Even though I was never blind to the reality that being a "working artist" was going to involve elements that I would not be fond of — as in, it's not all going to be fun and games — sometimes I just get a little bit weary of the way things often feel like an uphill battle.
As I said, I had no expectations that this was going to be easy, but when I get the feeling that obstacles are actively being put in my way, and I am not even working from a base of neutrality, it makes me feel like just throwing in the towel.
Or, at the very least, it makes me feel like I should just "dabble" a bit in this now and then and stop having any expectations that I could actually sell some of my work.
So what's inspiring this seemingly negative frame of mind?
Well after this long time, I finally sold something — for the head-spinning sum of $15 — from the small remnants of what once was my eBay store!
Of course $15 is better than no dollars — even if it only becomes $11 after all the fees have been removed — but at least I want my $11!
So when it doesn't show up in my bank account, I go in search of a reason why that might be. Do I have the wrong bank account on file? Did I fail to update something? Is there an expired debit card causing a snag?
No, not at all!
Apparently, because I am a "low volume seller," they get to hold onto my money for some unspecified period of time for "buyer protection" reasons. This seems to involve a combination of a certain number of days having to go by after the tracking number actually proves delivery to the buyer.
This, in spite of the fact that aforesaid eBay account is more than 10 years old! Oh, and has 100% positive feedback!
It all leaves me thinking about how we are often left with lots of options, and the realization that none of them really work.
The logical choice here — often suggested by well-meaning friends — would be to simply abandon the whole idea of using third party platforms as sales outlets. In order to tangibly do so this would require the building of a fairly elaborate ecommerce website and selling on my own.
Of course the downside to this is (A) the time it would take to build the website and learn how to SEO optimize it for web searches (B) the fact that trying to actually get seen would require a bunch of work and time dedicated to marketing and social media that I actually should be spending on the creative part of the business and (C) the fact that — as an individual — it is all but impossible to compete with giant corporations that have an entire floor of employees dedicated purely to SEO.
Whereas I have the technological savvy to implement such a thing I just don't have the time. After all, I have to work and make a living and I have to paint the stones to offer for sale, and what's the point of having a beautiful and amazing website that you don't have time to put any merchandise on?
I suppose the obvious question might be "why don't you just hire somebody?"
Well, because that presumes that I am already rolling in dough, and I could afford to fork over hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars up front before I derive any benefit. And that's just not true... I don't have two cents to rub together.
Of course this doesn't mean that I'm going to quit, it just means that I do end up with a bit of pause for thought... and a certain dampening of my enthusiasm.
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2024.10.27 AS-TXT-288/258