Pros for Manufacturers

There are some significant potential benefits for manufacturers selling their products direct to consumers via eBay. These include

• It's a newnot a replacementsales channel. The bit about eBay supplementing your existing sales also applies if you're a manufacturer. eBay sales should augment your traditional sales channels, not replace them.

• You're already in the business of selling your products. If you're a manufacturer, you already sell your stuff. True, you probably due it with a force of salespeople, but still. Who knows better than you the benefits of the products you selland who better to sell them?

• It's a way to move merchandise you might not sell otherwise. Manufacturers love eBay as a way to move overstocked, closeout, returned, and damaged merchandise. Think of eBay as the ultimate online outlet store. It's better than throwing all that old merchandise away!

In short, the biggest plus for any manufacturer selling on eBay is that it's an addition to your current businessif you do it right.

Cons for Manufacturers

• Your products might not be conducive to online consumer sales. Some products sell well online, direct to consumers; some don't. What you produce might not be a good fit with the eBay marketplace.

• Your business might not be set up for direct-to-consumer sales. If you currently ship large orders to a few accounts, you may not be equipped to handle small orders from a lot of accounts. Do you have the staff on hand to process all these onesie and twosie orders? Is your warehouse equipped to ship small boxes? Do you have arrangements with shipping companies to ship items to residential addresses? Don't take any of these operations for granted; if you haven't done it before, it won't be easy.

• You may generate channel conflict. Retailers don't want to compete with their suppliers. If you start selling the same products direct to consumers that you formerly sold via two- or three-step distribution, you're not going to win a lot of friends. You may end up losing more business from your established distribution/retailer partners than you gain from selling direct via eBay.

You have to realize that selling direct to consumers is a much different process than selling to consumers via distributors and retailers. The extra revenue may be enticing, but the costs involvedmonetary and otherwisemay be too steep. And don't minimize the issue of channel conflict; you don't want to damage your existing business by opening a new sales channel on eBay. Make sure you think this one completely through before you take the leap.

Pros for Artists and Craftspeople

If you create your own artwork or crafts, what benefits do you get by selling your work on eBay? Here are a few of the things that artists like about this particular type of business:

• You get to sell what you know and love. If you're an artist, what's better than getting paid to do what you love? You create your work, you sell it; not a lot of research involved. It's a nice way to make a living.

• It's not truly competitive. Unlike most other types of eBay businesses, when you're selling original artwork and crafts, you're selling unique itemsso unique that buyers can't price-shop between you and another artist. Your work is one-of-a-kind, so there's no direct competition with other artists.

• It increases your exposureand potential future sales. When an artist lists her work on eBay, she's showing it to millions of potential buyers all across the country. Even if these folks don't buy anything today, they may buy something tomorrowincluding higher-priced commission work.

• It's an adjunct to the traditional ways of selling. If you're already a successful artist, selling on eBay is gravy. It's a year-round business that sits on top of your existing sales.

In short, if you've never sold your products or artwork on eBay, what's the harm in trying?

Cons for Artists and Craftspeople

Then again, selling your own artwork and crafts on eBay isn't all milk and honey. Let's take a quick look at the challenges involved:

• You may be disappointed in the selling prices. Know that artwork doesn't always command high prices at auction. Original art goes for higher prices than prints, but it's still a buyer's market. eBay tends to be more for bargain hunters than art lovers, so reaching a sufficient volume of work will be important.

• eBay is a mass marketnot an art gallery. eBay is not for hoi polloi. Highly stylized, "arty" work doesn't always sell that well; paintings of cute cats and dogs do. Depending on your style and sensibility, this may not be the best venue for you.

• You may not create enough work to feed your business. If you're an artist, don't count on a lot of five-figure sales on eBay. Most eBay artists sell a lot of lower-priced works. If you're not that fast a worker, you may not be able to create enough pieces to feed a full-time eBay business.

• Packing and shipping artwork is a pain. I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Large paintings and heavy crafts pieces do not ship all that easily or cheaply. You may need to get creative on your packing, and make sure you charge enough to cover what could be expensive shipping charges.

Selling on eBay also isn't for you if you think you're going to get rich quick. While you could (anything is possible...), you are more likely to end up selling a lot of lower-priced items. That isn't necessarily bad, as long as you didn't have your expectations set otherwise.