This can kill your ebay sales

[kjsphoto]

http://www.nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=ebaypg_toc

What ticks me off is that you have another self-made expert now setting price trends on the things you sell on eBay. Who are they to say how much your image or item is worth?

This kind of thing just irritates me to no end.

The problem is this type of mentality;

[Me saying this]
1 8x10 silver gelatin print according sales from digital prints is $10 which is an average price so therefore all and any 8x10 regardless of what medium is only worth $10 and people should not pay a single dollar more as a price of the average estimated price is just highway robbery.

Now what these price setters forget is that;

1. Fees to pay to ebay to list
2. Time to print image
3. Time to travel to locate to find the image then take it
4. Mileage to travel to location to photograph image ( gas used )
5. Paper used to make final print
6. Depreciation of equipment
7. Hotel / Motel expenses
8. to much to list as the list goes on.

This is the problem with all self-proclaimed experts; they set values when in fact they have little understanding abut the actual value of the items they are setting a price for, for others to follow.

I can see these types of books killing ebay sales for many as they undervalue a vast array of items.

 

[Curt]

Educate, describe and inform the buyer that what you are offering is not the "list" items found in books. It's going to be a specific ad campaign that is necessary. Some will get it others won't but that's ok, you want to sell to someone who knows what they are getting and the value it has and will have.

Curt

 

[kjsphoto]

Good point never thought of it like that. Thanks for the response.

 

[DBP]

$30 for information that eBay compiles for free? Nice racket.

 

[John Koehrer]

Only a couple of problems with Scott's book. If you've ever looked at an antique guide, camera guide or any other "guide" you know there's a BS factor involved.
I really don't think you should be concerned with the book as I don't think he's going to have that big a market relative to Ebays user base and the ones that take the information literally you don't really need.

 

[Chan Tran]

"This is the problem with all self-proclaimed experts; they set values when in fact they have little understanding abut the actual value of the items they are setting a price for, for others to follow."

If the buyers follow their advices then they accomplished what they set out to do. You don't have to like it but it's quite within their right to publish such books.

 

[kjsphoto]

That is not the point but I understand what you are saying. It is completely irresponsible. Let say we say that their book is only worth a nickel and people are only willing to pay a nickel because that is what WE value it to be and the it is worth.

Whom are we to set that price as we have no experience in what is takes to write a book or the time involved to do the editing, etc?

That is the point. Many of us do this for a living and when someone tell us what we should earn because that is what they think, they have no place as far as I am concerned. Take your job for example. What if someone said, you know, you are being over paid according to the polls and you should only make $5 an hour. Now what they didn’t take into account was your education and experience as they are just going off a generalization that everyone in your field should make X regardless of background.

That is the point. This type of thing is just getting out of control.

 

[Chan Tran]

Ebay is an auction place. The price is determined by the buyers. Buyers who know what they want and what price they want to pay will only bid what they think is right. I can write a book telling truthfully that it costs less than $30 to make a pair of $150 shoes, but people will continue to pay the price because that's what a lot of people want.

 

[kjsphoto]

I can write a book telling truthfully that it costs less than $30 to make a pair of $150 shoes

IN what materials? What about time to make the shoe? This is what really gets me, everyone says that only takes $5 to make but what everyone forgets is the time to make it, the equipment needed to make it and the fact you have to recapture your lose and cost in the process of making the product!

And ebay is becoming more than an auction site with the new stores, buy it now etc...

I give up you are right it is only worth $10.

 

[naturephoto1]

Kevin,

Hold your ground on your pricing. You know the quality of the photos that you are selling on eBay and so do your return customers. You just have to make it clear for your auctions what you are selling and that the buyer is buying a high quality product at a reasonable price.

Rich

 

[MattKing]

Kevin:

While I agree that some might be mislead by this sort of publication, it seems to me that a listing would only be relevant to you if it specifically referred to one of your prints.

IMHO very few people approach the buying of original photographs in the same way they might approach the buying of, for example, antique silver spoons. People who are willing to buy original photographs that are not part of a high volume series are unlikely to correlate the listings in a publication like this with your work.

Now if you were into the market that services those who look for something like postcards, or mass produced reproductions, where volumes are high and individuality is not as important, a listing like this might have some relevance.

If someone cannot differentiate between what might be listed in this publication, and what you sell, they probably would be unable to appreciate your work, and unwilling to pay your price anyways.

As I see it, this sort of publication is likely to be most useful to sellers unfamiliar with the market, and only in reference to those types of items which have a vibrant market, for very similar or identical items.

Matt

 

[Harrigan]

Perhaps the real issue is that ebay print sales are slow and undervalued as is for quality work. I’m no expert on ebay sales but I don’t see a lot of prints selling on there. If I put an image in my regular gallery (non ebay) and sell it almost every time for x price and I put the same image on ebay and list it for x/2 and get no bidders and not even any watchers over the course of 10 days its clear to me that there just aren’t any buyers on ebay. Obviously there must be some buyers but the number of buyers is very very small compared to the number of prints being listed. Ebay in general is bargain central and I just don’t see it as a good place to sell fine work, although apparently some people have made a go at it.

OTOH I don’t think this publication should effect your sales whatsoever. Buyers of fine prints know what they are buying and what goes into the print and image making process. You shouldn’t be worried about what someone else is saying prints are worth as they clearly are not referring to your hand made FB prints and they don’t understand what one is.