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.
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. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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. For more information, see http://www.craftmarketer.com.