Monday, February 11, 2008

Marbles on eBay


Marbles
Size: 127mm x 127mm
Support: Gessoed MDF board
Copyright Susan Borgas
For Sale

Well I am truly on a steep learning curve here with my first listing on eBay now available for bidding. I am at the moment testing the water to see how it all works and for this reason will only post to Australia. Well that is if I do manage to get a bid. wink

This painting isn't hot off the easel, but painted some time back with the idea of selling on eBay and ended up confused with the whole thing and shelved the idea. What I mean by confused is art sellers leaving eBay and selling their work elsewhere or privately through their blogs and websites. I am hearing that this has escalated in recent months. eBay fees do gobble up small profit on sales so I am going in with my eyes wide open without high expectations.

It is going to be an interesting exercise; one that you can watch with me or if you are an Aussie and like my work, you could be in for a chance of an original piece painted by yours truly. But first you have to make a bid! razz



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8 comments:

dianeclancy said...

Hi Susan,

This is a very lovely painting!!

I also have heard lots of artists are moving to places like Etsy from Ebay. Another place I heard about today that people are having luck with is ArtByUs.

~ Diane Clancy
www.DianeClancy.com/blog
www.YourArtMarketing.com

Making A Mark said...

Susan - the general consensus seems to be that:
- you need to post a fair bit and on a regular basis to start registering with regular eBay visitors. Ask people who post regularly how long it took before they started selling
- quite a few artists are currently involved in an organised exit from eBay
- when the new fee structure is introduced it's going to hammer smaller works sold for lower prices

Australian eBay may of course be different!

Can I suggest you take a look at
- my recent post What happens when you annoy eBay sellers and the comments it received
- Etsy - about which I only hear good things on the whole. You might want to trial a parallel listing and see which works better.

Belinda Lindhardt said...

Congratulations on making it to ebay :) I have had a few attempts on ebay havent really ever sold anything. its a bit of a daunting experience good luck :)

Susan Borgas said...

Thanks guys, I was pretty happy with the way this work did finish up and to this day still am.

At this point in time I am not really sure if I want to concentrate on smaller works for auctions sales such as eBay or work on my larger pieces that for the most I do get more enjoyment from. I don't have the time to do both at a serious level. Out of curiosity I did want to know how eBay works behind the scenes and by putting up a small painting I now have a better idea of what is involved.

Katherine I did read your article prior to my post and a very informative one it is, one which gets the 'grey matter' thinking.

Just for interest sake there are two watching my listing. Of course this could be just interested people waiting to see how the auction ends with me probably falling on my face....chuckle!

Lisa B. said...

Gosh it's nice to see you back! Best of luck with the eBay auction. Marbles is a delightful painting, and somebody will be sorry they didn't get it while they could!

Susan Borgas said...

Thanks Lisa; the time is running out now so it going to be interesting to see what happens with the listing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan,

Like you, I am exploring the Ebay idea, painting several small pieces and putting a few older paintings up for bidding. My limited experience is that I sold two and had five that didn't sell, the bids were very low and the fees added up, plus the shipping always amounted to more than what I felt I could charge.

I looked at it as a learning opportunity, to figure out how the process worked with the idea of concentrating more on selling from my blog. The most difficult has been getting the information on how to make those paypal buttons and more importantly how to set up the subscription process so that interested people can get the email each time I post. Maybe I can suggest to Katherine that she should write a post about it. Or...maybe I could do it.

I've also heard good things about Red Bubble.

I'm glad I discovered your site and blog. I love your landscapes and the color combinations.

Unknown said...

Hi Susan!! So you have been a busy bee!! Marbles looks great!! I haven't been on WC lately, but am still linked to you thru my blog, so thought I would pop in and say hello "mate" Take care!!