by Kandice Seeber Air & Earth Designs

Continued from Page 1

"Extra" Features

The next issue at hand is using ebay's features to your advantage. Always, always use the gallery pic option. It's only 25 cents, and most people in the Handmade Lampwork category use it, so if you don't you may be skipped over. Many customers have posted everywhere that they only look at the gallery view on auctions. If you don't use this option, you are missing out on a lot of customer traffic, and that means fewer bids and lower sales.

Sometimes, it may bring more traffic if you use the Featured Plus on one auction and then have several other auctions going at the same time. Using the subtitle feature on a couple of auctions, or the bold feature can also help. Use sparingly, though, because those get pricey if you do them all the time.

If you haven't created your own auction layout, use one of ebay's. They aren't bad, and having some sort of visual layout is a huge plus. Or, learn HTML to create your own layout. However, *don't go overboard*. The customer is there to see your beads, not all the bells and whistles of your auction layout. Go easy on the images, and stay away from java-scripts as much as possible. Some of that stuff can actually crash a customer's system, and then you can be sure they will never come back. Commonly used unnecessary features to *stay away from* are:

• Huge, bright text
• Trailing cursors
• Blinking or animated images and text
• Music
• Marquee lines (text moving on the screen)
• Screen fading scripts (they make the screen change in odd ways when someone leaves the auction)
• Slideshows (auction lister programs like Andale and Vendio provide these)

Keep any images that are not your beads small and fast loading. If you have a logo, make it small or short so that the customer does not have to scroll a huge long way to get to your bead pics. This is what works for me, and what I am drawn to when looking at auctions.

Reputation

When you first start at ebay, you're starting at the very bottom. You'll have low or no feedback - no one will know you. You have to build a positive reputation to attract buyers, and that's no small task on ebay these days. Your feedback rating is really very important to potential buyers. Start by making some small purchases to get a few positive feedbacks and to get your feet wet on ebay. Buying is the best way to get to know the climate. Leave feedback for the transactions you take part in, and hopefully you will get some good feedback in return. Then, start listing a few smaller things here and there, and follow the rest of the advice here to get a good start. At first, keep your expectations low. You will sell things at a lower price at first - almost everyone goes through this at the beginning. It takes time to build a good feedback rating, and even more time to build up a good customer base. Be patient and keep trying.

Know Your Market

The next issue is a touchy subject for many of us. But one that really needs to be addressed, IMO. Market Research and understanding your target audience. In this case, you are looking for people to buy your beads on ebay. So you need to listen to what people want. There's a happy medium between total artistic individuality and giving the customer what they want. Here's a trade secret for you. I make what I like. But I also pay a lot of attention to what the customer likes. If pink is in, I incorporate the color into my work. I pair it with colors I think look great with pink. I experiment with colors I might not normally put with pink just to see what's cookin'.

Research, all the time!! If your market is the jewelry artist/designer, check and see what people are wearing on TV. Check to see what your friends and family like to wear. Look at bead - craft - art magazines, fashion ads, awards shows. If your main market is the bead collector, check to see what shapes and colors are hot right now for the collector. Then, incorporate that knowledge into your own artistic expression. For instance, I don't like making lentils. But they are hot hot hot right now (still!). But I only make them every so often. So I check to see what other shapes might be hot, and go with those. Shapes in general are doing well right now. I love to make cubes and square tabs, so I stick with those!

Hang out where your customers hang out. Get to know them. You'll gain knowledge and friendship at the same time.

Here are a couple of examples:
The ebay community jewelry category board. I read there from time to time, to check the current "pulse". Most lampworkers don't post there, so I post on occasion just to let them know I am around. We post auctions in the Jewelry category - doesn't it make sense to see what people are up to there? There are a surprising number of potential customers who read and post to that board. It's main discussions are about gemstones, but a lot of them seem to really like pretty sparkly things, and when they notice what I do, they comment about it!

The ebay community bead groups. These are new, and right now there are three that I know of: BeadHive, Beads, Beads and More Beads, and Lampworked Beads. There are a lot of members on each board, and each has its own culture. I don't have time for all three, so I stick with one of them. I have gotten to know the people in BeadHive, and they've gotten to know me and my work. They are a fun group of people!

Also, the rec.crafts.beads newsgroup. This is a public group and is **hugely** populated with people who adore beads. And they will let you know what they like in a heartbeat (and what they don't like!). If ever you needed opinions from a customer's point of view, that's the place to get them. Don't have a newsgroup reader? Go to Google Groups and enter rec.crafts.beads into the search. Who knows - you may make a few more friends while you're at it. But please, please get to know what newsgroups are about before posting. Read for a day or two to get a feel for the group. It's fast paced and has its own etiquette and culture.

I know a lot of people frown on making beads that other people want you to make, and instead wish to make only what you like. This is fine. But please don't complain about sales if you aren't willing to consider your customers' desires. There is a happy medium. You can do what you want *and* do what they want. You can take risks and still have high sales.

Targeting your Audience

Once you know who your audience is, it's time to get in touch with them when you have beads available for sale! The best way to do this is to start a mailing list. (But please, be sure that people give you permission before adding them to any list or you can get kicked off ebay.) You can do this by putting a link on your About Me page on ebay or on your website. Link to a Yahoo group or other kind of email list that you control. There are lots of places to create a mailing list - perhaps the easiest is just to start one in your emailing program. Do some research on Google if you are unfamiliar with how mailing lists work. Then, when you have items available, you'll have a pool of people to email. You can create weekly or monthly newsletters, specials, promotions, whatever you like.

Another great way to get people to look at your items is to create business cards with your ebay ID and email address (as well as any other info you wish) printed on them. Pass them out to friends, and mail them out with your beads to customers. I get mine from Vista Print - they have very good prices and high quality cards. They will even let you upload your own artwork - if you can figure out the little card creating program on their website. It's a bit klunky, but does the job.

Having a website is another way to get in touch with your buyers. Do lots of research, learn HTML and create your own, or if you have the means, pay for someone to create one for you. (My friend and mentor Paulette does fabulous web design for artists.) As an alternative, look to ebay's About Me page creation for a small simple place to promote your ebay auctions.

Basically, marketing is very time consuming and can be difficult to do. However, the more you market, the more buyers you will have - period. So it's in your best interest to try a few of these things. It's a pain - it's my least favorite part of selling beads! But it's worth the time and effort, I promise. Ebay may bring some traffic to your auctions, but your own marketing activities will create the all important "word of mouth" that you need to succeed.

A Few Last Thoughts

Another touchy subject is that of talent and design. These cannot be taught, in my opinion. They have to already be there. You can bring them out by observing your surroundings and finding beauty. But if you have no eye for color or design, you may not be able to make a whole lot of money in this business. Of course, this art is not always about business or making money. You have to really love what you're doing. If you're totally in love with glass, fire and color, it will show in your work and you will have higher sales. If you are just doing it for money, I don't believe you will really succeed. Move on to something you love. Life is too short!

Be prepared to pay money for some of the things I have mentioned above. I pay for premium glass colors, tools, equipment, web hosting, a decent digital camera, lighting, photo software, gallery pics in the auctions, etc. You don't have to spend a fortune, but spending a little can be really worth it in the end. If you aren't willing or cannot spend a little money on your business, you will probably not do as well. If you can't afford the necessary tools to do this art safely and properly, I don't think you should really be doing it.

One last and very important point - Ebay is not impossible. But *be prepared* to work very, very hard, and for long hours - especially at first. Don't expect immediate success - it will take some time. And try to keep a positive attitude! You cannot go into this with the attitude that you can make quick and easy money, and then when you don't succeed, get down on yourself for it. It doesn't work that way, and if you look at ebay often, you will see tons of evidence of that. As a matter of fact, you *should* look at ebay often if you are trying to sell there. Look at your competition. Of course, don't copy their beads, but look at what sells and more importantly, look at what does *not* sell. Think about why some sellers continuously have a hard time. Think about why some sellers seem to have unlimited success.

Does any of this make any sense? I hope so. Am I giving you trade secrets? Well, no. This is all common sense, and came from reading everything I possibly could on the subject, and from my own experiences. My auctions do well. Almost every time. The above is why. I hope some of these things will work for you.

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