WEEEKLY CHAT - WEEK 49!
WEEKLY CHAT #49
OK, let's try the weekly chat idea, V2. Been hearing some positive comments! Seems like we have a winner! Give it a chance! Here goes! <3
OK, let's try the weekly chat idea, V2. Been hearing some positive comments! Seems like we have a winner! Give it a chance! Here goes! <3
Anyone know of any good alternatives to Etsy? My wife was going to build out an Etsy store to reach an audience that would be interested in her goods made from locally dyed Texas fiber like hand-woven scarves, hats, and such.
I recently saw someone post Pizzagate store entries that have appeared on Etsy, so I think I'd rather direct my wife to somewhere else but I don't know where to find an audience for what she's making.
I saw the pizzagate post. It's been removed. I tried to report it but that's not an option. Saw a tweet today Gen Flynn twitted @etsy and I'm thinking that's why it was removed. It's on eBay also and probably any other sites online that sell random items.
If you don't want Etsy possibly getting established shops in the area and surrounding areas to sell the items. Customers in upscale shops that sell unique items usually don't mind paying more for quality handmade items. Make sure to ad custom tag so they know where to find you for later purchases. Other option is craft fairs. I crochet and have never considered selling anything because most people don't want to pay what it's worth. If you do Etsy or any site like it you need to maintain a social media presence to get people to the shop. Etsy is flooded with shops selling products. Just searching for a particular item is daunting because so many people sell their.
I think my friend sells stuff through spotify. It has a system set up where it makes it easy to build a website, upload your merchandise and buy/pay through the spotify portal. They seem very happy with it.
That's interesting I've been a Spotify subscriber for years and have never seen a shop option. There's music, podcasts and audiobooks. I'd love to know more about this.
I stand corrected. The platform my friend uses is *Shopify, not *Spotify. Apparently from his discription, it is pretty impressive.
Disclaimer: I know nothing of this company, the people that run it, or their stance on current agendas. I just offer the info as an option, based on friendly input.
I thought about Shopify later last night after I asked you.
I am going to see him today. I will find out more.
ETSY does gets a lot of traffic.
There are other selling sites geared to patriots popping up, I think My Pillow has a Marketplace and Public Square come to mind, but I haven't used either (I do use ESTY tho).
If I were selling Id set up shops in a couple places and over time you can compare what works for you.
I think gab has a marketplace. Not sure it's big enough to use alone but might be good to list things there too.
Sounds up the alley of a local farmers market or an indoor flea market or shop where you can rent booth space.
Realistically, what's the probability that Etsy is in with the pizza gate network vs the pizza gate network is spreading out and piggy-backing/leeching off any electronic commerce site for operational durability?
I am willing to bet that if we ever build a MAGA e-commerce site and it becomes very big, I bet that the pizza gate network will utilize the site, just because of it's ubiquity and the fact that we can't police the site effectively after a certain size benchmark.
Short answer, no. That's about the best game in town unfortunately. eBay is the alternative, but plagued by similar problems.
Most of the alternatives have very little traffic. Personally I'd go Etsy - haven't heard about the PG stuff, but I doubt they're directly linked. Although I feel I've heard negative things about their politics in general.
When I was in business I made my own website to sell stuff. I used a free shopping cart from Mal's e-commerce. Later on I paid a software guy to make me a custom shopping cart from scratch. At the time it cost around $600 (cheap!)
Note that having an online shop is the easy part. It takes a lot of work elsewhere (e.g. social media) to alert potential customers without having to pay for adverts.
First ask yourself what do her products offer that other, cheaper ones don't. If the answer is "not a lot" then you don't have a business beyond the occasional church bazaar or yard sale.
Note: the secret to making a decent profit is to make an item once and sell it multiple times. Examples include eBooks and images. If you are making every item by hand then, unless you are using child labor, you'll never make a significant profit.
A much more thorough answer than I could provide at the time.
Do not underestimate the chore of personal advertising, especially with the inventory OP is considering. o7