Do you scope out your competition??

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Permalink Reply by House of Six Cats on August 29, 2007 at 12:59pm

I am a photographer and I am constantly comparing my images to other photographers. I know this is not always a good thing, but I have found great ideas and techniques from what I see in others work. On etsy I have two threads that I created for photographers, one a promo thread: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5180890

And a critique thread that branched off the first one: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5196480

There are a lot of great people on these threads, very supportive and helpful, we have quite the community of photogs there now. I feel less competetive with others now, I realised that everyone has a differnt style, and it's only a matter of time before you find the right buyers.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Higgins on August 29, 2007 at 1:07pm

I agree. The right person will come along to buy your art.

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Permalink Reply by The Portrait Lady on August 29, 2007 at 2:40pm

I looked quite a bit when I first started up - just to see if I was good enough (yes!) and what the pricing was like. It was more like research - to find out how many people were offering the same service in my area, prices, quality, and policy. I don't check too much any more - except I have noticed that since I raised my prices that others have done the same - so somebody is checking me out!

Inspiration? I would have thought I would be inspired by looking at the work of other portrait artists and yes, the absolutely amazing ones make me green with envy and I raise the bar a little higher - but I have enough ideas floating around in my own head to even think of peeking in anyone else's!!!

Cheers!

Deb

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on September 3, 2007 at 2:01pm

I just opened shop, and I checked out my competition to see if I would actually have marketable items. I wanted to make sure that what I'm offering isn't quite being offered by other sellers. It was also helpful to compare prices, but I judge my prices more on the materials, size of the item and time I put into the work. I do get jealous when I see other sellers high "sold" numbers, but I try not to take it to heart. And I'm trying to take everyone's great advice by promoting, promoting, promoting!!

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Permalink Reply by DLPom Handcrafted Expressions on September 3, 2007 at 5:57pm

Not so much...I mainly just do my own thing. And since I've been at it for 7+ years, I think I got over that phase several years ago when I was questioning my skill, pricing -- pretty much everything! Feebay generates bad karma in general.

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Permalink Reply by Fabletoo on September 3, 2007 at 8:17pm

Yes I do check out competition. It's not stressful but gives me ideas of how to market my business and how to display items in my shop. IMO you can't have a successful business without knowing what your competition is doing.

Feebay does generate badkarma though - I sell on there (Thai clothing) but am closing my store soon. Feebay is going to collapse in the next year, mark my words! :)

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Permalink Reply by Abelee's Fivetonine on September 4, 2007 at 4:43am

I avoid it mostly. Confession Time: I've always been an artsy-craftsy sort, but my biggest problem has ALWAYS been confidence. I loved to draw as a child; when I met other kids in high school who could draw 'better' than I, I gave it up... and this is a bad pattern that's followed me forever in most of my creative endeavors, even now that I'm in my 50's. I do check out my competition from time to time, but I find it's better for me to just concentrate on doing my own thing and let the chips fall where they may...

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