Article by K. Rishay Moehr

If you’ve sold art on eBay, you’ve no doubt run into the gamut of customers. Those who are wonderfully generous, leave sincere, appreciative feedback and pay your fees (no griping) quickly. Most I’ve dealt with are in this crowd (Thank God). Then there are the “others.” Every once in awhile you get someone who doesn’t think the green is as blue as it appeared in your listing. It’s too yellow. Instead of writing to express this upon receipt of the painting, they leave less than happy feedback. Too late to do anything about it now, isn’t it?

Any experienced eBay seller knows that once feedback is left, that’s all she wrote. The fat lady done sung. It’s over. There’s no going back to change things once those words have seen the light of day on your computer screen. eBay doesn’t like to change the feedback. Less-than-stellar feedback is horrible — especially when you’ve really gone out of your way to make the transaction as nice as possible. The only way to deal with it is to ask for positive or pleasant feedback. Let your customer know that if there is any problem, they should contact you immediately so it can be fixed before feedback is given.

Selling art online is somewhat difficult. It’s not always possible to show your art in the best way possible. Perhaps your photos don’t quite show it as it is. Perhaps the monitors read the colors differently. Perhaps the texture, metallic, whatever doesn’t quite come across.

I find putting a slight word description in my listings helps. If anyone has a question (It looks like it has a lot of texture, but does it really?) I can quell the concern. I don’t elaborate, I just give the facts (Sightly textured with lots of blues, greens and yellow with a touch of deep red.) That way anyone thinking the touches were brown, now know they are a deep red.

Also, some sellers are masters at putting up detail shots. These are great. They really let you get up close to a painting to see the texture, strokes, colors, etc. It’s almost like you’re at the gallery and standing inches away — if they’re good shots. Up-close shots are easy to be blurry. Make them crisp and clear. Some sellers don’t bother with these detail shots. Some don’t need them (they sell tons without the effort). Some could use them. I look at their art and have questions. If I have questions, likely others do, too.

Keep your shipping reasonable. Add a few dollars to pay for your packaging (after all, you should be using good boxes, bubble/foam wrap, lots of tape, labels, notecards, etc.) Be sure to cover your costs, add a bit and keep it as low as possible. Sellers who list art for .99 and shipping for 59.00 (in country) are obvious and inappropriate (in my opinion). On the other hand, buyers be ready to pay for shipping. $5.00 will not cover it for a canvas of any size at all. This is original art. It’s irreplaceable. It should be shipped as such.

Don’t get too Photoshop-happy either. Take the best possible pics upfront and then clean them up a bit with Photoshop. Don’t make them appear different than they do in real life. That will make for a disappointed buyer.

Be polite, sincere and happy (aren’t you?) with your buyer. The experienced art collector on eBay will likely deal with all levels of artists and thus artists-as-business people. Be as professional as possible. A new collector or once-in-a-lifetime art buyer won’t know the difference, but that is no excuse. You don’t know who you are dealing with either so treat every customer as they could be your return collector with lots of word-of-mouth business to send your way!

Karen Moehr (eBay moniker: artzzK) runs Facetime Art Studio — Win FREE art. Just enter and cross your fingers! No fees or gimmicks!