Own a piece of the ocean !!!

[paulho]

I have recently stumbled on a potential moneyspinner in Australian Coral and shells turned into Jewellery. I have friends who live in Australia and can ship these items cheap.

I am a 9-5 person struggling to get out and go it alone, so I have got my hands on one each of the 5 lines currently available. They didn't cost a fortune, but I need to see if there is a market for me to exploit. I reckon if I can achieve just 15.00 per piece, I can double my outlay(including shipping) provided the interest is there.

Before I commit, I need to do a bit of market research, and make these 5 pieces work for me. I thought of listing them on ebay, paying a tenner to keep them at the top of listings, paying extra to show "other items I am selling" etc. so that I know what price is achievable before I commit.

I don't want to go to the expense of setting up a website etc, without knowing I can generate interest(and sales), so I want to know if anyone knows of other ways of marketing these items, so that I know what I can reallistically retail them for(or how much people will pay) other than ebay.

Also, anyone who knows a cost effective way of selling via a website, your input would appreciated. These items are truly beautiful, and I'm sure they would sell, but I need to be sure :lol:

 

[fastfences]

Hi Paulho,
Why not try the markets/boot sales first? You will see 1st hand the public's reaction to your product and will be there to handle any questions/enquiries etc.
I'm sure your product is beautiful in its own right, but you may be tapping into a very limited market. However, we all strive to tap into something that will work for us! It'll only cost you a fiver or so for a stand - go for it.

From experience, you need a good turnover and good mark-up to make money on ebay. Be aware of the listing fees, highlighting fees, sales fees and PayPal fees; anything left out of that, you get!!
Cheers, Nigel

 

[Rob Holmes]

you may be tapping into a very limited market.

Nigels right - it is limited, the reefs around Australia are disappearing fast

You may need to check the legality of what you're considering.

Rob

 

[Ozzy]

Nigel's comments are correct re ebay fee's but if you have a budget to throw at testing the water then it is a good way.

To answer your question about selling online, when/if you decide to go down that route it can be very cheap and easy.

For example....these are budget figures without checking anything so will not be totally accurate...

Domain name and hosting for ecommerce - £200 a year
Worldpay Merchant Account for credit card payments - £200 setup and £160 a year
osCommerce shopping cart software - Free
Designer to customise and install it for you - £700

You then have a full blown ecommerce solution ready to go.

 

[Rob Holmes]

In fact it can even be done cheaper than Ozzys (although the recommendations are good and if you have the money are better)

Domain name £5

Hosting (approx £120 a year from us - twist my arm and you could pay £10 monthly) which includes oscommerce already installed, you just need to add the product categories and products yourself.

You could use Paypal which is free to setup and just pay the transaction fees..

Thats down to a £15 startup costs + your time!

Rob

 

[Webstuff]

Providing the shells are gathered carefully (and someone isn't sneaking down to the reefs at night with a pickaxe), consider sending a percentage of income to a corral related charity. This would help your business, and the corral. (Just my two pence.)

 

[LDW]

Hi,

Personally unless the coral was completely legal and part of a controlled government scheme I would not touch it. Coral gets a lot of publicity these days and many countries fine heavily if you damage it or try to take it out of the country. It is protected. So please check out your source, before you start trading.

If it's all legal - I sincerely wish you the best of luck, and would also suggest ebay or speaking with a local jewelers!


Best wishes,

 

[paulho]

I had assumed by the beauty of the item it was coral, but have been assured that it is infact shell and beading and can be sourced cheaply locally. Nothing underhand no child labour or pick axes involved. If anyone is interested in seeing the pieces please pm me for photos.
Paul

 

[Rob Holmes]

You mention not yet having a website but there are plenty of forum members that could provide a cheap site.

We supply DIY systems from £120, epiphany (from memory) starts at £50 and I'm sure there's others around, so the outlay wouldn't be massive !

Maybe worth a go now you know you won't be arrested (well not for that anyway )

Rob

 

[LDW]

I had assumed by the beauty of the item it was coral, but have been assured that it is infact shell and beading and can be sourced cheaply locally. Nothing underhand no child labour or pick axes involved. If anyone is interested in seeing the pieces please pm me for photos.
Paul[/quote

Thats great news Paul - good luck with it, you will some great help from people in this forum. Best wishes

 

[fastfences]

Is there a difference between 'sourced locally' and the following? I'm intrigued

I have recently stumbled on a potential moneyspinner in Australian Coral and shells turned into Jewellery. I have friends who live in Australia and can ship these items cheap. :

 

[paulho]

OK. Weighed up al the advice. Long term, possibly a stall would be best to cut down on ebay costs, but with only 5 pieces at present to play with, went with ebay to see how much people would be prepared to pay. (After all would look a bit silly setting up a stall with 5 items on it! )

So, if you want to take a look, and leave your opinions on a)proposed pricing structure, b)comments about the items, and c)any other useful suggestions, here they are: :lol:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5012981801&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5012980963&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5012987765&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Cheers
Paul

 

[nickkis]

Get in contact, I would be interested in putting a site together for you and gauging interest in return for some type of profit share down the line.

I have a reseller hosting account I'm not using anything like the max of, I have some time, I can design and I know how to SEO this type of stuff.

 

[Rob Holmes]

So, if you want to take a look, and leave your opinions on a)proposed pricing structure, b)comments about the items, and c)any other useful suggestions

At least you've got bids on those 3

It should help to gauge price ranges etc

Rob

 

[paulho]

I have a reseller hosting account I'm not using anything like the max of, I have some time, I can design and I know how to SEO this type of stuff.

Not yet too au fait with ebusiness. What do you mean by reseller hosting account, and where is it? And SEO?