Online Business

[Jdogs Better Half]

Hey dudes!! Long time! I have been super busy with lil Levi and working on a home business idea.

Anywho, I wont go into the specifics of the actual business plan, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with an Online Business - any hot tips???

Alana 

PS Hope you all have a KICK ASS Christmas!!!

[Tyler]

Um I have...

Actually, I have quite a few online businesses.  What type are you thinking of?

[Jdogs Better Half]

Babies/kids clothing, toys, gift packs for newborns etc - but with a handmade vintage influence.

I have seen a lot of online stores on ebay that seem to do very well but I'm not sure if that is a good place to start?!

I guess you could do both, traditional online store on your own webpage and via ebay?

[Tyler]

I think it's a great idea.  If you need to setup a website, I can help you guys do that.  There's some simple tools you can use to make your own web page display your eBay listings.  Here's a simple site I built for my friend's company that sells Used Semiconductor Equipment on eBay - http://www.outbackequipment.com.  I've even come up with

eBay is a great way to get started because it's cheap to setup your own store without too many upfront costs and it allows you to test the waters before you try to expand to running your own operations.

I was actually talking to my wife tonight about having her setup a shop for some baby blankets that she makes.  Every time we go to the mall we get accosted by women asking us where we bought our blanket.

[Jdogs Better Half]

Tyler that ebay store looks great, most professional one I have seen yet! Awesome job! Man thats some expensive equipment they are selling.

This all started from me selling crap from around the house on ebay that I didn't use anymore, old text books from College etc - got me thinking this is an easy way to make money while im home with Levi.

I'm working on the designs right now so should have some gear to be sold shortly (waiting on Santa to drop of an essential piece of equipment  ) but,I will def message you then.

Thanks so much for your help Tyler!

Hope u have a great 1st xmas with Mika and your wife, get those blankets happening!!

[Alexander215]

Tyler that ebay store looks great, most professional one I have seen yet! Awesome job! Man thats some expensive equipment they are selling.

This all started from me selling crap from around the house on ebay that I didn't use anymore, old text books from College etc - got me thinking this is an easy way to make money while im home with Levi.

I'm working on the designs right now so should have some gear to be sold shortly (waiting on Santa to drop of an essential piece of equipment  ) but,I will def message you then.

Thanks so much for your help Tyler!

Hope u have a great 1st xmas with Mika and your wife, get those blankets happening!!

I sell TONS of stuff on Kijiji.ca, I believe there is a American version too.

[Marz]

I have experience with online business and the best advise I can give is to start small and start now.

Waiting around to implement a huge undertaking rarely produces results.

Starting simple and small will get your feet wet and provide you with a reality that will help you 100000X what endless theorizing will.

[GASlick]

Tyler has a lot more experience than me.  Our company has a website that I developed using CoffeeCup.  It's a webs site software that is really simple.  you can check it out at www.coffeecup.com.  You can buy the HTML editor and then add different programs as you need them.

Just my input.  I've thinking about cleaning our my attic too!

[JustColorado]

From experience I can say that starting an online business is a VERY good idea.  Just do what you love, learn everything you can, make it good quality, and it will start raining money soon enough.   

[Jdogs Better Half]

Hey Guys

Thanks for your advice! I am almost ready to start selling on ebay just going to get some really good photos taken of the products with the help from a buddy! I will keep you updated!

I have had some really positive feedback from Jdoggy, friends and family so that has been really encouraging!

The toughest bit I am trying to work out is how much to sell the stuff for?? I have worked out much it cost in materials but as everything I have been is hand made its pretty time consuming (so I have tried to put an hourly rate out of my mind for now) and like you say test the waters and see what happens!

 

[Jdogs Better Half]

OK OK, testing things out....have not opened the online ebay shop yet - mostly cos it says you need to have fixed prices and i'm not really sure how much my stuff can go for...so I have just listed it under my personal user name and see if anyone bids on it.......

Don't think you guys would be interested but your better half's might!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320215245830&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=011\

Tyler I will let you know how I go, then ask you more q's about getting the online shop looking schmick! I have designed my own logo....have attached it here....

[andrew]

Jdogs BH,

Do you make those items by hand yourself?  They look very nice. If I had a young boy (I have a teenager) I would buy those. The logo looks cool too ...    I think you have a great product to sell.

I noticed that you're only selling w/i AU.  Not sure what it takes to sell on the U.S. ebay (when living in AU) and open up your store to the entire world.  I know people that would be beating the doors down for stuff like that over here in the U.S.   We only seem to have the Chinese-made versions of those that fall apart in 2 weeks.

Best of luck with your business ...

Andrew

[Marz]

I think it looks great, I would buy something like that for a baby gift, for sure.

I like that it is a set and the "pirate" motif is the clincher for me.

Keep us posted!

[BALDANDRE]

Looks great!

been in the Business for a long while...looks good (or better) than a lot I've seen....

just remember at first, you may never make what time it took you to work on them ...just remember anything is better than nothing...until the line gets a name for itself....

THEN you can make what is is worth, it will happen!

Good luck JDBH...I may need to get some on-line home business advice from YOU one of these days!

[Jdogs Better Half]

Jdogs BH,

Do you make those items by hand yourself?  They look very nice. If I had a young boy (I have a teenager) I would buy those. The logo looks cool too ...    I think you have a great product to sell.

I noticed that you're only selling w/i AU.  Not sure what it takes to sell on the U.S. ebay (when living in AU) and open up your store to the entire world.  I know people that would be beating the doors down for stuff like that over here in the U.S.   We only seem to have the Chinese-made versions of those that fall apart in 2 weeks.

Best of luck with your business ...

Andrew

Yep, I made these all myself by hand, this is just one set, I also have girls ones (lady beetle, floral etc) right now I am working on traditional tattoo inspired designs.

I will def set up the store for the entire world!

Thank you all for the feedback! I really appreciate it!