eBay - no deal any longer

[kerosene]

I use to post my 18 X 24 paintings on ebay to make money when I didn't have a job. I had this great big plan, because I saw that other artists were doing it too, and thought I had figured out a way to do it myself. (I charged $30.00 shipping, btw, which usually barely covered the packaging and the shipping costs, not to mention the cost of my time trying to "make" better fitting boxes for the paintings. I wasn't raking *anything* in on shipping, but usually eating shipping and packaging costs.) Unlike many of the other categories, fine art is such an oversaturated category and the starting bids are usually high enough, that to list a painting without a $20.00 special feature upgrade would ensure the painting would never be seen by anyone but me. Consider both of those factors plus materials (canvas, paint, medium, brushes) and add in the fact that the average bargain shopper is going to pay as little as he/she can for whatever I am selling, and it makes for very little in profit. So little, in fact, that I ended up owing ebay several hundred in the end, since many of the paintings never sold. And trust me, it isn't even about whether the art is good or not...its whether someone out there that wants to spend $80.00 on my labor has a couch that happens to match. My point? Buying on Ebay is a good idea for some items but not for others just as selling on Ebay is a better idea for some items than others. Those more expensive items will change, in time, as the Ebay market becomes saturated with them from all the schmoes who decide to buy it retail and sell it on Ebay ("That guy can do it, so I should do it, too!"). Fine art has progressively become less expensive, while other items with higher demand have become more expensive.