Does anyone who sells their crafts online actually sell enough to live? I would love to beable to make crafts and sell them and live off the earnings! Is ebay a good option?
I have been selling my goods for years now, but I cannot live off what I make alone. I'm sure eventually I could, but right now I do not. I don't sell on EBAY, because I think they are too expensive. I sell on Etsy instead. Plus I think with EBAY (unless you have been selling with them forever and have a good customer base) most people look there for bargains and cheap deals. I am just not willing to sell my stuff for nothing. There are many people out there that are willing to pay a little more for good quality handmade items. I do a lot of local shows as well to sell my things. Mostly I sell to online customers. I have a pretty loyal customer base and inturn they bring me new customers.
That site is great! Do you make many sales on it? I do craft shows too. They're hard work, but pretty fun.
Ebay is good, you ccan also reserve price and ppl bid until the reserve price is met, thats a good way to get ppl to bid on your stuff to a higher price. I havent made anough to live on it but what you can also try is look for stuff online, stuff you know you can get easy, list up with all info and put it with reserve price. (ex. like a dvd and the list it or if you wanna go higher get something like a video game, computers and such.) But you must list them higher than the product price you find anywhere. I read all this in an ebay book. I dont remember the book name, I read it a the library. you can also go into few groups and they can help, just as long as you ask the right questions. My gf and I use shoppingcartsplus.com. hope that helped. holla.
Been selling my stuff for about 5 years. No web site yet still battling with lack of tech know how. I make a good living but it's a lot of self promotion. I hit folk festivals and art shows and music festivals. It's about targeting your market. If you make hemp jewlery and glass beads then you probably don't want to do an art show ( targeted more fine arts) since you'll be side by side with a lot of other articifers and might not do so well. I do a lot of small local events in the festival off season to carry me through to the next big show, also helps build repeat business. Example I recently did Magnolia Fest in October 4000 in attendence and cost to do a booth $525.00, over 4 days we made $2000.00. So I walked with little over $1400.00 not bad for a weekend but you don't do it every weekend like that. It takes a month to recoup stock from a show like that. So you have to figure and budget to pay bills and purchase supplies for next go around. We travel atleast 2 weeks a month some time we eat the bar and sometimes it eats you. Haha. If you looking to get rich crafting is not for you, if your looking to have a different life with creative finances then hop in!
If you want to make a living off it you really have to work your butt off. Once you have a client base you'll be able to charge more and sell more. Think about it from the customers point of view. They are buying something they've only seen a picture of, they don't know the quality. That's why eBay and Etsy are good you establish feedback from past customers. I just joined Etsy, I sell on eBay, have a website and try to promote my website and eBay stuff on anything I can like livejournal. It's all a matter of getting your name out there and establishing a good reputation.
