Can't Seem To Make First Sale -Ecommerce

[JerrickT]

Now now here. Don't say traditional media is useless. I do marketing and advertising for a living and online media is no where near as good or popular as traditional media. I see myself a a very tech savvy individual, and even though I do this for a living, I would not spend a dime personally right now on online advertisement. It is a complete waste of money, and a lot of where you would spend money on, one can do for free. Networking is most important in my opinion, so yes, join all kinds of social media outlets and network, put out YOUR OWN content, interact. Then you will see that search engine algorithms will pick you up as a leader in your topic/area. Then you will eventually gain more exposure which in theory should get you more sales.

I can go on and on, but lets not bore people here

I agree, traditional media gets you out to the masses, but the cost is pretty high and the sales orders that you receive may be more than you can take. I'm pretty new to leather craft as a hobby btw, so I might be wrong.. My experience is that online media especially for the handicraft can help small businesses (or workshops) grow slowly, because the amount of exposure you have at that point in time usually translates to the amount sales you can handle. But of course, it still takes a considerable amount of time to accumulate enough content to make your first few sales.

On a side note, (I am very new here), is there any marketplace that specializes in trading leather crafts and/or leather related goods?

Thanks!

[Aidanforsyth0]

The only one I can think of is etsy. Since this post I have made many sales. I can say my presence on YouTube (just from one video) has brought me in the majority of my sales. I'm definitely marketing on Instagram / a little bit on facebook which has helped me with a couple of sales. The real money to me seems to be in the wholesale side of things.

[MonicaJacobson]

Jerrick, I've seen people trading and selling items on leatherworking facebook pages. There are all sorts. I'm only a member of one or two.

[JerrickT]

Jerrick, I've seen people trading and selling items on leatherworking facebook pages. There are all sorts. I'm only a member of one or two.

Hey Monica, thanks for the response! I'll definitely check them out too while I'm still honing my craftsmanship.

Cheers!

[Aidanforsyth0]

It didn't do much in terms of sales, but I get a few people that trickle in from it each day.

[Ed in Tx]

In my opinion the biggest obstacle that you face is most people aren't willing to pay for high quality custom handmade leather goods. People are either more interested in buying some cheap import junk or on the other end of the spectrum only interested in buying items with a designer name on it. Despite the fact you may well indeed produce higher quality items you aren't Gucci, Burberry or any other of the names. I have had the same issues, started trying the Etsy route a couple of weeks ago but not any luck yet.

Hang in there sometimes it just takes a little time.

[terrypen]

How long did it take you to make your first sale online?

How'd you market your website to make that first sale?

What was your marketing budget?

I am just starting leather work but I personally had never even heard of Horween leather before I started looking at getting into doing something in leather.

I say that because I'm just not sure how many people do searches for bifold wallets using the word Horween. I'm guessing it is lower than other words or phrases. I would guess that there is a way to figure out how many people are actually searching for that word on Google. You need to find out what words people are using to do searches for what you are trying to sell.

As an example, I have a 1965 Ford F100 pickup and while it has been a while since I have done any editing on that page, I still get hits on it. If you do a search for "My 65 Ford F100 engine" it is the first image that Google displays http://terrypen.w5nra.com/images/65ford/65Ford_Engine.jpg It matches that search almost exactly by the page name and the image name. It takes some work to get it up there and keep it there, you have to keep editing and make it relevant by studying search engine data. It's still a work in progress BTW.. I have too many hobbies I think, and not enough money!

[Geneva]

I have been in your shop. I see four things wrong with your product.

1. It overpriced

2. It is not finished. There should be a liner in the wallet not ink pen marks around the perimeter of the product.

3. Very few people know what Horween leather is.

4. The stitch seems are crooked and thread you used is to large. A 138 or a 92 thread would be better. In my opinion,

Good luck on selling stuff.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Geneva

[tossik]

I have been in your shop. I see four things wrong with your product.

1. It overpriced

2. It is not finished. There should be a liner in the wallet not ink pen marks around the perimeter of the product.

3. Very few people know what Horween leather is.

4. The stitch seems are crooked and thread you used is to large. A 138 or a 92 thread would be better. In my opinion,

Good luck on selling stuff.

Brutally honest lol.

[Aidanforsyth0]

Brutally honest lol.

I have been in your shop. I see four things wrong with your product.

1. It overpriced

2. It is not finished. There should be a liner in the wallet not ink pen marks around the perimeter of the product.

3. Very few people know what Horween leather is.

4. The stitch seems are crooked and thread you used is to large. A 138 or a 92 thread would be better. In my opinion,

Good luck on selling stuff.

1) What do you think is a reasonable price then? Why do you think it's overpriced?

2) The products I ship out to my customers are not marked up with pen at all. I will change the picture as soon as I can. I'm a little short on time at the moment due to all of the orders I have been receiving.

3) You're 100% right. That doesn't make it a bad thing though. The Horween Leather Products niche is definitely alive and well. It sets me apart from the other thousands of leather goods companies that use cheap leather.

4) I don't use machine stitching. The stitching is not crooked on my products. If you could link me to the photo that the stitching looks crooked in that'd be great. I have looked into thinner thread but am sticking with .8 mm thread.

I assume you make leather goods? Id be interested in checking out your products.