Anyone with sewing skills selling on the net?

[baileyuph]

The past week one of my customers did sewing and sold on the net which makes me ask the question - does anyone do this?

This person sold - what i understood - doll clothes and said business was busy.

I thought that was an interesting approach.  Didn't ask but assume the person has a website.

There are items local skills here that one could market on the net from a web site, just wondering if anyone here does a similar thing?

Doyle

[MinUph]

Many people do this. Etsy is a good place for hand made items to sell. eBay, CL and other sites. Even Facebook.

[kodydog]

My sister graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education. She was on the gymnastics team and her passion was physical fitness. She did very well in gymnastics and after graduating she and her husband opened a gym. Turns out this is a seasonal business. They get very busy every 4 years coinciding with the Olympics.

To fill in the slack time she makes designer leotards. She developed her own patterns and they are somewhat unique in that they don't ride up the butt. She trades world wide and has become an expert in selling online. She has a blog and a weekly online radio show all geared toward online selling.

She hates E-bay. She says over the years e-bay has lost all support for the the sellers. To the point it is very easy for a buyer to rip off the seller. The current and outgoing CEO has made the situation worse. She says sellers are dropping e-bay and the company is losing revenue. E-bay is in trouble and if they don't turn things around quick they may go the way of the dinosaurs.

She has switched most of her sales to etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PENultimateLeotards

And pintrest
https://www.pinterest.com/paulanorthuis/

[sofadoc]

Kody's sister is a good example of the success that many are having. I'd get me a set of them leotards, but I don't think she has one to fit my unique contours.

Before the days of Etsy and E-bay, people used to come in to my shop wanting me to do all the sewing for little niche items they had created. They figured they could make a decent profit.......IF they could convince ME to work for Chinese sweat-shop wages. The negotiations usually broke down quickly.

One guy had designed some kind of pouch for a brand of motorcycles. He swore that no such item existed on the market. He talked me into wasting a lot of time on a prototype. About a week later, I was at a flea market where I saw a booth that had a million of them. All way nicer than my prototype, and selling for way less.

After that, I started telling people that came in with their bright ideas to show me a patent first, then I might consider them.

It was always difficult to make people understand that just because I had a sewing machine, that didn't necessarily mean that I had the proper equipment to produce their item. And I usually wasn't too terribly interested in acquiring the proper attachments for some idea that was probably never going to get off the ground.

But I guess nowadays, patents are easier to acquire, and you can put your idea online and see if it generates any interest before investing a ton of money.

Is this the modern day version of the American dream?

[Mike]

there used to be a guy on here who made bmw or some other euro auto who sold seat skins on the net
I also sold a few motorcycle seat on the net when work I had done on my own bike was seen on some related morcycle forums  id but used stock seat people didn't need after upgrading then id customize them for a profit and a good one inho like $300+  but I was just got to busy with boats.

[Mojo]

We have a unique business. Some of our sales are driven by making public appearances at motorcoach rally's. All the rest is generated through the internet, mainly RV forums and such.
Our website drives a ton of sales for us and as time goes on more and more of our sales are
pure internet driven.

Since we did the video commercial and was recently featured in an online TV show internet
sales have really taken off. I still believe though that we would be several years behind our current
sales numbers if it was not for attending rally's and giving seminars. Starting out on the internet
is rough until your numbers start building, more referrals come in and your name gets out
more into search engines. I sped the process up by doing events and shows considerably.

Chris

[Mike]

ill bet chris a lot of the people who met you at the shows it made a good impression that you are a regular guy like them into the same interest. RVs and spread the work on forum stating that

[Mojo]

It really helped Mike. Them knowing I am a coach owner and that I understand their wants and concerns has been a big help.

We have a very good following and I am very proud of our reputation. It has been alot of hard work but worth the effort. My wife and I were discussing the other night that we have finally reached the point where I am no longer known as the awning guy among the RV world. I could never explain just how much time, money and effort we have put into putting Stone Vos in the fore front. Now our products are known by our company name and not me personally.

That has been my major goal since we started. Despite my marketing and pr back ground I was surprised to see it took as long as it did to make the company a stand alone entity. We do have one more bridge to cross and that is whether we want to venture into offering our products on E-Bay.
I am not real sure about it yet. If we bring a stitcher on I may have to start selling on e-bay to fill their hours out during the week.

Chris