I have skirted this issue in my blog many times when it irritated me especially. I’ve decided to break my silence about eBay. First some history.
I started my painting career with eBay. I owe eBay a lot in terms of what I’ve learned about selling. I’ll never forget the elation of selling my first painting online. Things have changed in the last three years with eBay. In its defense, the Internet has evolved as well. EBay, however, has grown to the mammoth on the block and its wake has left the small sellers who made it a household name in the dust.
There have been changes that affected searches. Okay, experimenting with things isn’t always bad. I can’t have too much of a problem with eBay’s first concern being its biggest sellers. Again, however, the latest fee increases (yes, increases they are hidden in that Trojan horse) are just the latest of a move to eliminate the small seller.
To sell a $28 painting on eBay, I pay $2.75 in fees to list it, another $2.61 in final value fees charged by eBay, and then 91 cents to PayPal. That leaves me with $21.73 before my cost to ship, another $4.40. Not much inspiration to continue to list small paintings on eBay.
For the art community, we have alternatives. ArtByUs is one alternative. Created by artists, it filters out the so-called “sweat shop art” which isn’t art at all, but cheap copies done sometimes with an artist’s knowledge, sometimes blatantly stolen images. Also, unless you want high exposure, there are no fees. We’re not called starving artists without reason, mind you. Another alternative that I like is Etsy. Again, another strong art community and minimal fees. It costs me 20 cents to list versus $2.75.
I applaud these sites because they look out for their sellers, big and small. These are sites worth supporting.
“Morning Light”, watercolor on paper, 6″ x 4″
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