Which Would You Do?

Here's the scenerio. You can get an endless supply of antiques and vintage items for very cheap. It's your first love and passion and you want to make it prosper into a steady income. You put together your website store and price the items at what they're worth. But you have to wait for the collectors to come and find you, which is slow, as anyone knows who has a website store in a competitive niche. Or...

You put everything on ebay and get about a third of what they're worth. It's not slow, and you get the steady income, but you don't get what they're worth. Ebay is not what it was in the late 90's, early 2000's. Back then you could get what an antique was worth. Or...

You put it on etsy which is flooded, but you get about half of what it's worth. You wait a little for the money to come in, but not as long as you would if you had your own store. Or...

You only put a few things on either ebay or etsy and direct the people to your website store. They may not come, however, because they are not the collectors who will pay full price. Or...

None of the above. You have a better idea.

Open your own shop, overprice all items 10X. Say the items were touched by Marilin Monroe's nephew or something like that.

Noooooooo. Come on, help me decide. lol

I would try both Etsy and Ebay, just because you are testing the waters to see which is the best option. From there, you will have a better idea of where you stand.

As long as you're not losing money, I would say test both out.

Open you own online store would be the best decision,you will need to promote it a lot and spend a lot of money in it.

Disloyal said:

I would try both Etsy and Ebay, just because you are testing the waters to see which is the best option. From there, you will have a better idea of where you stand.

As long as you're not losing money, I would say test both out.

Click to expand...

I should have added that in the first post. I have done ebay and etsy and know what the return is on antiques. It's about a third for ebay and half for etsy.

To be honest, if you go with antiques and vintage goods (good choice btw, love mooching through sales of that stuff!) I would say open a bricks and mortar shop or, as you can do in the UK, buy some space in an antiques shop, tag everything up and the person looking after the shop gets 10% of your sales - you can bet your ass they will fight for the best price!

One more thing to add...Since I can get an endless supply of stuff, I could pump out sale after sale on ebay. I would have to sell at a lesser price, but in one year if I worked hard enough, I would be able to fulfill my dream of opening up a physical store. I would not get rid of the jewelry website store with the new jewelry which has been my income for years. Take the loss and fulfill your dream in a year, or get full price and wait?

fatboy said:

To be honest, if you go with antiques and vintage goods (good choice btw, love mooching through sales of that stuff!) I would say open a bricks and mortar shop or, as you can do in the UK, buy some space in an antiques shop, tag everything up and the person looking after the shop gets 10% of your sales - you can bet your ass they will fight for the best price!

Click to expand...

It's scary how much you and I think alike. We posted at the same time. Read my post underneath yours. lol

Disloyal said:

I would try both Etsy and Ebay, just because you are testing the waters to see which is the best option. From there, you will have a better idea of where you stand.

As long as you're not losing money, I would say test both out.

Click to expand...

Not surprised someone thought of my idea. Actually my idea was do all three simultaneously and concentrate on the most profitable methods
down the line. Good Fortune!

redrubies said:

One more thing to add...Since I can get an endless supply of stuff, I could pump out sale after sale on ebay. I would have to sell at a lesser price, but in one year if I worked hard enough, I would be able to fulfill my dream of opening up a physical store. I would not get rid of the jewelry website store with the new jewelry which has been my income for years. Take the loss and fulfill your dream in a year, or get full price and wait?

Click to expand...

Since it's a dream of yours to open a physical store, I would image you want to get there as quick as possible. SO the first option might be the ideal one for you.But then you have to ask yourself, are you able to take that loss for a year? and Should you be rushing it? Or take the longer route and make more and be patient?

I am stuck in between, just because there is a time to take the shortcut and there is a time to take the long route. But like I said, it all depends on your current situation. I would say, if you can live with that loss for a year and accomplish your dream... go for it. After all, it's your dream and you have every right to accomplish it.

Keep your head up and go for it because not only do you deserve to fulfill your dream, you also seem to know what your doing. I know which ever route you choose to go with, will end with you accomplishing that dream one way or another.

In my opinion, the big money is always on your website. Use other methods to bring your customers here. Then they're all yours

redrubies said:

You only put a few things on either ebay or etsy and direct the people to your website store. They may not come, however, because they are not the collectors who will pay full price. Or...

None of the above. You have a better idea.

Click to expand...

I would say third option. Open your own web store and use ebay, etsy and any other online advertising methods to build your customer base to redirect to your online store. So many different ways you can promote your website using this method.
It won't really cost a great deal to have a website just sat there with products on it ready to go so I would think the most (potentially) profitable items go on your site and sell smaller bits and pieces on sites with a ready made customer base.

Also I'm sure over in the US you will have antiques fairs and auctions for offline sales and promotion, particularly useful for goods that just will not sell online. I used to do this myself when I sold heavily on ebay. Once or twice a month any stock that wasn't getting views, questions or bids I would bundle into the car and go to a local market.

Best of luck achieving your long term goal.

Disloyal said:

I am stuck in between, just because there is a time to take the shortcut and there is a time to take the long route.

Click to expand...

This is exactly how I feel right now.

Well a physical store is a liability and the new store shine wears off rather quickly. I work 7 days a week at mine. Any vacation or time away must be carefully planned and oftentimes causes problems. Customers don't care about your time, your family or your circumstances. We've been bashed for suddenly closing for a day to attend a close relative's funeral.

So I'm not a great advocate of retail store ownership. If it's a dream, then chase it and fulfill it. Here is how I'd handle your inventory and plan your route to store ownership.

Set up as many online selling streams as you can manage. Be damn sure each stream has a list building mechanism. Nothing is more important than list building. The money is in the list, isn't just some MMO's tagline. I was taught this 25 years ago before the Internet was available. Back in those days we were taught to ALWAYS have a store giveaway with a sign up box. Ask every person that walked through the door to sign up. Gather as many names and addresses as you could. The goal was simple, once you acquire a few thousand addresses you were set for life. No longer did you need to rely on expensive media buys. You had enough clients to secure you a constant income with a customer mailing.

Today is no different except in how we collect and contact customers. Build the list, don't lose a single contact and even if you don't make a penny on the sale, if you gathered a new contact it was worthwhile. So all revenue streams have a list building method is most important.

Secondly is to maintain contact with your list. Don't hammer them into unsubscribing but hit them once a week to bring your merchandise to their attention and let them know you're still around. So many build lists and then don't maintain them. Hardly a good business model. Contact them at least once a week.

Once you have multiple steady online revenue streams with thousands on your contact list you're ready to make an investment into a B&M. Your risk in the B&M will be minimum because it won't cost you the online streams.

Once you get your B&M you focus on local SEO and driving local traffic to your location. Join Social Media groups in your locale and become involved in their conversations. Find the popular people in your community and post as your business page all over their walls with compliments and sorts. Keep your business name in front of local people as much as you can on Social Media.

I don't have time to continue further but that is how I would proceed with minimal risk and reasonable goal of success towards a B&M store.

You know we all wish you much success!

All of the above. Drive as much sales and move as many items as you can.

redrubies said:

Here's the scenerio. You can get an endless supply of antiques and vintage items for very cheap. It's your first love and passion and you want to make it prosper into a steady income. You put together your website store and price the items at what they're worth. But you have to wait for the collectors to come and find you, which is slow, as anyone knows who has a website store in a competitive niche. Or...

You put everything on ebay and get about a third of what they're worth. It's not slow, and you get the steady income, but you don't get what they're worth. Ebay is not what it was in the late 90's, early 2000's. Back then you could get what an antique was worth. Or...

You put it on etsy which is flooded, but you get about half of what it's worth. You wait a little for the money to come in, but not as long as you would if you had your own store. Or...

You only put a few things on either ebay or etsy and direct the people to your website store. They may not come, however, because they are not the collectors who will pay full price. Or...

None of the above. You have a better idea.

Click to expand...

I am sure in your business you have a range of products from high cost antiques to low level novelties.
If I was you I would set up my eCommerce store and then sell cheap items on eBay that are still relevant
in your niche. When you sell the item and ship it include a nice letter to the customer stating you have a
wider range of antiques here "Example Site"

You might not get top dollar when you first set out in business, however overtime you will find clients
who appreciate the personalized service and will buy from you only.

-RK

Depends on how much you care about this stuff.. I think you should sell it for the right price, not half or anything like that.. whatever method it takes.

Good luck buddy.

rabbitking said:

You might not get top dollar when you first set out in business, however overtime you will find clients
who appreciate the personalized service and will buy from you only.

-RK

Click to expand...

I would love to have regular clients. I have offline clients who I sell to, but they are only in my area. It would be great to have them all over the country.

try posting on amazon