Wondering about places to sell!

[CDragonworks]

I have been swing,designing and selling for almost 20 years. Sales sites have become saturated with imports and I was wondering if anyone on here knew of another sales site other than EBAY or ETSY????   They seem to be hard to find. I tried doing cons and Fests but honestly life is harder as you get older and hauling, setting up and dealing with political BS at sits SUCKS. If you have any ideas of a good place for online sales let me know...Thanks! Cat

[CDragonworks]

Thanks! Yeah we are trying to rework the old website but I am thinking the days of the artist may be truly numbered. After all this time I am seeing no sales on EBAY or ETSY unless I price below the cost to make it. It sucks! 

[bikermutt07]

On 12/11/2017 at 5:56 AM, nstarleather said:

Obviously start your own site if you haven't done so. 

Then consider Amazon (though I know the cut they take is large). 

I'm a wholesaler and have a retail site and do some on Etsy, and in the past year I've noticed a drop in direct sales from my site,  and though some of that is probably SEO and the fact that I don't advertise (can't compete with my own customers), but I have the theory that it's also because "individual company sites" aren't what they once were not that places like Amazon have taken over.  Most people go to larger sites (Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, etc) before looking at individual companies.  Since they may already have accounts with the "big sites" it's easier to buy. You even see many sites like Sears or Walmart following the "Amazon" model and listing tons of products they don't actually sell.

Obviously there exception, people who prefer to buy from an actual company or folks who know they want something custom they can't find on the large sites but that's my guess.

I hadn't really thought about this angle. So, now the little guy is getting shoved out by the big box sites too.

[Dwight]

The little guy has always been kicked around by the bullies, . . . business is no exception.

The little guy's ace is his ability to outperform the bully in terms of customer satisfaction, . . . in whatever that needs to be.  

Custom work is up front there, . . . service is a big one, . . . even little things like a "thank you" card inserted in the package can make a difference.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Sledzep01]

On 12/13/2017 at 8:25 PM, Dwight said:

The little guy has always been kicked around by the bullies, . . . business is no exception.

The little guy's ace is his ability to outperform the bully in terms of customer satisfaction, . . . in whatever that needs to be.  

Custom work is up front there, . . . service is a big one, . . . even little things like a "thank you" card inserted in the package can make a difference.

May God bless,

Dwight

Add a birthday card to that also! Everybody has one, just send it at the beginning of the year and you cover everyone without asking for personal info.

I used to do that when I sold cars...

Another tip, (a little more expensive but maybe worth it in the long run if you can) for those selling wholesale I guess with repeat customers. when the Girl Scouts come around order cases of the stuff. your neighbor with the daughter will love you. put it in the package and voila a gift for the person in the warehouse! then you will have a voice saying they like ABC leather when at the watercooler so to speak.

Sled

[robs456]

Join the revolution!
A lot of people want to buy 'locally' and custom, just oblige them by being there.
I've just done a demography test/experiment. I got a lot of replies that they would never pay more than 'insert large retailer here' prices, some replies that I should sell at half my production costs and about 10% that I could get more than I was asking if the customer could have their 'input' to the product (=custom order). Those ten percent when calculated across the market is more than I could ever fulfill orders for.