[Erica]

My new Passion

I've got a few extra for gifts!!! I think I have all the girls birthdays covered this year. LOL

[JenniaHart]

What a great idea!!! Erica, Ijust love your altered letter. It is beautiful! I'm going to have to steal your idea- what a great gift. I need a "T" and a "D" for my sisters.

[Erica]

Thanks so much!! I had a blast!!

I should say, the letter is about 6in x 3in, so they are a perfect accent for your scrap space!!!

[Betsy]

So cool! The possibilities are ENDLESS!

And you know what? That would be HUGE on Ebay as children's names for nurseries - put some coordinating ribbon bows on to hang them with, and do a few Aiden's, Emma's and Madison's, and you'd make a FORTUNE!

[Erica]

Betsy - I've never sold anything on e-bay, how does it work???

[Stephanie Barnard]

Erica,

I love this! Please share with us any more that you do. What a great idea!

Gee, how much will you charge for these? I think you should go into business with them!!!

Hugs,
Stephanie

[Betsy]

Honestly, the only way to get an idea for it is to go look. It is like a huge garage sale, only the stuff is generally better quality these days than garage sale. And thus, a problem - buyers are in the garage sale mode, and want a bargain... but I digress.

I've never sold anything either. But I have bought stuff. I don't even think of it as "winning an auction" anymore, I think of it as a regular purchase... oops, I'm digressing again (told you I had coffee before. right? I'm bouncing off the walls. At work. Blah.)

Go look at, say, custom diaper bags - just go search for that phrase - you'll see a big variety of stuff, mostly home made.

What would your cost per letter be? You could figure that out (Let's just say it's 3 bucks a letter, all supplies included), then add some money to account for your time, plus shipping. So, you could start an auction for 5 bucks a letter plus actual shipping costs. Or $7.50 a letter. Or, see what the market will bear. Have a "boy" and "girl" sample in your auction, and have good clear photos. Maybe even make a sample - something short, say Ian or Adam or Jen - and hang them on a wall and take a photo so people can see. Emphasize that you know you're a first time seller, but these letters are getting rave reviews. You'll just have to sell at a low price at first to get people to trust your rating. And rembember, feedback is really important, so if something gets messed up, do everything you can to make it right with the buyer.

I'm sure if you google "Ebay selling tips" or something, you'll get better advice. I'm sure there are eBay seller Yahoo groups and message boards... There's TONS of WAHMs making a living on eBay with custom made jewelry, quilts, diapers, slings, scrapbooks, etc.

Good luck!

[Jen N]

I think Betsy is right...these would sell on Ebay!

[rigdonia]

Just so neat!!!

[ScrappingForever]

These would be awesome for craft fairs, too, at Christmas time. Or to sell in baby/children's boutiques around town!

[JEB]

Erica, This is just adroable!

[brandiev]

Your altered letters are AWESOME! I love 'em!

[gauchogirl]

I think Betsy is right on, but with one thing I would suggest differently. I have sold a lot on Ebay before, but I didn't let on I was new at all. In fact I worded it as if everyone in the world already knew and LOVED "gauchogirl style", which subtly implied that if you didn't know, you were not as hip as you thought. I used words like "boutique" and "exclusive" and again, worded the whole thing like it was THE "name" to wear this season. I sold everything I ever listed for prices I dictated (I didn't start them at low auction-style prices). It literally only took a few weeks before I had people emailing me asking when I could have more stuff up. I took great professional photos, edited them as I would any quality photo and used my HTML knowledge to make my page look very trendy and upscale, not the normal ebay look. Now, you may ask (as I am suddenly) why I didn't continue. Well the plain and simple answer is I get bored. VERY EASILY and as soon as it became a "job" I no longer liked it. That was over 2 yrs ago and I am just now starting to design some stuff again.

So, if it's something you can do as you go, without having to invest a lot beforehand (which I suspect it is) then I say you should go for it. They are very unique, beautiful and I suspect they would sell GREAT.
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