New Project: Trying Out E-commerce

[moshthepitt]

Hello everyone.

I have been a member for a few days and have been reading the site voraciously. There's so much good stuff here, thank you all. I consider myself to be knowledgeable as far as general business goes but doing business online is something I have never quite got the hand of. I run few sites here and there but I still think of myself as being very new in this.

Anyway, I have been thinking of starting an online shop that sells hand made "African style" earrings for a while now - mainly because I know where I can get the made/wholesale pretty easily.

On another thread in this beautiful forum, I came across the advice that it would be a good idea to validate an e-commerce business idea by first listing and selling the items on a place like ebay - so as to establish that there actually is a market before going onwards to get a site up and all that.

So I went out and bought some stock with the help of an earring specialist (my girlfriend :P) and over the weekend I am going to put them up on ebay and monitor their reception, optimal pricing and how long it takes to move the stock. Does this sound like a good idea to you experienced folks?

Additionally, I've determined that I would much rather be a wholesaler in the long run instead of retailer. Because:
-Shipping from Kenya to individuals in other countries can get expensive
-It seems to me to be a less involving approach to the business

I'm going to test this out on ebay by selling some items individually as well as others bundled up as a wholesale package.

So why I am I writing this to you? Well, I am excited to share with you a plan that was hatched while reading these forums. I'm also hoping that if any of you sees that I am going down an obvious dead end they would nudge me towards another direction.

Thank you for your time!

[Clinton]

Sounds very exciting!

How are you going to be driving visitors to your eBay auctions? And have you already done some reputation/feedback building in eBay?

[tke71709]

For stuff like hand made jewelry I would look into Etsy before Ebay. I'm sure you could get a greater profit margin and a more upscale clientele through them.

[crabfoot]

The jewellery secton at eBay is very crowded, but you might do well if you can find another category in which you can sell them. Or you might get sales on Delcampe, selling them as collectibles.

You have to be careful - some places don't like unauthorised imports from strange places. Sending wooden objects to Australia, for example, is a VERY big no-no. For things like ivory you need certificates and proof that you are authorised to sell.

[TeamFreedom]

You have to be careful how you word things as well. There have been major disputes because often times, people get confused to what might be authentic to what is a knockoff.

[moshthepitt]

Thank you everyone for the advice.

I haven't really been building up my ebay feedback/reputation. But I see how important it can be. I saw on freelancer.com that you can actually "hire" people with established ebay accounts. I think I'll give this a try alongside using my vanilla account.

I'll also try out etsy.

Thanks again.

[TeamFreedom]

Please exercise caution "hiring" people. Not to be a negative nancy, but I have had several instances in the ebay game. Finding someone with a lot of feedback & using their accounts.

If you truly want to go that route, find someone to write up a contract. I know it may seem light, but in actuality. You can be held liable as an accessory should something go wrong. I just realized, I have been in a lot of cookie jars but away from that section.

I used to sell baseball cards and I was impatient, hired a guy who had stellar feedback. He claimed that I would be selling a Mickey Mantle 1952 rookie card. Long story short, he sold 6 of these. You can imagine the money he collected. The police came to my door because they saw that I was linked to selling with him.

Exercise caution such as watermarking what products you'll be selling. All in this contract.

Or, bite the bullet. Just allow yourself to be built up. Yeah you might lose a few dollars here and there trying to prove your salt but in the end. You are the better one and you assume no risks but your own.

[KenW3]

For stuff like hand made jewelry I would look into Etsy before Ebay. I'm sure you could get a greater profit margin and a more upscale clientele through them.

For crafts, Etsy is good advice, but eBay has the traffic. I would sooner sell on eBay than other sites, no matter the product. Even if you do sell elsewhere (which is recommended due to cost of sales), eBay serves to build some very nice customer lists. Nobody seems to be bothered by receiving a discount on a future purchase (for a different site) in an eBay Shipping Confirmation email regarding their purchase (but not sent through the eBay message system, of course)

The jewellery secton at eBay is very crowded, but you might do well if you can find another category in which you can sell them.

Multiple categories is a good suggestion; Some categories have less competition. A lot of the categories on eBay are crowded. This is because that is where the money is, with buyers willing to purchase products. All you have to do is beat the competition. You can beat the competition with professionalism and by helping buyers find your listings.

A professional listing isn't necessarily pretty, but it will contain concise answers in the description itself, everything from the product details to how it will be packaged to how it is shipped. If your competition already does that, then go them one better and tell them why and show your experience. When your description answers every question in a buyer's mind, with full details on everything (including better and more prictures), you beat competition.

After time spent selling on eBay, if you have studied SEO, you will find that some SEO techniques serve to increase buy-it-now sales or auction bids, sometimes substantially. This is a trade secret, so please don't tell anybody: Writing your listing titles based upon selecting specific eBay and SE keywords increases sales. Making absolutely certain that you also include these keywords in your first 160 characters of your description will put your listing ahead of competition in the SERPs. (I liquidated Honda outboards for a local company, and my eBay listings ranked above the same models at marine.honda.com on the first page of the SERPs.) eBay has a list of keywords that are the most popular, and even has a weekly list of most active keywords. Match these up with GAKT keywords.

You can beat the eBay competition, for even the most popular categories, by making certain that buyers will find your listings first. Then, once they have seen the professional nature of your listings, even if they continue to shop or find slightly lower prices, you will find buyers returning to purchase from you.

P.S. For jewelry, sales are much higher if the pictures shown are of people wearing the jewelry being sold, than simply taking a picture of a piece from different angles. I would suggest both types of pictures.