Question for those that have online shops

I'm considering setting up an online shop and would really appreciate any input you may have. How and where to begin. How do your shops do compared to etsy and ebay? Anything that may help me out. Thanks in advance

 

I dont have any info for you (sadly) but I just wanted to let you know that Im thinking about setting up an online shop too, and would also greatly appreciate any input anyone might have.

I have looked at setting up on etsy, just to get started, because Ive heard that getting a customer base is sometimes hard when your site isnt hosted or connected with a bigger site like etsy or ebay....or some other well known name. I dont know if that is correct or not though, because Im not speaking from experience (obviously). So anyone feel free to correct me! But from what Ive read on etsy, they sound reasonable as well as prices go for hosting...

Good luck with your business venture! Let me know when you get everything set up! And thanks in advance for any input anyone else may have!

 

I sell my work (and my partner's) online through our own domain (http://hummblebee.com). I used to sell my glass on eBay, and tried a few times to list our clothing there, but I stopped entirely and for good a little over a year ago. I found it extremely frustrating, since I ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time just managing the listings, only to get rock-bottom prices for most of what we sold (if we were lucky enough *to* sell a listing). Add to that all the additional eBay fees, and it just wasn't worth it to me anymore. I must admit though - my "about me" page did bring a few hits to my website when we were first getting it out there. I haven't ever messed around with etsy, so I can't help you on that front.

It is hard. I won't lie to you about that. I bought my domain myself, through godaddy.com, and have it hosted through a company called ICDsoft. In college I studied art, graphic design, and visual communications, so I already had the background for web design and put the whole site together myself. This was very time consuming, but once you get it going it doesn't take too long to edit and add things for sale as you go. You can join webrings and exchange links with other sites to help generate hits, and after you've been around a while you'll start showing up on search engines. BUT, I warn you, most of the hits you get will not be meaningful, just people quickly popping in and back out. Print up some business cards and hand them out everywhere. I keep cards with me at all times, and since I only ever wear clothing that either Ian or I made, I get comments all the time, and hand out cards when I do. I also send them to friends and relatives whenever they get gifts, customers when they make an order, and pass them out whenever we're at a show or festie.

Business through the site fluctuates. Sometimes I can go a month or two without selling a thing. Sometimes I'll get several sales within a week. Near as I can tell, there isn't much rhyme or reason to it. I just try to stay busy, and keep things up there for sale. It trickles in for sure, though. I usually don't get any big chunks all at once through the site, except for the occasional custom hoodie order or something along those lines - when someone's looking to make an *investment* in a really nice piece. But that little bit at a time can make a difference - it pays for a lot of our groceries and gas.

I'm sure there's more I should say but I think I've just become officially braindead. Good luck!

 

Thanks, thats a lot of good info. I have business cards and I hand them out and put them with orders like you mentioned. I have an Etsy store but it dosn't seem to get much traffic and your really limited as to how you can customize it. I also gave up on ebay, I will list an occasional item there if I really want to move it or am just plain tired of looking at it and don't care if I don't make anything on it but I think most people there are just looking for a bargain and not really quality clothing. At least they don't want to pay for quality anyway. Thanks again for all the info I'm still really undecided but feel a little more informed now

 

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how I feel about eBay. Except I don't even put items up there when I'm tired of looking at them. Usually when something gets to that point, I'm happier *giving it away* to a friend. That way someone ends up with a happy gift, it doesn't really make much actual financial difference to me, and I don't have to deal with the frustration of knowing I undersold myself.

Does your etsy shop charge you by the month or something, or just take a percentage if you sell something? You might not be getting a whole lot of traffic, but I can pretty well guarantee it'll be more hits, and more meaningful hits, than you'll get on your own site within the first year or so. It took a long time for me before traffic really generated on my site. Just fair warning.

 

Etsy is really reasonable- its 20 cents to list each item and you can put up to 5 photos. they take a portion of what you sell it for but it seems less than what ebay takes out. I have sold a few items on Etsy, maybe I will just stick with my Etsy shop. I don't really sew to make a lot of cash although I would love to stay home and sew and create (wouldn't everyone) I just do it because I like it and if i can make a little money thats great if not no biggie

 

Hummblebee, your website is the most beautiful, easy to navigate, beautifully photographed website I have ever seen! Not to mention your beautiful work- I love hippie clothes, but I wonder if it still works at my age, since I went through it the first time. I won't cut my hair or give up my beads, though, and I confess to having a couple of threadbare gauze shirts in the top of my closet--

 

i host my site funkyphresh.com on site ground. it is good if you dont know a lot of html because they install shopping carts for you, you can use zen cart, os commerce or one other one cant remember what it is tho

i just do my own layout and use paypal for payments, i trade links with other sites that are somehow related to mine and hope people see it, my site has atleast payed for its self and made a little profit, but it takes a few years usually for things to really take off....


ebay does cost waaay too much, i hate posting there and am trying to stop asap because their fees are just insane, and people treat it like a yard sale and expect to pay you nothing for your work....

 

Thank you so much, rhowyn! I work very hard on all of it, so it's nice to know that it's easy to navigate and fun to look at. And, btw, a lot of us sewing mamas like to make a range of pretties to suit women and men of all ages. If you want something "hippie-ish" that isn't quite represented on my site, I'm always happy to do custom pieces (and I know this applies to many of the other ladies here!)

A couple things I forgot to add - (deadthreads might know this, but for the benefit of anyone else referring to this thread...) Pictures can be a pain. It's totally worth it to invest in something with a good optical zoom and shutter speed. Taking pics for the web, resolution is surprisingly unimportant. If I told you my cam's resolution you'd laugh. :lol: I need to reinvest in a newer camera right now because the one I use is so old and the battery's flat, so it has to be plugged in to work. I'm just waiting for the right moment when I have money and I'm not way behind in bills!

And re: shopping carts - I use paypal, because it's soooo easy. I plan on learning to use coldfusion (a web program that works with dreamweaver, my design prog of choice) and working something out for a credit card portal (which will be less expensive on my end) whenever I go "legit" with my whole setup. But in the meantime as I said, paypal is easy and immediate.

 

I've been selling on Etsy since October 14th of 2005. For $0.20 you can place an add with up to 5 pictures. If the item sells, Etsy takes 3.5% of the final selling price. They recently added a new program to the site called the Showcase, where sellers can purchase an ad space for one day for $7.

I am not computer savvy, so Etsy is perfect for me. While Etsy does do some advertising of their site, you have to actually promote your own store if you wish to get any traffic and sales. You cannot expect sales just by listing. You are competing with thousands of other sellers and if you want to stand out and be seen, you have to make it happen.

The nice thing about Etsy, aside from the community aspect, is that they have a street teams program where you can find local sellers on Etsy in your area to work with and do shows and brainstorm about business. The nice thing is, if you can find enough people in your area, you can go in on advertising locally together and cut down your costs.

I haven't sold on EBAY in years, so I can't really speak for that venue other than I think their prices are ridiculously high and for the handcrafter, it doesn't seem like a lucrative venue.

I do recommend:

getting business cards made and promoting where and when you can

soing shows/events/fairs to sell your wares and let your customers know about your site.

staying proactive in your business and do everything you can to get seen and heard.

 

Well it sounds like I'm doing pretty much everything that you all are without actually having my own online shop. I'm pretty small scale but have had sucess with etsy and local shops. Thanks for all your great advice I think I have decided to just stick to what I'm doing and use Etsy- it really is my most affordable option since I'm pretty clueless on how to set up my own site. I probably don't produce enough to stock my own shop anyway- lol. Thanks so much for all your comments.

 

I seem to be doing alright with ebay.... there is a good and bad side to it though....

The good side is that people flock ebay because it's pretty well promoted and everyone knows about it, the bad of it is there's both TONS of competition worldwide and many folks aren't interested in handmade items.