Alternatives to eBay for selling pearls

Thank you for the suggestions, really appreciate the inputs! I've browsed etsy before but have never bought anything there yet. At the moment I'm only selling loose South Sea pearls, I'm still trying to improve my crafting/beading skill before selling any of my creations. The fees on etsy are much better than ebay so I'm gonna give it a shot, I'm gonna check Artfire too. Thanks Adeline and Lulu :)
 
perlinda said:
I'm reviving this thread since I've been considering to leave ebay. I just started selling on ebay few months ago, but with the high ebay and paypal fee, shipping cost which I'm giving free (anyway, they're charging fee for the shipping cost too), price war going on, I'm lucky if I'm getting any profit in the end. .
Click to expand...

Totally agree on this point. eBay is a serious profit robber if you don't have hundreds of products to post and achieve top seller status.
- 10% charge on the first $50 of the selling value
- 8% charge on the next $50 to $1000 of the selling value
- 2% charge on the next $1001 and up of the selling value
- 8% charge on the shipping value
- $0.50 to post an item for 7 days PLUS around $0.50 per image
- then there's PayPal's 2.9% + $0.30 fee when you receive the payment

If you were to sell an item at $400 USD plus $20 for shipping, you'll end up paying around $50.00 in fees...and that's only if the item sells within a week (as an individual seller)...if it takes longer or you buy their 'serious seller' items, you'll pay even more.

Amazon isn't any better either with their fees starting at 20% of the selling price...talk about stealing from people.
 
A profit robber indeed :(

And with free shipping I'm giving, I've counted that in the end I've "lost" around 20% of my selling price. It's not so bad if I'm selling tons of products, but as someone that has just started, I don't have resources to that yet.

What about bonanza? Someone recommended it to me and it looks quite good, but I don't have any experience with it.
 
Good luck to you. No idea about Bonanza.

Well at least with Etsy it's a mere 3.5% of the selling price and $0.20 per listing that lasts for a whopping four months. I know there's paypal charges but I think I can take the pain from their cut.

It's sad because I just had three of my favourite sellers on ebay drop off that platform in the last 6 months. And two of them were retired old dears who had bothered to share with me their passion and chat about gemstones. One was seeking medical treatment in Thailand and needed every cent from his sales while the other was selling his lifetime collection of gems for penny auctions. He was barely making any money, in fact getting into deficit on each and every listing. And this carried on almost two years. They both were so burnt out from their ebay experience when I tried convincing them to go on etsy and artfire they declined, saying they were too old and technology was too hard for them. I often wonder what happened with them.

And Caitlin's advice is really good. I think to sell you have to think like a consumer and their buying patterns. These days people buy in smaller quantities, I guess. The sorted sequins look so pretty; it helps to appeal to their aesthetic as well.
 
unfortunately there is not really a place online that has the web traffic that ebay does. if you can find venues to sell to people in person, that is the best as you can get better prices. fairs, exhibitions, etc. look for one near your home and give it a try.
 
Unusual Pearls - I still agree. Since this thread started, my own business has changed from retail to wholesale. For a small business, face to face selling brings an active, loyal group of repeat customers and local fairs and exhibitions are still doing great business here - I can't imagine it would be too much different anywhere else. I still do a street fair once a year to clear older stock, and it is still hugely successful. Wholesale selling is still about having a face to face interaction with the retailers who go on to sell for me - without trade fairs and getting out and about, it just wouldn't work. An active online presence is hugely important, nevertheless!

Adeline - I agree with your Etsy comments - I use Etsy first when looking for bits and pieces (not pearls) - far easier to negotiate than ebay!
 
If my experience can be of any help, I would add that I went to Etsy for a specific line different from what I am usually creating, and up to my surprise, I have already sold 3 pieces (from 6 on sale).
So I will upload some more in the future.
I think this is a good place. Here is what I put there. Hope it helps.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OnlyVintageCoral
 
Thanks for letting us in on this site, Anna! What fantastic offerings!

Would you put your etsy address under your signature for us? I promise I will keep an eye on it. If I weren't so broke, I'd grab the coral and the petrified coral!
 
Thank you very much I promise I will update my signature so that there are not too much links under it :)
 
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I just want to add that "our" lovely Pattye encouraged me to stay on Etsy , so it is my turn to encourage others to go there.
 
Ah, Anna, I have spied your vintage coral pieces, it's wonderful. We can talk about coral in another whole thread! I'm getting all tingly the way I usually do when I get super excited. I inherited a bit from my grandma who always told me to buy jade, coral and pearls in that order. I have duly done so since I was 20 but not always in that order. Lol.
 
That is so sweet. In my family it was pearls, coral, and turquoise. I have some little handmade coral beads that are between knot-ups right now. I am inspired to string them back up!
 
In my family. It was always like Jack and the Beanstalk, where I was Jack but instead of magic beans I bought pearls... You bought more pearls!!! :confused::confused::confused:

My collecting got out of control that I had to start selling before I could buy again.
 
But the most fun I have had is definitely selling in a jewellery show. As I stay in Singapore, I have only exhibited in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. But the people you meet is great, the connections you make is great and if the show is good, the money is also great. But everyone would always ask "do you have a website". I did for a while, but it was hard for me to keep up to date as the sales were brisk from outside the web. It is worthwhile to have some sort of website even if it is just for info. I know what some of my friends who have their own little bricks and mortar shops is have a website and post new items just so their regular customers can see what is new. But it helps to keep them in their customers minds after they meet.
 
so far etsy is ok for me, but not like ebay of a few years ago. far from it actually. but ebay fees were really getting out of control. i had a 4 figure ebay bill a month when i stopped. etsy is still growing i think and the type of customer is different.

adeline even bought our pearls on etsy! thanks adeline.
 
Unusual Pearls said:
etsy is still growing i think and the type of customer is different.

adeline even bought our pearls on etsy! thanks adeline.
Click to expand...

How so, UP? How so?

It's interesting, another gemstone vendor just told me the same thing. He said for starters, there are a lot of women on Etsy than onEbay. Secondly, he claimed they were a lot more relational, aka, talkative... chatty. He spends a lot of time online 'talking', answering questions etc.
 
i think the customer on etsy is more normal. nowadays on ebay, they want everything for a low price with free shipping and they want it today. I may go back to selling on ebay one day, just to dump stock that I would otherwise have a hard time selling. You have to realize on ebay there are so many people misrepresenting things for sale there that people alot of times are just unhappy. Its the "you mean this solid gold ring with a diamond for $14.99 is not real syndrome".
 
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