Archive for August, 2009
Hello
and welcome to our updated site.
Our old site was getting a bit old so it has now been updated a bit, unfortunatly the old database does not work with this one, so your log in details could not be moved over. We are sorry for any inconviniance caused.
Please could you create a new account again here… http://www.crystal-wholesale.com/store/ to access the website and use the shopping cart.
Thank you for your Custom
Posted in How to Sell Your Crafts on eBay
By: James Dillehay
Artists, craftspeople and photographers are successfully selling their wares everyday on the online auction site, eBay. According to a recent analysis of eBay sales, a crafts-related item is sold every nine seconds, a scrapbook item is sold every minute, and 40 cross-stitch items sell in an hour on eBay. Sales of craft items on eBay have grown almost 60 percent in the past year, according to TheBidFloor.com.
But, at the same time, many would be sellers are listing their pieces for sale on auctions and getting no bids, concluding that eBay just doesn’t work.
Here are some tips from James Dillehay, craft artist, eBay seller and author of the new book, “Sell Your Crafts on eBay” (Warm Snow Publishers), on how to profitably sell your wares online:
1. A word’s spelling impacts an item’s profitability. For example, the word ‘handmade,’ spelled as one word, was part of 2,233 auction titles with an average closing price of $16.29. However, auction titles that included ‘hand made’ as two words were found in 1,358 listings, but with an average auction closing price higher, at $27.81, or $11.52 more profit per item.
2. Go to eBay.com and find the search box. Type in the word or phrase that describes your art or craft item. Then scroll down the links on the left side of the page and click on the link for “completed items.” Here, you’ll be able to see the demand for this type of product. Do searches for your items every two to three weeks to chart buying patterns.
3. Find out how much people are willing to pay for your wares. Click on the link that says “highest price.” This will give you a list of completed auctions from highest priced items to lowest priced ones. You want to know what people are willing to pay for items like yours. If you can’t make and sell your product for a profit, eBay might not be your marketplace.
4. Determine how much money you’ll make on your product. To determine your profitability, use the cost of your materials plus the cost of your labor plus the cost of your selling price, which should be the minimum price to recover your expenses. If it takes you eight hours to make a piece of jewelry and the highest priced similar item sells on eBay for $26, you won’t make a profit.
5. Look at the elements of successful sellers of products that are similar to yours. Examine their winning auction titles. Observe how much detail they use to describe their item. See if the seller used any of eBay’s special features such as gallery photos or a bold, featured listing. Evaluate the starting price, starting day of the week, and duration of winning auctions.
For more tips on how to sell your craft items on eBay, consult a resource book like “Sell Your Crafts on eBay,” by James Dillehay. It offers-more than 200 easy-to-learn tactics and tips that help sell art, craft and theme-related items for a profit on eBay and on other online auction Web sites.
Author Bio
James Dillehay is a 20 year crafts veteran and nationally recognized expert on craft business. Author of eight books, his articles have helped readers of Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens,Country Almanac, Working Mothers, The Crafts Report,Sunshine Artist, and many other magazines. For more information, see www.craftmarketer.com
Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content
How to price for optimum profit – 5 steps
By: Peter Lawless
As with everything, it does not take rocket science to get this right, however one slip, could seriously damage your bottom line. The three factors, equally weighted are as follows:
The value that your customers put on your product and service
Will you make a profit?
What your competitors charge for the same or equivalent
So how do we define customer value?
Value is what a purchaser gets when they make use of your product or service. It is the figure that they put on, their new capabilities. Ones that you have delivered to him through ownership of what you sell.
Value is not always quantified in monetary terms. A golfer may go to a professional, get three lessons, and knock 10 off their handicap – so what is that worth to them? If they had previously spent $5,000 on lessons and still been awful, it could be worth an awful lot.
The most important consideration is that the buyer must feel that they got “good value” from their purchase.
However this good value must not be sold at a loss!
Given, you are in business to make a profit, it is important that you do not sell everything at a loss. It is fine to have loss leaders and indeed, offer freebies, to encourage new clients, or to reward loyal customers. However you business must be profitable, or else you will not have one.
To understand whether you are making profit from a product or group of products, you should factor in all fixed and variable costs. Then look at how many you will sell, and ensure it is worth your while selling at that price.
But what if it’s good for you and your customer, but your competitor is cheaper!
First and foremost, check that what they are selling is identical to what you are selling. If it is, all you will do is create a market that your competitor will clean up on.
The good news is that in 99.99% of cases, your products or services are not identical. This is where creating your unique value proposition is vital. This needs to distinguish you as being the best solution in your chosen target market or niche.
It is important also to realize that the best solution may also not be the cheapest. Let’s go back to the golf pro. He charges $60 a lesson for his services; his competitor charges $30 a lesson. But if what you want is rapid improvement, and this guy has testimonials to prove what he has done, by spending $180 with him, to get 10 shots off your round of golf, could save you thousands, that you could have spent with the $30 guy.
The bottom line is that your pricing must take into account the three key considerations; providing the better value than your competitors, at a profitable price.
If you need help with your pricing strategy, give us a call, we would be delighted to help.
Author Bio
This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales & Marketing – www.3r.ie For previous articles and interviews like this, visit 3R’s InfoCentre. Or Subscribe to Success. This free monthly email bulletin, will grant you access to Interviews and articles on sales, marketing, CRM and wealth creation as soon as they are written. This is a great way of getting advice to help you increase your bottom line.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com
