An ebay experiment

I've never sold on ebay... I have bought a thing or two over time - but never have I sold.

But I wanted to direct some traffic back to my photobook's page on the blurb site, and so I thought I'd do something that I read about... which is to advertise/list prints on ebay. Provide a link back to the book's page, etc.

I can get 11x14's printed locally for a good price, for good quality prints. My objective here isn't to make money, but rather, to test the waters and learn a little about selling online.

With that in mind, I started my prices at 2.99 plus shipping - which wouldn't even be a break-even for me if they sold at that price. BUT it was something... A friend looked and advised - if I do ever sell anything, then sell more later - it's harder to keep customers once you raise your prices.

So I revised/listed my prints for a much more realistic price of $10 plus shipping... But again, I am not caring if I make money - my objective is to break even and learn the waters, so to speak, so I started looking for something that would be a worthwhile charity for Central Pennsylvania - and one thing I've learned is that the Central PA Food Bank is there for people - especially in the hard winter months and during the holidays...

Through scouts and other activities over the years, we've donated food before, but ebay has them as a charitable partner. So I put 10% of my selling price to go to that organization. The only catch? It's a minimum $5 donation.

So if I sell any prints at the starting bid of $10 - $5 automatically goes to the Food Bank, the other $5 is spread over the cost of the prints, the ebay fees, and so on.

In the end, I won't make anything.........

But that's okay.

If you are interested in purchasing a print from me, you can get it cheaper through my ebay page than through deviantart prints service. Right now, I have a handful of Harrisburg area shots listed - I can list special requests if you have any... and at this point I will gladly continue the partnership with the food bank - just to gain the experience and perhaps get some positive feedback on ebay - and learn the ropes, so to speak. :)

Arkansawyer on eBay

Central PA Food Bank on ebay.


Let me know what you think - and if you think a photo is worth $10 - $15 feel free to make a bid. :)

err. For those more serious ebay shoppers out there - my "postage" on the current listings was for priority mail to US addresses. Any suggestions on mailing large format photographs? Like packaging and priority vs parcel post, etc., etc. I am a 100% newbie at this... and again - looking to learn the ropes.