| Artists, craftspeople and photographers are | | | | 3. Find out how much people are willing to pay for |
| successfully selling their wares everyday on the online | | | | your wares. Click on the link that says "highest price." |
| auction site, eBay. According to a recent analysis of | | | | This will give you a list of completed auctions from |
| eBay sales, a crafts-related item is sold every nine | | | | highest priced items to lowest priced ones. You want |
| seconds, a scrapbook item is sold every minute, and | | | | to know what people are willing to pay for items like |
| 40 cross-stitch items sell in an hour on eBay. Sales of | | | | yours. If you can't make and sell your product for a |
| craft items on eBay have grown almost 60 percent | | | | profit, eBay might not be your marketplace. |
| in the past year, according to | | | | 4. Determine how much money you'll make on your |
| But, at the same time, many would be sellers are | | | | product. To determine your profitability, use the cost |
| listing their pieces for sale on auctions and getting no | | | | of your materials plus the cost of your labor plus the |
| bids, concluding that eBay just doesn't work. | | | | cost of your selling price, which should be the |
| Here are some tips from James Dillehay, craft artist, | | | | minimum price to recover your expenses. If it takes |
| eBay seller and author of the new book, "Sell Your | | | | you eight hours to make a piece of jewelry and the |
| Crafts on eBay" (Warm Snow Publishers), on how to | | | | highest priced similar item sells on eBay for $26, you |
| profitably sell your wares online: | | | | won't make a profit. |
| 1. A word's spelling impacts an item's profitability. For | | | | 5. Look at the elements of successful sellers of |
| example, the word 'handmade,' spelled as one word, | | | | products that are similar to yours. Examine their |
| was part of 2,233 auction titles with an average | | | | winning auction titles. Observe how much detail they |
| closing price of $16.29. However, auction titles that | | | | use to describe their item. See if the seller used any |
| included 'hand made' as two words were found in | | | | of eBay's special features such as gallery photos or a |
| 1,358 listings, but with an average auction closing | | | | bold, featured listing. Evaluate the starting price, |
| price higher, at $27.81, or $11.52 more profit per item. | | | | starting day of the week, and duration of winning |
| 2. Go to and find the search box. Type in the word | | | | auctions. |
| or phrase that describes your art or craft item. Then | | | | For more tips on how to sell your craft items on |
| scroll down the links on the left side of the page and | | | | eBay, consult a resource book like "Sell Your Crafts |
| click on the link for "completed items." Here, you'll be | | | | on eBay," by James Dillehay. It offers-more than 200 |
| able to see the demand for this type of product. Do | | | | easy-to-learn tactics and tips that help sell art, craft |
| searches for your items every two to three | | | | and theme-related items for a profit on eBay and on |
| weeksto chart buying patterns. | | | | other online auction Web sites. |