17 May 2008

the ups and downs of buying and selling online

It's a quiet day around here, aside from kiddo's constant interruptions to show off her LEGO creations, and my thoughts are focused on e-commerce.

In 5 hours, I will know whether I have won an eBay auction for a box of attachments that go with my vintage Singer sewing machine. It's the first time I've bid on anything on eBay for years -- the last thing we bought was in 2005; prior to that, the last time we were actively selling was 2002. We got really burned back then by two bad transactions in a row -- one sale and one purchase -- and I have been carrying a chip on my shoulder ever since. So, we'll see how this transaction goes and try to re-build the trust.

I also have to take some time this weekend and re-design some websites; part of this means redesigning e-commerce on my CuppaJoe Cozy site. Actually, I need to redesign the whole thing. Anyway, I have decided to keep the Paypal option for custom work only; stock will be sold in the "coffee and tea" section of my Etsy store.

Meanwhile, I need to find new ways to promote things. I was reminded, by a new comment on an old post, this week of some ideas for promoting my CuppaJoe Cozies and Wradical Wraps that I may just follow through on. I was also approached by someone in Connecticut about wholesale pricing on some of my products, but since my Etsy pricing wasn't well thought out, when I went to do wholesale calculations, it didn't look great. Of course what really blew it all out of the water was the cost to ship things across the border. Sigh. So, I will be re-examining all of my Etsy and online sales, with thoughts toward both wholesale and retail pricing.

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And now, it seems Kiddo is done playing with LEGO and wants to sew. I have told her I will teach her to use the sewing machine... carefully... so that's my next task for the day!

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