RSS FeedLast month we talked about a lot of possibilities for your second-income part-time business. There were many ideas for you to consider!
Now we’ll go over the major marketplaces for your product or service: Where to sell and market your products and services.
Two developments in recent years have opened up the market for individual goods and services:
- The internet, and expansion of broadband availability
- Consumer interest in handcrafted goods, plus consumers’ interest in having services provided to them.
You can now sell your goods to a customer literally halfway across the world!
Third-party online marketplaces have made it easy for crafters and artists to turn their hobbies into businesses. Many choose the popular Etsy as their virtual shop, but it’s not the only marketplace available. In fact, many sellers operate on multiple platforms—in multiple marketplaces–to maximize their visibility and sales.
Let’s look at the marketplace options for handmade goods first:
Online: Handmade Goods
There are two primary websites you can use to sell your goods, not only in Hawaii, but also across the country and the world:
- Etsy is a global online marketplace for artists, creators, crafters, people who make supplies for artists, and for sellers of vintage goods.
- There are 40 million items for sale, 1.7 million sellers, and 27.1 million buyers.
- Etsy’s merchandise sales for 2015 were $2.39 billion (gross).
- Each Etsy seller establishes his or her own “shop” or webpage within the greater Etsy website, in which they list their products. The seller sets the price for their products, and ships their products to the purchaser, as on Amazon.
- Products and shops are found through Etsy’s search engine, and through community recommendations (“favorites”).
- Etsy has a vibrant community of sellers and buyers.
- Etsy fees:
- Listing fee (for 4-month listing per product): 20 cents per product listing
- Transaction fee: 3.5% of retail price of product sold
- Payment processing fee: 3% of total order plus 25 cents
- eBay has become the world’s largest place to buy and sell, a community of hundreds of millions of regular people, small businesses, and even big businesses from across the globe. Millions of items of every kind imaginable, in every condition imaginable, change hands every day on eBay for prices ranging from one cent to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars (or pounds, or other forms of currency).
- Like Etsy, eBay provides a marketplace in which sellers can establish their own “shop” and list their products. However, sellers can also choose to list a handful of items without having to create a “shop.”
- eBay is the world’s largest marketplace for rare, discontinued, collectible, or hard-to-find items, no matter what the type or price.
- All eBay sellers get 50 free listings every month, and it’s just 30 cents a listing if you go beyond that.
- Seller, or transaction, fees are variable depending on the type of product, and they range from 4% to 10% of the final selling price.
- eBay is also unusual in that it offers both auction-style and fixed-price listings.
- There are tiered selling platforms (subscriptions) if you want to create a more sophisticated shop with many product listings.
Other Online Handmade Options
- Craigslist is good for selling some types of products: furniture, vintage and collectable items, general items for resale, some books (especially those about Hawaii), etc.
- Listings are free.
- Listings must be renewed or reentered frequently to get seen.
- Deviant Art is the largest online social network for artists. Artists can exhibit, promote, sell, and share their work.
- 30 million registered users, and 65 million unique visitors each month
- All art is welcome, from painting to sculpture, digital art, pixel art, film, anime, and more.
- Based on Oahu, Mori by Art + Flea is an online shopping marketplace, an offshoot of the physical shop in Honolulu, plus the monthly series of art and shopping events.
- Similar to both Etsy and Deviant Art, ArtFire is another online marketplace and community specializing in artistic goods: handmade, fine art, vintage, craft supplies, and other maker-made items.
- Handmade at Amazon is a new store on Amazon.com for invited artisans to sell their unique, handcrafted goods to Amazon’s hundreds of millions of customers worldwide.
Offline Handmade Goods
There are also many options for in-person handmade product sales. Think about local craft fairs, farmer’s markets, and especially holiday fairs.
- An online directory of craft fairs and venues across the island.
Farmer’s Markets
- Check with the State of Hawaii Agricultural Development Division for current Farmer’s Markets happening across the islands.
Don’t forget about other kinds of events, fairs, festivals, and markets. A music festival might be just the place to sell your hand-carved guitar picks! Or a food festival would be a great market for your pottery bowls!
- Visit their Hawaii page for listings most upcoming events, from school craft fairs to cooking festivals and more.
Brick-and-mortar shops
- Small independent shops that specialize in your kind of product are also worth a visit. If you create a product that is made from Hawaiian goods, or is a traditional Hawaiian craft (or even inspired by traditional crafts), there are shops looking for your kind of merchandise.
- Hilo Town on the Big Island is one example, and even has a store specializing in food grown by, or created by, local people, The Locavore Store.
Now let’s look at the marketplace options for services.
Online: Services
- Listings, ratings, and reviews for local service providers—720 different types of services.
- 5 million+ members nationwide
- Yelp users review not just restaurants! They review all kinds of businesses and places, so it’s worth listing yourself with them.
- Google Business Listings Make sure people can find you when they search for a specific service. Business listings include how to contact you, and what your hours are.
- List your service in Craigslist’s Service section.
- Remember to renew your ad frequently!
Offline: Services
Word of mouth should be your first strategy in attracting customers for the services you provide. Start with family and friends, and ask them to spread the word.
Go to your customers: Put your card, flyer, or brochure in places where your customers are likely to be. Tour guide? Meet with local hotels, tourist offices, popular shops, and tourist destinations. Dog walker? Stop by vet offices and pet stores, and ask if you can leave your cards or flyers.
The community bulletin board: There’s a reason why shops, markets, and other businesses have an actual bulletin board somewhere in their store—people look at them! Post your business card or flyer.
Signage: Do you live on a well-frequented street? Put a tasteful yard sign up advertising your business or service. No yard? Use a sign in your window. If you rent, make sure to clear it with your landlord.
Advertising: Paying for advertising is tricky, even for big successful professionals. If you have the money, and you want to try it, start small–with the smallest, most local newspaper or publication for your area.
These are just some of the marketplaces available—as you explore your service market or craft market, you’ll get other ideas as well. We only have space to scratch the surface, and we haven’t even talked about social media yet.
Start thinking about your small business idea, and picture to yourself who your customers are and would be. Where do they shop? Where do they live? What do they read or watch? What price range would they want to pay for your product or service? What do your competitors charge?
Do your “homework” on this topic, and see what options are best suited for you and your product or service.
PayDayHawaii is dedicated to helping you be successful!
