eBay for Artists and Craftspeople

If you're an artist or if you make your own crafts, you're also a manufacturer of sorts. Fortunately for you, eBay hosts a thriving arts and crafts community. As you can see in Figure 12.2, eBay's Art category (art.ebay.com) includes tens of thousands of listings for all kinds of artpaintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, even digital drawings. And the Crafts category (crafts.ebay.com), shown in Figure 12.3, provides an outlet for just about every type of craft imaginablebasketry, bead art, candles, pottery, crochet, stained glass, embroidery, pillows, macramé, origami, quilting, and more. Whatever you make, there's a market for it on eBay.

Figure 12.2. eBay's main Art page.

Figure 12.3. eBay's main Crafts page.

Naturally, before you can sell anything on eBay, you have to make it first. (Unless you're selling commissioned work, of course.) Finish a painting or a piece of pottery, list it for auction, and see what happens. The more art you create, the more listings you can make. And eBay is a true marketplace; your art will sell for whatever the market will bear.

That said, selling original items is somewhat different from selling other types of items on eBay. For one thing, eBay isn't really an art gallery, which is what makes the process a tad difficult. That difficulty is eased somewhat when you know the ins and outs of selling artwork online.

Know, however, that you shouldn't get your hopes up for selling every item you createat least in its initial listing. While some artists achieve high sell-through rates, others sell only about 20% of what they list. It's important to relist your unsold items and perhaps establish an eBay Store to "park" your previously listed artwork. In this instance, your eBay Store becomes a virtual gallery for your work.

An eBay Store is also a good idea if you have some lower-priced items to sell in addition to your larger pieces. Sometimes a buyer will like your work but not want to splurge for a high-priced piece; having some smaller (and lower-priced) alternatives available in the store might salvage a sale.

You can also show your other work on your eBay About Me page. While you can't sell from the About Me page, you can display additional pieces to give potential buyers a feel for your style. And if you have a separate website for your work, you can link to it from your About Me page.

Deciding What to Make

The business of selling your arts and crafts on eBay probably isn't that different from your current working process. You still have to create your pieces, after all. After that, it's a matter of listing those items for sale on eBay and then following through during the entire auction process.

Note

Learn more about eBay Stores in Chapter 27, "Opening an eBay Store."

The first step in selling arts and crafts on eBay is determining which of your items to list. As stated previously, eBay isn't the best forum for selling high-priced original art; true art connoisseurs tend to hang out at galleries, not online. eBay is more about art for the masses, which means that lower-priced, more accessible artwork tends to do better.

You should also think about the packing/shipping factor. If you create two-ton iron sculptures, you have a bit of a shipping issue to deal with. Same thing with overly large paintings or tapestries. It's a lot easier to ship an 8-by-10-inch piece than it is one four or five times that size.

This is why it pays to do a little research before you sell. Browse around through eBay's Arts and Crafts categories and see what other artists are offer-ingand, more important, what buyers are buying. Check out their shipping methods and charges, as well as how they offer their items. And definitely spend some time hanging out at the relevant eBay discussion forums (pages.ebay.com/community/boards/), particularly the Art & Artists and Hobbies & Crafts boards. You can learn a lot from the experienced sellers who post there.

Managing the Auction Process

Listing artwork and crafts is pretty much like listing any other item on eBay, with a few caveats. First, a high-quality picture is important. If you're selling a painting or photograph, consider making a full scan, instead, which will often show more detail than a photograph. In any case, make sure you show potential buyers just what you have to offer.

It's also important to list your item using the Gallery option. This option places a thumbnail picture of your item, like the ones in Figure 12.4, next to your item title on item listing pages. Pictures are particularly important when you're selling paintings and other artwork, whether the potential buyer is browsing or searching. Adding the Gallery option costs $0.35, but it's pretty much a necessity in these categories.

Figure 12.4. Gallery photos on a typical art listing page.

Note

Unscrupulous sorts can sometimes appropriate your images to use in their own auctions, or to pass off their work as yours. The solution to this problem is to use an image editing program to place some sort of watermark text or image ("This image property of Jane Smith") over the top of your picture. Picture thieves won't steal an image with somebody else's name plastered across the front.

If you're selling higher-priced artworkor if you think what you're selling is worth a higher pricethen consider using the reserve price option. This way you can start the bidding at a lower price (always good for attracting bidders) but reserve the right not to sell unless the bidding reaches a higher level.

Once the bidding is underway, the rest of the auction process is pretty straightforward. Remember to contact the winning bidder when the auction ends; then get ready to pack and ship.

Packing and Shipping

As most artists know, shipping large paintings and artwork is particularly troublesomeand often expensive. That's because this type of item is charged by size, not by weight. You also have to work with very large boxes and lots of wrapping and padding.

Making your own boxes might be necessary if you can't find large-enough standard boxes to house large pieces of artwork, paintings in particular. It's even hard to find the right-sized box for some smaller pieces; you need something big but flat, and that's hard to come by. Fortunately, you can make your own "custom" boxes out of existing packaging, by sandwiching your artwork between a flattened (unopened, unassembled) Priority Mail box. Then insert that first box into a larger flat Priority Mail box and tape the ends. The package may not be pretty, but it gets the job done.

You'll probably want to offer insurance on everything you shipand maybe include the cost of insurance in your standard shipping/handling charges.

Given that you're selling unique pieces of art, you can't just send out the buyer another one if the first one gets lost or damaged in transit; that's why insurance is important.

Insurance is also important when you're shipping smaller crafts work, particularly glass, ceramic, or other fragile items. Careful packaging is also necessary. Use lots of tissue paper, bubble wrap, and Styrofoam peanuts, and consider double-boxing your most breakable pieces.

Finally, when you pack up the item to ship, consider including a letter of authenticity with the item. This letter actually adds value to the item and makes for happier customers. (It's also good advertising for future work!)