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I see the two pegs, but they show as out of stock on the listing page and when I check each individual page, there is no notify button, no out of stock notice.
Are they “up for viewing” for awhile so that “everyone” gets a chance to see them before they go “live”? Just wondering if there is a glitch or not.As a side ‘nit-pick’, the “sellIIng” typo is still there…
You are not obligated to buy any special store items 🙂 However, eBay prices have been very low on a LOT of our stuff lately, and it was getting very hard to justify putting certain pieces on there, what with all the time and effort that goes into making these more OOAK-type items (which far exceeds the time and effort that goes into making a non-OOAK piece–not just in painting, but also including the time I spend to inspect and photograph each piece from multiple angles and create a separate listing for each piece). Windstone Editions is a business with employees and owners who all require a paycheck to live, as well as to pay the bills and material costs related to maintaining and operating our facilities. So in addition to reaching out to a different “breed” of customer with these special store items, we are also trying to NOT loose money on them! An item that sells for under $250 on eBay may be great for you, but in a lot of cases we are lucky to break even on a sale like that (as a business, one of our goals is to make money, not loose it!).
F.Y.I. when an item shows as “out of stock” but has no “notify when back in stock button” it means that it is in someone’s shopping cart and hasn’t actally sold yet. If that person changes their mind, it will come back out of their cart and reappear as in stock.
A little while later:
NEVER MIND! I did not know Pam had deactivated the “notify” button. Sorry! (But for regular things this is true)I see the two pegs, but they show as out of stock on the listing page and when I check each individual page, there is no notify button, no out of stock notice.
Are they “up for viewing” for awhile so that “everyone” gets a chance to see them before they go “live”? Just wondering if there is a glitch or not.As a side ‘nit-pick’, the “sellIIng” typo is still there…
Typo fixed.
Both new pegs have been sold (they lasted about 3-4 hours). There is no notify button because they will never be restocked. Now that the pesky notify button is gone, I have re-enabled the first three pegs that were sold so you can see what they looked like.
I tried to get a subscription thing working for the special items area but it did not work. I will try again next week.
F.Y.I. when an item shows as “out of stock” but has no “notify when back in stock button” it means that it is in someone’s shopping cart and hasn’t actally sold yet. If that person changes their mind, it will come back out of their cart and reappear as in stock.
Susie, Lane was able to get rid of the notify button for special items. These pegs are both sold now. I dont know what the special item listings look like if someone just has the item in their cart.
I don’t want to hear the lecture of ‘luxury items’ either
I love you so much right now for saying this.
I can only speak for myself, because I am not at the Factory and while I have an idea of how much time goes into these things, I cannot say for sure how long a special, well painted piece takes Melody or P.S. or anyone else at the Factory.
So, speaking for myself only– eBay is super scary. Though some of my things did sell very well, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thankful.. even more did not, especially toward the end. This is awesome and terrible for me. It’s awesome because I LOVE that people want my paint jobs, and I love that people cherish them! I was genuinely happy for the people that got my stuff at lower prices, because, Like Melody, if I didn’t have to pay bills… I’d love to just give this stuff away all day to people that would find joy in looking at it. For real! But the terrible part is that I have real bills just like everyone else, and I have to find a way to be paid for my time like everyone else.
So, in my gut, I really do feel for the resistance people feel to this. For me, even a blank PYO feels “expensive”, because “expensive” is all relative to one’s income, to some extent, right? So I absolutely understand where you are coming from there. The idea of spending $400 for a pegasus would make me gasp and fall over. I just couldn’t do it! That’s like.. nearly 3 months of groceries, for me! (thankfully I don’t have to, even though I covet how beautiful most Windstones are to me).
At the same time, you have to understand how unfair it is to expect someone to work and make very little to no money for their time. As an artist, I get this a LOT!! It’s very frustrating to feel as if the world as a whole values my time, skill, and years of study and training less than they value someone else’s work. I’ve had folks that were angry with me that I was selling a painting I did for $1,000. That was too much money for them to afford (again, I understand. It’d be too much for me, too), but instead of accepting that it was just something that they couldn’t afford at that time, they instead chose to get angry with me over it. This isn’t fair– that painting took me over 200 hours to complete, not including materials and the days I spent preparing and researching my subject matter. $1,000 had me making less than $5/hr– for a skilled trade. If I had suggested that they go to work for less than $5/hr, doing a skilled and demanding trade with mandatory overtime, I’m sure they’d be upset with me.
I apologize for the rant, but this is something that is close to my heart and it hurts in a way to think that folks would be angry with Windstone choosing to price SOME (not all!!! This isn’t replacing eBay, or normal sales, or free monthly raffles or any of that stuff!!) of their pieces at closer to what they value the time of their artists and other employees to be worth.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comJennifer, please continue using your talent to bring joy into the world!! Your comment is a brilliant description of the trap artists are often caught in. We have known other artists over the years who fight with this problem. It would be wonderful if everyone could afford every piece they wanted. When they can’t getting angry at the artist or company seems odd, maybe anger is easier than sorrow?
I can only speak for myself, because I am not at the Factory and while I have an idea of how much time goes into these things, I cannot say for sure how long a special, well painted piece takes Melody or P.S. or anyone else at the Factory.
So, speaking for myself only– eBay is super scary. Though some of my things did sell very well, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thankful.. even more did not, especially toward the end. This is awesome and terrible for me. It’s awesome because I LOVE that people want my paint jobs, and I love that people cherish them! I was genuinely happy for the people that got my stuff at lower prices, because, Like Melody, if I didn’t have to pay bills… I’d love to just give this stuff away all day to people that would find joy in looking at it. For real! But the terrible part is that I have real bills just like everyone else, and I have to find a way to be paid for my time like everyone else.
So, in my gut, I really do feel for the resistance people feel to this. For me, even a blank PYO feels “expensive”, because “expensive” is all relative to one’s income, to some extent, right? So I absolutely understand where you are coming from there. The idea of spending $400 for a pegasus would make me gasp and fall over. I just couldn’t do it! That’s like.. nearly 3 months of groceries, for me! (thankfully I don’t have to, even though I covet how beautiful most Windstones are to me).
At the same time, you have to understand how unfair it is to expect someone to work and make very little to no money for their time. As an artist, I get this a LOT!! It’s very frustrating to feel as if the world as a whole values my time, skill, and years of study and training less than they value someone else’s work. I’ve had folks that were angry with me that I was selling a painting I did for $1,000. That was too much money for them to afford (again, I understand. It’d be too much for me, too), but instead of accepting that it was just something that they couldn’t afford at that time, they instead chose to get angry with me over it. This isn’t fair– that painting took me over 200 hours to complete, not including materials and the days I spent preparing and researching my subject matter. $1,000 had me making less than $5/hr– for a skilled trade. If I had suggested that they go to work for less than $5/hr, doing a skilled and demanding trade with mandatory overtime, I’m sure they’d be upset with me.
I apologize for the rant, but this is something that is close to my heart and it hurts in a way to think that folks would be angry with Windstone choosing to price SOME (not all!!! This isn’t replacing eBay, or normal sales, or free monthly raffles or any of that stuff!!) of their pieces at closer to what they value the time of their artists and other employees to be worth.
Quoted for truth (and eloquence).
If I had a choice to sell something for $400 versus maybe getting $250 on ebay, I know which route I’d be taking.
Again, I really do understand and sympathize with those that have a hard time affording special pieces. I am there with you.
I have been extremely, extremely fortunate to do the trades that I’ve done to get a few things! Before I worked for Windstone, for at least 15 years, I was just a fan and a collector myself, and I had three normal production pieces that I cherished with all of my heart. Each one took me over a year to save for, and one was a gift. When things started selling on eBay, back in those first days, my heart was heavy knowing that I couldn’t afford any of it. But at the same time, the answer isn’t to undervalue artists and employees time. I think of them as art pieces.
I can’t afford even reproduction prints of some of my all time favorite painters (wildlife painters), let alone an original, and this too makes me sad. But I am filled with joy knowing that they can make a living off of their work, and in doing so, continue to paint things that I love to look at (for those that are still living, at least!).
I understand it’s a bit different when talking about a three dimensional object that you can appreciate from different angles– but some of the base sentiments are the same.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comThank you Jennifer for your insight. And like you said earlier, yes, this is really no different than what other artists do, creating special OOAK pieces and selling them through their personal website. Also, as Jennifer said, this will not be replacing ebay sales. And there will still be monthly raffles and quest prizes!
We made these items, why shouldn’t we be allowed to sell what we made on our website? 🙂
Thank you Jennifer for your insight. And like you said earlier, yes, this is really no different than what other artists do, creating special OOAK pieces and selling them through their personal website. Also, as Jennifer said, this will not be replacing ebay sales. And there will still be monthly raffles and quest prizes!
We made these items, why shouldn’t we be allowed to sell what we made on our website? 🙂
Yep. People complain about ebay being unfair, people complain that selling things in the store is unfair, and people will complain that selling these guys as BIN is unfair. You’re never going to please everyone, unless you give them away for free haha. Well actually, that’s not true as I’ve seen people complain that the raffles and quests are unfair in some way or another.
So… do what you think benefits the most people, and what will be best for windstone. 😛
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