New Ebay rates!! Ouch!!

Kandice observed:

Ebay's prices are also still a bit higher for handmade beads.
Good for the buyer, but not for the seller.

I think that's highly variable, depending on the seller. The latest Ebay
mess had made me do some serious math for the past few years (since I
got back into auctions). While sales vary from week to week, month to
month, overall by year I've earned 15-20% MORE on Justbeads than I have
on Ebay, and had 10-20% more items sell on Justbeads.

I miss the auction days on Amazon. I made more money over there than
Ebay and Justbeads combined, for one golden year. sniff

KarenK

But how many people who stumble onto lampwork beads pay premium prices.

I do agree that eBay gets way more traffic, but that's because people list
there assuming they do. If people put their beads in the bead specialty
auctions, that's where people would go to find them. I don't think there's
a problem with beaders going to a bead specialty source.

If you want JustBeads to have better selection, list beads there. Beaders
look there. Beaders buy beads.

Simple.

Tina


"Su/Cutworks" wrote in message
...
Tina wrote:

Why do people keep saying they're the only game in town?

JUSTBEADS is in town too. And personally I like them very much, as a
customer. I ALWAYS check out their auctions.

Because of the volume of non-beaders who might stumble across lampwork and
fall in love with it. JustBeads is for people who know beads and know
that
it exists. If you're not a beader what are the odds you know about
JustBeads at all? I certainly didn't but I knew about eBay and that's
where
I found my first pieces of lampwork other than here.

There's no comparison as one is a very dedicated, tightly focused site and
the other is a huge yard sale.

Right now we have half our beads on JB and half on eBay, and the eBay ones
are getting far more interest. It's just a question of how many people go
past our shop window.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

Blue Heeler Glass lists both places, as does Two Sisters. It seems to me I
see similar results in both auction sites. And I always check both places
for their beads, as I do for yours, Karen.

When comparing the two sites you have to be sure to compare equals.

I think it was Becki B who also mentioned that you can't compare the success
you have on eBay with the lack of success on JustBeads, if that's where you
list beads that didn't sell on eBay.

Part of my discomfort with eBay, is that it's so big, unwieldy, impersonal
and corporately greedy. I just don't like megacorps very much.

I'd like to see more quality and variety on JustBeads. All it takes is more
seller listing. I really think they have a customer base just ready and
waiting.

Tina


"Karen Kreider" wrote in message
newsViGd.32036$St.3485@fed1read03...
Kandice observed:

Ebay's prices are also still a bit higher for handmade beads.
Good for the buyer, but not for the seller.

I think that's highly variable, depending on the seller. The latest Ebay
mess had made me do some serious math for the past few years (since I
got back into auctions). While sales vary from week to week, month to
month, overall by year I've earned 15-20% MORE on Justbeads than I have
on Ebay, and had 10-20% more items sell on Justbeads.

I miss the auction days on Amazon. I made more money over there than
Ebay and Justbeads combined, for one golden year. sniff

KarenK

Why is the trick to bring NON-beaders into the fold. Beaders are the
customers most willing to pay the price? And the people with the greatest
need for the products.

It would be like saying you need more Mexican residents to get better sales
for skis.

Tina


"Su/Cutworks" wrote...

The problem is not what a great site they are but how people find them or
know about them. I knew about eBay, everyone does, it's so heavily
advertised and is now part of the international culture such as it is.

JustBeads is great, I think they have a solid base and excellent customer
service but they're preaching to the choir mostly. The trick is to bring
MORE non-beaders into the fold.

If you want more traffic, put beads up there. Beaders like bead stores and
will go where they are. And prefer it to be a beady site.

You have recommended other starting out bead auction sites. If one wanted
to go someplace other than eBay to sell beads, the choice seems obvious.

Tina




"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
When I say that they are the only game in town, I mean that they have no
real competition on a large scale. Justbeads is tiny in comparison, and
they get far less traffic. I am not saying that they are not worth
looking
into - what I am saying is that they are not a real threat to ebay. Maybe
in our own little category - **maybe** - if people can get their customers
to follow them there. But from the standpoint of quite a few handmade
bead
sellers, Justbeads still doesn't offer the same potential sales-wise that
ebay does. It's not a nice thought, but it's true.
There are some sellers that do well on Justbeads, but on the larger scale,
there just isn't enough traffic yet. I am sure in the coming months as
people switch, there is a chance for Justbeads to become a better venue
for
sellers of beads.


--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net
"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
...
Why do people keep saying they're the only game in town?

JUSTBEADS is in town too. And personally I like them very much, as a
customer. I ALWAYS check out their auctions.

Tina


"Kandice Seeber" wrote...
Ebay Cons:

3. At this time, they are the only game in town (really, there's no
equal
competition, but that will change hopefully) so they can charge
whatever
they want and get away with it. Monopoly. Almost as bad as Microsoft.

Kandice wrote:

Yes, that's a huge, huge plus for them.
I just hope someday they have the resources to improve their interface.

It would make a vast difference, both to the sellers and the buyers, as some
things are great like the gallery but even with my double-speed broadband it
takes a long time to get it up and going.

I believe that sites like JustBeads are wonderful, it's great to see
lampwork being listed without all the junk that clogs up eBay, but it's
still a boutique site for now. It's true that if more lampwork artists list
there more people will come but their biggest challenge is not to bring over
already-devoted customers but to bring in people new to beadwork that will
buy. That's the big market and the one that eBay gives us at least a
toe-in-the-door with. Which is why I don't complain too much about the
costs on eBay simply because for us it's very cheap advertising.

This week we decided to try an experiment, we took the sets of new beads
Mike did and split them between the two sites, and are watching to see how
things work out. We know that we're not 'known' on JustBeads but that
shouldn't be as big an issue there as it is on eBay because we aren't quite
'unknown' either as I recognize many of the names of people who list. What
I'd like to know is how many people are members of JustBeads, because that
would give an idea of how big the buyer base is. If it's not much larger a
number than the sellers on the site then that says to me it's a group of
beaders who may buy from us but won't get into the same kind of bidding that
is seen on eBay (genuine bidding, I mean, not shill bidding as has been
discussed here before).

We're at the point now where we're thinking that the only way to do this for
us is to list most of the beads on our site and simply list enough beads on
both eBay and JustBeads to give people a chance to see Mike's work and
hopefully bring them to our website. As we're starting out anyway, we might
as well start out as we intend to go on, and use the website to the max
since it's ours and use the auction houses for advertising.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

Tina wrote:

Blue Heeler Glass lists both places, as does Two Sisters. It seems to me
I
see similar results in both auction sites. And I always check both places
for their beads, as I do for yours, Karen.

When comparing the two sites you have to be sure to compare equals.

Yes, but you also have to compare equals among those who are listing. Do BH
and TS list the bulk of their work on the auction sites or is most of it on
their websites?

I think it was Becki B who also mentioned that you can't compare the
success
you have on eBay with the lack of success on JustBeads, if that's where
you
list beads that didn't sell on eBay.

Well, that's not an issue for us, we are splitting Mike's bead sets equally
between them.

Part of my discomfort with eBay, is that it's so big, unwieldy, impersonal
and corporately greedy. I just don't like megacorps very much.

Neither do I, I would happily not deal with eBay but it's advertising for us
on an international level.

I'd like to see more quality and variety on JustBeads. All it takes is
more
seller listing. I really think they have a customer base just ready and
waiting.

It's a chicken and egg situation here, with JustBeads. If there were more
buyers more people would come, and if there were more sellers, more people
would buy. The big question for me is how many people are actually members
of JustBeads? Are they mostly beaders or are there a significant number of
people who are there _just_ for buying? If it's mostly beaders then that's
not a great thing really as it's a potentially limited audience although
bead makers do buy from each other it's the wider audience that is needed.
JustBeads advertises but not in a large way that I can see in the beading
magazines I read. The ads are small and lost in the shuffle, the biggest
one we could find was a 1/12 page in Bead&Button and it was not very
outstanding. Right now, when there's so much unrest with eBay, the folks at
JustBeads are really missing out on the magic moment in their lives by not
working hard as hell to get the bead makers and bead sellers to move to
their site, and to push the boat out in a major way by scraping together
every penny they can afford to get some BIG advertising in the main mags
like B&B, to tell people 'HEY, there's an alternative to eBay, one that's
great and friendly and has great beads.' I would imagine that if they
approached some of their biggest sellers and asked if they could work with
them on promoting the site they'd probably get a very positive response.

Chances like this don't come down the pike often, and if the bead sellers
are frustrated with eBay but don't feel there's an alternative now is the
time to work their hearts out to change that opinion. Many bead makers
speak highly of JustBeads but the majority still list on eBay because of the
exposure. So, it's time for JustBeads to work to change that, and there's
not going to be a better time than now. Even simple AD messages on every
craft and beading group that permits ads would be a start and that's FREE.
And if done properly, can be a very useful marketing tool, if they are done
properly, skillfully and consistently. I read ads all the time to see
what's being offered if it looks like it's a legitimate one.

There, I've said my piece on the issue.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

Because you can't sell in sterling on JustBeads? Because you can't sell
jewellery on Just Beads? Because I can't pay JustBeads fees direct from my
bank account?

Charlie.

"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
...
Why do people keep saying they're the only game in town?

JUSTBEADS is in town too. And personally I like them very much, as a
customer. I ALWAYS check out their auctions.

Tina


"Kandice Seeber" wrote...
Ebay Cons:

3. At this time, they are the only game in town (really, there's no
equal
competition, but that will change hopefully) so they can charge whatever
they want and get away with it. Monopoly. Almost as bad as Microsoft.

Charlie wrote:

Because you can't sell in sterling on JustBeads?

If you have a Paypal account, you can sell in USD. It's the market, there's
no reason to insist on sterling if your customers are not in the UK.

Because you can't sell
jewellery on Just Beads?

There are two jewellery categories. Contemporary and vintage.

Because I can't pay JustBeads fees direct from my
bank account?

I use my Paypal account the same way I do for anything else. Paypal does a
direct debit from our bank account.

If you want to sell globally you do have to think globally, and the biggest
customer base doesn't buy in sterling. When in Rome... even if it's Rome,
Georgia.

-Su

--
Tillerman eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/thetillermanbeads
Tillerman on JustBeads:
http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=tillermanbeads
Tillerman website: http://www.tillerman.co.uk

I'm going to be completely and brutally honest, here, and it may seem like I
am bragging or being selfish, but I'm not - honestly. I am afraid to list
there, because I just haven't had great luck there, and because I have had
great success on ebay.
I've never listed beads on Justbeads that don't sell on ebay - simply
because my beads always sell. It's just a matter of pricing. It's scary,
but I know I need to take the plunge.
It's the same reason why I haven't listed at any of the other auction places
yet. Fear.
I have to make a certain amount of money to get by - I can't afford to let
things go for a really low amount.
I've had success on ebay because I have worked really hard for a long time
to get that success, and it's hard to consider backpeddling to list on
Justbeads and work my way up to where I am at ebay.
It's scary to think that some customers who are loyal to ebay may not follow
me to Justbeads.

This is my own issue, and I know it's somewhat irrational. I *am* working
on the idea of listing over there - in small amounts at first to test the
waters - when I feel I am able to absorb any loss I may take monetarily.
I'm more keen on selling on the website, because that's already pretty
successful.

I am looking at this purely from a business standpoint, because I need to.
I understand the ethical issue, and at this point, I am having to endure an
ongoing inner battle when it comes to what's best for me. I want to take
the high road and support venues which I think have integrity, but I still
have to do what's best for me, otherwise there will be no more beadmaking.

Anyway - I hope this makes some sense. I am still fuzzy-headed lately, and
I change my mind every hour these days. Such is the life of a "starving
artist" heh heh heh.

P.S. - Blue Heeler doesn't get the high prices she deserves, on either
venue. Neither does Two Sisters.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

Blue Heeler Glass lists both places, as does Two Sisters. It seems to me
I
see similar results in both auction sites. And I always check both places
for their beads, as I do for yours, Karen.

When comparing the two sites you have to be sure to compare equals.

I think it was Becki B who also mentioned that you can't compare the
success
you have on eBay with the lack of success on JustBeads, if that's where
you
list beads that didn't sell on eBay.

Part of my discomfort with eBay, is that it's so big, unwieldy, impersonal
and corporately greedy. I just don't like megacorps very much.

I'd like to see more quality and variety on JustBeads. All it takes is
more
seller listing. I really think they have a customer base just ready and
waiting.

Tina


"Karen Kreider" wrote in message
newsViGd.32036$St.3485@fed1read03...
Kandice observed:

Ebay's prices are also still a bit higher for handmade beads.
Good for the buyer, but not for the seller.

I think that's highly variable, depending on the seller. The latest Ebay
mess had made me do some serious math for the past few years (since I
got back into auctions). While sales vary from week to week, month to
month, overall by year I've earned 15-20% MORE on Justbeads than I have
on Ebay, and had 10-20% more items sell on Justbeads.

I miss the auction days on Amazon. I made more money over there than
Ebay and Justbeads combined, for one golden year. sniff

KarenK