Reader Questions: To eBay or Not to eBay?
15 Dec
Q: I want to start an online store and I also was thinking about selling on Ebay, to have mulitple online prescene. I thought since Ebay has such a huge following, than I do currently, it may prove beneficial. Would you reccommend selling on Ebay in addition to having an e-commerce store, why/why not?
I would only recommend Ebay for clearance merchandise you absolutely have to get rid of. People on ebay are one step above the “yard sale” crowd, meaning they’re dirt cheap. Most things won’t even sell for the wholesale price on there, and once you factor in fees it’s even worse.
Q: I was wondering how long someone just starting their business can expect to wait before they see a return? Would it be best to keep your career and begin working on starting an online boutique at the same time? And do you feel that it is best to take some form of fashion courses or would any business/marketing background be helpful?
They usually say it takes 3-5 years before your business starts to make a profit. I would definitely advise keeping your job while you’re working on your online store. Once it’s up and running, it won’t take a ton of time to manage outside of shipping on a daily basis.
You should absolutely take business/entreprenuer classes, it will help you avoid a lot of mistakes nad it should help with your businesss planning. If you can take classes in buying, planning, retail math and retail enviroment, I would highly suggest that as well.
Hiiii
Im really big fan of your blog and must thank you alot, your blog has anwsered many questions i had beforehand. I’m 21 aspiring designer boutique owner about to graduate , stuck between designing my own collection or setting up my own boutique.My question is i understand that most businesses struggle to make a profit the first few years , but how do you survive, pay rent food etc. I’m student living alone.
thank youuuuuu
Hi Kim,
Thanks for responding I read your response about Ebay so maybe I will not go that route but I will need to do some advertising to create awareness. Can you reccommend some ways to advertise for the budget conscious to to mid range? Or anything that you’ve done or continue to do that creates a buzz for you, please advise. I was sold on Ebay now, not so much… I await your response.
Hey Astin! What kind of merchandise have you been thinking about selling? Is it name brand stuff, kind of in the same market as the labels I carry? Becuase usually I would tell people to follow their gut, and if you REALLY want to sell on ebay and you think you can make it work, definitely at least try it out. But I do want to warn you, if you’re working with high end labels a lot of them will frown upon ebay, and many won’t want to sell to you if you have a strong presence there. There are wholesalers out there who sale to people for ebay though.
As for advertising, try a grass roots, word of mouth approach to begin with. Tell your friends to tell their friends, hand out postcards, buy an email list put business cards up anywhere you can, get one of those stickers for your car etc. That’s always the best way to advertise w/o spending too much
Best of luck and keep me updated on how your shop goes!
@Sam – I live at home
That pretty much sums it up, lol! I don’t have many expenses so pretty much all of the moeny I make is disposable and goes towards the business. But Ive heard that if you take out a loan they’ll give you an alloted amount to live off of monthy.