Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
I noticed last week they changed the feedback, sellers can't leave negs. I have never left any or had reason to. I was telling my husband, I wonder now if some buyers may not come through with payment since sellers can only leave positive.
Well I must have jinked myself because I just had a sheltie end for $371.00 no payment yet. So now I am thinking I better find more options for selling my work. If anyone knows of good places online let me know. THis is kind of scary since I have made my living at home with my artwork. This sort of worries me 
All the best
Laura
Hi Laura,
Hopefully the person who won is still going to pay. Sometimes they need a few days before paying. It's much appreciated when they let you know, but it doesn't always work that way.
If they don't pay, they still risk being kicked off ebay. I haven't looked into it yet, but I assume we can still report non paying bidders.
Hope you get paid soon! It's always a worry when you don't know what is happening!
Newcastle, OntarioLaura,
You're not the only one who doesn't like the new feedback system. Lots of sellers are boycotting Ebay as we speak. I haven't sold on there since April, and am not sure I am going to sell anything there in the future or not. I have never "received" or "given" a negatve, but this "being held hostage with feedback" is really upsetting me. I'm looking for other options as well, and may start with a small number of pieces from my blog.
hugs,
Brenda
Matilda Huggington-beareIf sellers can't leave negative feed back, then why have feed back at all? ..sounds pretty :doh: to me.
I hope it all works out fine for your Laura :dance:
Donna's Duin BruinsHi Laura,
You should check out Bid4Bears. It is another auction site run by Nancy Tillburg, a bear artist. It is not as big as ebay but much safer. There are other auction sites, I will see if I can find them for you. You could try BearPile also. Give the person a little time. They don't seem to be so worried about responding immediately now that the feedback rules have changed. Maybe they are out of town for the long weekend. Think positive!
Bear Hugs,
Donna
Hi
Well I did get an email from the buyer the next day after the auction ended, the buyer is from Europe and he said he will let me know when he can pay. LOL so it would have to be paypal. tomorrow is day 8 and I have payment required with in 5 days, guess I'm not used to waiting, plus I want to buy fur! LOL Donna that's my fur money! ha ha. so what I'm thinking is maybe buyers are feeling more relaxed about payment now? I did check bid4bears but there wasn't much going on as far as listings. I'm building a new website separte from the site I have now, I'll try offering on the site, let me know about those other sites. I'm so used to the fast sell.
Brenda I'll have to check your blog, not sure what that is :-)
All the best
Laura
Posts: 3,540Well people will use Bid4Bears the more it is promoted and placed in front of their faces, and the less Ebay gets used.
Sounds like the buyers really don't care now that the feedback system has been altered. Not that its surprising.... 
Back Road BearsI know BearPile has been a great selling source for many artists for quite some time now.... it has a great reputation.... brings a LOT of bear collectors to it's site through great advertising and is very professionally run. Its very inexpensive and not an auction format... you set a price. They offer secure payment acceptance or you can use PayPal or whatever method you choose.
Etsy is another place to consider.... it's a selling site for handmade items. Very neat place to buy as well as sell. Many have said that higher priced items don't sell as well but I think if you already have a collector base and send out emails to them when you list a new item anywhere that will help you out a lot. There is a lot of traffic to Etsy and more and more people are discovering it as they seek out an alternative to eBay. Also, if you have your own website you can still list your item on your website as well as Etsy. If you sell from your website you can just remove the item from your Etsy shop. Offers "double exposure" you could say.
Selling on your own website is great too but you've got to steer traffic there some how, build awareness of your site. Again, your current collector base is great for that, perhaps having a banner ad here on TT, putting an ad in a magazine, swapping links with other artists....
Strange BearsI think you can still leave negative feedback for non-payers and for buyers who do the wrong thing.....it just is a few more steps to do it. Like opening a dispute with them.
You can't leave any negative feedback for buyers...if they are non paying bidders, you can start a dispute against them for non payment and if you win, any negative feedback left by the non paying bidder will be removed from your feedback and they will receive a strike against their account...but! the problem is that no one knows how many strikes they have and that in fact they are bad payers.....so as sellers we are unable to determine if we have a good or bad payer with a bid on our listing!
Frankly I think it stinks that it's all one way, seems to me ebay doesn't think much of its sellers these days...and they are leaving in droves.......but wait there's even more to come, Australia is now being forced to accept paypal, buyers and sellers will have no other options for payment....ebay have shot themselves in the foot on this one, after June 17th there'll be even more leaving...even the buyers are up in arms on this one, being bullied into opening a paypal account, and after that date no other choice of payment....many don't want to offer up their bank details or credit card numbers, so obviously we can also expect to lose many buyers because of these changes........what a mess!
MerBear OriginalsBid4Bears is quiet just now because there was a big push for March, April and mid-May. Now we're all gearing up for the Spring Fling Show thru B4B in mid-June. Nancy generally has special attractions on B4B that offer free listings etc for specific periods. So stay tuned and give it a try.
Marion
Newcastle, OntarioSandra,
Denise is right - sellers can not leave any negatives, no matter what the situation is. NADA! That's why I'm looking at alterntive sites.
hugs,
Brenda
Donna's Duin BruinsHere are a few sites to check out for those considering leaving Ebay. onlineAuction.com, ecrater, iOffer and etsy
They don't have as big a following as ebay but it took ebay years to develop that following.
Donna
Thanks for posting the other sites for selling, I'm just looking for options, I'll keep an eye on bid4bears as well.
Such a shame with ebay, they have such a huge audience. I used to do shows with my ceramic sculptures but never sold like I have on ebay. At the shows people would pick up and look, then say they will think about it and never come back. LOL on ebay over the ten years I have been listing I have had maybe 4 items not sell. I'm just happy when stuff sales, then I can get more supplies!!!! LOL
Donna, I will see you on Saturday!
best to all
Laura
Donna's Duin BruinsHi Laura,
I was just checking to see if your buyer ever came through with the payment? I forget how long it is that Ebay lets them go before you can lodge a complaint for nonpayment. I had a thought, what if you list in your auction that if payment is not received within the five days like you stated that you sell to the second highest bidder? Would you come across as the bad guy? How do we make ebay wake up other than leave?
Donna
Ciderantiques and Old Soul BearsHi Laura, Make sure you file a "Non-paying bidder alert" with ebay. You can do this 7 days after the auction ended. Ebay will refund your final value fees for the bear (which will be significant on a $371 dollar purchase). The buyer is then given a certain amount of time to respond to the "alert". I believe it is another 7 days. If they still do not respond (pay) the seller is then eligible for the refund. You decide what conclusion to put on the file, from several ebay prompts. Eg. buyer never responded, buyer did not pay, etc. After 3 strikes (or 3 N.P.B. Alerts a buyer will be shut down).
Hope that helps! ~ Karen.
p.s. I closed my ebay store May 1st and have decided to give Esty and my own website a try for the summer. I Sold 5 things in my etsy store today : ). I think the traffic is certainly on the rise over at Etsy.
Hi Karen,
That's great you sold 5 items so fast! I went and looked at Etsy, they have a lot of listings and lots of bears! I do mostly dogs, I'm going to sign up and give it a try. Glad to hear it has worked out so far and how nice the store is free! I like that too.
I have to get my buyers together and send them over to check Esty out, I never heard of it until this post. So glad I asked.
best to all
Laura
Ok, I just registered for Etsy, now I need to make something HA!
also they have a suggestion email, so sent in they need to have an artist bear-animals category. Then I sent them the link to the ebay artist one of a kind so they can see how well that category does.
They suggested to send an example :-)
Maybe if they get more request they will consider the category 
Best to all
Laura
