Advice on low-volume production store?

[smorgasbord]

This is more about the store than the process.

I've designed and figured out how to build tablesaw insert plates for an Inca-brand tablesaw. These are quite different than the thick, round at the end inserts common on most other tablesaws, as the Inca plates are only 7mm thick, 90mm wide, and over 500mm long. There are 9 (!) leveling grub screws and one front fixing screw. The original thin plates are made from aluminum, and so it's been hard for woodworkers to make their own replacement inserts, as 1/4" plywood just isn't flat/strong enough. I'm making mine from acetal copolymer (similar to delrin), using my CNC, router table, cordless drill and Festool ETS/EC 150/5.

Inca's always been kind of a cult brand, pretty much out of business now, but we owners love the tools for their build quality and accuracy. In talking with other owners, I've gotten a bunch of requests to make them for sale. That's fine - I'm happy to support the community on these, but I do need some way to take orders and receive payment. We're talking very low volume here - if I ever sell more than 100 of these I'll be shocked.

I've gotten suggestions from listing on EBay or Etsy, to just taking Venmo or Paypal via emails, to actually creating a simple Shopify storefront. The latter actually looks more promising than I originally thought, as they handle payment processing and don't charge as much as EBay/Etsy. I don't need to get the word out of these inserts - the mailing list is enough and I'm not charging enough to make this worth my while as business - probably be lucky to not lose money after all is said and done.

I'm sure that some woodworker's here have gone down the path of making items for sale - if so, how are you selling them and how's that working out?

 

[Packard]

There are “make your own retail websites”.  Apparently they have simplified the process.  Some claim you are up and running in 5 minutes (which sounds like hyperbole to me).  But apparently it is a simple process.

You are going to want to clearly define what you are producing (materials, design, included hardware, etc.). You are going to clearly state your guarantee.  If you don’t do that, then the state in which it is sold will define it as a default guarantee and it may include some things that you may not want to cover.

Here is a search: https://www.google.com/search?q=creating an online store&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m

I would note that I briefly (2 years) had a registered site at Go Daddy.  A renewal request arrived about one month earlier than necessary.  And then at the time it was necessary I got another renewal request. 

The first one was a hacker.  I notified Go Daddy about the hack and the fact that the hacker knew when my yearly contract would expire.  Go Daddy refused to acknowledge that someone had gotten into their billing system.  I closed out my account at that time.

In any case you should make a Better Business Bureau about any company you choose to find out if they have robust security.

Of course you can ask them to snail mail a check and that you will ship as soon as the check clears.  If it is a dozen transactions a year, then that would make sense.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I would note that I briefly (2 years) had a registered site at Go Daddy.  A renewal request arrived about one month earlier than necessary.  And then at the time it was necessary I got another renewal request. 

The first one was a hacker.  I notified Go Daddy about the hack and the fact that the hacker knew when my yearly contract would expire.  Go Daddy refused to acknowledge that someone had gotten into their billing system.  I closed out my account at that time.

It's unlikely they got into the billing system, you can get owner and registration/expiry details from a standard whois search. This basic information is freely available for registered domains.

 

[smorgasbord]

There are some pretty involved scams going on. I read about one that starts as Amazon Customer Service calling you, then eventually putting you in touch with the FTC and CIA (all faked, of course).

Anyway, someone pointed me at Shopify Starter, which is $5/month and 5% transaction fees.

I also noticed that [member=75145]alladd[/member] setup his own web page that links to a PayPal charge. That's probably the cheapest. There's also Square and Bluehost, among others.

I don't need SEO or anything, like FOG, us Inca owners have our own (much smaller group), and it's likely that 80% of the people who would buy these are on that group.

 

[rvieceli]

[member=77266]smorgasbord[/member] If I were in your situation, I would forego an active sales website.

You are only going to have probably one product. It seems that you can get access to the buyers you are targeting through email or social media groups and word of mouth. My thinking is that rather than directing people to a website, you would just say here's what I have, here's what it costs, let me know and I'll send you an invoice to pay.

I deal with folks that sell through Instagram by offering stuff and then sending a payment request or invoice. Usually with Paypal. Generally the transaction goes, let them know what you want, give them your zipcode and they will respond with a price plus shipping cost. If that is agreeable then an invoice or payment request is generated.

Charge enough to cover your costs for everything and your time to produce. Don't short change yourself on shipping costs. Rated have ballooned over the last couple of years. so have the cost of supplies. Most folks don't seem to have a problem with covering the  cost of shipping for small producers.

I use Square (www.squareup.com) for my in person sales and for invoicing requests for payments. Their fees are competitive and the software and hardware platforms are pretty reliable. The hardware that I use is readily available at Staples or Walmart, so if I forget what I need or destroy something I can easily replace stuff. The chip card reader is about $60. But you wouldn't need it if you are not doing face to face sales.

Ron

 

[smorgasbord]

You are only going to have probably one product. It seems that you can get access to the buyers you are targeting through email or social media groups and word of mouth. My thinking is that rather than directing people to a website, you would just say here's what I have, here's what it costs, let me know and I'll send you an invoice to pay.

So, how do I invoice via PayPal? If I'm doing that, then a simple website to point/create the invoice should be pretty easy, and give buyers some assurance. I'm intending to ship USPS Ground Advantage, but I need to find boxes that can hold a 21" long by 4" wide plate that also aren't more than 24" long themselves.

I thought this would be it, too, but I've recently gotten requests from the group for plates that fit other Inca saw models, too. So, maybe this is a little IncaInsert™ business after all, but with emphasis on little. I've got 3 insert styles now, so maybe 9 at most in the future.

Yeah, I completely get the pay myself thing, but again, I'm not really out to make any real money on this. Still, it's surprising what the costs of materials, consumables, etc. add up to for low volume work. Scale really does have its benefits, and I have a better understanding of how hard it is for small shops to compete when it's not custom per customer.

 

[rvieceli]

Here’s some info from PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/us/business/accept-payments/invoice

Ron

 

[cdconey]

Here's my input from my personal experience.

You can make your own website for selling products using Wordpress and WooCommerce. 

There are many plug ins for payment using all of the large payment processors as well as shipping plug ins.  WooCommerce also works with ShipStation.  There are many plug ins to customize your store; many free, others with monthly, one time,  or annual charges.

I don't care for the monthly charges for web-hosted stores like shopify/GoDaddy .

Hosting  - My advise is not to use GoDaddy, many email services block your email ( related to your domain hosting server IP ) if you are associated with GoDaaddy due to the nature of some of the websites that they host  .  Many hosts will provide you with a free domain, but I recommend purchasing it on your own if you need to transfer hosting services.

Mochahost has been reliable for hosting and is reasonable.  There are many web hosting services with reasonable hosting plans.

Once you get set up with a store it's relatively easy to maintain. PC Mag usually has an annual review of the best hosts which is refreshed each year.

WPCrafter on YouTube is a good source on how to set up a WordPress and WooCommerce website.

My advise, spend the time and effort and be in control of your e-commerce store.

 

[alladd]

Just to put in a plug for Etsy. On an obscure item like this, it's possible Etsy will advertise their listing for your product on Google, making it appear at the very top of the search listings. The downside, is that if they do that, they'll take an extra 15% commission on any sale that results from a click on their ad. I know, it sounds crazy, and shouldn't be legal. But take advantage of it. One way would be to have the Etsy listing be an inferior version of your product with an indirect link to your own website for the thing you want to sell. That's pretty much how I use it.

All this is irreleveant if your product is obscure enough that it will turn up highly on any rational search. Paypal has served me well for both my woodworking products ands my power feeder at alladd.com. I also take credit cards for my woodworking products, but increasingly that's not necessary.