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Hi,
I am thinking of dipping my toe in the water and having a go at selling some of my work. However I have no idea about where to start. I know that artists on some of the other forums I use are quite successful selling through ebay, etsy and lov.li
Has anyone tried them? I see that the bulk of the users on etsy and lov.li are in the US but that there are Europeans etc registered. Any thoughts would be gratefully received as we are starting to run out of cubby holes for the finished pieces. 
They are starting to take over the house.
Charlotte
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Hi Charlotte
I had never heard of etsy or lov.li before so I quickly had a look and will explore more later so thank you for that.
I don't use ebay, as most of my main items are mirrors and I would hate it if they were smashed in the post. I don't think I could cope with all the watching for bids, waiting, money exchaning and packing, wrapping and posting to be quite honest.
I like to sell at a few of my local festivals and around Christmas time as i know what dates to work too. There are also a couple of local shops who said they might be interrested but saying is one thing and buying is another 
.
Sue
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Thanks Sue,
I had been wondering about summer fairs and Christmas fairs. I know what you mean about shops and promises.
I think I will explore the sites and see how I get on. I will let you know if they are successful as both look good. Especially lov.li
This does have some UK registered sellers, including a Leicester based jewellry designer.
I seem to be on a roll at the moment and have three new dolls, a dragon and a mermaid in production, plus plans for a major project.
All the best,
Charlotte 
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I saw the dragon in your gallery. I like him or her .
Sue
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Thanks, the blue dragon is very definitely a he and is now living happily with my nephew Tom. He is a big fan of Cressida Cowell's "How to train your dragon" books; so I thought he should have one of his own to train.
The red one was made for my kids, their favourite book is George and the Dragon by Chris Wormell, we have performed the story for John's class.
I seem to have an affinity for dragons. The new one will be an ice dragon. I will post a picture when he is finished, he is in the early layering stage at the moment, I have just fixed on his spinal fins and am trying to decide whether he should have wings.
Looking forward to seeing your latest.
Charlotte
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Hi me again.
Been looking through some old bookmarks on the net and came across some sites which may be of some use.
www.artsandcraftsnet.ca (article directory)
Interesting read if thinking of selling online.
www.myowncreation.co.uk
www.goldleafcrafters.com
These two are very small, either just started or not visited much.
www.freeola.com/artsandcrafts
www.craftmarketcorner.co.uk
As for ice, wings I think .
Sue.
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Thanks for these, I shall investigate.
I think you are right, wings are a must. He will look undressed with out them.
Charlotte
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newmodeller: Just like you I haven't tried selling on etsy yet, but I have been thinking about it. I did look around and notice that there isn't a lot of papier-mache artist on the site. The reason I never signed up to sell yet is being a beginner I don't feel as if my art is good enough yet.(I still feel like I need to be under Sue, David and Jackie's wing for a while longer. )
I have faith in you though! I have a friend that is selling jewelry on etsy, and she seems to be happy with it.
I had never heard of lov.li before your post. Thanks for the heads up!
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Wll, I just looked at your gallery and you should be able to sell your fine work easily. Those are very nice!
Here's how eBay works.
They charge you to list your item for up to 10 days. There is a listing fee and a final sales price commission. Paypal, a subsidiary of eBay, can handle the transactions for you. However, they charge a commission too!
Therefor, eBay charges
A listing fee (front end fee)
A commission
A money transfer fee (back end)
The listing fee is determined by what your starting price is. The higher the starting price, the higher the fee.
You can list with a reserve price. If your price is not met, you are not obligated to sell. However, you are charged for setting that reserve price, plus the commission.
You can list with a Buy it Now price. The fee for this is even higher!
If your item does not sell within 10 days, you can kiss your listing fee goodbye. You get charged this for each item, whether they sell or not. This gets VERY expensive to list items for ONLY 10 days!
My recommendation. Sell at a local street fair! eBay is a very expensive way to sell! Think of this... if you had a store full of items, could you afford to spend 6% every ten days on all those items just to show 'em to the public?
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I finally signed up to etsy.com this morning. I don't know how successful it will be but I have to say that the costs are minimal. Particularly for all those who object to the price of posting on ebay.
You pay a $1 start up cost and 20cents per item to post. If you choose to use the paypal system then they ask for 3.5% of the sale.
Considering the quality of the site and the ease with which I set up my shop I think they are very generous with how little they take.
For those of us in Europe there is a big listing of UK craftspeople and a fair smattering of continental Europeans there. If you are thinking of selling work I will let you know how I get on.
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Well, logging on to etsy was easy, logging on to paypal was another matter. Oh well we live and learn.
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newmodeller: I take it that it didn't go well then. 
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Long time no hear. It's nice to have you back.
You could say that, it turns out to be one of the slowest and most obtuse websites I have ever tried to use (I include the Inland Revenue in that :evil: ). Having said that their customer service people are very good.
I think I now have an active account with which to take in payment. Now I just have to try and persuade people to buy my wares.
What have you been doing in the mean time?
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newmodeller: I have been away from home for the last three weeks so I haven't been doing much art unfortunately.
I can't wait to get back home and get started again!
How have your projects been going on your side?
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Quite slowly, I finally got my ice dragon marionette finished and have also got on quite far with my pirate marionette. Things then came to a full stop with two ill children, who felt I would be neglected if they didn't share their germs with me.
That effectively put the whole family out of commission for about 3 weeks.
I am back on a roll again and am ready to put together the final stage of my raven sculpture.
I am hoping to get my etsy shop up and running properly as well as I need to start generating some income prior to starting my teacher training in September.
How are your projects going? I gather that Sue (Snoozy...) has been working away prior to the UK festival season and poor Lengo has been ill. So the forum has been a lonely place for a while. It's nice to have everyone back again.
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Hi charlotte
I have finished my last bowl and mirror and will take a break until the festivals. Good luck with the etsy shop let us know how that works out.
Hope you and Len are feeling better soon I thought the place was a little quite.
Sue
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Have fun and sell well from the stall. I hope the weather holds out. I will let you all know how successful etsy is.
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