I was the premiere jewelry artist on EBay, having sold my original polymer clay framed jewelry pendants and pins since 2002. Those early days were fun and exciting. I enjoyed selling the designs I pioneered to people who truly appreciated them and gained many faithful customers and new friends in the process. Once I shared how to make my polymer clay jewelry with others in an issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry several years ago, other crafters began selling similar versions of these designs on EBay, Etsy and the like. (Darn it - I KNEW I should have copyrighted my designs. Oh, well...) Anyway, to make a long story short, I also benefited from the popularlity of this jewelry and moved into the Powerseller status on EBay.
The last couple of years have been an interesting ride for me on EBay and a definite learning experience. I am usually a positive person but over the past couple of years, I've been increasingly dissatisfied with EBay's policy changes that were not seller-friendly. Fees continued to increase for sellers which caused me to have to raise my prices; I could no longer leave deserved negative feedback for non-paying bidders; and EBay's payment resolution system is geared in the buyers favor. For example, I recently had my share of people that received refunds from EBay (from my Paypal account) because they claimed they never received an item, only to find out that they received the items AND a refund - leaving me with a double loss. As a result, I've also received undeserved negative feedback from buyers like this because they had to petition EBay for their refunds. In addition, at one point I was suspended from EBay because I used M&M candies in my resin jewelry which I was selling on EBay - a suppossed copyright violation. Who would've thought? The straw that finally broke the camel's back comes in the form of veiled fee increases for sellers which begin on March 30, 2010. To make a long story short, if I don't opt to pay more money each month to upgrade my base store, my insertion fees on store items will increase from 3 cents to 20 each. That may not sound like a lot, but when you normally have over 500 items for sale at any given time, those fees can really add up. I've finally said "enough is enough".
This month, I am having an inventory reduction sale in my EBay store. Oh, sure, I'll still continue to sell some of the higher dollar items in my EBay store, but the smaller items will be moved to my stores on Etsy and Bonanzle. These stores have significantly lower fees which means I can sell my items for LOWER prices. As many of you know, Etsy is a marketplace geared towards handmade and vintage items and supplies. Bonanzle has been around for a couple of years and has received rave reviews from the media and sellers who state it is like EBay used to be back in the day. See the articles here and here and here. I also have the ability to offer automatic discounts to people who spend a specific amount of my in my store, and give away "freebies" of the buyer's choice when they purchase an item. How cool is that?
I want to thank my customers who have supported me during my heyday on EBay, and I hope that I will continue to "see" you on my other sites as I branch out of my comfort zone.
The last couple of years have been an interesting ride for me on EBay and a definite learning experience. I am usually a positive person but over the past couple of years, I've been increasingly dissatisfied with EBay's policy changes that were not seller-friendly. Fees continued to increase for sellers which caused me to have to raise my prices; I could no longer leave deserved negative feedback for non-paying bidders; and EBay's payment resolution system is geared in the buyers favor. For example, I recently had my share of people that received refunds from EBay (from my Paypal account) because they claimed they never received an item, only to find out that they received the items AND a refund - leaving me with a double loss. As a result, I've also received undeserved negative feedback from buyers like this because they had to petition EBay for their refunds. In addition, at one point I was suspended from EBay because I used M&M candies in my resin jewelry which I was selling on EBay - a suppossed copyright violation. Who would've thought? The straw that finally broke the camel's back comes in the form of veiled fee increases for sellers which begin on March 30, 2010. To make a long story short, if I don't opt to pay more money each month to upgrade my base store, my insertion fees on store items will increase from 3 cents to 20 each. That may not sound like a lot, but when you normally have over 500 items for sale at any given time, those fees can really add up. I've finally said "enough is enough".
This month, I am having an inventory reduction sale in my EBay store. Oh, sure, I'll still continue to sell some of the higher dollar items in my EBay store, but the smaller items will be moved to my stores on Etsy and Bonanzle. These stores have significantly lower fees which means I can sell my items for LOWER prices. As many of you know, Etsy is a marketplace geared towards handmade and vintage items and supplies. Bonanzle has been around for a couple of years and has received rave reviews from the media and sellers who state it is like EBay used to be back in the day. See the articles here and here and here. I also have the ability to offer automatic discounts to people who spend a specific amount of my in my store, and give away "freebies" of the buyer's choice when they purchase an item. How cool is that?
I want to thank my customers who have supported me during my heyday on EBay, and I hope that I will continue to "see" you on my other sites as I branch out of my comfort zone.
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