A frugal work-at-home idea? How realistic is this scenario?
n...@spam.com
I am an artist and used to sell paintings via online auctions. I don't
like selling the work myself because
1. too much time spent figuring out the logistics of image hosting.
2. I don't know html for ad copy
3. I have found there to be more non-paying bidders in the past year
4. I don't want to have to sign up for billpoint and auction wallets
and paypal and all those other things you have to sign up for to have
a wide variety of payment/billing options.
5. Not being particularly tech savvy, I am not able to take advantage
of all the bells and whistles for when it comes to creating listings.
6. I would rather spend my time creating more art than selling it.
My ideal scenario is to have someone else sell my paintings. I would
like to make an arrangement where the person who sells my art gets 50%
of the price it sells at. They would be responsible for listing fees,
and if a painting SOLD, I would be willing to have the final auction
fee deducted from my 50% of the selling price. I think that
arrangement seems fair to both parties. (after all, I would be mailing
the art at my expense to the seller, and I paid for the materials to
produce the art). Auction buyer would be paying for their own
shipping.
How realistic is it to expect the following from the seller (meaning,
being able to find such a person)
1. Person has to live in the United States. (though they could sell
internationally if they choose to)
2. Person has to have a digital camera and a scanner, both capable of
taking excellent quality images, to show both detail and accurate
color. (this is very important because I have seen people show art
that has been scanned and the colors are not true shades, or are
totally different shades. I have personally found Visioneer scanners
to be most accurate in color). Scanner would be for paintings that can
fit on scanner, and digital camera would be needed for larger pieces.
3.Person should be familiar with auctions and have selling experience
, and have a perfect or near-perfect feedback rating.
4. Person would have to be responsible to carefully pack art. The art
would all be unframed, so there would be no concern for breaking
glass, and smaller art can be packed in priority boxes (free) ,
however larger work would need to be packed in larger boxes, which the
person would probably need to construct them themselves. (fairly easy,
yet time consuming) . Cardboard pieces would need to be cut also to
wrap around the painting, and tied with cheap jute or cord, to keep
paintings stable through shipment)
5. Person would have to have ad copy approved by me, before listing
anything, so that I can proof read it for errors. (though simple ad
copy stating dimensions and medium and auction terms and copyright
notice is adequate and can be replicated, repeatedly, other than
inserting the unique title of that particular painting)
6. Person would have to be honest and reliable to pay me once per
month on work sold, in a timely fashion.
7. Person needs to charge shipping based on actual shipping costs, NOT
some devised handling fee. (I have seen some auction sellers charge
$10 for shipping that really costs $3.95, I find this dishonest and
offensive) Person can sell paintings individually or in groups or
lots, based on common theme. (in most cases, at least for smaller
paintings, the buyer of the art can pay the same postage for 7
paintings as they can for 1 painting, which sometimes motivates a
buyer to buy more than one painting at a time)
8. Person needs to be highly organized and a good record keeper, able
to generate reports of work listed, work sold, price sold, listing
fee, final auction fee, inventory status, etc.
9. Person would need to keep professional, at all times, as a seller.
10. Person would need to assume the risk of paying for listing fees of
art NOT sold.(meaning if a piece of art didn't sell, there would be no
profit for them on that listing) (in my experience 70% of what I
listed sold, however, factoring in the downturn of the economy and
more non-paying bidders participating in auctions, that risk may be
greater)
11. Ideal person should enjoy the idea of selling art and selling via
auctions, and as a frugal person, be motivated to list and sell often,
so both the seller and the artist could profit more.
12. Person should be able to provide character references (perhaps a
long list of positive seller feedback in their auction profile would
suffice), and person should be financially responsible and
self-motivated.
Now, how realistic is this scenario? If such a person exists, how
could I frugally go about finding such a person? And if such a person
does not exist, what do you think is/are the factors that would
prevent such a scenario from being successful? Thank you for your
input and dieas.
Billy
>How realistic is this scenario?
>
>I am an artist and used to sell paintings via online auctions. I don't
>like selling the work myself because
I would never consider buying "art" off an internet auction. The probability of
fraud is exceptional.
You need a local art/faming shop to peddle your work. I want to see "works of
art" in person.
n...@spam.com
I am an artist and used to sell paintings via online auctions. I don't
like selling the work myself because
1. too much time spent figuring out the logistics of image hosting.
input and ideas.
Frugal Mom
n...@spam.com wrote:
> How realistic is this scenario?
About as realistic as the first time you posted it :(
2batgirl
cash as a part time biz. I use e-bay all the time & find it a great way to
make online sales & purchases.
I,m not really sure though where you could find the type of person you are
looking for, short of posting with the employment agency. At least they
could prescreen some of the applicants. I would also make sure the person
carried Insurance for accidently damage.
What if you asked at your local gallery if they had any ideas for people &
leave a few of your Biz cards? That way they are not under obligation to
give out some ones #. They could let the person they had in mind decide.
<n...@spam.com> wrote in message
news:3be5b844...@news.mnd1.mn.home.com...
Karen Wheless
> like to make an arrangement where the person who sells my art gets 50%
> of the price it sells at. They would be responsible for listing fees,
> and if a painting SOLD, I would be willing to have the final auction
> fee deducted from my 50% of the selling price. I think that
> arrangement seems fair to both parties. (after all, I would be mailing
> the art at my expense to the seller, and I paid for the materials to
> produce the art). Auction buyer would be paying for their own
> shipping.
EBay is not the place to sell art that's worth much, anyone who is
willing to spend any significant amount isn't going to buy it sight
unseen. The only people who will buy will be bargain hunters. You'd be
far better off trying to sell your art in a local shop, even if it meant
driving some distance to get there. And it sounds like you're expecting
to make a fair amount of money, if you expect to still make a profit
after giving away 50% of the price plus deducting shipping twice over.
However, if you are doing well on EBay, you are wasting a lot of money
trying to get someone else to do the relatively simple work for you.
There are even some computer programs that will write and post auction
listings automatically. The only major expense would be a digital
camera, and for web pictures you can buy a cheap one. You'd be better
off spending an hour or two one time (that's all the time it will take)
to create a template for posting auctions. If necessary, pay someone to
do create this template for you and teach you how to post new listings,
it's a one time expense. From that point on, posting an auction
shouldn't take you more than 5-10 minutes. You're willing to give away
more than 50% of your profits for 10 minutes work?
For the money, pick one method of payment (paypal or billpoint) and just
stick with it. You can even post that you won't accept a winning bid
from anyone with less than X positive feedback points.
Karen
2batgirl
here.
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/going/all/category20125/index.html
"Karen Wheless" <karen....@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:1f2d0k2.7bqtg83afk44N%karen....@verizon.net...
Arri London
There are hundreds of galleries who would sell your work if
it is any good at all. Do your homework and start by
investigating galleries where you live. An unknown such as
yourself would have difficulty in selling successfully
online.
sdl
> How realistic is this scenario?
>
> I am an artist and used to sell paintings via online auctions.
I think your scenario is certainly do-able, if you would still be happy
with the amount of money you would be making. I don't know where you
live, but I know I would enjoy providing that type of service if I was
closeby. I enjoy "e-baying" and have a good bit of experience with it,
but don't have a whole bunch of stuff to constantly sell. Drop me a
private e-mail on the possibility if you'd like.
Perhaps a more frugal method would be to learn from the person selling
over time; that is, have them teach you little bits of HTML, how to list
auctions, how to set up payment option, etc. so eventually you could do
it on your own (if that was your desire).
You could determine the "right" person for the job many different ways. I
would highly recommend a face-to-face interview so you can get a good idea
of who they actually are. Take a look at some of their webpages,
auctions, and eBay feedback so you know about their graphic abilities and
customer-relation skills. Initiate a trial selling period of 5-10
auctions, to see if it works out between you, the person, your art, and
the whole arrangement. Overall, I would say give it a try and see what
happens! Good luck-
sdl
Bob VonMoss
> How realistic is this scenario?
>
> I am an artist and used to sell paintings via online auctions. I don't
> like selling the work myself because
EBay is a seller's market. You can reach potential sellers you otherwise
could never reach. Maybe you could try some trial runs to see how it goes.
I hope EBay is around for a while, but things can change rapidly in the
computer field. Do you have a backup plan if EBay say doesn't have the
dominant market share lets say 1-2 years from now. At this point that
doesn't seem likely, but you've got to have a backup plan. There's little
investment just to post something on EBay. You can set the starting price.
Personally, looking at the list, I have a good digi camera, but not top
quality, nor do I have a scanner at the moment.
I wish I could do something like this from a country like in Asia. If
anyone else is out there that wants to do this from an Asian country,
contact me. I am not living there now, but in case of a move...