online marketplace inquiry / interest

[Hula daddy]

Hello all,

I hope this is the right forum for this. Being fairly new to pen turning there are very few folks I have interacted with on this message board. One of my other interests are building websites. I ran and built a fairly successful one for my wife's business for 10 years until she became to ill to continue the business.

One idea that I always found intriguing is the niche online marketplaces. For small businesses it is very time consuming and sometimes difficult to maintain a web presence, let alone to draw the traffic to make sales. I think a central place for potential customers to find niche products would help in exposure and time savings for some niches.

I was wondering if I could get your feedback on a few initial questions and maybe continue a conversation to develop such a marketplace. It will be a significant investment on my part up front, so I would like to get a better feel.

Good or Bad feedback is welcome.

Thanks,
Brian

a few highlights the way I see it :

• It will not be a classified type site but a well designed central shopping cart on the lines of amazon or others
  
• No listing fees
  
• Niche for Pens or other woodturnings
  
• You control your inventory, shipping rates, return policies with your own login
  
• Commission based, initial thought would be 10% you process the transaction 15% if I process to cover card fees.
  
• I take care of the SEO, site maintenance, advertising .. Ect..
  
• Possibly an invitation only for vendors to keep the quality of product high.
  
• Do you feel selling handmade pens and wood turnings on the internet is viable? It seems that most would want to touch and feel a $100 pen before purchasing.

 

[Andrew_K99]

Are you thinking about some sort of gallery where turners can show and sell their work? Kind of like eBay or Etsy but specific to turners?

How would you control pricing? You're high end sellers aren't going to want to compete with those that sell for tiny profits. This is one thing that prevents many from using eBay or Etsy.

How will you control what is listed so sellers aren't competing directly against eachother. Meaning, what if 5 sellers all list a black acrylic jr gent II but one lists for $30 and another lists for $200?

This is an interesting idea, I'll be following along.

AK

 

[Russianwolf]

The Pen Mall was done several years back. I don't know what ever became of it, but the concept is essentially the same as what you are talking about. You might be able to find a thread or two on it here.

Good luck.

 

[Hula daddy]

Thanks for the questions. this is what I was hoping for. I makes me think through the process.

Are you thinking about some sort of gallery where turners can show and sell their work? Kind of like eBay or Etsy but specific to turners?

Yes this is my thoughts. but it will vary some more of a central shopping experience.

How would you control pricing? You're high end sellers aren't going to want to compete with those that sell for tiny profits. This is one thing that prevents many from using eBay or Etsy.

This has been the one of the questions the keeps coming back in my head. Without starting a new price vs. perceived quality thread. This is where the invitation only part comes into play and maybe some vendor ratings. Again it is hard for anyone to say what your personal profit margin should be. But I would am thinking quality over quantity for this venture. this is another reason for the no listing fee. As a vendor you lose nothing by listing and only charged a commission when the item is sold. [/COLORs

How will you control what is listed so sellers aren't competing directly against eachother. Meaning, what if 5 sellers all list a black acrylic jr gent II but one lists for $30 and another lists for $200?

I am sure this will happen, but there a variances in every black jr. gent. again I am thinking the invitation only may produce a better variety. there will need to be some initiative on the vendors part to stand out from the crowd.

This is an interesting idea, I'll be following along.

AK

 

[Hula daddy]

The Pen Mall was done several years back. I don't know what ever became of it, but the concept is essentially the same as what you are talking about. You might be able to find a thread or two on it here.

Good luck.

Thanks I looked at that. But I would be expanding that niche some and add some updated features.

 

[nativewooder]

It "might" fly, but in order for it to work you'll have to move fast to get everything ready, including vendors, for this coming Holiday Season. Is that reasonable?!

 

[Hula daddy]

It "might" fly, but in order for it to work you'll have to move fast to get everything ready, including vendors, for this coming Holiday Season. Is that reasonable?!

the Website that is easy by the holidays. A respectable amount of vendors, probably. A decent traffic volume, That takes time.

 

[Hula daddy]

Just thought I would resurrect this topic, I have done a lot of research. Some other interests such as knife making would fit into this category also. Mostly other topic specific sites are consignment and charging a minimum 25% and you lose control of your inventory. Etsy is a good alternative as is eBay but they do have their down sides. Both esty and ebay are targeted at a broad audience. Ebay everyone wants a deal verses quality.

I found what I feel is a good solution. It would be commissioned based with no upfront fees. Probably 10% or lower depending who pays for the processing fees. You pay nothing unless I can bring traffic and sell your items. But you get to keep full control over inventory. Lets say you sell your item through another venue. you can just remove the item for the website or mark it as sold.

Another nice feature is you will recieve your payment minus commision as soon as you mark the item shipped. no waiting for bi-monthly or monthly payouts.

here are some of the features for the solution I found. It is not cheap but it is professional for the vendors and shoppers.

• Multiple sellers, all selling through one store front
• Seller profiles, custom created web pages and their own mini-website
• Vendors can receive the funds for their sales through paypal website payments or paypal adaptive
• Vendors manage everything through an easy-to-use interface with no additional software
• Vendors or store owners can view order and product statistics on vendor level (reporting)
• Vendors have complete control/management over their own products
• Customers can purchase from multiple vendors in the single order
• Vendors will receive email notifications of new orders
• Vendors can completely manage their own orders/shipments
• Setup Vendor Groups to limit how many products they can publish
• Setup facebook online shop to promote and sell the vendor products
• Vendors can be restricted to only creating items in certain categories within the store
• Vendors can specify their own shipping methods/zones or choose to use the store default
• Vendors can use widgets for their products on any third party website or social network
• Vendors can manage RMA through the Return Material Authorization Module
• Customers can rate the vendors.

I would like to move forward. But would like to arrange a few beta testers before I purchase everything. Of course there will be lower fees to the beta testers. I would not expect this launch to in full motion in time for this holiday season. But by next year It could have a decent amount of traffic.

 

[wood128]

Sounds good to me. Willing to help and give it a try as a beta tester / small vendor. Keep me posted please.
Joe

 

[jj9ball]

I would be interested in trying it. I am already on etsy and ebay and have varying degrees of success. I am always looking for a new venue. I will say that it does sound a little bit like a "copy" of etsy. I have actually had more success on ebay. Either way please include me if you are looking for volunteers for the beta test. I generally carry between 50 and 150 pens depending on the time of year.

 

[Hula daddy]

Thanks for the responses I have received.

This will be a little bit of a slow process. I am still doing market research. I figure this will be around a $3000 venture and that's before marketing and my efforts.

It may and probably is a Etsy copy on the surface. My hopes are to make it more high end and more focused on certain sectors. Maybe a cross between Etsy and CustomMade

 

[Wright]

Yes, It would be nice to keep it high end if possible. I see where this could work.

 

[azamiryou]

A "high-end Etsy" sounds good to me... something with hundreds of artists rather than millions of "artists". And it's especially good if there's some selection process for who those artists are.

 

[NormReid]

I'm interested as well

I like the idea and would be interested in participating, as a beta tester if that's where you are.

 

[toolcrazy]

I think the idea is sound, but I don't think it will work in the long run. The Pen Mall is basically the same idea. Maybe not as involved as you are wanting it to be. But, very similar. You can add your pens by going to http://www.penventory.com/ and add, remove and manage your inventory. He charges just for sales, takes a commission and sends you the cash via paypal. Jon tried to do everything you are planning but after a while, members lost interest. Whether or not it was executed properly, remains to be seen. I think if done properly, it may work. But, you have some big competitors.

I do see one big hurdle to overcome. What are you going to do about a member that looses interest and abandons his account, leaving all their inventory for sale and not ever sending a customer their purchase.

 

[Hula daddy]

Do to the added responsibilities ( not extra pay) at my real job, I have to put this project on hold. I do appreciate all the feedback. I hope to revisit this sometime after the holidays.

thanks again,

Brian