Here I am, on a Sunday night, looking at the unsold EBay items and cursing the fact I have to shell out $3.75 in fees for… nothing. Paying EBay fees for nothing is usually just the tip of a very expensive iceberg. I know people aren’t falling over themselves to buy my work, nor do I expect them to.
The following will explain why I’m not always bright and cheery and ready to get to work when someone says “I think you should make ….” or “Can you make stuff and sell it?”
There’s three types of things I sell, mainly on EBay: things I make out of leftover supplies, things people suggest me to make, and pieces that clients end up backing out on.
The pieces I make from leftover supplies are no financial loss. For the most part, I save extra supplies and offer them at a discount when someone places an order. Saves them money, and sometimes saves me a trip to the fabric store (or Hobby Lobby aka 7th Circle of Hell). Somedays, however, I get bored, I have extra stuff, I put it to use. If it sells via my site or on EBay…cool. If not, then occasionally someone may receive a piece as a gift. While it’s great to have my labor costs “reimbursed”, I don’t get frustrated if a piece doesn’t sell.
The second group is when I take suggestions, make the pieces, post them for sale, and they don’t sell. Ever. Mind you, these are RARELY my vinyl-based dolls, they’re usually small plushie pieces from leftover supplies, but still… it’s the priciple behind it. Sure, I like making things because I enjoy them, but I also enjoy making things that people want. I know my vinyl-based work is expensive, so I make those plushie pieces and mark them at afforable prices so that people who like my work and *want* my work have a chance to own it. When I take suggestions to make stuff to sell, and it doesn’t sell… it doesn’t motivate me to take suggestions anymore. Nowadays, when I make stuff to sell, it falls into the first group mentioned.
The third group is the one that tends to turn my hair into snakes and cause smoke to pour from my ears: work that I try to sell due to a deadbeat client backing out on me.
I do not think I can adequately express how this angers me. The implications this has on my freelance business usually mean that future clients have to deal with me being very strict with my conditions. At one point, it basically caused me to lose motivation to even work on commissioned pieces for a while.
My #1 rule is that deposits for supplies are non-refundable, and I do not start work until that is received. So material-wise, I do not lose financially in that regard.
BUT…. here’s my big BUT
I make the piece, spend anywhere from 10+ hours on it depending on how elaborate it is, send pictures, get the final OK from the client and then that payment for the labor? Never arrives. In some cases, I get a no response and in one case, a client was classy enough to block me from their email.
Now, those who have worked with me before know I’m VERY flexible with payments. I allow clients to make payments in any amount whenever they are able to. I just don’t ship until the item is paid in full, and I’m willing to wait as long as the client needs me to wait. I know in this day and age, money is tight and custom artwork isn’t exactly a priority and emergencies come up and bills need to be paid. Life happens. If the clients who backed out would have contacted me and let me know that it’d be a while longer, I’d be OK with it, tell them to take their time, and please stay in touch. No worries, you know?
But… this isn’t a perfect world…!!!
So, here I am with a custom piece. I try to sell it for at least the cost of supplies. The majority of the time, the reserve is never met on EBay, so I’m out the listing fees. I use a reserve and a low starting bid because I want the cost of supplies, I’m not selling something with $40 worth of supplies, and even if it isn’t a financial loss, it goes toward recouping that lost income when the client backed out. Most of the time, it never sells at all and I have to figure out a more creative solution.
My next entry will fully explain the fate of pieces ordered by deadbeat clients.
