nice and it's not good for anyone who sells there but it's
not a civil war or a horrible act of nature, it's just a hike in business
costs. I'm not really sure how much it even relates to ethics other than it
means they did it unilaterally. They're not contributing to the ecological
disaster of another oil spill or anything like that, they're a business who
is making wodges of money and adjusting things so they get more wodges.
Like M$ or any utility you care to name.

P.S. - Blue Heeler doesn't get the high prices she deserves, on either
venue. Neither does Two Sisters.

Neither do a lot of the incredibly talented artists out there. But there
are other avenues to use, such as websites which can make a difference. The
online world is significantly different than the first time I typed in
http://www.somethingweirdisoutthere.... and to be honest I thought that www
was a fad. I did. Honest. But at the time I was on a teeny IBM with 64mb
on the hard drive!!!! And 4mb of ram was fast enough to take you to the
moon and back.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

diana sings... And the times they are a-changing....
And the more things change, the more they stay the same....ahhhh I love the
smell of greed in the morning....
Diana

--
Weird people need beads, too
"Su/Cutworks" wrote in message
...
Kandice wrote:

I'm going to be completely and brutally honest, here, and it may seem
like
I
am bragging or being selfish, but I'm not - honestly. I am afraid to
list
there, because I just haven't had great luck there, and because I have
had
great success on ebay.

It's not bragging to state a simple fact. We're seeing the same problem
on
JustBeads, on a smaller scale of price of course, but all of Mike's
auctions
are just sitting there, we've had one sale at the starting price and
that's
it. Now, with the same beads on eBay we would have a number of people
watching the beads, and KNOW they were watching, and usually get at least
the one bid and usually more than that. And we're nowhere near as
well-established as you are but we also worry that we've put things on
JustBeads that won't sell for any price worth the listing.

I've never listed beads on Justbeads that don't sell on ebay - simply
because my beads always sell. It's just a matter of pricing. It's
scary,
but I know I need to take the plunge.
It's the same reason why I haven't listed at any of the other auction
places
yet. Fear.
I have to make a certain amount of money to get by - I can't afford to
let
things go for a really low amount.

That's the one thing that's always bothered me, the constant encouragement
to put a .99 starting bid on things. If you KNOW your beads will sell for
a
lot it's not as scary but for us we cannot afford to do that. It's
something that eBay constantly harps on, lower starting prices actually
encourage bids but I don't see that as a practical approach for the
middle-range of beads. It is honest to worry about how you are going to
sell your work, and reasonable. If you weren't worried it would be one of
two things, either you sell everything for dazzling prices or you're not
bright enough to know when to worry.

I've had success on ebay because I have worked really hard for a long
time
to get that success, and it's hard to consider backpeddling to list on
Justbeads and work my way up to where I am at ebay.

That's a consideration for us too, we're starting with 0 feedback and
that's
always a difficult thing, to get people to have confidence in a
'newcomer'.

It's scary to think that some customers who are loyal to ebay may not
follow
me to Justbeads.

I doubt that would happen, but the new people who would see you, that's
where I worry. How are they going to find you? Or us, or anyone?

This is my own issue, and I know it's somewhat irrational. I *am*
working
on the idea of listing over there - in small amounts at first to test
the
waters - when I feel I am able to absorb any loss I may take monetarily.
I'm more keen on selling on the website, because that's already pretty
successful.

When Mike has his next sets of beads up, we're going to start pushing for
more items on the website and try to balance the rest between using eBay
and
JustBeads as 'advertising' to draw people to find us online. The
excitement
of a big auction is one thing but having bead sets that sell regularly is
another and that's what we'd like to have happen. It does take work, lots
of it and patience. And confidence and all sorts of other things. But
work,
mostly.

I am looking at this purely from a business standpoint, because I need
to.
I understand the ethical issue, and at this point, I am having to endure
an
ongoing inner battle when it comes to what's best for me. I want to
take
the high road and support venues which I think have integrity, but I
still
have to do what's best for me, otherwise there will be no more
beadmaking.

You will have a hard time eating a good meal of integrity. And this is
really in the greater scheme of things a minor issue. eBay is hiking
prices, it's not nice and it's not good for anyone who sells there but
it's
not a civil war or a horrible act of nature, it's just a hike in business
costs. I'm not really sure how much it even relates to ethics other than
it
means they did it unilaterally. They're not contributing to the
ecological
disaster of another oil spill or anything like that, they're a business
who
is making wodges of money and adjusting things so they get more wodges.
Like M$ or any utility you care to name.

P.S. - Blue Heeler doesn't get the high prices she deserves, on either
venue. Neither does Two Sisters.

Neither do a lot of the incredibly talented artists out there. But there
are other avenues to use, such as websites which can make a difference.
The
online world is significantly different than the first time I typed in
http://www.somethingweirdisoutthere.... and to be honest I thought that
www
was a fad. I did. Honest. But at the time I was on a teeny IBM with
64mb
on the hard drive!!!! And 4mb of ram was fast enough to take you to the
moon and back.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

I've stayed quiet on this just because I didn't have much to add that wasn't
already said. I do want to step up here and say that I wholeheartedly agree
with the unlimited relists being over the top. I admit that I use more than
one free relist but I also try to make my auctions only 3 day auctions. So,
even my more than one free relist doesn't go more than 10 days. If there
weren't unlimited relists I'd probably list for a little longer and maybe do
one relist.

Anyway, I hope I don't offend anyone when I say that it's annoying to see
the same exact thing(s) over and over and over. And it's not one or two
items per seller. It's the same sellers bloating the pages with multiple
multiple auctions relisted. It would be one thing if they kept listing the
same thing and it kept selling, but it doesn't. That looks very stale and
people stop surfing because they know what they'll see and they don't want
to wade through it.

I still list on JustBeads, JustBecause. I won't list my larger sets there
because I don't think the higher paying customer base is there.

I really do love JustBeads. I JustWish they'd get a break and things would
pick up. I guess it's just like our own businesses though...you have to
work hard to get that exposure. It's not all about the sellers, the buyers
need to be reached.

Just my opinions, of course.

--
--------------------------------------
Lori Greenberg
www.beadnerd.com
ebay:
http://snipurl.com/5wlc

justbeads:
http://snipurl.com/axek

"E J Ralph" wrote in message
...

Well said Su,
There are a couple of main reasons why I am reluctant to list at
Justbeads.

Firstly - and this is based on my experience selling in the polymer
clay category, so it may not be the case for lampwork - but there is
*way too much* old stock at Justbeads.

They really need to address this issue, because free relists are a
doubled-edged sword. Yes, they encourage the sellers in the short
term. But many polymer artists left Justbeads because they were sick
and tired of their auctions being swamped by relisted items that we
have been seeing day-in, day-out for months on end. I know that
Justbeads are supposed to clear out all the images on their servers
every 3 months or so, but this doesnt seem to happen.

So auctions are lost in a sea of auctions that buyers have seen over
and over again. If the relists were limited, say to 5 relists and
then listing fees would be payable again - it might encourage sellers
to be a little bit more discriminating and figure that if it didn't
sell in that time - maybe it was time to rest that peice for a while?

No-one wants to see an end to free relists, but I really think having
it as *unlimited* - which essentially it is right now, is a false
economy in the long term as it will slowly drive down quality overall.

The second reason I am reluctant to use Justbeads, and that is simply
that I don't see the good beads, especially lampwork, reaching the
prices they deserve there.

I would *love* for Justbeads to rise to the top - but it is
overly-simplistic to say that all it will take is for more sellers to
list there to make that happen. It takes more than that to bring it up
to the same level as ebay for bead sales. There are plenty of good
bead auctions at Justbeads already after all. It is hardly empty or
bereft of sellers. But auctions are ending without bids or at low
prices. What is needed is new *customers* not sellers.

No-one can expect the sellers to make a mass exodus from ebay over to
Justbeads in order to build them up. Many are making their living from
their work and cannot afford to see their beads sell for less that
they could expect to make on ebay I imagine , just to support
Justbeads while they wait for that market to grow. Its just not
realistic, however emotive the "build it and they will come"
sentiments are.

Justbeads has a window of opportunity opening for sure, but to get
people to list and *sell*- they need to proove they can bring in the
customers and keep those customers returning. Then the sellers will
flock there for sure.

Emma
(saying her peice on the issue too!)
www.ejrbeads.co.uk



On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 11:20:49 +0000 (UTC), "Su/Cutworks"


wrote:


Right now, when there's so much unrest with eBay, the folks at
JustBeads are really missing out on the magic moment in their lives by not
working hard as hell to get the bead makers and bead sellers to move to
their site, and to push the boat out in a major way by scraping together
every penny they can afford to get some BIG advertising in the main mags
like B&B, to tell people 'HEY, there's an alternative to eBay, one that's
great and friendly and has great beads.' I would imagine that if they
approached some of their biggest sellers and asked if they could work with
them on promoting the site they'd probably get a very positive response.



There, I've said my piece on the issue.

-Su

What?

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

diana sings... And the times they are a-changing....
And the more things change, the more they stay the same....ahhhh I love
the
smell of greed in the morning....
Diana

--
Weird people need beads, too
"Su/Cutworks" wrote in message
...
Kandice wrote:

I'm going to be completely and brutally honest, here, and it may seem
like
I
am bragging or being selfish, but I'm not - honestly. I am afraid to
list
there, because I just haven't had great luck there, and because I have
had
great success on ebay.

It's not bragging to state a simple fact. We're seeing the same problem
on
JustBeads, on a smaller scale of price of course, but all of Mike's
auctions
are just sitting there, we've had one sale at the starting price and
that's
it. Now, with the same beads on eBay we would have a number of people
watching the beads, and KNOW they were watching, and usually get at least
the one bid and usually more than that. And we're nowhere near as
well-established as you are but we also worry that we've put things on
JustBeads that won't sell for any price worth the listing.

I've never listed beads on Justbeads that don't sell on ebay - simply
because my beads always sell. It's just a matter of pricing. It's
scary,
but I know I need to take the plunge.
It's the same reason why I haven't listed at any of the other auction
places
yet. Fear.
I have to make a certain amount of money to get by - I can't afford to
let
things go for a really low amount.

That's the one thing that's always bothered me, the constant
encouragement
to put a .99 starting bid on things. If you KNOW your beads will sell
for
a
lot it's not as scary but for us we cannot afford to do that. It's
something that eBay constantly harps on, lower starting prices actually
encourage bids but I don't see that as a practical approach for the
middle-range of beads. It is honest to worry about how you are going to
sell your work, and reasonable. If you weren't worried it would be one
of
two things, either you sell everything for dazzling prices or you're not
bright enough to know when to worry.

I've had success on ebay because I have worked really hard for a long
time
to get that success, and it's hard to consider backpeddling to list on
Justbeads and work my way up to where I am at ebay.

That's a consideration for us too, we're starting with 0 feedback and
that's
always a difficult thing, to get people to have confidence in a
'newcomer'.

It's scary to think that some customers who are loyal to ebay may not
follow
me to Justbeads.

I doubt that would happen, but the new people who would see you, that's
where I worry. How are they going to find you? Or us, or anyone?

This is my own issue, and I know it's somewhat irrational. I *am*
working
on the idea of listing over there - in small amounts at first to test
the
waters - when I feel I am able to absorb any loss I may take
monetarily.
I'm more keen on selling on the website, because that's already pretty
successful.

When Mike has his next sets of beads up, we're going to start pushing for
more items on the website and try to balance the rest between using eBay
and
JustBeads as 'advertising' to draw people to find us online. The
excitement
of a big auction is one thing but having bead sets that sell regularly is
another and that's what we'd like to have happen. It does take work,
lots
of it and patience. And confidence and all sorts of other things. But
work,
mostly.

I am looking at this purely from a business standpoint, because I need
to.
I understand the ethical issue, and at this point, I am having to
endure
an
ongoing inner battle when it comes to what's best for me. I want to
take
the high road and support venues which I think have integrity, but I
still
have to do what's best for me, otherwise there will be no more
beadmaking.

You will have a hard time eating a good meal of integrity. And this is
really in the greater scheme of things a minor issue. eBay is hiking
prices, it's not nice and it's not good for anyone who sells there but
it's
not a civil war or a horrible act of nature, it's just a hike in business
costs. I'm not really sure how much it even relates to ethics other than
it
means they did it unilaterally. They're not contributing to the
ecological
disaster of another oil spill or anything like that, they're a business
who
is making wodges of money and adjusting things so they get more wodges.
Like M$ or any utility you care to name.

P.S. - Blue Heeler doesn't get the high prices she deserves, on either
venue. Neither does Two Sisters.

Neither do a lot of the incredibly talented artists out there. But there
are other avenues to use, such as websites which can make a difference.
The
online world is significantly different than the first time I typed in
http://www.somethingweirdisoutthere.... and to be honest I thought that
www
was a fad. I did. Honest. But at the time I was on a teeny IBM with
64mb
on the hard drive!!!! And 4mb of ram was fast enough to take you to the
moon and back.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

Oh, just a bit of silly social commentary. The rich get richer.. monopolys
do what they please because they can. Stuff like that. And it always leaves
the *little guy* in the same uncomfortable place.
I am hoping that Justbeads can maximize the potential it has to serve the
self employed lampworkers and other small beady business people. It has that
chance now.
Just for kicks today I used yahoo search with the keywords *lampwork
auction* and Just beads came up first. But, if I hadnt heard of Justbeads
here first I wouldnt have known it was there.
Diana

--
Weird people need beads, too
"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
What?

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

diana sings... And the times they are a-changing....
And the more things change, the more they stay the same....ahhhh I love
the
smell of greed in the morning....
Diana

--
Weird people need beads, too
"Su/Cutworks" wrote in message
...
Kandice wrote:

I'm going to be completely and brutally honest, here, and it may seem
like
I
am bragging or being selfish, but I'm not - honestly. I am afraid to
list
there, because I just haven't had great luck there, and because I
have
had
great success on ebay.

It's not bragging to state a simple fact. We're seeing the same
problem
on
JustBeads, on a smaller scale of price of course, but all of Mike's
auctions
are just sitting there, we've had one sale at the starting price and
that's
it. Now, with the same beads on eBay we would have a number of people
watching the beads, and KNOW they were watching, and usually get at
least
the one bid and usually more than that. And we're nowhere near as
well-established as you are but we also worry that we've put things on
JustBeads that won't sell for any price worth the listing.

I've never listed beads on Justbeads that don't sell on ebay - simply
because my beads always sell. It's just a matter of pricing. It's
scary,
but I know I need to take the plunge.
It's the same reason why I haven't listed at any of the other auction
places
yet. Fear.
I have to make a certain amount of money to get by - I can't afford
to
let
things go for a really low amount.

That's the one thing that's always bothered me, the constant
encouragement
to put a .99 starting bid on things. If you KNOW your beads will sell
for
a
lot it's not as scary but for us we cannot afford to do that. It's
something that eBay constantly harps on, lower starting prices actually
encourage bids but I don't see that as a practical approach for the
middle-range of beads. It is honest to worry about how you are going
to
sell your work, and reasonable. If you weren't worried it would be one
of
two things, either you sell everything for dazzling prices or you're
not
bright enough to know when to worry.

I've had success on ebay because I have worked really hard for a long
time
to get that success, and it's hard to consider backpeddling to list
on
Justbeads and work my way up to where I am at ebay.

That's a consideration for us too, we're starting with 0 feedback and
that's
always a difficult thing, to get people to have confidence in a
'newcomer'.

It's scary to think that some customers who are loyal to ebay may not
follow
me to Justbeads.

I doubt that would happen, but the new people who would see you, that's
where I worry. How are they going to find you? Or us, or anyone?

This is my own issue, and I know it's somewhat irrational. I *am*
working
on the idea of listing over there - in small amounts at first to test
the
waters - when I feel I am able to absorb any loss I may take
monetarily.
I'm more keen on selling on the website, because that's already
pretty
successful.

When Mike has his next sets of beads up, we're going to start pushing
for
more items on the website and try to balance the rest between using
eBay
and
JustBeads as 'advertising' to draw people to find us online. The
excitement
of a big auction is one thing but having bead sets that sell regularly
is
another and that's what we'd like to have happen. It does take work,
lots
of it and patience. And confidence and all sorts of other things. But
work,
mostly.

I am looking at this purely from a business standpoint, because I
need
to.
I understand the ethical issue, and at this point, I am having to
endure
an
ongoing inner battle when it comes to what's best for me. I want to
take
the high road and support venues which I think have integrity, but I
still
have to do what's best for me, otherwise there will be no more
beadmaking.

You will have a hard time eating a good meal of integrity. And this is
really in the greater scheme of things a minor issue. eBay is hiking
prices, it's not nice and it's not good for anyone who sells there but
it's
not a civil war or a horrible act of nature, it's just a hike in
business
costs. I'm not really sure how much it even relates to ethics other
than
it
means they did it unilaterally. They're not contributing to the
ecological
disaster of another oil spill or anything like that, they're a business
who
is making wodges of money and adjusting things so they get more wodges.
Like M$ or any utility you care to name.

P.S. - Blue Heeler doesn't get the high prices she deserves, on
either
venue. Neither does Two Sisters.

Neither do a lot of the incredibly talented artists out there. But
there
are other avenues to use, such as websites which can make a difference.
The
online world is significantly different than the first time I typed in
http://www.somethingweirdisoutthere.... and to be honest I thought that
www
was a fad. I did. Honest. But at the time I was on a teeny IBM with
64mb
on the hard drive!!!! And 4mb of ram was fast enough to take you to
the
moon and back.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

I really need to snip before I reply, dont I. No wonder you were confused.
arrgh.. sorry Kandice!

--
Weird people need beads, too
"Diana Curtis" wrote in message
...
Oh, just a bit of silly social commentary. \

--
Weird people need beads, too


"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
What?

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

diana sings... And the times they are a-changing....
And the more things change, the more they stay the same....ahhhh I
love
the
smell of greed in the morning....
Diana

I hate to be negative without also giving help for solutions, so what needs
to be done to get more buyers to JB? Some things I can think of a

1. Offer promotional materials to sellers that also do bead shows
advertising JustBeads. Just a little card holder or sign in their booths.
Tucson is coming up, you know.

2. I've seen their ads in the bead magazines. I think a spiffier one might
do some good.

3. Maybe not possible, but, talk it up on beady internet forums. Yes,
that's time consuming but that's the market a lot of times.

Customer service is already top notch.

Anyone else have any ideas? Maybe Bob will read this. Not that they're
looking for feedback, but hey, I know I always like to get feedback, even if
it's hard to hear sometimes.

I'd really really like them to succeed because I do like the idea of a
focused auction site for beads. They've done better than other auctions
sites that are run by individuals so the potential IS there. I also
understand that sellers need to make a living and honestly, it's not up to
the sellers to make them successful. I don't think it's up to my buyers to
make me successful. It's up to ME.

--
--------------------------------------
Lori Greenberg
www.beadnerd.com
ebay:
http://snipurl.com/5wlc

justbeads:
http://snipurl.com/axek