New Online Selling Place

SILKFAIR



Silkfair is a new alternative to the big name... Ebay. With a FREE store, FREE listing, and only 3% of the sale price being the fee, this is an awesome alternative. You can integrate your existing Ebay feedback for your buyer's peace of mind. It offers both standard Paypal and newer Google checkout, for your buyer's choice.

SILKFAIR Is perfect for the home based business mom who is trying to get her name out there without paying a fortune in fees. SILKFAIR's listing fees are lower than Etsy's even, at $0, and the sale commission is $0.05 lower as well. Buying is easy, with the choice of many checkout options and at-a-glance feedback of the seller.

To see how it worked, I loaded up one of my dolls that I normally sell on Etsy. I registered with my ID being the same as my shop name on Etsy, and my Ebay profile. Branding people... branding.. you want people who are surfing the 'net to see your name all over. The more you pop up in search results, the more exposure for you!

It was super quick to set up and validate my store. The typical 1.01 authorization charge was charged (it'll be refunded in a few days) to my credit card, they wanted to validate my identity.

After submitting a few things like my shop name, shop announcement, etc, I uploaded a 'product'. I chose to upload a cloth diaper. I got a little hung up on adding my payment information, but was able to go on ahead (I chose to allow Paypal)

They allow you to choose your tax area (we're montana, so no taxes) and have an extensive inventory tracking system, helpful for work-at-home businesses. For some reason it came up as sold out, so I had to re-look into it. But overall, it was fast to load pictures, easy to use, and FREE to list, so a major plus :)

I tried editing my listing, and it was super easy and quick. I love the clean look of the site, and that it loads fast. I'll be going back to list more later!

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50 links to starting an online craft business

50 Helpful Links to Starting an Online Craft Business

Everything you could ever want to know about starting an online crafts business as a work at home mom out of your home

1. Starting your craft business without debt

2. Etsy or Ebay?

3. Setting up Etsy

4. Setting up Ebay

5. Feedback on Etsy

6. Feedback on Ebay

7. Your site’s Page Rank

8. The benefits of starting a business blog

9. All you need to know about Paypal

10. Google Checkout?

11. Creating a business plan

12. Craft Econ 101

13. Don't do seller games

14. Importance of dividing your shop into sections

15. Making your site user friendly

16. Setting prices

17. Shipping- pad it with your fees?

18. Joining sellers groups

19. What are Street Teams?

20. Free Advertising

21. Paid Advertising

22. Your target audience

23. Choosing your items for sale

24. Taking Pictures

25. Using free photo editing software

26. Keeping the kids busy while you work

27. Social networking sites?

28. Myspace/Facebook benefits for your business

29. Ordering business cards

30. Getting your supplies in bulk

31. Selling your product wholesale

32. Packaging your sale

33. Friendly customer service

34. KISS

35. Your description

36. Copyrights

37. Patents

38. UPS/Fedex/USPS

39. International Shipping

40. Sales and Clearance

41. Buyer Beware

42. Insurance

43. Business licenses

44. Selling to friends

45. Advertising with Google Adsense

46. Dealing with copycats

47. Researching competition

48. Coming up in the searches

49. Balancing with your family life

50. Taking a vacation

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Staying home

We've decided for the meantime to have me stay home with the babe and back out of doing transcription. Transcription was great for helping us out in a rough patch in our lives, and I'm more than thankful that I never had to put Babe in daycare, but now that we've worked through some financial things (still got a LONG way to go!) we decided God is calling us to have me be a homemaker full time.

It's been so nice! I was a little giddy/nervous the first day, but after Babe went to bed 90 minutes early due to being so worn out from our fun 'eventful' day, I knew we made the right decision. 'Stuff' can wait. We can eat more dried beans. And I'll enjoy more precious time with my sweet baby, and preparing our home.

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Blogsvertise

What a great way to advertise! Blogsvertise is a great solution for a work-at-home mom who is looking to make some money from home while doing what she loves- writing- and a great service for advertisers, who are looking to get their name out there on the web! As a new business trying to make themselves known on the web, exposure is everything.

Blogsvertise is a company that links bloggers to advertisers, so that bloggers can incorporate their company name and website into regular blog posts, and get the information out there. As blogging popularity catches on, and with people using sights like Google Reader and Bloglines to keep up on favorite blogs, companies like Blogsvertise are going to be in high demand.

Just think of when you are looking to buy something on line. If you pop up the words in a Google search, wouldn't you like to see a bunch of sites on the first page of the search engine? That way you can easily find what you are looking for, not be sent on a wild goose chase trying to find the correct company website. This is just what Blogsvertise does, it builds links to companies so that their product and information is easy to find.

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Working at home

Again, I've found quite a few work at home businesses that are legit and require no startup cost. This one I applied for, was approved, and then decided I couldn't do it because my toddler insisted on shrieking whenever I would talk on the phone. But if you have some time uninterrupted, say, during nap time, Work at Home West takes incoming calls (no telemarketing) for different businesses and you can schedule appointments, etc, over the phone. I throughly researched them before I signed up, and they come back all clear.

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Associated content

In my never-ending quest to make ends meet while staying home with my little girl, not to mention avoiding spending my entire paycheck on the rising cost of fuel, I've tried all sorts of different gigs. One successful one was Associated Content, which I still write for on occasion. They are a legit company that pays per article, and you can choose your own topic. Minimum of 400 words, you can pump out an article on something you know about in 15 minutes or so. Not too bad! I've made over $200 here, and with their performance bonus I still make some money every month on stuff I've already written. Not a get-rich-quick scheme, but a great way for Mommy to make some money during Jr.'s nap time.

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wahm.com

wahm.com is a huge resource for those who want to work at home! You can get tons of help on their forums, they have tons of links for those who are looking to work at home, be it in sales, telemarketing, medical transcription, medical coding, technology, computer programing- anything. The people on the forums are very helpful and can give advice based on their experience. By far the most comprehensive website for working at home that I have found, and I've been working from home telecommuting over the interent, for years now!

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