So…I come to you with curiosity. I value your thoughts and opinions.
1. How do you feel about online consignment?
2. How do you feel about “drop shipping” where you receive the order through another’s shop and ship your finished product directly to the customer?
3. How does one guarantee the quality when using a drop shipper?
4. And any other thoughts you may have concerning online consignment.
*Note* - This is not a conversation about purchasing finished items wholesale, this is about consignment…working together to get our finished products out there for others to see, oh, and purchase, of course!!
With the economy on the downward spiral and gas prices so high, our items are really a luxury. If we can provide these goods to our customers with very little effort on their part (online shopping equals no gas!) than they will be eager to purchase more, or more often.
I have to say you have a great topic going…..I think we all are gonna see a trend in online shopping with our economy/gas prices the way they are now. So many of us have talents to share and the more exposure we get the better….meaning dropshipping with other women who have online boutiques.
Im not sure how consignment would go over via online, as I know we all struggle with consignment within shops in the real world. Its a scary thing for some of us to just let hundreds of dollars go out our door without any kind of payment first.
I know I have a shop in Tuscon Az that would love to have my layette sets in their consigment store beginning in July…..Im nervous and want to make the leap, as I don’t know the person personally except for emails and a couple of phone calls. And she seems to have a plan of action, but with no means to just pop on up to Az. in a moments notice….it’s scary to think, we might be taken for a ride. You wanna trust our fellow “Sister” and help her start up a dream, but …..The consignment store has nothing to lose, but the artist/crafts person has plenty. Keep in mind I’m talking about long distance consignment…in town is totally different and can be done with safeguards put in place.
So I think the question on that topic is “How to safeguard, without shutting yourself out of what might be a great opportunity for both parties”. Even with contracts…long distant consignment is still potentially a costly lose to the seller/artist.
But dropshipping is an option that keeps everyone safe and making some moolah. No exchange of products, if you are short on funds…you can send your images to the online boutique and sit and wait for a sale, get payment from the boutique and then take your supply money, make up the goodies/items and then ship them off to Buffulo LOL Money is then made on both ends, no items are shipped/lost due to non-payments and both parties have a win win situation.
Dropshipping allows you to charge more for your goodies/products than wholesale. Make sure to include your shipping charges when giving out dropshipping pricing to potential boutiques.
So much more can be added to the above as far as safeguarding yourself and your products, while doing dropshipping. Watermark your images, obtain copyrights,trademarks and patents when needed. NEVER send out products without payment from the online boutique with which you are working.
Just a few random thoughts LOL on the subject ;0)
~Faith
http://www.southernbellesandbow.etsy.com
http://www.southernbellesandbows.com (currently having a makeover)
Comment by Faith — June 10, 2008 @ 11:46 am
Cindy-
I think you have the right idea with online shopping with gas costing so much. I’ve never felt the need to cut back on my gas or driving until now. Of course, we just moved the end of Feb. and our house payment is now almost double what it was. My husband has a company vehicle and they pay for gas, so we try to use it as much as possible.
I definitely have been doing online and group buys more! I’m also debating ordering supplies through Hancock and JoAnne’s online and paying shipping because it is was cheaper than the gas to drive 100miles round trip now that we aren’t close to either store.
I helped two of my friends open a consignment store last Feb and I helped them out working there until we moved. I did all of their monogramming and hairbows, headbands, pony o’s, burp cloths, flip flops and some boutique clothes. When I moved, they rented out a room to a lady who does all of their monogramming for them now. I still have all of my stuff that doesn’t deal with monogramming there. They take 30% because it is a new, boutique item. They take 50% of the consignment items.
I have another boutique that I do wholesale items for. She tells me what she wants, I make it up and send her an invoice. She pays all of the shipping. After all, she marks up everything at least double and makes the money on it. So, $10 shipping on a box that she will clear $250 on isn’t so bad.
She has a website and has asked me if I would drop ship. I don’t have a problem with it because I have to ship it to her anyway so I might as well ship it for her. If she wants it packaged a certain way, I’ll have her send me the packaging materials to use. I told her I would drop ship, there just hasn’t been an order to do it on yet. She just got her website up a month ago.
One of the friends that opened the consignment store is being relocated and she is thinking of doing an online consignement store once they move and get settled. All of her ideas sound great and I think with her experience opening the store last year, it should be a lot easier now that she knows more about it.
As far as quality control goes, I would ask for samples from people and check out the quality that way, just let them know that they will not be returned. If there are any problems, then you could address them or just tell them that you are going with someone else. That way you would know what you are going to be sending out as your product. If you had any complaints from a customer who received a drop ship item, then you could handle it accordingly. Of course, if the item sent out was the same as the sample sent to you, then there would be an issue of the person who ordered not having realistic expectations. There are always a few of those. This made me think, you need to have a policy on craftsmanship and who is responsible for making an order right if there are issues. You or the person who is making your items. I know that if there is ever an issue with anything I do, I try to do my best to make it right and make sure the customer is happy. For example, last summer I found the cutest flip flops when I was at the beach. I decorated them and my friends sold them in their consignment store. Well, the lady brought them back in and the printing had all pealed off of the flip flop. Of course, I had no idea this would happen, so I had them refund her money and I asked her if she would like a solid pair in the same colors and she did. I applogized for the printing coming off ( I had no idea it would happen!). SO, everyone was happy.
Anyway, I know this e-mail was super long but I hope that there was some useful info in it for you! Feel free to e-mail me with any questions!
Oh and by the way, I would love to send you any samples of items. I have a couple of things listed on ETSY. I just started last month. Feel free to check it out. I can many more items than what I have on there. I’m trying to take it slow. Things aren’t selling very well.
Jodi Steltenpohl
curlytopsboutique@yahoo.com
VISIT MY ETSY SHOP:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5692611
Comment by Jodi — June 11, 2008 @ 12:04 am