No, not that it is the end of everything. Just that it was time to move on and try something new and even more unusual. After six or seven years at eBay, I finally got tired of paying them more than I was making on my cribbage boards and other crafts. Things seemed to be fine, and I sold more and more boards each year. Most years I sold almost as many as I had time to make. The problem was and still is, I get bored just making cribbage boards!
I also enjoy making Nativity sets, Christmas ornaments and other things on the scroll saw. This is a good change-of-pace from the very repeatative process of drilling hundreds of holes in a hunk of lumber. Besides, people who see my other items also seem to enjoy them. Unfortunately, people on eBay apparently don't think enough of them to actually put in a bid. Every year, I would also list a Nativity set or two, along with sets of my ornaments. The ornaments would sell very quickly, at a very low, break even price. The Nativity sets would not. Ever. Each nativity set that didn't sell would still require a listing fee, which wiped out the profits from several of the cribbage boards that sold.
This seemed to leave me with a few different options:
Keep making cribbage boards, and just cribbage boards! They sell, and people keep buying them. I am getting closer each year to my goal of getting a board in each of the fifty states. At last count, I still needed only four or five more. Boring but safe!
Quit making cribbage boards and everything else. OK, but then what should I do? Safe. But talk about boring!
Find somewhere else to sell all of my stuff. If it sells, great! If not, it shouldn't break me. But where, and how to find it?
And then along came Bonanzle! No listing fees! No picture fees! No Bold or Subtitle of Highlighted Fees! Only a small and very reasonable fee When My Item Sells! If I make a cribbage board and it sells, I pay them about 2 percent of it's selling price. If I make a Nativity set and it sells, I pay them about 2 percent of it's selling price. If a cribbage board or Nativity set doesn't sell, I pay them.... Nothing??? Yep, nothing!
Goodbye, Cruel World! Hello, Bonanzle!
Check out my items at: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/cribbagemaker
- Al
