I have finally become totally discouraged with eBay, so I am closing my store there on December 14, 2010. I may sell old stock there occasionally, but I will not be re-opening the store again. EBay is promoting volume sales nowadays and this does not work well for artisans. You have to sell in volume to become a top rated seller on eBay. They are the sellers listed first when a buyer searches for a particular item. This hinders getting my work viewed since I am a small operation. I appreciate my loyal customers. If it were not for you, none of my work on eBay would get sold. Many of you realize the quality of my work.
Unfortunately artisan work takes time to create, so selling in volume would be difficult when you are dealing with one-of-a-kind items. Designing takes time. Beadwork with seed beads is very time consuming in itself. Even my seed bead tubes take roughly 2-3 hours to make. It is very disheartening to have to let my work auction for $9.99 when that does not cover material costs in most cases, much less pay me for my time to make the piece. By the time I pay eBay, PayPal and any shipping fees I am giving the jewelry away to the customer. Lately I have been paying eBay more than what I am selling there. In the future, customers will see my jewelry on venues like Etsy.com and Artfire.com listed for their actual value...actually my inventory on Etsy is currently undergoing price updates. The pricing you are seeing on eBay is at wholesale. I am not a wholesaler. I am a self-representing artist who likes to make beautiful jewelry. I hope you continue to patronize my stores.
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