Is eBay Your Silent Sales Machine?

Is eBay your silent sales machine? eBay is the largest auction house in the world and home to many an aspiring artist looking for a way to silently sell their art online without having to set up a website or deal with the hassle of social networking and social engagement. But, having used eBay on and off for a while, I’m still not convinced about it. Don’t get me wrong, eBay is indeed a useful tool in your overall arsenal of art marketing weaponry but if

Is eBay really your silent sales machine?

you’re relying on it as a money-making machine you could be left disappointed.

Hands down, eBay is the largest online auction house in the world. As a matter of fact, they are, the largest auction house in the world period! Being a pioneer in this industry with years of experience, and up to 14 million auctions happening at any moment in time, they are the granddaddy of the whole auction universe. Their selection is vast, buying and selling features far and above any of their competition and they have an enormous user base. It seems that if you can’t sell on eBay, you can’t sell at all. But is eBay really the place to sell exclusive artwork or indeed artwork that you would like to be viewed as exclusive?

No matter what the bad press regarding eBay’s fees, and they are higher than most, in the world of online auctions all other auction sites seem to pale by comparison. eBay charges to list sale items and then adds a Final Value Fee once they are sold. Most other auction sites have no listing fee for sellers. They are free. But maybe, just maybe, the extra cost is worth it as they offer more sales options and get more traffic than any other online site.  For $39.95 you can have your listing featured on eBay’s front page. This looks like great exposure on the surface but is it worth it?

I’m intending to focus more of my time on eBay over the coming months to see what it offers in terms of ROI for an artist who is attempting to market their art work online and I’ll be updating the blog to keep you all in the picture, so to speak.

Read on for more background information if eBay is in your sites right now…

If you are a seller there is a detailed listing process with a number of steps to follow but fortunately, it appears quick and easy. One can personalize his or her listing with a choice of custom layouts, have a private auction, block bidders should they be an annoyance, and cross promote your item for sale.  The learning curve does not appear that steep and once mastered, the potential return may well be worth the effort. If you have a lot of merchandise to sell, check out creating an online store. Here you can create up to 300 categories for your products and place listings for a subscription fee.  Vendors must submit a credit card and bank account number to verify your identity.

The chase to purchase that favourite item at a bargain price is part of the thrill of auction buying and creating urgency is perhaps on of the power points in terms of selling on eBay.

Read our article on the psychology of selling art and let me know what you think of the process in terms of auction selling.

If you’re selling on eBay, it helps to make the process as easy as possible for all parties and it’s fairly easy to do this with just a few clicks of your mouse and a little practise. My own experience so far has been sporadic and varied but enjoyable all the same despite no real head turning sales coming through.

The detail page acts as the auctioneer giving information about the product, the seller, where in the world the item is located, bid history, shipping costs and how to pay.

If your interest is antique jewelry, pick jewelry as your category, expand the menu if needed, find and select antique jewelry, click on rings or whatever suits your fancy and volia, you will probably find over a hundred items of interest. Using the advanced search feature you can source products by store, price, seller, bidder, item number, location and even time. When the gavel is ready to come down and close the bid as sold, eBay has built in capability to send you a text message, and phone you within the last three minutes of the auction so you can bid from your phone. If that is not enough features to make you go “WoW” or perhaps “okay, I’ll give it a try”, how about downloading their desktop application and an eBay toolbar for your browser.

As with every other aspect of this site, the eBay silent sales machine has a sophisticated system for grading sellers and buyers, a built in dispute mechanism, a summary of your purchases, your bid and lost diary, and even a place to ask the seller questions about his or her product.

The last time I looked, there were more than a million pieces listed in the extensive category called eBay Art..a not-so silent sales machine perhaps?