Setting up an online business, who has done this?

[Snowball24]

Hi there, my husband was a self employed plumber fitting bathrooms for many years, he had a serious ankle injury a year ago and surgery last summer , he cant walk very well now and will never be able to do bathrooms again. He is also a very good carpenter so we have decided to try and set up an online business selling his wooden items , he has his own workshop at home & all the tools.

So far we have registered on Etsy and Folksy and the next plan is to make a range of items and then get those on the online shop (tables, shelves, bird houses etc). Should we get on Amazon and Ebay too?

We already have trade accounts with various suppliers anyway so can source the wood etc

Has anyone got any tips for anything else we need to do? We will source a good packaging supplier I guess and courier if the item is large.

Any tips or advice esp if anyone has set up a new online business would be appreciated, my husband has not worked for a year due to the injury and needs this

Thank you !

[janeywaney]

No experience at all for setting up a business, but would like to wish you both the best of luck with the new venture 😊

Jane

[123]

I've worked on many online businesses as an advisory consultant, some moderately successful (last-minute, so, very) some a disaster.

What all the successful ones have in common is easy to replicate

1) you need to have a quality product
2) you need to have good marketing
3) you need great logistics

So in your case the products need to be desirable and durable. Returns will kill your profits.

You need to think about how you market your stuff, just sticking it on Etsy will gain some sales, but there are loads out there so you need to be better than the others.

Logistics is going to be the big thing (delivery). Nowadays people don't order things online that need paid for returns. So if someone returns something you'll be out of pocket twice, once for the original delivery and again for getting it back to you (this is why your stuff needs to be good, so it doesn't break and also so people want to keep it)

So you need to factor a "returns" premium into the cost of your items. If you end up not having any returns you make more profit, but if you get the usual amount you aren't eating into your money, just spending that contingency

(All catalogue/online businesses use the above model in some way, they just hide the returns premium well - it's also how they can afford to do sales etc. A good year not doing many returns means you can use some of that as sales discounts)

[123]

The most important piece of advice is that you aren't creating an online business. You are creating a business whose shop front is online.

Everything else about the business hasn't changed from a more traditional fixed premises shop.

Don't let the fact it's online scare you, in fact it should make things easier. No heavy rental costs and no geography boundaries to customers

Concentrate on making good stuff at an attractive price and looking for ways to get your stuff seen (markets are a good way, take some physical stock and some business cards, most won't buy on the day but a few will go to your website later)

[Feebee2]

Don't forget the time it takes to maintain your online platform. I sold on eBay years ago. Reckoned it took 45 minutes for each item to process it. List it, answer queries, pack and post.
Time costs money.

[Snowball24]

Thank you for the comments much appreciated,

[hilz22]

Hope it goes well your new venture. I remember you posting about tennis elbow with your husband before covid. Did that heal?

[louiseybobs]

When I started my personalised gift business in 2014 I started on Facebook adding all sorts of selling pages and advertising on there. It's free!

Also competitions. I did one a month most months
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I had over 100,000 views on one once.

When you advertise on Facebook always include a direct link to your main website. For me it would be Etsy.

Another thing people love about mine is that I plug the fact I'm a mum just trying to get by (work keeps me sane) and I put
'handmade in my Cheshire workshop'

It's really my dining room but hey it's Cheshire! 🤣

Also I get my wood from my local timber yard, avoid b&q but you probably already know that 😊

[tspill]

Originally Posted by 123

The most important piece of advice is that you aren't creating an online business. You are creating a business whose shop front is online.

Everything else about the business hasn't changed from a more traditional fixed premises shop.

Don't let the fact it's online scare you, in fact it should make things easier. No heavy rental costs and no geography boundaries to customers

Concentrate on making good stuff at an attractive price and looking for ways to get your stuff seen (markets are a good way, take some physical stock and some business cards, most won't buy on the day but a few will go to your website later)

See more...

This 100%. Especially the first paragraph.

[daytonababe]

My daughters friend has a very successful business that trades solely online

She makes personalised labels and sheets of stickers , Because they are lightweight postage costs are minimal .

She does most of her trade on Etsy and Facebook .

But it’s taken a good 18 months to build up her business and like any business that trades online , there’s a lot of competition and a lot of people who try and copy what you do .

I know she spends a lot of time uploading her listings and advertising her business


For the products you describe I’d look at attending local markets / fairs ( when they start up again ) so your product can actually be seen