look at my site? need constructive criticism

kerosene · 05-11-2005, 04:37 PM

Ebay shop was a good idea once, until I looked and saw that jewelry can't be sold very easily and it is a lot easier to give people my web addy than an Ebay store one. Ebay is for people looking for bargains, period. I hope not to be selling bargains. I don't want to rip people off, either, but I think a lot of artists sell themselves short on Ebay. Also, I have already done the Ebay thing and despite some of the nice streamline things, like paypal, it is a bitch to set up those listings all the time and constantly monitor them, etc. The zencart stuff is pretty nice, because it is all done for you. Besides, I have to pay monthly for the store and to get any kind of good exposure on Ebay, I have to pay extra for each listing (like featured items which cost around 20.00 per listing). At that rate, I may as well open up a shop in town and give the shit away. For some things Ebay is great (stuff you have sitting around you want to get rid of) for others, it is not a good venue. Jewelry is one of those.

I can take credit cards through paypal. Zencart has a module that links the user directly to the paypal transaction, I just don't think I have it set up quite right, yet. If the paypal thing becomes a hassle, I might get a merchant account. I will want to have one anyway, when I do art shows and festivals locally.

I like your ideas, like the one about changing the title banner on the other pages. I suppose I could make it smaller on all the pages. I also use a laptop, but I am lucky to have a large screen, so thanks for reminding me that I can't design it for 1600 X 1200 dpi.

I changed a lot of things by going in and replacing colors in the css. I also replaced all the images and took away all the horrible lines everywhere. The rounded corners sound cool. I am going for a sort of organic look, here.

I keep trying to come up with a good look for the photos...some are scanned in with photoshopped backgrounds, some are shot with my digital camera outside (the lighting will only work well outside or I have to sit there and edit the colors in each one until it looks somewhat "natural). I thought the outside pictures were pretty good, but if the traditional white would look better, I might try that. Is there a way I can make one of those box thingies? I like the idea and it sounds like a cool concept, but don't have any money to invest, right now...(hence the reason I am using zancart).

05-11-2005, 04:37 PM	#5
kerosene Touring the facilities Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The plains of Colorado Posts: 3,476	Ebay shop was a good idea once, until I looked and saw that jewelry can't be sold very easily and it is a lot easier to give people my web addy than an Ebay store one. Ebay is for people looking for bargains, period. I hope not to be selling bargains. I don't want to rip people off, either, but I think a lot of artists sell themselves short on Ebay. Also, I have already done the Ebay thing and despite some of the nice streamline things, like paypal, it is a bitch to set up those listings all the time and constantly monitor them, etc. The zencart stuff is pretty nice, because it is all done for you. Besides, I have to pay monthly for the store and to get any kind of good exposure on Ebay, I have to pay extra for each listing (like featured items which cost around 20.00 per listing). At that rate, I may as well open up a shop in town and give the shit away. For some things Ebay is great (stuff you have sitting around you want to get rid of) for others, it is not a good venue. Jewelry is one of those. I can take credit cards through paypal. Zencart has a module that links the user directly to the paypal transaction, I just don't think I have it set up quite right, yet. If the paypal thing becomes a hassle, I might get a merchant account. I will want to have one anyway, when I do art shows and festivals locally. I like your ideas, like the one about changing the title banner on the other pages. I suppose I could make it smaller on all the pages. I also use a laptop, but I am lucky to have a large screen, so thanks for reminding me that I can't design it for 1600 X 1200 dpi. I changed a lot of things by going in and replacing colors in the css. I also replaced all the images and took away all the horrible lines everywhere. The rounded corners sound cool. I am going for a sort of organic look, here. I keep trying to come up with a good look for the photos...some are scanned in with photoshopped backgrounds, some are shot with my digital camera outside (the lighting will only work well outside or I have to sit there and edit the colors in each one until it looks somewhat "natural). I thought the outside pictures were pretty good, but if the traditional white would look better, I might try that. Is there a way I can make one of those box thingies? I like the idea and it sounds like a cool concept, but don't have any money to invest, right now...(hence the reason I am using zancart).

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