I heard a story on NPR the other day about how people are selling their Christmas gifts on EBay, because it is too hard to return them. And I think the operative word here is selling, not putting up for sale, which is what Cathy and I recently did with our no-line bifocal sunglasses in our now-defunct EBay store. The story was instrumental in our decision to close the EBay store because we learned, in about a month, that EBay is not a good venue for a brand new product. Ours is not a product that you can draw a mental image of with four adjectives. EBay works for people with their re-cycled gifts because; let’s say you’re selling a navy blue Abercrombie and Fitch sweater that will call to mind a range of styles and prices. Not many companies offer a product like ours, and certainly no one sells anything of comparable quality, so we were an EBay oddity. EBay is best if you have a well known product, with a recognizable brand name, and people know to look for your product.

I did give it the old college try. We entered at least 120 versions of our glasses into the store. We tried all the formats, “Buy It Now”, the auction, the reserve price auction. We listed in two different categories. I did the self-paced tutorials, which are ok for many vendors, but did not tell me what I really wanted to know, which was, “How do I distinguish our hand-cut and tinted glasses from the rest of the low quality, Chinese mass produced glasses? How do I communicate value?” I asked this a couple of times to a couple of different EBay representatives until I got this answer, from EBay Ray, a vendor rep: “Sunglasses on eBay is a market that is over flooded. Buyers come to eBay for a deal and your prices are way too high for eBay. Most buyers can go to a sunglass shop near their home and pay just as much for their sunglasses and not have to pay shipping.”
And so, Cathy and I decided to pull the store. Because if EBay Ray doesn’t get it, and he said he “did the research” then, the casual buyer won’t get it either. We do offer “a deal”, our glasses are a $300-600 value. Just ask your optometrist or optician. They are gorgeous hand buffed frames in cool colors. Our bifocal lenses don’t have lines. The lenses are custom tinted and cut. So, if you are shopping for bifocals, and want a high quality pair that are a great value, check us out: www.solmatesreaders.com. You won’t find us on EBay. Until we become famous!