Advice from Girelli (an ebay success story)

[CarlyHardy]

Recently on another thread someone mentioned an artist (Girelli) that was consistently having sales that all of us would like to attain to! I wrote to her and ask for any advice or tips that she was willing to impart that would help me with my ebay adventure! Her reply was filled with insightful information that I knew all of you would like to read and perhaps initiate with your own auctions...after all good sales for artists will just generate better sales for all of us!

Quoting S. Girelli:

Wow, I've been getting quite a few emails from other artists selling on eBay
lately! I've only been selling on eBay for about 6 months now. But in that 6
months I have been watching, studying, analyzing, and figuring out and
applying what seems to work for selling, especially for art. I can tell you
only what I think I have figured out for myself. I have a whole load of
things. They may not all be right, you'll have to judge for yourself. One
thing I just noticed recently is that those artist groups you can join on
eBay like ea@ and the others (there are quite a few but I can't remember
them--you'll notice them in the titles of the artwork) have a whole support
group and their own websites that give lots of advice. I just happened
across one of the websites recently and started reading one of the articles
on how to take pictures of your artwork, and was pleasantly surprised to see
that it was exactly how I had figured out to do it. I noticed they have
articles like that on everything. You might consider joining more of those
groups if the ones you are in don't have that information. You probably
already know a lot of what I'm going to say, but as far as my advice, here
goes:

First of all, I've checked out your artwork and auction sites, and your
artwork is beautiful & your auction well laid out. You're not getting nearly
enough for your art, but then a lot of artists on eBay aren't. The first
thing I checked out when I started selling was the self-representing artist
category. I thought, how perfect, that's me. But after scrolling through
page after page of great art selling for practically nothing, I realized you
may as well call it "come buy good art for absolutely nothing" category. So
I decided to sell in the regular paintings and drawings categories. I
noticed there were a few self-representing artists selling in these
categories along with all of the old and famous art, and their artwork was
getting like ten times what the ones in the self-representing category were.
One of them is K.Hollingsworth. Check her out if you haven't already.

Next, I noticed that these artists were selling solely with the "featured
plus!" option. As soon as I had enough feedback to use this option, I
started using it. My artwork had been selling for $25-$50 on the average or
less. As soon as I used the featured, it started going up to about $75-100.
(I now only sell only with the featured plus option--it is worth the extra
money)These were for smaller peices, like 8x10, 6x12, 10x20 or larger
drawings & sketches. Back then, I started them at $10 with no reserve. I've
tried reserves and they don't work for me. It just won't meet the reserve,
and my artwork doesn't sell. I have, however, seen it work for a lot of
other artists. I gave away alot of artwork for practically nothing back then
(and still do every once in while), but it does build up your reputation
much faster. It's a whole different market than the regular listings. When
you don't sell with the featured plus, you are getting almost 100% people
with yardsale mentality and a tight budget. The people that shop the
featured plus are completely different. They have much fatter wallets, to
say the least. They also want to see that you have a reputation and that
your artwork sells for a lot. That's sort of a catch 22 because you have to
use the featured to get more for your work. If you already have a little bit
of a following, you know how much that helps. Well, selling on the featured,
you have to start that process all over again. Very few of the ones
collecting your work now will be able to afford it when it goes up as a
result of the featured plus listing. There will always be ups & downs on
eBay, especially in the summer. There were a couple of weeks this summer
when, even on the featured, I sold some art for $10.50, which means I paid
to about $10 just to give it away. That's when I decided to start my
auctions at $39. I think it worked for me because I already had a reputation
at this point. It's a great price to start at (I call it my magic number)
because anyone who is willing to spend $10-20 can probably spend $39, but
once the first bid is placed, there's no room for little bidding wars under
$30. It has to jump to $50. And anyone who can afford $50 can probably
afford $100. And it accelerates from there.

Also, there is a whole strategy to times and days. If you watch the artists
whose work is selling for a lot, most of them list on Mondays & Tuesdays
with 10 day auctions. (10 days gives the most amount of time for people to
see and fall in love with your work.) And they most likely list at about
5:15-5:30 my time, which is, I think, 8:15-8:30 your time. They at least
list their larger or more expensive art on Mondays & Tuesdays. I've heard
that Tuesdays & Thursdays are great, which makes sense, because the TV
industry already figured that one out. I don't really know why the time
works, but it does. I try to list at this time, but it doesn't always work
out. When I do, though, those auctions almost always do well. Mondays are
the ideal day because by the time it appears in the main search pages, most
people first see it on Tuesday, and then it ends on Thursday. These are the
two best days. Starting Tuesdays have one fault--it ends on a Friday, when
people are more likely to be out away from their computers, going out to
dinner. But it will appear in the "ending today" searches on Thursday night,
which helps it to get some bids before Friday. If you are a prolific artist,
like myself, it's a good idea to try to put something on almost every day,
and save your large or more expensive artwork for Mondays. This way, you
have something ending and something beginning every day, bringing in more
and more people each day to look at your other auctions. This has worked
very well for me. I try to list smaller, faster works Wednesday through
Sunday. Sometimes I list something larger or more paintings on Saturday
because it ends on a Tuesday. This can still be a gamble, though, because
the people with the money are most likely gone playing on the weekend, so
they are not there to get hooked on your artwork in the beginning. You have
to rely on them finding it during the middle of the week when it is lost in
the middle of the auctions or a couple of people just absolutely falling in
love with it on Tuesdays. I think all of this time/day strategy probably
works best with the featured plus! listing but it may work with the regular
listings.

As far as strategies with the art itself, vibrant colors almost always do
well. If you host your own gallery picture, brighten it up in a program like
Adobe photoshop because it always gets dark when you shrink it down to that
tiny thumbnail that shows in the main listings. This is all you have to rely
on to bring people into your auction, so it better look good. I brighten it
up so much that it looks almost flourescent when large, but in the tiny
thumbnail it looks about right. But don't do this to your main pictures that
show on your auction page, although they may need a little brightening. If
you notice the small picture that shows up at the very bottom of my auction
pages, this is the one that I have brightened for my gallery picture. I also
think variety helps a lot. For instance, I'm known for my sunflowers,
vineyards, lavender fields, and fruit still lifes. If I have too many of any
one of these on at once, my prices on them go down. I think this is because
people think if they miss one, they can always get the next. But you don't
want a different subject matter for every piece, because then people won't
know what to expect from you. I have noticed that people will pay more for
oils than other mediums and more for acrylic than watercolor. I could be
wrong--this is just my observation. Also, it really helps to have details of
your artwork that show up large on the screen. I have one picture of the
whole painting and then two details that show a closer view of different
parts of the painting. This is all people have to go by since they can't see
it in real life. I think your main painting image could be larger and the
details would help a lot. Doing a picture with the artwork framed like you
do is a great idea. People can envision it in their own house better. I
think it helps to show it above a chair or with a person standing next to it
so that people can get a better idea of the size. I have a picture with it
above a chair with a frame.

I also email and thank every person that bids on my art.

I think that's about everything that has made my artwork successful. I do
have my own style that I haven't really seen anything similar to, and that
helps. The only other thing I can tell you is that education has helped my
art a million times over. I can say without a doubt, it is what has made me
develop my own style. Knowing things about composition and color theory and
all of those kinds of things and applying it to your own art can only help
it sell. That's what has helped artists for centuries before us. Art history
classes, I would have to say, have helped the most--even more than the
drawing & painting classes if you can believe it. I believe you can never
learn too much. If you are always learning and growing, people will see
that, and want a piece of it. They will not just see a beautiful piece of
art, but also a piece of your soul--what you are made of.

Like I said, I don't know if all of these things will work for everybody,
but you can try them out. It took about 3 or 4 months of selling on the
featured plus before it really started paying off for me, so it's not easy.
I don't think giving out this advice will hurt me in any way. Helping other
artists to get more for their work on eBay will only help all artists to get
more for their work, including me. Feel free to forward this email to anyone
you would like to. I want to help everyone but I don't normally have the
time to send such an extensive email.

I hope this helps and isn't too overwhelming. Have a great day!

Sesillie Girelli

[arteitaliana]

Thanks Carly!!

Girelli has been around much more than 6 months and so had time to study the market in depth. ( she has been around 6 month with her ner user name, but she has been selling on ebay since April 2000). All her advice is very good and it reflects more or less what I do. It is true that FP works, but it does not work just by itself. You have also be able to produce work which is colorful, fairly consistent in style and subject, higly decorative. At the beginning of my ebay adventure, Cohen gave me this advice: "as soon as you have enough feedback, do FP".
Girelli is also an energetic woman and she has applied the discipline learned in sport to producing art and selling. She is focused!! I am also glad to know that she is a generous person and so the little tinge of envy that I had for her is now gone.
I wish her continued success, she is an inspiration for all of us.

R

[cagathoc]

It was so sweet of Sesillie to write this out and of you Carly too to share it! Wonderful article!!

THANKS!!!!

[CarlyHardy]

One thing she mentioned that I'd never thought of is to "thank all the bidders"...I usually just thank the winner! Wow...I'm overlooking all those hopefuls who bid!
carly

[timelady]

Wow! Please say thanks you to her for all of us! I'm planning my big campaign now... (well, maybe tomorrow).

Tina.

[jackiesimmonds]

How fascinating. Thank you so much Carly, for this. I am not one of you turbo ebayers, and cannot imagine I ever will be, but I am fascinated by what goes on. This is so enlightening.

Jackie

[Shai]

Wow! This is so great, Carly! And how nice of her to write back and share her strategies. Yeah, that thought about thanking bidders isn't something I'm doing because I thought that would be considered spamming. :P Anyway, maybe I'd start that too.

Thanks again! And do thank her for me too.

[walden]

This is interesting, thanks Carly!

[AnetteBlue]

Thanks to Sesillie for being so generous with her time to write all of that out and a big thank you to Carly for even thinking of asking! Ive been lurking here for a month or so making case studies of all of you (paranoid yet?) before launching my own personal ebay assault. Frankly, it would have never occured to me to simply write one of the more successful ebayers and just ASK for advice! (Shaking head in dismay.)

All of you have been a huge help by the way. I have pages and pages of notes with wonderful advice form all of you. And many of you are on my favorite seller lists (I keep creating screen names just because I seem to abuse this function.)

Gee, now I sound like I'm stalking you all . . . okay, now be paranoid. Anyway thanks to Carly and the rest of you for the help and good luck to everyone!

[Shai]

Hello and welcome to WC! AnetteBlue.

I know what you mean about feeling like you're stalking people. That's what I did for the first 8 months or so here at WC! and on eBay. I still have a few people on my 'favourite sellers' list and check other people's auctions regularly. I think this is one of the best ways to learn too.

All the best to you!

[pampe]

this is such valueable stuff.....my sales have been so slow lately...I have really gotten discouraged



Thanks, Carly


Pam

[walden]

Welcome, Annette!

It's useful to watch what the really successful folks do, but every so often it's useful for me, anyway, to go look through the auctions ending, and see how many pieces aren't selling. If I'm selling a lot when I do that, it helps me to feel properly grateful, and if I'm not, it helps me to be less depressed.

[kjsspot]

Wonderful! Thank you Carly!

[sandge]

Thank you so much, Carly!

I have read this many times now. This week I am doing THREE ( ) featured plus auctions as a result of reading this. It seems to me that folks are buying at the moment so now may be the time to invest in this in order to reach more people to try and get a following to act as a buffer against the leaner times. Does that make sense?

[Uschi]

Carly, you really are such an incredibly generous person. So THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for all the information and help you have offered here and on the Watercolor thread i.e. Yupo Demonstation. Wishing you huge successes!!!!!!!!!!!

It's interesting re Tuesday being a good day to list, because I have been sitting here ready with my listing and too scared to press the button.
Uschi