There are bazillions of needlepoint canvases out there and even the most well-stocked shop will only be able to carry a few. As shopowners they need to balance a ton of things (and not just the tastes of their clients) to stock their shop. Many of them, thanks to the Internet and catalogs, can extend that inventory virtually and allow customers to order through them.
But for many stitchers even visiting a shop in person is a rare occurrence. And this brings me to my point. Has eBay become the default LNS for many stitchers?
Awhile ago I spent an entire afternoon looking through listings for needlepoint on eBay. For canavases there were over 5500 listings. While in some areas, such as thread, finishing supplies, and needles, eBay can’t come close to your local shop or to shops with an Internet storefront, for canvases they far exceed what you can buy at your LNS. I would say canvases fall into three categories:
- new, currently available canvases selling at or near retail prices – Theses are not people destashing but new product, presumably immediately available, from people who are functioning as canvas shops (More about this below) This was close to 2/3′s of the canvases I saw
- new canvases from artists who sell primarily on eBay or on eBay as one of their channels – Here the artist sells to you directly. Many artists got started this way and it’s a great channel. This is probably another 10% or so of what’s there.
- canvases sold by individuals – This type of item predominated on eBay less than a year ago. It’s an eclectic mixture of destashing, vintage, shop closeouts, etc.
There are designer’s whose work is found in the first category and designers whose work is not. And I’m not making any judgements one way or the other. But the whole thing got me thinking and I have lots of questions and would love you to add your own thoughts and answers (mine are after each question).
Is the presence of new canvases at retail driving up the price of older canvases? I think it is. Starting prices seemed higher across the board and not just on new pieces, often out of line with past prices for similar items.
Do you, as a stitcher find this an effective way to shop? I would think it has the advantage of immediate delivery, possibly no sales tax, and bigger selection. Let me know if you use it and why.
As a designer or shopowner how do you feel about it? Is it unfair competition? Do they really have the canvases in stock? I’m thinking this is a hard model to make worK. eBay wants you to ship quickly and buying and keeping theses canvases is a considerable outlay, is it equal to a shop’s overhead or significantly less? If close is it really “unfair” to the shops? If less, is it “unfair” to the shoppers.
I have no stake in this race, but I know it generates lost of emotion and I’d like to hear what you have to say.
In all cases if you want your comment to be confidentail, email it to me using the contact form (link at the top) and I”ll post it for you.
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I am both a designer and shopowner, and yes I do feel that eBay is unfair competition to local needlepoint shops but we cannot make it go away. I have a store website, but do not list my own canvases at below retail prices as I do not want to compete with my wholesale customers. If I happen to see a Tapestry Fair canvas on ebay (luckily not often!) I do cringe a little, but hopefully the person who buys it will visit a local shop for fibers and finishing and classes.
I think most of the eBay sellers do stock canvases, but even with a large inventory they cannot even come close to the overhead of a shop or the time involved in servicing customers.
As a consumer I think eBay is great and can understand why someone would check out what they have to offer when looking for a needlepoint project.
Whether we like it or not, eBay is here to stay.