I refuse to sell on eBay any longer.

Unfortunately, the OP lives in Canada, and shipping anything to the US (where he is apparently getting many of his buyers) is going to cost significantly more, whatever form of shipment you use. The converse is true as well, which is why many online businesses in the US either don't ship to Canada or charge significantly more to do so.

I feel the same way, I used to do pretty good at Ebay but it has been about five years since I was able to make a steady income from Ebay, I have just given up on them,

Yeah - this has been going on for the past 3 years - ebay has been treating it's sellers like CRAP! Plus, now they are actually promoting their "BUYER PROTECTION PROGRAM" everywhere - guess who pays for that ? Who else - SELLERS! Plus, now you are forced to use paypal for all transactions, means more fee's and more scammers - take the money from the seller, then we will sort it out - all the while hold your money hostage.

Let's just face it - ebay does not care about the small seller (THis is from a Gold Level Powerseller).

Yeah, shipping artwork can be an expensive business, even without the tracking.

I agree with the poster who suggested experimenting with the selling price. You might get away with that if your artwork is unique (and thus cannot be price-compared).

When I was more involved in a UK eBay business, we found that using PayPal to pay for the postage (via their eBay option) considerably cut down on claims of non delivery. When you do this, the PayPal system prints out the label and also sends the buyers confirmation of shipping; so perhaps this 'official' notification acts to deter some would-be fraudsters.

You could also email the buyers with details of the proof of posting number, if the Post Office system in Canada has such a facility.


Frank

It is my understanding that eBay likes and promotes free shipping. Not long ago I went through my entire stock (300+ items" and initiated a formula that is working very well for me. I take the cost of the item to me - then add estimated shipping - then add 60%, my profit- then add 16% loose estimate of listing and PayPal fees. I then offer the item as free shipping.

I am not at all shy about asking for higher prices as the products I offer (home decor) are generally unusual. I sell some of the darnedest stuff; a 69 inch sculpture of Neptune, two sets of butt ugly garden gnomes. I also sell fine porcelain vases, lovely lamps, unusual furniture. I even sell some art.

You might want to offer your art in rolled format (you can even get the tubes free from the post office website). If you use the format with similar features on one posting, you can offer stretched canvases and ask for additional shipping - built into the cost of the art, of course.

I also understand that eBay "likes" relisted items. I used to always check the "good til canceled". Now I use a 10 or 30 day listing. My sales have increased significantly.

These are just a few things you might like to try before giving up on Ebay altogether. I am a 3 time cancer survivor and really needed a way to regain income but to do it on my own time and preferably from home. I spent a few years on eBay selling just a few items in a month was a good record for me. Now I have more than doubled my income from before I was first diagnosed. It takes some time and trial and effort but can really pay off.

One other thing i changed that made a huge difference to my sales was to do research in every category I listed in. Am I really using the best category? I look at past sales in the category to see if items are really selling there and for what prices. Sometimes I think outside the box - Antique Reproduction generally has many sales of higher end items so if my item can fit in there by any stretch of the imagination, I list there especially if something similar to my item has sold well there.

Hope these "helpful hints" are useful to you.

Kind Regards, Debra Harrison

...Amazon charges around 20% commission!!.

I don't know about other countries but in the UK that's something you put up with in the mail order business. It's the law, it's your responsibility and rightly so. The customer should never lose out just because something never arrived in either direction. It's our problem to cover our asses and swallow the losses if we don't. None of this has anything to do with eBay.

The problem with many eBay sellers is they don't look at it from the customers point of view. If I buy something from an eBay seller and it doesn't arrive, why the f*** should that be my problem. If eBay didn't take this seriously then they would have dissappeared long ago. They supply us the buyers on thier terms, not to cater for our own inadequacies as amatuer business people. eBay do a hell of a lot of things wrong and really can be infuriating but most of their bad reputation comes from the things they are doing right.

Losses are a part of every business, if it isn't catered for then that isn't unfair, it's just stupid.

I have many other income venues. I'm also a computer programmer and a photographer. This is just something that I wanted to turn my art hobby into an income.

Canada Post is the cheapest shipping method here where I live. UPS and all others charge more, I've looked into it.

Rolling my canvas into a shipping tube costs almost the same amount as sending canvas fully stretched. Crazy, I know, but that's how things work in Canada.

Don't forget what might work in the US does not apply here. We don't get free shipping tubes from the Post Office here.

Combining the shipping fee with my price would drive it up to a level where I don't think many would buy. Things are a LOT more expensive in Canada than the US, even with our currency at par right now.

I have tried many other art websites in the past few months and they have produced absolutely zero sales. I get lots of comments on how great my art is, but no buyers. Too many tire kickers that just send me e-mail after e-mail and just waste my time cause they never buy. I even had that on this forum a few months ago when I posted some artwork up to show. Three people were going to buy, blah blah blah... never got back to me.

It almost seems as though I can't give the art away, nevermind charging more for it. I can see if it sucked, but my artwork is truly amazing and those here who saw it before know that and sent me many comments complimenting me. I see ugly art selling yet my very professional work can't sell for next to peanuts? What the hell???

That's the reason I was using eBay - for the exposure.

I can understand how you're feeling. I've been selling on eBay for 5 years, and have been a Platinum PS for the last 2 or 3 of it. It's always been my primary retail channel. The landscape of the venue has changed so much in the last couple of years it's made it harder to sell there.

A couple people mentioned Amazon. I don't know if it's an option for you, but even with the higher commission rate, I've found it to be much easier to sell there. My AZ sales are now more than double my eBay sales - with far fewer hassles.

Do you have your own website? That is another option to consider. My site holds its own in terms of sales. Not as high as eBay or AZ, but I could live off it, if I had to. As others suggested, Etsy is another good alternative. I've sold handmade jewelry there off and on, and had good luck with it.

Best of luck to you!

Ken, do you have any family or friends in the States? That's how some people handle it. You don't have to ship *from* Canada. Your cousin, brother, college roommate or whoever else is helping you can ship from here whenever you make a sale. You can send 'em labels as PDFs.

fLufF
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I've had around 200 transactions as a seller on eBay. Most of those were in a very specific market (taxidermy) and not once did I have a problem with people not receiving my parcels.

At some point, I decided to try my hand at selling used video games and systems. Two out of twenty parcels were never received. Had a couple deadbeat buyers and a Nigerian scammer.

I've found that when you're in a micro-niche, you get less riff-raff. A lot of the people I sold to I also knew from another online forum. Any trouble would get reported and that person's name would be tarnished forever.

In terms of the more broad niches, it's a disaster. Lots of riff-raff. I'm willing to bet there is a micro-economy on eBay that consists of stealing and reselling. Unfortunately, tracking seems to be the only protection.

-Tim