Alternatives to eBay for selling pearls

[Nerida]

When it comes to the school fairs (and yes Wendy, these schools are the Aus. equivalent of Eton and Harrow etc. in some cases), the most "lucrative" ones are the ones where there is an Art Prize or Show annually - people come expecting to spend money - your pearls would fit in well. Also, tailoring the products you take along to these events helps. If men are going to be wandering around with their wives, you probably aren't going to sell too many $80 - $150 items, as the guys tend to think of them as costume jewellery and not worth the money. If the men aren't around (like a fair associated with the opening of the rugby season - the men watch the sport, the women shop) - most women will buy these pieces for themselves without too much second thought! Also, if the guys ARE around, you will sell more big ticket items, women will buy these expensive pieces only if their partners are happy with it.

Interestingly though, although all my friends love my pearls and buy/refer frequently, I don't want to do the fair at my daughter's school - just seems like a bit of a conflict of interests for me.

I am also doing a few Christmas markets/fairs - one of which is run by our National Trust in a stunningly beautiful home on the Harbour foreshore - probably a hundred or more stallholders are invited. Another idea (not my idea, they just invited me along) is a private fundraising function I am doing on our big Melbourne Cup day. It's kind of like Royal Ascot meets Kentucky Derby - all of Australia bets on this race, and most offices have parties and most "ladies who lunch", lunch! This function will have over a hundred women attending, and about a dozen vendors invited along. I'd been invited as a guest, but now I get the best of both sides of the event! Should be fun! There are definitely options around, and often you can do these things on quite a small scale.

Caitlin - maybe this should be in a separate thread? We've definitely ventured away from ebay selling here - sorry!

[pattye]

Yes! Lets make it a separate thread! Thanks very much!

[Nerida]

Thanks for moving these posts, Caitlin!

[borah]

A great website if you're looking to start a business is www.theswitchboards.com/forum
If you're looking for other internet outlets to sell, there's dawanda.com which is pretty much a European version of Etsy. There's also bigcartel.com which hosts your site for you and has some pre-designed site formats I believe. mintd.com is one I've heard of that's based out of Australia which is also like etsy, and shopify.com is apparently another good one although I think its fees are a bit pricy if you're just starting out. I haven't used any of these sites myself but I've been looking for Ebay and Etsy alternatives. Ebay because there are just so many frauds on there (both selling and buying) that I'm hesitant to join and Etsy because the jewelry section seems veryyy saturated and I'm not sure any of the shoppers are really looking for nice pearl jewelry, Etsy highlights their best sellers every couple of weeks and I've yet to see anyone who makes high end jewelry (or even jewelry that doesn't rely heavily on charms). Unfortunately I think mintd and dawanda also probably has a much smaller audience than Etsy which might be why their jewelry sections are still more manageable to browse through. Trying to figure out where to sell is work itself

[gemologist]

Ok, I need help here. I am trying to open freshwater pearls up to crafters, textile producers and so forth. I have a website and I just put up some pearls on ebay in a featured auction, because so many people have pearls up on ebay, but its mostly strands. My pearls are undrilled for gluing or whatever else people come up with. Every once in a while I see freshwater pearls that are the same quality or even less than mine go for alot just for a single piece. How would I go about convincing people to buy pearls bulk for resale or crafty purposes?

Maybe it's just the way I put it on ebay. if someone with more experience in pearl sales could take a look and see if I made any errors I would appreciate it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=140261926732

Also, I am trying to get listed on google products, anyone have experience with this?

What about blogs, facebook or similar sites? Do those work?

[pattye]

Hi Gemologist,

First I do want to make it very clear this is just my opinion!

Well, first of all, there is a lot of reading to get through to realize that the "lot" for $.99 plus $3.80 shipping is for only 3 pearls. Of unknown shape and size. It should be more clear early on, or in the title. So I spend nearly $5 and get 3 pearls? Or maybe I spend a little more and buy a few more lots, still if I have a certain use in mind, I need a certain size and shape.

The photo representing the listing shows a TON of pearls. It's confusing. I have bought on ebay for over 4 years--again, this is just my opinion.

Of your photos for craft items, which are very useful to see, the one most appealing to me is the candle with all the pearls around it. How much is that going to cost approximately?

And what is "non-impregnated"?????

[borah]

Do you have ads on craftster.org? I think I might have seen an ad that looks like your avatar. I think Etsy would be a good start for you, a lot of the people who are browsing/buying are looking for craft supplies. I think part of the problem might be your photos. If I didn't know you through the forum I'd probably think you were either a scammer or had a really subpar product. The photos on your site, even when you offer smaller lots all seem to be of exactly the same bunch of pearls that you just crop to make smaller when the lot is smaller. When I'm buying things like beads or pearls online I want to be able to see details and when it's the same picture for different sized-lots it puts me off a bit because I'm not sure of what exactly I'll be getting. I just checked out your website and you offer 100, 10, and single coin pearls. I think it would really help if you took a picture of just 10 pearls and one pearl on its own for those lots.

I bought pearls on Etsy and eBay before I found P-G and the quality wasn't all that great, but the pictures were clear and played a large part in my decision to purchase. THere's a big market on Etsy for jewelry making supplies, and a pretty healthy market for unfinished strands, if you do a search on their it might help you decide how to list your pearls. One other thing is that sellers on Etsy don't seem to offer 16" strands very often but 8" strands instead.

You could also try putting some photos on your website of what you can do with undrilled pearls (like that thread you had with the soaps and the frames and the candles). Crafters are definitely familiar with beads, but they might not be sure of what they can do with undrilled pearls. From what I've read, former advertisers with craftster who sell supplies ended up having a lot of success with kits. Is there any sort of kit you could put together with your pearls?

If you want to keep the website you have now you could brush up the site a bit andd make it look more professional. Appearances definitely matter on the web! I hope that helps, I've done a lot of research on selling online (I haven't actually started myself) and I spend a lot of time lurking on craftster and browsing on etsy so I've come to notice some patterns

[Heidi]

What about blogs, facebook or similar sites? Do those work?

Hi Gemologist -

I agree with what other PGers are saying on the eBay question: more specific photos and clarity about exactly what will be shipped with which auction or BIN could help your sales.

Blogs can be good for self-promotion but you have to update often enough to stay at the top of a reader's list. Pure Pearls has a blog that is a nice adjunct to their online store and it gets updated just often enough. If they updated more often that would be fine but any less would be too seldom. Posting photos is a big part of the success of their blog. Wordpress is a great tool for building a blog.

Facebook is excellent for organizing and will get you some visibility - it's touchy though, from a timing point of view because everything on the web moves extremely quickly. You'll want to be certain that your other web presence and e-commerce tools (your site, eBay, and any other selling portals) are in really good shape before you go up on Facebook. The idea being that, if someone doesn't find what they think they will the first time they follow a link from your Facebook page they may very well not come back. Also, frequent updates are key to staying visible on Facebook. Frequent = every day or two.

Twitter has a good integration to Facebook and is a place where a lot of merchants are getting their message/prpoduct information out.

[Pearl Dreams]

I read through your "Lot" listing quickly and missed the fact that a "lot" is only 3 pearls. I saw it after a second read-through. The photo also makes it seem like people are getting more. That is a recipe for buyers complaining after they receive their order (yes, buyers should read, but we know they sometimes don't.)

Three pearls is too few for a "lot" IMO, especially as there is a shipping cost. Consider offering a larger lot (15 for $5?) and photograph that quantity-- and no more. Put the quantity right in the title and again at the top of the description, in bold print so it won't be missed. Of course mention that it is a representative photo and that individual lots will vary (as you have done.)

Having said that, though. I will add that I prefer knowing exactly what I am buying (not wondering whether anything in the lot would be useful to me.) Also, I personally prefer drilled pearls. That may change if I take up crafting with pearls but for now I only string them.

[gemologist]

Yeah, I know it seems a little confusing.. I am following the formula set down by bulk gemstone sellers. low price, but it's a price per Carot, not price for the whole lot.

Obviously it makes more sense to get more pearls. and really, I am practically giving them away because I already sold enough out of the lot to pay for the entire thing.

The issue is how to make it pop and sizzle enough to get people who weren't thinking about buying undrilled pearls today even look at the auction, while being honest about exactly what you are getting. There are so many different types of FW pearls in this lot it would be hard to seperate them out and show each one, but at the bottom of the page I have the different types.

Good idea about just doing the pictures of the lots that I am selling for the website.

I will see what I can do to work all of this great advice into my sales (without breaking the bank)

[Nathan Reed]

You may want to be careful of putting your pearls on eBay or a similar site. Such places are full of low quality pearls being dumped on the market by China and its neighbours. If you just want to sell low quality in bulk, then OK. But, if you want to set yourself apart and promote quality, then I would suggest getting a website. It’s not terribly expensive or difficult, but getting people to visit the site will be expensive and difficult.

[pattye]

Hey gemologist, how about answering my question?

And what is "non-impregnated"?????

Are you really a gemologist, or did you just pick that for your nickname??

[Nerida]

Oh my, gemologist, you will need to have a little rethink on your wording of your ebay ads if you don't want disappointed customers.
My thoughts agree with Pattye - firstly, it is definitely not so clear that the buyer receives only three pearls. Where you say (quote) These are right out of the lot you will receive. Here is another one. (qute) you show photos of a whole bunch of pearls. No, these are not right out of the lot you will receive - the lot you will receive may come out of a group of pearls like this! Also, when you describe the pearls "baroque, keishi, cross etc" it infers to me that ALL of these pearls are in the "lot".

Your photos of your projects are lovely, but to do almost any of them, buyers would need to know what type, shape and size they will be receiving. 3 random pearls just isn't going to do much for them.

I am sure there is a market for "craft" pearls, but I think your ebay site needs a little fine tuning to reach it. Be specific, be completely obvious in what you are selling, and good luck!

[Caitlin]

Hi gemo.....

I just skimmed through your ebay ad. My first impression is too many words. I was skimming and I did not even see how many in a lot. I thought it was difficult to get engaged with your ad. When I was looking at it again, just now I still didn't see the lot size.

The lot size MUST be in the title. You are showing a photo with a mass of pearls and yet you are only going to sell 3 to a lot? That is very misleading.

There are so many different types of FW pearls in this lot it would be hard to separate them out and show each one,

Let me tell you my ebay story:
I put up a big bag of unsorted sequins for sale I started the price at 99c. Not even a nibble.

Then I sat down with a towel on a big tray and starting sorting them into piles. I did it while watching TV. After a good 6 hours total. I had 20+ different kinds, sizes, and colors of sequins and bagged each color separately. I relisted on ebay with photos of each bag of sequins. There was a bit of a bidding war and I sold them for $30+- and they were a good deal compared to buying them in a store. and I turned $00 into $30.00 with a little sorting! I am including a photo of them. Not all show in one photo so I put up 3 in my ad.

So my suggestion to you is to get a dozen boxes or so and start sorting. I guarantee it won't take you 6 hours!

If you sort, it gives you a chance to look at and handle each pearl (or as my youngest says "make friends with each pearl".. I am sure you will find some surprises with great orient or an off shape, like that singleton you have up. Sell them separately or in "matching" pairs

I suggest you sell lots of 10-15 pearls except for the best ones which you can sell separately (like the single in the photo you put up here.) I would list one type of pearl to a listing. You could even offer one bag of mixed types (say 2 of each kind) if you want. I see you are listing with a BIN price. Thats good. List each type of pearl separately.

You need to take a picture of what the lots of each type look like and let people know that it is a representative photo.

In general, I find your ebay listing full of beginner's mistakes. My impression is you are not taking it seriously. It's like you are throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. Ebay buyers are fairly sophisticated and they want to see the various things I've mentioned.

To be taken seriously as a seller, you must make an easy to read description.

I think undrilled pearls are a hard sell- I wouldn't buy any because I want drilled pearls, so your suggestions for what to do with them are good- but how did you make the coin necklace?

[Doug (Integrity Pearls)]

Gemologist, there is some really great advice here. Having sold tons of pearls on eBay, I have a few suggestions to add... 1) Make it as clear as possible what the buyer will exactly be getting; 2) Offer true value that is a good as, or better than, they can get elsewhere.

If you were selling 3 really nice white coins or crosses for $1, that would be an attractive way to introduce yourself to buyers who may then become long-term customers. But if they get 3 of the rice pearls in the picture that have deep rings, you may get opposite results - it's so easy on eBay for unhappy buyers to publicly post negative feedback and quickly spoil your business!

But don't give up. Find what works, whether on eBay or elsewhere. Best wishes for your success ...