Learning from mistakes

[surreal]

Hi,
I thought this thread might be helpful in showing how we have learned from our mistakes. Experience is sometimes the best teacher. ;)
:)

I will start:
One of my mistakes:
was to start raising my prices now when my views for listings on ebay have been miserably low.

I think I should have waited until mid-September to raise my prices.
:)

[idahogirl]

My most common mistake is to FP a painting I don't feel "good" about just to have an FP running....

Dee

Nina,

I don't think raising your prices was a mistake. So many of us end up with only one bid....why not have it be higher :D

[jolie]

My biggest mistake has been not listing consistently. I know from Sellathon that after a while of listing I start to get people looking for me by name and I get multiple bids/higher prices. When I take long breaks I have to start all over again and find new fans of my work.

Jolie

[Antoine]

This is a very interesting topic.

At the moment I think my biggest (and most recent mistake) was to put up a starting bid lower than what I really wanted. As many artists here, I was counting on bidders to raise the price, but suddenly with my last 2 fp’s that did not happen at all and the piece ended up selling for the starting bid -which came down to about $3 per hour (after cost) I would rather have kept it. But experimenting is what it’s all about –at least I got some new clients. :)

[surreal]

My most common mistake is to FP a painting I don't feel "good" about just to have an FP running....

Dee

Nina,

I don't think raising your prices was a mistake. So many of us end up with only one bid....why not have it be higher :D
Hi Dee,
I think it was a mistake to do now because my drawings/paintings that I put up for auction are usually very small, like 7" x 4."
:)
But, perhaps you are right.
:D

[surreal]

My biggest mistake has been not listing consistently. I know from Sellathon that after a while of listing I start to get people looking for me by name and I get multiple bids/higher prices. When I take long breaks I have to start all over again and find new fans of my work.

Jolie
I see what you mean, Jolie.
:)
It's probably always a good idea to have at least 1 or 2 pieces on auction.
:)

But you could develop a mailing list and email those that are on it, to remind them to view your art on ebay.
:)

[laurali]

Hi Nina,

First of all, I don't think you made a mistake. I raised my prices now too. I think it's better to raise them when views are low. One reason is that there is less chance of multiple bidders. The other is that, when the views pick back up (and your collectors check in), the new prices are already in place.

My most regretted mistakes come from taking pieces out of the store to run on auction because I'm low on new pieces. I put a number of pieces up that I would have preferred to stay in the store at full price that went for the opening bid at auction.

That and when I give in to requests to paint a subject (not a commission, just a general request). One of my collectors will say something like, "Please let me know when you have more cat paintings up for auction." I'll paint more, put them up, notify them, then they don't bid.

I'm now just painting (and listing) what I want.

Laura

[surreal]

This is a very interesting topic.

At the moment I think my biggest (and most recent mistake) was to put up a starting bid lower than what I really wanted. As many artists here, I was counting on bidders to raise the price, but suddenly with my last 2 fp’s that did not happen at all and the piece ended up selling for the starting bid -which came down to about $3 per hour (after cost) I would rather have kept it. But experimenting is what it’s all about –at least I got some new clients. :)

It's so true that experimenting is what it's all about.
:)
I am glad that you got some new clients.
:D

I have some older work that I want out of my house.
However, I made the mistake of putting a painting up for sale for such a low price that I figured out that I earned 5 cents per hour for the sold painting.
And, to top it off, I didn't request enough money to cover the cost of shipping.
:o

I will never make that costly mistake again.
Now I can laugh about it.
;)

[surreal]

.................................................
I'm now just painting (and listing) what I want.

Laura

This is an excellent outcome, Laura!
:)

[ElizaLeahy]

Once I sent a framed painting without increasing the price of postage. I was shocked at how much more it weighed framed, and how much more the postage was.

Moral of the story - if you are going to sell something that is "different" from what you usually sell - check the price of postage first.

[TeAnne]

Once I sent a framed painting without increasing the price of postage. I was shocked at how much more it weighed framed, and how much more the postage was.

Moral of the story - if you are going to sell something that is "different" from what you usually sell - check the price of postage first.


Ditto.

And I'm a slow learner.

[Wayne Gaudon]

Was selling at 49.00 and had a bad week .. decided to raise my prices .. another bad week .. raised my prices again .. another and another raise .. priced myself right off the map. God only knows how long before I can get back to where I was. My thought was that one at a good price was better than 4 at a low price but none at a good price was more than I bargained for.

I should have know better .. today's world works on volume .. WalMart, etc. BIG Stores, Big Inventory, Big Movement .. lots of pennies make dollars.

[surreal]

.................................
Moral of the story - if you are going to sell something that is "different" from what you usually sell - check the price of postage first.

I agree.
I have made the same expensive mistake!

[surreal]

Was selling at 49.00 and had a bad week .. decided to raise my prices .. another bad week .. raised my prices again .. another and another raise .. priced myself right off the map. God only knows how long before I can get back to where I was. My thought was that one at a good price was better than 4 at a low price but none at a good price was more than I bargained for. .

Alot of artists have done this, it seems.

Live and learn.
;)