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C.W. Huggley BearsI have been out of the bear business for about five years. I lived in Nebraska and made bears under the name C.W. Huggley Bears. A lot of changes in my life since then, including a relocation to Georgia. I felt that it was time to start doing what I love to do again... making bears. I am overwhelmed with some of the changes that have taken place in the past few years. Many new faces here and some old ones and so much talent.
Are there other places to sell bears other than Ebay? Is Ebay still main place to sell? I want to design my own site this time. I know there are a few web design sites out there. Are there some really good ones and others to stay away from? Any other information that any of you could share that might help me would be greatly appreciated.
Anybody live in or around Athens, Georgia?
Thank you!
Cindy
near CologneHey Cindy,
another main selling place you might want to check out is Bearpile (www.bearpile.com). There you can display your bears.
You pay 9.99$/Month for this service, but it's worth the cost!
Hope I could help.
Hugs, Ariane
C.W. Huggley BearsThank you, Ariane.
Hugs,
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
Welcome back to making bears! Etsy is another place to sell your bears. www.etsy.com There are a lot of artists on facebook, too. I only signed up with facebook about 3 months ago and have sold a couple of my bears through people seeing them after I posted them on my facebook profile page. Many of the artists have blogs now, too. I have not ventured in to that arena but I do know several who sell their bears from their blogs rather than their websites!
As far as building a website, I am not "techie" at all and go by the "what you see is what you get" method - I do not know html. Cathy Forcino shared with me her secret for building a "wysiwyg" website and it works wonderfully for me. This is the link for a free trial download, if you like it, I believe it is only $50 to buy the software.
http://www.webpage-maker.com/
Good luck, Cindy. I wish you all the best!
Hugs,
Janice
Past Time BearsYea. . . Cindy's back!! Hello, friend - welcome back to TT and bear making. If you haven't heard about all the changes ebay has made, well, they don't favor the small seller anymore. Lots of folks have just about abandoned trying to sell there. There are others, however, who still do well so guess you could give it a go.
Good luck with all the preparation of getting back into the business of making/selling your wonderful bears and it's great that you've come back to us!
C.W. Huggley BearsJanice...SueAnn! Hi! Thanks for the help and warm welcome back. I have a lot of catching up to do. The good thing is that I am not working and can devote more time getting started than I had five years ago. I have been checking out Ebay and noticed the change as far as how many bears are listed in relation to how many are not being sold. I have a facebook account to keep in touch with friends and family and noticed the bear artist sites which are great and seem like a great idea. I had not thought of Etsy and will check out the web maker site. I am not html savvy either and really don't want to learn it at this stage of my life. And Ariane suggested Bearpile. Well, you have certainly given me the support I need..thank you very much! I will check out every thing you have suggested and probably have many more questions before I get started.
Thank you!!!!
Big Bear Hugs,
Cindy
Hi Cindy,
In addition to Etsy, there is another artist website called Art Fire. I don't use it but know a few people who do. Also, some artists have little gallery sales on their websites. I've not tried that but Janice does it and it seems to work really well for her. I just put a bear on eBay this afternoon. I haven't had anything on there in a while. So, I'll see how it goes. Final Value Fees are are 9% now. OUCH!
Hugs,
Alison
http://www.teddybearmohair.com
Feather Heart CreationsHi Cindy
I agree that Etsy is a great place to sell there is also buyhandmade.com might give it a try too 
Back Road BearsHi Cindy and welcome back!!
I created a public page on Facebook called Artist Teddy Bears For Sale where any artist can post a photo of a bear they have up for adoption and a link or email address to where it can be purchased. I've gotten fantastic feedback from artists who have used this page to sell bears. There are nearly 700 followers/collectors on that page so it's great exposure and it's FREE! Here's a link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Artist-Te … 7833319592
You might also consider doing a teddy bear show or high end craft show. As we approach fall and holiday season buying should hopefully pick up. Sales on eBay, Etsy, etc. are often slow during the summer months. But 9% of final value on Ebay? YIKES!!!
C.W. Huggley BearsThank you all for your wonderful help. I have a bear made but no site to put him up for sale yet. I know I could put him on Ebay but not sure I want to. I have to give it some thought. Guess I better get busy on that. Wanted to say you guys are great.....as always.
Big Bear Hugs!!
Cindy
EJ's CraftsHi Cindy, I don't know you because I have only been on TT for about 4 years but I do welcome you back to bear making. I would post your bear in Daphne's FB site, and then if you want to open a free store, facebook has that now too. I opened one and then have kind of neglected it so don't know how it is working out.
The website host that I use is cheap $9.99 a month and they have hundreds of templates or you can design your own. I am not very techy so I took one of theirs but I will be changing it when I get some time to spend on the computer. The site is easy to work with and the guy runs it out of his home so you can get ahold of him most anytime with questions. He is a techy and has designed the whole system.
Good luck with getting back into bear making, it is so much fun.
Cindy,
If you have a bear made that you want to sell, I would definitely use Facebook if you are comfortable with that. AND, give Bear Pile a try. I think it's a really good place to sell and you can't beat the $9.95 monthly fee for as many bears as you want to list. You can see how those to venues work while you get a website going. Plus, don't forget to post your bear here as well!
Hugs,
Alison
C.W. Huggley BearsThank you Eva! I appreciate your help. Your bears are awesome and I look forward to getting to know you.
Allison, Again..thank you.
A soon as I take some pictures of the little guy, I will post one here for sure. I opened an Etsy account and do have a FB account to keep in touch with family and friends since I moved so I am somewhat familiar with it. Putting him on Daphne's FB site looks very good too. I am certainly going to give a closer look at Bearpile too. I ran out of time last night to do that. May own store on FB might have to wait until I can offer more bears. I sure like that we have more options for selling our bears than we did 5-6 years ago. Oh..and that blog thing... I haven't a clue. So much to do and so little time..ha..ha. But it is all fun and life is good!!
Hugs,
Cindy
