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How to
Sell Your Crafts on eBay
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Artists, craftspeople
and photographers are successfully selling their wares
everyday on the online auction site, eBay. According to
a recent analysis of eBay sales, a crafts-related item
is sold every nine seconds, a scrapbook item is sold
every minute, and 40 cross-stitch items sell in an hour
on eBay. Sales of craft items on eBay have grown almost
60 percent in the past year, according to
TheBidFloor.com.
But, at the same
time, many would be sellers are listing their pieces for
sale on auctions and getting no bids, concluding that
eBay just doesn't work. |
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Here are some tips
from James Dillehay, craft artist, eBay seller and
author of the new book, "Sell Your Crafts on eBay" (Warm
Snow Publishers), on how to profitably sell your wares
online:
1. Anyone who can
type and has access to the Internet can sell on eBay.
But the creative person has an advantage on eBay when
she turns that creativity toward researching overlooked
opportunities.
For example,
during the months before Christmas, more than 3,000
Christmas items are sold every 24 hours on eBay.
Research methods outlined in Sell Your Crafts on eBay
showed that between February 12 and March 12 of this
year, 4,107 auctions with 'Christmas ornament' in the
title completed successfully at an average price of
$17.34. Imagine how much more money a smart crafter can
make all year long knowing how to ferret out this kind
of information from eBay sales.
2. A word's
spelling impacts an item's profitability. For example,
the word 'handmade,' spelled as one word, was part of
2,233 auction titles with an average closing price of
$16.29. However, auction titles that included 'hand
made' as two words were found in 1,358 listings, but
with an average auction closing price higher, at $27.81,
or $11.52 more profit per item.
3. Go to eBay.com
and find the search box. Type in the word or phrase that
describes your art or craft item. Then scroll down the
links on the left side of the page and click on the link
for "completed items." Here, you'll be able to see the
demand for this type of product. Do searches for your
items every two to three weeks to chart buying patterns.
4. Find out how
much people are willing to pay for your wares. Click on
the link that says "highest price." This will give you a
list of completed auctions from highest priced items to
lowest priced ones. You want to know what people are
willing to pay for items like yours. If you can't make
and sell your product for a profit, eBay might not be
your marketplace.
5. Determine how
much money you'll make on your product. To determine
your profitability, use the cost of your materials plus
the cost of your labor plus the cost of your selling
price, which should be the minimum price to recover your
expenses. If it takes you eight hours to make a piece of
jewelry and the highest priced similar item sells on
eBay for $26, you won't make a profit.
6. Look at the
elements of successful sellers of products that are
similar to yours. Examine their winning auction titles.
Observe how much detail they use to describe their item.
See if the seller used any of eBay's special features
such as gallery photos or a bold, featured listing.
Evaluate the starting price, starting day of the week,
and duration of winning auctions.
For more tips on
how to sell your craft items on eBay, consult a resource
book like "Sell Your Crafts on eBay," by James Dillehay.
It offers-more than 200 easy-to-learn tactics and tips
that help sell art, craft and theme-related items for a
profit on eBay and on other online auction Web sites.
James
Dillehay is a 20-year crafts veteran and nationally
recognized expert on craft business. Author of eight
books, his articles have helped readers of Family
Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Almanac, Working
Mothers, The Crafts Report, Sunshine Artist, and many
other magazines. James serves on the advisory boards to
the National Craft Association and ArtisanStreet.com.
For more information, see
http://www.craftmarketer.com.
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