Where to sell online that doesn't cost the earth

dawn_rose

Hiya I make and sell handmade items such as handknitted baby items, jewellery etc and i have an etsy shop, however I do not find this the best way of selling. I am currently looking into doing a craft fair in spring but in the meantime I have been wondering if there is any other site I could sell on online that would work better. I already have my shop linked to everything I am allowed to and have a facebook page and twitter account. Any thoughts and advice much appreciated.
Many thanks
Dawn

Aquamania

dawn_rose wrote: »

Hiya I make and sell handmade items such as handknitted baby items, jewellery etc and i have an etsy shop, however I do not find this the best way of selling. I am currently looking into doing a craft fair in spring but in the meantime I have been wondering if there is any other site I could sell on online that would work better. I already have my shop linked to everything I am allowed to and have a facebook page and twitter account. Any thoughts and advice much appreciated.
Many thanks
Dawn

What do you find the issue is with etsy? Insufficient traffic?

Ebay is probably the best online selling place for your goods
Amazon is also good, but may not be suitable for your handmade goods.

You have to realise that such online sites with such high traffic will result in a drive to the lowest possible price by prospective buyers.

I would suggest online is possibly not the best selling place for you. How about a local market stall to see how the products sell? You could even have a little website of your own to advertise the stall for those addicted to the internet.

If the goods don't really sell then perhaps there is no market for the items you offer at the market stall. At least you will have the opportunity to discuss things with any prospective buyers in the market stall and, if necessary, make some changes to the goods on offer in the future to hopefully change those potential buyers into actual buyers.

If business booms perhaps you could then consider opening a permanent shop, or even a chain of shops.

dawn_rose

Thanks I have had 53 favourites today alone just no sales. I have sales off etsy e.g. custom orders from school gates lol so think there is some market for my items its just getting it to the people. Thanks for your ideas.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Do you utilise facebook to sell your handmade items?

InsideInsurance

dawn_rose wrote: »

Thanks I have had 53 favourites today alone just no sales. I have sales off etsy e.g. custom orders from school gates lol so think there is some market for my items its just getting it to the people. Thanks for your ideas.

I am surprised you've gotten 53 people to favourite your items in one day but no sales - or is that 1 person who favorited everything?

The Mrs used to do Etsy and would get about 5 sales a week for it on handmade baby items and she'd not get many more favorites than sales.

I'd first of all try and work out why you arent selling in what is a fairly decent site.

There are other etsy type sites like folksy.com but they certainly arent as big or well known. Do you have actual packaging for your goods or not? If you do then you can always try independent babystores or gift shops to see if they'll stock them, most wont be worried about things like barcodes but it isnt hard to buy one if you do need it.

shadowlight

apparently ebay is good for this sort of thing. I am currently trying with facebook so have made a "small local business" page, not had much luck yet but it's not been up long. If you have the start up cash for liability insureance then craft fairs and markets may be the best idea really

dawn_rose

I didn't realise you needed to have liability insurance to do a craft fair and can't do a regular market store due to childcare being unavailable and unaffordable. On the up side I've made my first sale of new year and now hoping for many more. :-)