What am I doing wrong?

[cricketdiane]

I give up. I don't know what is wrong with my work - I don't know why so little of it sells and I don't know what to do. It is really hard to paint another thing when most of it isn't selling and very few people even look at it. I've tried to be cavalier about it but I really am frustrated. Since October 06, I've probably listed over 500 pieces on the auctions and on my store. Whenever anyone has bought something - I do get it in the mail quickly and send it packaged well. Is there something so wrong with my art that people don't want it? I was doing different subjects but they weren't doing as well as the seascapes and I thought I would try some stylized mermaids - but I've only sold two. What do I need to do? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[artistjillian]

It used to be with SRA usually 10-20% sold. With ACEOs this went up to around 60-80% And I think currently it's around 50-60%, which is still excellent. The bottom line is - selling on ebay is frustrating, but in some ways still much, much better than other auctions. There is no predictability. What we think will sell, often doesn't, and what we think won't, does - often at higher prices. I've listed and relisted items, they didn't sell, then put them in my store for a higher price, and have them sell within an hour. I never use my store for 'sale' items. I encourage people to buy my art at auction, or it goes in my store at a higher price. I have sold about 200 ACEOs over 2 years. Only 17 of my buyers are members from groups. Some of those are repeat buyers - so the thing is to make sure your buyers are attracted from elsewhere. Ebay titles are searchable on google, yahoo, etc - so even having simple key words like painting, original, watercolor, art are cruicial to getting buyers in. Keep confusing words or acronyms out of your titles, use it to your advantage. Extra info can be in your sub-title which is non-searchable. One subject might be great for a while, but tastes change. I do what moves me to do, so my work is all over the place. I don't like putting art in my store, I rather auction it. I like keeping things in my store that will keep people coming back to look. I've seen gorgeous artwork go for next to nothing, or remain unsold, while other work sells at prices 'to die for', and you wonder why the difference. Only one thing - the 'right' buyer found it at the right time, and were willing to pay that price for it. I never price low. Though $9.99 is low in some ways. I figure treasure your work, and others will treasure it too. You just have to keep trying. Look at revamping the look of your store. Look at your 'about me' page. Does it say enough about you as an artist? Does it link to your website? If you don't have an art website, get one free from www dot tripod dot com and use one of their templates. What about your listings? Do you make sure you give your name and make it appear that you are professional about your art? Do you use an auction template? (There are free ones available - search the discussions for 'templates' or 'auction templates'.) Keep it simple. Sorry I haven't had a chance to look closely at your work, but it looks lovely and you have some good buyers with great feedback. Is your postage reasonable? Sometimes high shipping puts people off. Do you provide a COA? Some buyers buy one, then no more, so it's very difficult to get repeat buyers. Advertise. Use your 'my world' page on ebay. Start a blog, send out newsletters (get people to sign up for it from your shop or listing). Put a link to your auctions from your web page. In short. I very much doubt you are doing anything 'wrong'. Hope that helps. As I said. I didn't look specifically. ~Jillian

[artistjillian]

Meant to say ... The bottom line is - selling on ebay is frustrating, but in some ways still much, much better than other auctions. The bottom line is - selling on ebay is frustrating, but in some ways still much, much better than other OPTIONS.

[cricketdiane]

Thankyou Jillian. It gives me some other things to think about. I went to the wet canvas site and I was going to see if I could get some help about the artwork there but its really a huge place. I thought that actually - there are more people here in the groups that understand what is involved in placing the pieces on Ebay and in its audience. I don't know what people need to know about me as an artist - do they want to know how many children I have or how many colleges I went to or all the classes I've taken or how many art shows I've been involved in or what? I include a hand-written coa that is folded over the size of the cards. I've put my work in several other places on the internet but there is no traffic coming to the sites. Anyway thanks - I'm thinking differently about it. Maybe I can change the titles and do something else with those other pages - about me as an artist. I have some more mermaids laid out and they will be in watercolor or acrylic rather than pen and ink. So maybe . . .

[artistjillian]

In wet canvas there are 2 areas - 'business' forum - then specifically 'online'. Also 'miniature' forum - then go to ACEOs. Most discussions there are not as open as on these groups. Be sure to put a link to your ebay store in your wetcanvas 'signature'. Remember, if we all knew what it took to 'sell' then we would ALL be doing it! Basically, as an artist, people want to know how much you are dedicated to your art, what you have achieved, where you're going with your art, and even some of your inspiration. You can include classes if you want. Shows usually shound good. Even explaining technique. Sometimes a personal view of your life is OK, too. Keep it light. Keep it something you'd like to read, too. Remember - your biggest buyers, the majority, or highest payers WILL NOT be other artists. Get business cards. You can get 250 for free from vistaprint dot com for price of postage only. Put your ebay store URL on it. USE THE 3 FOOT rule - anyone within 3 feet of you, give them a card! Hate to disappoint you, but think some of the excitement over mermaids has dropped - I could be wrong - but just don't want you to get your hopes up. ~Jillian

[hastychatter]

Wow Jillian That was outstanding advise. After reading that, it changed my whole day and perspective in some areas. TY! Diane, I wouldn't even try to add to the excellent advise above. What I can tell you is that I did a search for ACEO ATC one day and it came up with like 3 THOUSAND hits. From the buyer point of view, I just could not get through that many. Life is so busy. So, after one ATC caught my fancy, I bid, and didn't go any further. Does that mean I didn't like the other art or that those artists did something wrong? NO! My time ran out. So, I have found that taking anything 'personally' here on ebay is a waste of my time and emotion. I have won ATC's that are stunning, and they were very inexpensive because few bid against me. I guess it's just life ... right time ... right place as Jillian said above. Analogy - there has never been any 'overnight movie stars'. :-) Keep your chin up! Mary

[mreas]

Jillian is right in saying there's no magic formula that guarantees sales. I would say move the image to the top of the listing. I'm really lazy and won't read that much stuff before getting to the painting. Heck, I'm so lazy I won't even scroll all the way down to the image without reading. I'll just hit "back" and move on. Show me the picture first and fast. You also might want to see how an idea is accepted before doing 20 of them. I've been frustrated when I've come up with a great new idea and made 3 or 4 paintings that proved the idea wasn't as popular as I thought. I can imagine your frustration when you've made 20. Think in terms of prototypes instead of inventory.

[artistjillian]

Good advice Mick. Very good. Thank you so much.

[cricketdiane]

Well, when you say it that way - 20 does seem like more than it did when I was doing them. It took several weeks and it never occurred to me to try them on the listings before continuing. Thanks for every comment - I was so ready to pull everything off ebay this very day and toss the whole bunch in the trash. Over the next few days, I'm applying the suggestions y'all gave here - productive rather than destructive. Very positive ideas. Thanks so much!

[robnzak]

Random notes: _in your descriptions you have the following: "Enjoy! And please check out my other new work. Thanks!" This should be: "Enjoy! And please check out my other new work in my ebay store. Thanks!" And it should be a hot link to your store. _I'd increase the font size to at least 14pt, and get rid of the multi-color fonts...even though it's sparse, for old folks like me, it can be difficult to read when colors change. _Your store could use some tweaking and I'd be happy to offer brutally honest suggestions and tutorials to improve it. _But overall, I think your biggest challenge is with your titles. Using this as an example, #300092796447, the title reads: aceo original portrait by Cricket - Sad Princess Flori The only real keyword here is aceo. You're wasting valuable real estate by using dashes and the word 'by'. And in some cases, the title of the piece may be irrelevant. Perhaps a better title would be: Fantasy Princess NUDE ACEO Original INK Cricket Original This title now tells buyers this is an aceo work in ink, is fantasy, and a nude...these are highly searched keywords. I've eliminated the wasted space and still managed to make sure your name was included. I've gotta run but I'll check back later and post a couple other suggestions. rob

[artistjillian]

Great to have your expertise Rob. Much appreciated.

[perpetualplum]

hmmm...makes me want to go redo my Me page. I know my artwork needs renewing and I definitely haven't put all my memberships.

[poozybear]

Diane, you aren't allowed to give up, so wipe that thought out of your head! That said, I know exactly how you feel right now. When I first started, I couldn't GIVE anything away. There were days when I would sit around and mope and swear that I would never paint again. But at some point it did start to turn around, and things are moving pretty well for me now. But it was a long learning process that got me there, and I still have a LOT to learn. It was a matter of piecing together what type of art sold best, what style of listing worked best, what keywords to use in my titles, and on and on. I really can't add anymore advice to the already excellent suggestions posted here. Mick makes an especially good point about getting the image at the start of the listing. People don't like to have to wade through a lot of text. I'm a collector as well as an artist, and I admit to looking at the picture first, and the details later, that is, if I like the picture. Sometimes I'll just hit the "watch" button and come back to it later. With thousands of ACEOs for sale, I think less is more on the listing. Your art is really beautiful, so don't blame yourself (even though we all do when sales are bad). Just please, DON'T GIVE UP. One day something crazy will happen, and you'll have a bidding war and a piece that sells high, and you'll be really glad that you stuck with it. That happened to me, on a piece that I didn't even like, and let me tell you, it felt GOOD. :) Stick with it. Kathy

[poozybear]

Oh, I should add (since I took pain meds and am in a rambling mood), I was looking at some of your feedback and saw the adorable little bunny that you just sold. Bunnies seem to be big sellers, especially right now close to Easter. You might want to try painting a few more of them. I've bought several bunny ACEOs, and many had multiple bidders. Some people feel that you should paint what you love, but if you want to make money, you might have to compromise and paint what sells. I hate mermaids with a passion, but as soon as I started painting mermaids, my sales took off. Well, food for thought. Or maybe that's fish food for thought. 😉

[cricketdiane]

I've been working on it - the pictures at the top of the listing, re-wording the titles, taking out most of the color in the text, and making a store link at the bottom of the listing into a clickable to my store. Also, tried to increase the font size to 14pt with some areas ending up bigger and some not. This is going to take some figuring. I've only changed the ones on auction. - Now to the about me and about the seller pages and to do something better about the logo/banner. Then, I'll work on changing the listings in the store using the suggestions here. You'll probably find mermaids half done next week coming into my house - but the store will be better. And that is a good thing. Thanks everybody for the help - and all the very do-able suggestions! Thanks!