With eBay, you have the potential to reach a huge audience. Having good cred on eBay also helps when establishing your own personal website. You can direct new customers to your eBay profile and show them that you have a good reputation.
A big drawback, in my experience, is that handmade jewelry is either extremely undervalued or just gets lost entirely in the massive amounts of flotsam and jetsam on the site. Customers who are seeking handmade, unique jewelry, and who are willing to pay what that jewelry is worth, are probably not shopping on eBay.
Then there's the fees, which you'll be paying upfront just to create an auction. If the item sells, you'll be paying even more fees to both eBay and PayPal. Those can eat up profits on smaller items in a hurry.
Sometimes eBay can be daunting. There's a lot of information to fill out if you want to start an auction. You've got to establish good feedback in order to attract more bidders (which can be done fairly easily by buying several small items and getting a good rating as a Buyer before trying to be a Seller). You'll need a PayPal account. And eBay has a LOT of rules and policies you'll have to know.
But eBay has worked well for me under a few circumstances.
Niche jewelry includes anything unusual or which has special appeal to people in a specific or self-selected group. That would be stuff like Celtic, Steampunk, cosplay, Goth, fairies, objects inspired by popular movie trends (pirates, wizards, etc.), retro or nostalgic items. These sorts of things seem to sell better than a generic jewelry item.
I used to sell handmade religious jewelry on eBay, burning various symbols by hand into wooden beads and making them into necklaces. As far as I know, I was the only person making this type of jewelry, at the time, and it was very popular. I also sold themed rosaries -- green St. Patrick rosaries, pink or baby blue rosaries for a new baby, white rosaries for weddings, etc. -- and a lot of natural-childbirth, midwife and doula jewelry.
Customers who bought these items from me on eBay would sometimes see I had my own website and then place special orders with me.
As an established jewelry artist
More recently, I've used eBay to sell some of my unusual and high-demand pieces, such as the one in this picture, which wold on eBay for $154.49. But it was my own website which drove the traffic to eBay, not vice versa. I would link to the auctions from my blog, and my established customers and blog followers would go over to eBay to bid.
Selling off extra materials
I also use eBay to sell off unused beads and charms, and sometimes even completed pieces which just won't move. I group these into lots by color, type or style and then get creative. Things like "Magical Fairy Bead and Charm Lot" usually sell better than "Pink bead lot." Adding a yard or two of bead thread and a few findings and calling it a kit seems to improve sales, too.
It's a great way to liquidate stale items and to attract attention to the website where you have the sweet handmade jewelry yummies.
Making the most of eBay
* Create a "ME" user page, (eBay doesn't allow you to link to your website directly from your auction listings, last time I checked).
* Put your personal jewelry URL in the tagline of all email correspondence with buyers, and include business cards or fliers when you ship items. If you make custom jewelry, mention that in your promotional material.
* Have friendly, good-looking, uncluttered auctions with good photos and thorough descriptions (DO emphasize the originality and special features of your creations).
* Provide excellent customer service, and maybe even a small free gift with each order. A handwritten "Thank you" and a few free beads or a lollipop can make someone's day, and they will remember and come back to you!
Jen Hilton makes one-of-a-kind jewelry sold through her website JLHJewelry.com. She is the founder of the Triangle Jewelry Makers and is featured in the books "Steampunk Style Jewelry: Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Necklaces, Bracelets, and Earrings" and "1000 Steampunk Creations: Neo-Victorian Fashion, Gear, and Art" available at Amazon and other booksellers.
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