Selling work online

[Patrick Taylor]

Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences selling work online? I'd love to hear some. Do you use existing services (like Etsy) or do you sell from your own site? What are some pitfalls to avoid, and what lessons have you learned? Thanks in advance for your input.

[Bonnie Campbell]

The only real experience I've got with selling online is in some other forums. I sell turkey calls and what not. One thing I found out, get the money up front when doing custom orders. And if posting pictures, give details on size. Putting a common item in for reference size doesn't hurt either. I do have a web site now that has generated some business, but I wouldn't depend upon it for selling to much. Word of mouth has sold more for me. Handing out a freebie in the right place never hurts. And make sure the freebie is the best quality you can put out.

I'll never get rich selling my stuff, but it keeps me in supplies to keep turning

[walt leighton]

cute,
just getting ready to leave for Dexter

[Steve Trauthwein]

I don't have a website, but my oldest son is always after me to start one. What is your experience Patrick? Have you had many sales or any problems from the etsy site you are on?

Regards, Steve

[Paul Zerjay]

I have a website. Its not the best thing I've seen on the web, but not the worst either. I have never made an online sale from the site and its been up for about a year. In that year, people have tried to scam me twice. I have had people come up to me at shows, saying they saw my stuff on the website and came to the show for that reason. Some of my biggest sales came that way. I think of my website as an extension of my business card.

[George Guadiane]

I have a website. Its not the best thing I've seen on the web, but not the worst either. I have never made an online sale from the site and its been up for about a year. In that year, people have tried to scam me twice. I have had people come up to me at shows, saying they saw my stuff on the website and came to the show for that reason. Some of my biggest sales came that way. I think of my website as an extension of my business card.

I too have website, and have had a scam attempt. I have also had sales to craft fair attendees who saw my work on line, so I pretty much echo what Paul has to say...
I have ALSO tried to sell turnings on eBay. No success. Two points about that, I'm not trying to sell, "just to make a sale," so my prices aren't cheap, and in watching people at craft (art) fairs, the experience is almost completely tactile. People need to pick this stuff up, feel it, look at it from different angles, imagine how it will look in their home.
I SUPPOSE if we were Malcolm of Bin we could sell stuff for big money on line, but I think we will all need to go through the exposure process to get reasonable prices from "investors" who like our art (JMHO)

[Patrick Taylor]

What is your experience Patrick? Have you had many sales or any problems from the etsy site you are on?

Generally it's been good. I sell through etsy because the store logistics are already set up, and I get "accidental traffic" that I would not otherwise get. No scams, I've sold some things, a few pens, one bowl, but mostly nostepinnes to knitters who frequent the site for buying hand-dyed yarn. It seems to be a good arena for word-of-mouth sales. The etsy folks are in general very supportive and understanding of things handcrafted, including the time invested in each piece and the associated cost. They don't seem to want to pay gallery prices either though, since most items there are not pricey works of art. I would not try my own personal web store simply because the random traffic my etsy store gets is too good.

I think of my website as an extension of my business card.

Absolutely. My card actually just has my website and logo, so people can find my gallery and store online. (I don't do the craft shows yet)

... have ALSO tried to sell turnings on eBay. No success. Two points about that, I'm not trying to sell, "just to make a sale," so my prices aren't cheap, and in watching people at craft (art) fairs, the experience is almost completely tactile. People need to pick this stuff up, feel it, look at it from different angles, imagine how it will look in their home.
I SUPPOSE if we were Malcolm of Bin we could sell stuff for big money on line, but I think we will all need to go through the exposure process to get reasonable prices from "investors" who like our art (JMHO)

I think ebay moves too fast for artwork. Etsy allows folks time to think about the purchase, and you can list things as long as you want. It really functions like a regular web store. You get 5 photos per item, and if your photo quality is good I believe people can visualize it in their home. However, nothing beats the tactile experience.

As for scams, I use paypal to accept payments, and they have some fraud prevention tools built in. People can use credit cards and don't even need a paypal account. Most importantly, I wait until the payment clears (usually immediately) before I ship anything.

[Lee DeRaud]

I sell through etsy because the store logistics are already set up, and I get "accidental traffic" that I would not otherwise get. No scams, I've sold some things, a few pens, one bowl, but mostly nostepinnes to knitters who frequent the site for buying hand-dyed yarn. It seems to be a good arena for word-of-mouth sales. The etsy folks are in general very supportive and understanding of things handcrafted, including the time invested in each piece and the associated cost. They don't seem to want to pay gallery prices either though, since most items there are not pricey works of art.

Yup. There is some (relatively) expensive stuff on sale there, but as near as I can tell, Etsy is 80-90% handmade jewelry, mostly in the sub-$25 range. Pens and bottle-stoppers fit there better than bowls.

My only real objection to it from a logistics viewpoint is that buyers have to register with the site to actually purchase anything, which I suspect drives off more "casual" shoppers.

[Patrick Taylor]

Yup. There is some (relatively) expensive stuff on sale there, but as near as I can tell, Etsy is 80-90% handmade jewelry, mostly in the sub-$25 range. Pens and bottle-stoppers fit there better than bowls.

My only real objection to it from a logistics viewpoint is that buyers have to register with the site to actually purchase anything, which I suspect drives off more "casual" shoppers.

I agree with the pens/stoppers statement. As for creating an account, they only want an email address so it's not too invasive. And perhaps purchasing through an established high-traffic site like etsy is more comforting to the "casual" shopper than handing over a credit card to a one-man site? That's debatable I'm sure. I still think the extra traffic is worthwhile, and I have actually cultivated a small community of etsy'ers that watch the RSS feed of my for-sale items, and I've had some snatched within hours of posting them.

In fact Lee, your concern about creating an account had prompted me to think more about making my own store back in June when I started this thread. Since then I've decided that etsy is just too convenient for me right now, and I really don't have the time to futz around with building and running my own store. I'd recommend etsy to others that want to sell online but don't have the time or skill to build their own store.

[Lee DeRaud]

As for creating an account, they only want an email address so it's not too invasive. And perhaps purchasing through an established high-traffic site like etsy is more comforting to the "casual" shopper than handing over a credit card to a one-man site? That's debatable I'm sure.

Actually I'm just going by my initial reaction to Etsy (as a buyer) vs places like Amazon (hardly a "one-man site") which lets you buy stuff without "becoming a member". I agree the information/hassle/whatever of joining Etsy is minimal, it's just that quick moment of "Huh? Why do I need to do that?", right when you're ready to spend money. And maybe it's just me, but I really don't like having "huh" moments when I have my hand on my wallet.

In case anyone is having trouble following this conversation, here's a "fun fact": if you buy something on Etsy, you create a "username", just as with most sites. But if you later decide you want to sell on Etsy, that username you picked out (as a buyer) becomes the name of your shop, and there are some truly bizarre shop names there as a result. It's just a peculiar vibe the place has of lumping buyers and sellers together. Mind you, I like the site, but it's definitely got its own way of doing some things.

[Joyce Baldauf]

Patrick,

Thank you. I had never heard of the etsy site before reading your posting. It looks like just the kind of place I need to begin selling my turnings. Everything up till now has been word of mouth, this should greatly expand my possibility of sales.

Joyce

[Patrick Taylor]

Patrick,

Thank you.

You're quite welcome! I hope it helps you broaden you customer base.

Not affiliated, yada yada yada...

[Adam Howard]

I do sales online. I have the stand-alone website, and also use Ebay to drive traffic to the site. I have low Ebay sales, but it often brings me customers who request custom work. I use it more as advertising than anything. Ebay is a PITA, because they want to be your TOTAL solution, but it's the wrong place to be for a real crafter/artist to make money.

On the flip-side, I've met some of my best customers on Ebay. I stay there with limited listings, but don't really like it.

I am registered on sites like jolaf.com, artsefest.com, and custommade.com to also help drive traffic to the dotcom.

The stand-alone site is home-made, with some help from my nephew. Paypal provides the shopping cart security and system, and I've found the fees to be reasonable without the need to get a merchant account. I edit my own html code to add and take off items.

Hosting is done through Yahoo small business and runs $12/month with plenty of bandwidth and storage. A stand-alone site, if done yourself can be the lowest cost alternative to co-op's, auction sites, etc., where somebody else takes a share of your work.

It has taken a couple years to develop a web-presence, and I'm still very small, just a part-time business, but I do get steady orders and traffic of 50-200 page views/day. I get requests weekly and have been able to stay pretty busy nights and weekends based on the custom work and moving inventory. I don't think I would want this to be my full-time gig, but it makes for a nice income supplement, and helps buy tools.

I hope some of this helps. It does take lots of work and time to get it going. Unfortunately, it seems that places to sell "casually" give matching results. I wish there were easy answers.... I'd use them. There are lots of experts out there, this has just been my experience so far (4 years).

[Patrick Taylor]

Hosting is done through Yahoo small business and runs $12/month with plenty of bandwidth and storage. A stand-alone site, if done yourself can be the lowest cost alternative to co-op's, auction sites, etc., where somebody else takes a share of your work.

I'm glad it's working for you Adam, that's great. Have you fond a need to charge exceptionally low prices on ebay?

RE hosting, I pay about $3.50/month through godaddy.com, who also handles the domain registration (with a private option), etc. For the traffic you're describing I think you could save a bundle on hosting fees with a cheaper plan. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

As for etsy fees, it's $0.20 to list an item and 3.5% when you sell it, which is reasonable. The listings stay up for 4 months, when you can relist them if you want. Even though I have a domain and hosting, it's really more of a business card and I use etsy for sales (to keep things simple) despite the fee, because the fee is pretty small.

That's my 2 cents...

[Adam Howard]

Patrick,

I don't give in on low prices. Then again, many would say I'm too cheap to begin with. If it doesn't sell, it doesn't. I treat it like advertising dollars. The only time I cut prices is when I want to clear out some old stock.

I'm looking into Etsy and decided to post a few items to see how it goes. Sounds neat! Much more reasonable as far as fees than the other. I took a look at your profile, and you have very professional pictures,etc.... Nice look.

With Ebay, you can operate a "store" for $0.11 each item/month. I run usually 6 or so auctions at a time to draw into the store, so it keeps the fees fairly reasonable. If you try to run a large inventory in the auction category, the fees will break you, and you still won't end up selling much.

I'll take a look at godaddy.

Thanks!