Will these sell well on eBay?

I've just spent half the day reading through all the terms and conditions of selling on eBay and the T&C of PayPal because I'm considering selling my mom's craftworks. She makes ribbon embroidered cushions.

I spent a good 2 hours looking at similiar items to see who the competition are and what their prices were. Then another 45 minutes creating a website to showcase the cushions.

I haven't opened an account on eBay and PayPal yet, because all that's gonna cost some money and I need to be sure first before I open shop. My intended market is the US or the UK, but any other European countries and Australia is ok.

That's why I'd like some feedback from members hailing from that region. What do you think of the items -- can it sell in the countries I mentioned? What do you think of the site I created to showcase it?

Oh yes, that reminds me, the website can be found here:
ribbonrysue.blogspot.com...

While its not a market that interests me, I'll wager with the right exposure you could sell some of those.

I would raise the price a bit. Take some to a furniture store and see if you can photograph them in different settings and on different styles of upholstery.

Yes.


Ebay puts the whole world looking at your stuff. If you cant sell it there, you wont be able to sell it anywhere.

I run a site that sells T shirts, costs a bunch of money too, but my Ebay sales still out number my site generated sales 4 to 1 easy.

The trick is making sure you categorize and lebel it correctly. And you need to understand who your customer is to do that properly. The person who may want it needs to find it in their searches, title your auction with that in mind.

GL!

Thanks for the tips. I've never sold anything through the internet before. I really appreciate your comments and suggestions.

skippy: I was thinking older people might like the items -- mothers and grandmothers specifically. Also I was thinking that since Mother's Day is coming in a month's time, perhaps I could push it from that angle -- buy your mum a pair of ribbon embroidered cushions -- something to that effect. What do you think?

NC: You're certain the current prices are too low? I was also trying to take into consideration the shipping costs. To ship to the US it would cost $10 via air parcel, taking 7-15 days while the express mail service costs $30 and ships within a week. I don't really know what those values are worth to people in the US, but converted to my local currency it works out to quite a sum.

Hi Beachcoma

I used to deal with ebay alot and always found them very good, and the paypal system is a good and safe way for payment.

I think the only problem you may have is that people won't be able to feel and see the high quality of the items. I mean its not like going into a store and being able to pick the items up and inspect it properly.

Stores in the US and UK are filled with items from China now as I'm sure you will have heard.

China is very good at mass producing items and making them look good in pictures, but when you see them in a store you can see the chinese items are not wonderful quality.

So people may see your items and think them expensive as they are unable to see the quality.

Maybe make some reference to the fact they are handmade to the highest quality.

Otherwise sounds like a great idea, once a few people buy then they will tell others about them.

It's always easier to lower the price in response to slow sales, than it is to raise the prices to take advantage of unforeseen demand.

It's also a marketing ploy to price an item high in order to make it seem more 'exclusive', but then of course, your marketing materials have to reflect that also.

I am reminded of a company in the U.S. that manufactured what was universally regarded as the finest horse blanket available, but sales were flat. A consultant told them to raise the price. Not only did they start generating a better return per item, they increased inventory turns. It worked for them.

Oh Noes! I've just discovered that I cannot cash out money from PayPal in Malaysia even if my account has been verified. I can receive money with PayPal, but I can't get the funds out

This is a tragedy

I won't be able to reach a broader market without PayPal I mean who would want to send a money order? That's such a hassle compared to what I read PayPal can do...

The only way is to transfer it to a U.S. bank account. Brilliant! :bnghd:

Can you work something out through a Singaporean bank?

I don't know if Paypal deals differently with Singapore, but it may be worth looking at.

If you can get a Singaporean bank account that is acceptable to Paypal, and then (possibly) be able to deal with that bank from Malaysia, that might be nice.

If it's possible. Just brainstorming.

I hope you can figure a way to sell them because they are just beautiful! Please tell your mother that they are works of art and just gorgeous!

Aside from the Mother's Day angle, you could suggest the idea of "getting your mother a beautiful bouquet of roses for her birthday that will last and last".

Good luck to you!

Beachcoma, your mom does beautiful work her ribbon work is gorgeous . I love embroidery and anything crafty, i'm doing my own little side venture at the moment, jewelry and other stuff, nothing like what your mom does . I'd recommend paypal but from the above, I see you're having trouble with that because that is what I'm using. Have you considered maybe contacting a retailer and having them buy from your mom in bulk...usually with big dealers, transactions are done via bank wires or western union.

the more I look at your mom's work, the more I like it. Does she do special orders? I tell her what I want the ribbon embroidery on and she does it for me???

By various posters
they are just beautiful! Please tell your mother that they are works of art and just gorgeous!

your mom does beautiful work her ribbon work is gorgeous
the more I look at your mom's work, the more I like it.

Repeat after me. Focus your market....raise the prices!!!

NC

don't raise your prices too much or you might end up turning off alot of quality main street shoppers. I'd pay up to $50 for one of her "handmade" pillows, however if it goes up too much more, a crafter like me, will consider just doing it herself or buying the "brand" name version. (being honest)

Majic: My local bank, Maybank has a Singapore division. But when I called them to find out about it they were puzzled. Apparantly they've never heard of PayPal Same deal with my HSBC account.

Reading the PayPal instructions further it seems that if I want to withdraw from a Singaporean bank I have to open a Singaporean PayPal account. A Malaysian account can only withdraw money from a US bank.

Opening a bank account in Singapore would be yet another problem. Going there is one -- it takes 6 hours by bus which would cost about RM20 (US$5.43), I'm not sure how much an airfare costs. Then I'd need at least SingDollar $500 which is RM1139.50 (US $309.50) -- sigh... that's quite a lot here.. the bus fare alone can buy me a 3 good meals...

Then to register a Singaporean PayPal account I must enter a Singaporean address. I do not have any relatives living there, so that's a bit of a porblem there as well.

I did find out something interesting. A service called E*Trade Financial ( www.EtradeBank.com... ). They say that I could open an account with them, which would be a US account. All I need to do is fill out two forms and send them a photocopy of my passport. I don't even need to put any initial deposit. They will even provide a check book and a Visa Debit Card but in order to receive these items I need to put in a US $1000.00 deposit, or just open the account and build up the amount to that requirement.

I will look into this further, but if that fails, I'd like to know what other options I can pursue. Would it help that I have a US passport?

BH: I'll be sure to pass the message to my mom. She'll be delighted to hear it And thank you for the tip

ww: My mom does do special orders, but for Malaysian locals. We're just starting to venture into the internet markets and as you can see we've run into some hiccups -- I'll let you know how things goes Meanwhile if you want to see her other works which are either sold or not for sale, her photoblog is at this address: ribbonrysue.fotopages.com...

As for selling it to a retailer or bulk dealer, she told me earlier that is out of the question. She's doing this as a hobby so she puts in a lot of effort in producing one piece. If it becomes a bulk item, the quality would not be as it is now. She also said she has no desire to be somebody elses worker, so it won't happen.

I checked the rates for Western Union and the rates appear to be quite high. I still hope I can sort something out with PayPal.