How would you prefer to sell your crafts?
By moonchild1au
@moonchild1au (6240)
Australia
August 5, 2009 6:19am CST
Ok, my question tonight is basically would you prefer to sell your handicrafts on your own website or through a website like ebay, madeit or blujay, etc? I am asking this because I am going to do some research as to which will be more cost effective for me as I am just starting up an online shop through madeit. I know with having my own website, I will have to pay hosting fees & I am not too crash hot on setting up websites so I guess in that respect, it's better to keep doing what I'm doing but at the same time, I am having to pay listing & selling fees but then again, I don't have to worry about getting traffic to my website, etc.
What would you do or what would you prefer?
2 people like this
7 responses
@akuler (3531)
• Malaysia
5 Aug 09
Hi moonchild1au,
If I were you, I go to well known shopping online website. There is a few reason I prefer that way.
1. well known website.
Everybody know about ebay or amazon. And what they can offer there. More then 50% online shopper will go to wholesale shopping website if they are looking for something because of the varieties and cheaper price.
2. Promotion
One of the most important thing in doing business online and offline is promotion. If you have a very good product but nobody knows it, it is waste of money. Ebay and other wholesale shopping website have their own promotion activities. And if you put you product there, you can forget about promotion or just do a little bit about it.
3. Fee
The fee to list and store your product in wholesale shopping website is comparatively cheap then build your own site and do everything. You can also promote you website there.
Good luck and have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
5 Aug 09
Thanks heaps for your response, I guess you are thinking on the same lines as me however if I could find a cheap host like in the response above you, I would quite happily create my own site & work on getting traffic there.
1 person likes this
@akuler (3531)
• Malaysia
5 Aug 09
I don't know how much is your budget but you may take a look at the hostgator. They offer comparatively cheap hosting.
Building your own website is a necessity for you to promote and sale your product. You may also try to build a blog to promote it. You can use wordpress for free. Every website or blog that you crate, link them to your main website.
To build a website is the easiest part. But to promote it is the hardest one. You can build a state of art website but without visitors, its only a junk. You can't get thousands of visitor in one night. It may take years before you can get 1000 visitors.
To sell a product is about bring people to see it first. And the best place is wholesales shopping website.
I'm not discourage you to built your own website rather encourage you to do that. But, you must also list your product where there is a lot of people go. It is like put your product at the famous shopping mall in the city rather then in a shoplot where no one know about it.
Good luck.
@strawberrychocodahi (4818)
• Philippines
6 Aug 09
It is better if you get your own website or domain for your business because it will only cater your items, not someone elses. Besides, Ebay has a lot of competitors and they also have bogus people trying to fool so it is risky there too.
If ever i will have my own crafts and items, i will surely create my own website and it will be much better than ebay or madeit.
1 person likes this
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
6 Aug 09
Too true & it's more expensive to sell your items on ebay too. I am trying my hand at an Australian website called madeit which is only for craft/handmade items. So far I have only sold 1 item but I haven't been a member of this site for long.
@Ruby722 (796)
• China
6 Aug 09
Hi there
I think it's a great idea .To be honestly i have this kind of idea too.To sell My mother's crafts on a big professional shopping website.Unfortunately i didn't do that.I don't know whether i can handle it.I think at least you can try it.Maybe you will success.Good luck
1 person likes this
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
6 Aug 09
I think anything is possible if you gie it a try...If you still want to do this, why don't you just start by listing a couple of items at a time.
@rdadey (484)
• Canada
5 Aug 09
I guess no matter how you go about it, you have to spend money to sell anything on the internet. You can use free classified listings but what impact will that have? I've sold a few things on Ebay and what I sold was wanted by people. If you have a product no one wants or are selling the same product as 100 other people, you know that will fail. You can make your own web site, get free hosting using a subdomain or pay for hosting and have your own unique domain name. The problem is getting traffic to come to you. Spamming will get you in trouble and traffic exchanges are useless.
To tell you the truth, if you make your own products then you might be better off looking for stores who may display your products and if they don't buy them from you, maybe they will sell them on consignment.
Marketing is not easy and there are always disappointments and frustrations. Look at other similar websites, look at similar items on Ebay and look at similar items displayed in stores. Don't copycat their ideas but use the info to develop your own.
Good luck.
1 person likes this
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
5 Aug 09
Thanks for your response, I am definately going to take a look & do some research. Thanks once again :)
@OpinionatedLady (5966)
• United States
5 Aug 09
I like my Etsy store. WWW.craftykitten12.etsy.com. Etsy is easier to use then Ebay and cheaper, the listings cost the same but Ebay's are only for a week where as Etsy's are for several months. Also people who shop Etsy are looking for hand made crafts so they are not out to get what they want at the cheapest price they are there for handmade items and crafts.
For years I did craft shows but the attendance has dropped with the Economy dramatically. i still do some cheap ones but most of my items are online.
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
5 Aug 09
That's a great idea!! I will have to see if madeit has something like that - the site I'm using is Australian. Does Etsy have paypal these days? If they do, I may try listing some of my thngs there.
@OpinionatedLady (5966)
• United States
6 Aug 09
Yes Etsy does use Paypal. That is a personal need for me.
@OpinionatedLady (5966)
• United States
5 Aug 09
Oh I forgot as for publicity I actually use Facebook and Myspace. I have networking accounts (free) and I put posts in their groups. Also Etsy is attached to Facebook so every time I put up a listing I can automatically show it on My wall. Etsy also has a section where you can make your own icon to link off of. I have a small section that shows thumbnails of what is in my shop on my Myspace at all times. I also have it on a few friends pages as well. Since this too is free it is very helpful. Since I started the Myspace page I have almost doubled the amount of people coming into Both my shops (I have an Ebay store for other items) and that ain't bad for free.
1 person likes this
@pandachina (30)
• China
6 Aug 09
Just try. I think if the quality of your handicrafts is good, you will be success at last!
1 person likes this
@moonchild1au (6240)
• Australia
6 Aug 09
Thanks for your response, I am trying with madeit before I try with my own site & have sold 1 item so far which I guess is a good start.
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
7 Aug 09
I think Etsy would be one of the ways to go...especially if you are doing eBay & not happy with the results. It's very easy to set up and begin selling (I found a seller that sells custom made banners & avatars to help me add a custom look to my shop...for about $15...there are several that can help you get started for much less $$ than that)
Lots of traffic, a built-in customer base and the site receives lot of media attention...both print media and TV. The best thing about Etsy is their low fees. 20 cents to list an item (that stays in your shop for 4 months...and a low sellers fee when the item sells...plus you get to set your price...no auctions!)
I sent you a friend request and can suggest other options to you, if you are interested. Just accept my friend request and feel free to ask any questions that you may have via a PM.
