EBAY does it work ?

[eggflan]

Now im sure there are some on here who use ebay to sell there items and im not asking for any secret tips etc :lol: , I was just wondering if an income could be made by selling handmade items on ebay , i have sold a few bits on the site and often wondered if it was feasable to do it for a living selling more mass produced quick to make items , most stuff on ebay tends to be mass produced imported rubbish .
Just a thought i was having , would be nice to earn a living doing this

 

[9fingers]

I'm a regular purchaser on Ebay and it really works for me when the item is a fully defined catalogue product.
So NEW books, CDs branded clothing etc leave no doubt as to what I'm buying and I can look up the list price on line and search Ebay for the recent auction prices achieved. I can then use a sniper to place my bid there and then and just wait for the auction to complete. If I need multiple items, my sniper will do that for me.

The next category for me is used standard items and the degree of information given by the vendor and the air of credibility then write up creates makes a huge difference to the price I will offer and my expectation of winning.

The category that you are interested in is different again. You need a fair price for your work and to get that I think you will need to set a reserve or a Buy it now otherwise you could end up out of pocket. I feel I would need a lots of description backed up with photos of the detail eg joints, finish etc.
Posting lots of pictures will cost more per listing.
another way would be to put up a really good website showing a range of YOUR standard products and/or a range of bespoke products that you would be prepared to customise to order. You could then use the ebay listing to point punters to your website and then get then to go back to ebay to make the sale and handle the paypal etc.
Indeed some vendors will discuss the item via private email and then put it on ebay with some agreed title so you can go straight there to buy it now. The risk of another buyer winning it is small if you are cunning it your arrangements with the seller.

These are simply based on my 300 or so ebay transactions as a BUYER.
I hope it is of some help and maybe others will be along later with more input.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[beejay]

I doubt very much if you would make a living selling handmade/crafted items on ebay.
I see ebay more as a bargain hunt opportunity for vintage or branded items not hand made items.
Dont mean to dampen your enthusiasm and good luck if you go with it.
Dont give up your proper job just yet though..
regards, Bill

 

[norman]

I doubt very much if you would make a living selling handmade/crafted items on ebay.
I see ebay more as a bargain hunt opportunity for vintage or branded items not hand made items.
Dont mean to dampen your enthusiasm and good luck if you go with it.
Dont give up your proper job just yet though..
regards, Bill

Hi

I tried tried this some time ago, about 4years. I found that bargains were what most people were willing to buy, so in the end, I only use to clear out items that I cannot sell at a normal auction house. I found that ebay has become too filled with sellers and this holds the prices down.

Regards
Norman

 

[busy builder]

My wife makes Harris Tweed throws, handbags, cushions, scarves etc and at weekends does Highland games and craft fairs and also sells through craft shops. The stuff she makes sells very well with the 'merkins and other tourists. She has sold stuff all over the world, as its very well made from quality materials. So she tried Ebay, not a hope not even a sniff.

So try if you want but be prepared for the worst. There is nothing like seeing/handling in the flesh with craft stuff.

She was at Brodie Castle (near Nairn) at the weekend and sold over £600 of stuff.

 

[Gitface]

I feel I would need a lots of description backed up with photos of the detail eg joints, finish etc.

Posting lots of pictures will cost more per listing.

One way round this, and a method that a lot of people use, and one I teach to people is to use online image storage, like photobucket.

With this and a little bit of HTML know-how you can have as many images as you like.

Here is an example of an item I sold a bit back (hopfully it will work )

Click Here

another way would be to put up a really good website showing a range of YOUR standard products and/or a range of bespoke products that you would be prepared to customise to order.

If you go for your own web site I would recomend having a good look round as there are a lot of sites out there that are designed just to take your money. These are useally the ones that say the site is easy to build, lots of templates to choose from etc. They are aimed at the person with no web building experience and sound good on paper.

The down side is you have to use there templates, this can be restrictive and lead to a generic looking site.

Also they tend to charge an arm an a leg, as an example one of my clients, who I've been training how to build a site was paying £15 a month for their site which was based on templates. They are now paying £30 a year for hosting with a site they have built from scratch.

Cheers.......

Mark........

 

[MIGNAL]

I think you will more than struggle. I've sold the odd few items that I've made and either just recouped the cost of the materials or the item sold for less than the cost of materials.
Having said that: try it. at least once. You may lose out a little for your labour but at least you will get a feel for the E-bay market - for what it's worth.
If you do a website you can use E-bay to (surreptitiously) advertise and point folk to that website. Sort of like a loss leader.

 

[martlewis]

Okay it's not fine furniture but... I make and sell bird tables custom made to order and stock ones. I tried ebay and the cost to make them and the time was more than anyone on ebay was willing to pay for. i also tried my own website but again the work involved outweighted the income.

in the end I got in with a couple of small independant pet shops and they sell for me. I'll never get rich but it's making a small profit and keeps me out of trouble.

Maybe you could find some shops that would be willing to stock your items, you just have to bite the bullet and go round with some samples and ask them. Most say no but some may suprise you.

 

[wills-mill]

It's better to use eBay as a 'shop front' rather than leaving things out there for the whims of the bidder. You can put one classified advert or a 'Buy It Now' item out for 30 days, which is much longer than the usual 10, and then have contact details and photos of other work.

The nice thing is that eBay is a huge site and everything is picked up by Google and other search engines. So, when someone Googles for any of the words you've included and your locality, eBay will pop up with your ad. Not bad if you don't have your own website.

 

[Benchwayze]

eBay is good for buying and bargain hunting.
You can sell stuff easily, if it's the right stuff.

I recently made an eighty-pound sale on eBay. They charged me £27.00 in fees for the privilege :?

Not my idea of good marketing. I could have increased the asking price, but pro-rata that would merely have jacked up eBay's commission and/or put off prospective purchasers.

As of now, I consider eBay only for buying and even then, just new goods after price comparisons. There are alternative sites, but as more folk get wise and drift over, these sites will follow eBay's pattern. eBay was fine at first, but once the 'power-sellers' (Established businesses) saw it as another outlet, that pushed out the person who just wants to make a bit of cash from surplus goods (Which is what eBay was originally intended for.) eBay latched on. Everyone suffered.

The one thing that really annoys me, is a seller who expects the buyer to chase up missing items. I checked with the Post Office and the seller has the proof of posting, so it's the seller's job.

Some of them either don't know this, or don't care. Some of the shysters even say they won't chase up missing goods! The answer is obvious of course!

Bob.. you mentioned sniping. I believe eBay are now controlling that business too, as well as PayPal! The word Monopoly springs to mind!


There is only one winner at eBay.
No prizes for the right answer! You might suspect I am disenchanted!

:x

 

[CWatters]

You do get some strange customers on ebay. I recall one seller on the forum saying he'd sold a film on DVD to a woman but the woman hadn't left any feedback. When he contacted her she said she hadn't left feedback because she hadn't watched it yet and "might not like the story".

 

[hughey]

Yes Ebay works, But you have to offer what the people want.
Its no good posting an item for sale that nobody wants or when a 1000 are already offering the same at a low price.

Do your due diligence and see wants popular and what it sells for and remember there are fees to take into account as well

 

[BradNaylor]

I've never tried ebay myself for marketing my services but have spoken to quite a few woodworkers who have and none has made it work.

From a promising beginning it is my feeling that ebay has largely deteriorated into a cross between a shoddy car boot sale and a shop window for cheap Chinese tat. It is too downmarket for hand-made craft items.

My advice would be to put together your own website explaining all about yourself and what you can offer, complete with plenty of photos.

Then, most importantly, optimise it properly so that it gets picked up by Google when people enter a search for your kind of products. For local business, the easiest way to do this is to register it with Google Maps and as many local free directories as you can find. Others may be able to suggest how to attract wider attention - I only have experience of trading in my immediate area.

Don't expect to sell directly off a website. It should be viewed as your shop window, attracting people to you and fermenting interest in your services. The secret is in encouraging people to get into an email or telephone dialogue with you. Then SELL!

My website, which works superbly for me bringing more work than I need, is a home-made jobby done using Serif Webplus SE which can be downloaded free here.
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/softwa ... efault.asp

Cheers
Dan

 

[pinkyinboro]

do NOT use ebay there charge a fortune and you will get loads of very fussy cutomers who want to buy items for next to nothing and will leave bad feedback
try local little shops in your area take samples and pictures of your work
i have two displays in two different garden centres what get me loads of work