Is it worth selling my artwork on eBay?
By Nikiforos
@Nikiforos (38)
February 12, 2010 2:59pm CST
I am a part-time artist, and am trying to sell some work on eBay. So far I have not been very successful. My work is generally up to standard, but I can't compete with sellers who are offering thousands of copies of the same prints for £1.00 or less plus modest postage and packaging.
So is ebay's art market now pretty much impossible to get effective sales?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
12 Feb 10
well, like others have mentioned you could try etsy.com which a great site to sell handmade goodies on but i was wondering if you have any art/consignment shops in your area that you could sell stuff at? we used to have a great one called crafters marketplace where you could buy a little bit of space each month and sell your crafts.
@imagenius128 (109)
• United States
12 Feb 10
Yeah, Etsy is very good. My mother uses it to sell her pottery and has sold quite a bit.
@recycledgoth (9894)
•
13 Feb 10
I used to spend a lot of time on eBay but these days it is becoming very difficult to sell anything there as a small private seller, they seem more geared to the larger outlets and shops rather than the *little people* that were the backbone of eBay for a long while. You might want to try taking a stall at local craft fairs, then people can see your artwork
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
13 Feb 10
As previously mentioned, I would give Etsy a try. It's much less expensive (only costs 20 cents to list an item)and instead of a short 7 day auction, your item stays active for 4 months. Opening a store on Etsy is free, as opposed to eBay's monthly fees and Etsy provides a promotions forum on the site where you can promote your work (along with several other forums where you can learn more about how the handmade site operates & how to maximize your listings, improve your store, etc)
You can always try eBay with a couple of your creations, but I suggest starting the auction off at a price you are comfortable with selling it for, rather than a $0.99 starting price. But I think you'll find the people who shop at Etsy, are more inclined to pay an artist for the work they create, as opposed to the auction style of eBay where everyone seems to be looking for bargains.
@MrKennedy (1978)
•
13 Feb 10
I would say go for it anyway. Why miss out on the opportunity of making some money? And even if you fail in your goal of trying to sell some artwork through eBay, at least you can say that you gave it a shot
@slbwyc (63)
• Singapore
13 Feb 10
i think is not because of your ebay. it maybe because of your ebay account. it is a hard time for everyone to start his selling on ebay because customer is not used to you, so they might hesitate when they make the decision. by the way, the art product is not the top selling items and i think few peoples are internest. hope you to have some progress
