Auction Experiment

While I have been singing the praises of the sales groups springing up on Facebook, there are some things left to be desired.

All of the groups are ultra private... so there are NO share buttons on the auctions. You have to really WORK to share your listings... Copy the link, sign into your fan page, paste the link and upload the pic, sign in as yourself, go to your fan page and share. OY! I "think" this is fear of spam but how hard is it to just block and ban but allow the group to be seen??

And... the other downside is... I've seen some terrible hurt feelings when bidding gets heated. Additionally, portable devices can only view 20 listings and sometimes you get a notification that someone has commented (a bid!) but you can't SEE the comment. That is because the Facebook app SUCKS!  I always recommend people ditch the app and just surf over on an actual web browser.  And that app leads to bids not appearing fast enough and well, people get upset.

There HAS to be an easier way... so I've been searching. And searching. I stumbled upon the Buddy Bid App on Facebook. It's genuine auction software! It does ask you for a bit of info before allowing you to bid...but it only takes seconds and you can bid on an item!

So, I'm running an experiment on my glass bead fan page and listing an auction there. There is a low start on this silver laden heart glass bead focal. I hope you'll take a look and maybe even bid. Is this the future of Facebook??? Can we kill off FeeBay once and for all???

Fresh Glass 2.3.14 Ebay Auction

This is some of what has been keeping me busy. Not much of a haul but keep in mind, bellflower presses get HOT and I can only make a few per session.

I have a new auction up on ebay ending a few days. My strategy there is to ask the lowest price I will take for a bead (including feebay fees!)....NOT what I hope it would go for... I never have a bidding war so best to just ask what I want....

There's a few other close outs up there as well as myriad of crafts and collectibles...

Thanks as always for l@@king! I so appreciate your support!

This Week On Ebay

I have 50 listings up on eBay this week... My pup needs surgery and sales have been so slow since my sister passed. I've moved a bunch of beads over and some jewelry from my show stash.
There's also lots of parts from a brand spanking new xyron and a few collectibles as well. I hope you will take a l@@k! Auctions end Tuesday.

New Auctions - Getting Back in the Groove

I'm back from Louisiana. My sister managed to pull through this last round of chemo but is now off of it and at home under Hospice care.

Cupcake Charm

I'm trying to get back in the groove of life but it seems to take me a while... Little stupid things - like where I put my keys, remembering to get the leash or to dry the dog off after a swim - seem to boggle my brain! Add in that it was in the 80s in Louisiana and it's been in the 30s and 40s here at night and windy 50s in the day time... and my blood feels like molasses!

Giant Scallop Silvered Ivory Shell Focal

I simply MUST process stamp orders... of course my least favorite - wood mounts - today. Then I MUST finish my tax prep for the accountant! And then it will be sales tax time and I'm left wondering where the  first 1/4 of the year went! Does that happen to anyone else???

Hole in my Heart - Silvered Ivory Pendant

Because it was so cold and windy and I was over-tired from chasing raccoons out of my yard all night, I did not work in the shop or on the taxes yesterday. Instead I listed nearly a full page of items on ebay!!! Some craft supplies, an old camera set up and GLASS BEADS!!!

Chocolate Egg Focal

I hope you will take a l@@k at these deeply discounted items!!! I may clean out the bead bowl for some new listings later in the week...

Hidden - Giant Lentil

Have a good one!

Sales Math for Dummies

I hate math...In spite of being told I'm good at it. It makes me think in a way that hurts my head and I don't like when my head hurts. So I'm putting my handy math tips in a place I can always find them. I hope you'll find them helpful too!

Returning items to a full price after a sale:

100 - % of discount = % of original cost

% of original cost / 1 = y

y x (sales price) =  actual original cost

Example:

Say you've marked every item in your shop down by 20%. You have an item marked at 15.99 but if you add 20% to that (15.99 + 3.20= 19.19), the number you get would not be the original price of the item. Using the formula above we get this:

100 - 20 = 80% - so our sale was 80% of the original cost.

1 / .80 = 1.25

1.25 x  15.99 = 19.99 - the actual original cost.


FEE Bay shipping

You can use the same formula above to recoup the shipping money stolen from you on ebay. The current rate of thievery there is 9% of shipping.

Let's say you are shipping a heavy item that costs you 18.50 to ship and Feebay will steal $1.67 of that. (18.50 x .09) So you need to recoup 20.17 to break even. But if you charge 20.17, you won't recoup 18.50 but 18.35. This may seem like pennies but, you go in the hole a little at a time. The same formula works to calculate the shipping charges:

100 - 9 (ebay's %) = 91%

1 / .91 = 1.0989

1.0989 x 18.50 (actual shipping cost) = 20.32

20.32 * .09 = 1.83
20.32 -1.83= 20.16 (close enough!)

Calcualting for eBay and Paypal

 Same theory but with Paypal charges the fees come up to around 13% so...

100 - 13 = 87

1 / .87 =  1.15

1.15 x 18.50 (actual cost to ship) = $21.28

Tryin' the Bay...

I'm trying to get rid of my EXTENSIVE bead inventory and have decided to try ebay again. I've had some success getting rid of the household clutter and I'm hoping to find a home for at least some of the hundreds of beads I've made! I swear, the beads are breeding on their own at this point!

Giant Skinny pumpkin glass focal bead

I was really hesitant to list beads there but... my finances are in very poor shape. Ebay has allowed 50 free listings a month and I know enough html to build decent descriptions and store my photos elsewhere -- further keeping costs down. I've heard some not so nice things about how listings in US handmade lampwork jumped when the fees disappeared. But I'm hoping I've trained my customers to search for "sra lampwork US," right??? That's the best way to weed out the riff raff there.

And soon, ebay will give us more characters to use in that listing title so hopefully there will be no need to sacrifice those letters!

 Patriotic Sweet Treats

I've moved a red white and blue set and a Halloween focal there... 'cause it IS time to starting thinking about fall jewelry! Hoping to list more later in the week... Wish me luck!

They are a steal at these prices...I hope you will take a l@@k!

Go Divas! Go Divas!

WHHHOOOOOO HOOOOOO!  The Fire Divas raised $107 bucks on their auction for Beads of Courage!!! Every penny of the auction money will be donated through Mission Fish on Ebay to the most worthy charity.

And the Divas donated a matching set directly to Beads of Courage. We decided to make Beads of Courage our monthly challenge in June and I just adore all the beads the Divas made. 

I simply adore the little race car made by Karen of Fire-n-sand and the space shuttle monkey from Lara Lutrick. It's hard for the charity to find "boy beads" sometimes... and these are great choices!!

I'm also loving Barb Reed's (River's Edge) new tribal face beads... these are just great. Yeah, that's my cupcake next to them.

And aren't Abbie's (Abbielyn) inch worms just the cutest things ever????

I'm sure this won't be the last Diva auction for Beads of Courage. I found it so rewarding to participate! 

New Auction

All is kinda quiet on the bead front as I've been working on custom orders. My focals section of my website was getting a little heavy so I moved a favorite bead over to ebay for auction.

New Auction: Snakeskin

Sorry so long since I posted. My back is out and sitting at the computer (or the torch) is torture!

I did get a new listing on the bay! Here's Snakeskin on Ebay:




This is one of my favorite styles of beads to make. It's a silvered ivory technique and I LOVE how it looks like reptile skin in the glass... It's mesmerizing!

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