Business- rolling up my sleeves

I have been working on eBay since 2001 with journals and art. I started looking at what people were selling and how they sold. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve taken notes. As frustrated as I am with their current fee structure, I still like eBay and will continue to use their services. I’m in flux with my feelings about the amount I make versus the amount hey take but I know that the best way to combat that is to continue to sell and get my prices higher.

Never once in my time on eBay have I ripped off someone completely in his or her description of an item. I’ve taken notes on what has worked for that person and adapted it to my needs. If one were to go back to any of my descriptions and look at the wording, you would find that it’s all my words. It’s all me. I get frustrated when I look at another book artist who hasn’t put in their time on eBay and is deliberately ripping off my work, right down to my phrasing. The thing about people who buy journals and sketchbooks is that we are addicted to the process and buy them if we like them. There is no need to rip off my work, people will find the work and like it or not. You can boost sales on eBay by lowering starting prices and listing more items. I thought a LOT about how I used eBay before I listed an item, about how I read a description and what I look for in a journal. Selling on eBay is easy if done smart. There is no reason to steal from some one else’s hard work.

So what prompted this? There has been a seller who has been selling journals very much like mine for some time now. I’ve ignored her forays into my territory until now. She has always somewhat styled her auctions after mine, now she has ripped me off almost completely, using my phrasing in her auctions. The other issue is also that she is now making journals like mine. Her bindings are sub par and her photography stinks but the fact remains that she has started to rip off my designs and now she’s ripping off my auction styles. All of my new auctions will feature a little tag at the end that will discuss that my auctions are my words and my work and that copying them is LAME-O!

I am much more balanced on this than I was the last time I found someone ripping me off, being angry about it doesn’t do anything, so I’ll figure out something.