New Ebay rates!! Ouch!!

LOL - okay - I just wasn't sure what you were referring to.
I agree - it would be wonderful if Justbeads could come out on top, at least
in their own market.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net
"Diana Curtis" wrote in message
...
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

Hehehehehe

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

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

--

Oh, just a bit of silly social commentary. \

--

What?

--

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

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 19:14:18 -0500, Lori Greenberg wrote
(in message . net):

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.

I might be the only one who feels this way, but JustBeads really
needs to concentrate on the buyers, not just the sellers. Finances
are certainly a limiting factor, but I'd like their site to work with
my Mac, and if it can't, at least leave a note on the site that says
they're aware of the problem, and the site is only Windows
compatible. (I just checked on JustBeads, and although some things
are better, there are still functionality problems with the site and
my Mac. These problems do not occur on 99% of other sites, and I do
a LOT of online buying)

It would make my life as a buyer a lot easier if JustBeads could make
an arrangement with PayPal to automatically pay for auctions, as I
can with other auction sites. Again, if this isn't possible, say so.
I suspect that the incestuous relationship between Ebay and Paypal
makes it impossible, but that's just a suspicion. It would be nice
to hear it from the people running the site, who actually know the
real story.

Also, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the time that AOL
ramped up their spam filtering software, so I never received any
notifications from JustBeads. Yet, I was held responsible for not
getting those notifications and sent a very nasty note, threatening
to take my bidding privileges away. That was my first and only
contact with the people at JustBeads. Their bulk email is filtered
out, and I get threatened because of it - somehow that doesn't seem
fair.

I rarely used JustBeads before that happened due to the first two
reasons listed above - the email issue was just icing on the cake.
Sure, I want the little guy to get ahead, but not when the little guy
is so obvious about not wanting my business. I'd like a well
designed, working site; and I don't see that with JustBeads. To be
fair, I don't see that with a lot of other sites - and I don't use
them, either. The book selling area on overstock.com is abysmal. I
used them once, and won't use them again, no matter how much cheaper
they are than Amazon.

Sure, JustBeads has customer service that's second to none - for the
seller. I don't see that the buyer is considered to be part of the
equation at all. You can be as nice as you want to sellers, but if
you alienate bidders, it can't come as a surprise that prices remain
low and that bidders stay away. Sure, the bead sellers are the ones
paying the fees to JustBeads. But the in the end, it's the bidders
who are the ones paying the bead sellers, and without bidders to
bring money to the table, how does JustBeads expect to get paid?

Again, customer service is vitally important, but JustBeads doesn't
seem to realize that they have *two* customers for every transaction:
the person doing the listing, and the person buying the beads. I
think that they have done a superb job of making one group feel happy
and valued. That is obvious from all the postings here from people
who want to list with JustBeads. That's important, but serving only
half your customer base can never succeed in the long run. If you
don't make the people with the money happy, you can put up a million
listings, but the business still won't be successful.

Just an observation from the other side of the transaction,

Kathy N-V

This is weird.

Right after I read the news article that Kandice listed, saying that
people were very unhappy with the increased rates on Ebay, I got an
email *from* Ebay. It said that they had received my letter about
their rates, and that they would get back to me as quickly as they
could. No web site or anything to suggest it was a spoof email, just
a polite note.

Only thing is - I never wrote them a letter. I knew nothing about
their increased rates until today, when I read the article. Even so,
I wouldn't have written such a letter, since I don't sell on Ebay or
anywhere else. Yes, I think that a 60% increase in rates without a
corresponding increase in benefits is outrageous, but I didn't write
any letters. Until today, I haven't been on the computer.

Very, very weird.

Kathy N-V

That's.....odd. Maybe someone used your email address as a contact when
writing a letter to ebay. Which, if it happened to me, would **** me off
immensely.
I haven't received a single thing from ebay, except for the initial email
annoucing the fee hike. And I've been super vocal about what I think of the
changes.
Strange, Kathy.

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

This is weird.

Right after I read the news article that Kandice listed, saying that
people were very unhappy with the increased rates on Ebay, I got an
email *from* Ebay. It said that they had received my letter about
their rates, and that they would get back to me as quickly as they
could. No web site or anything to suggest it was a spoof email, just
a polite note.

Only thing is - I never wrote them a letter. I knew nothing about
their increased rates until today, when I read the article. Even so,
I wouldn't have written such a letter, since I don't sell on Ebay or
anywhere else. Yes, I think that a 60% increase in rates without a
corresponding increase in benefits is outrageous, but I didn't write
any letters. Until today, I haven't been on the computer.

Very, very weird.

Kathy N-V

Kathy and Lori, I think you should BOTH forward your comments on to Bob
at Justbeads. Hoping he reads it here is great, but just,
well....hoping. I think it would be very constructive for him to hear
from both of you about this. And they ARE responsive. Personally I think
this would be a prime time for them to look at these constructive
critcisms, take them and run with them (and hopeful get a twist in
Ebay's knickers as a side bonus).

I wanted to comment on a constructive method for relists (but not the
infinitely free kind). What I've been doing, to play both the Ebay and
Justbeads fields, is to list various beads on both sides equally. (And
Mike could attest to how much I struggle on what to list where.)
Whatever doesn't sell on whichever site gets put aside (and I keep a
spreadsheet to know what was listed where), give it a week or more
"rest" then relist on the opposite auction. I have customers who ONLY
buy on Ebay, or only buy on Justbeads, OR who look on both (like
tonight, my only two sales...one at each site, are going to the same
buyer G). By chosing my listings carefully, trying to be "fair" to
both sites, and cross-listing I think I have a lot more successes
overall. Yes, it's a PITA to keep track of at times, but I think it's
time well spent.

Depending on how I play with my numbers, either site can look "better"
than the other...fees, sales, number of bids, etc. Bottom line, once I
eliminate that darned Ebay store, I'm ahead. I'm just glad that, for
now, there isn't a THIRD site that's genuinely competitive. Been there,
done that, almost lost my mind. G

For now, I want to concentrate on developing my website, a la Kandice
and Tink. Kind of exciting, since I feel I can "have my say" more/better
there than on the auctions. So, I'm not looking at this fee thing as a
problem, but more as an opportunity. Woohoo!

KarenK

Jim Moore wrote:
Hello all you beaders.

What might your thoughts be on this little email message I just received.

Another banner year for Ebay.
They offered free listings or fees for the Tsunami tragedy.. must be trying
to recoup there money.

Jim Moore

What was life like before Ebay?

Just click on the below URL and let me know your thoughts on this bull----




http://www2.ebay.com:80/aw/marketing...05-01-12075944

Heh. I immediately canceled my eBay store.

-Kalera

The funniest thing about eBay is that if you're making much money
selling there, it's cheaper to have a website AND a magazine ad. Seriously.

Lori Greenberg wrote:
I think it's just the course of business. All prices rise.

They don't usually rise over 50% in one shot, though.

As for advertising, yes, eBay is great that way. Ebay stores aren't very
effective as advertisting, though.

When I added up my monthly eBay fees, I realized that I could be doing
some pretty heavy-duty advertising elsewhere for the same money.

Su/Cutworks wrote:
Kandice wrote:

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

I don't know... after re-listing several necklaces, at a lower price
than the first time around, and having no bids and few watchers I
decided to relist a third time. My daughter commented in passing that
the prices were too low. I relisted 4 necklaces, increasing the price
by 30-50% each... all four sold, two with BIN. Go figure.

I understand that finished pieces have different buyers than beads, but
could it be that buyers are afraid of the unknown (quality) if they see
the price starting so low?

Haven't listed anything with eBay since in several months for a variety
of reasons but it is time to start selling again and I realistically see
no other (online) option.

Polly