Saturday, July 14, 2007

Consignment

I have yet to go into the world of selling wholesale or consigning because it's generally a 40/60 (60% to me) or 50/50 proposition. I am not very good at business, but it's hard to justify only getting half of the money an item sells for when I could sell it myself and get all of the money.
I can see the benefit of exposure. If I have to depend on people finding my site, I won't have as many sales as if my items are spread out in different locations. Someone may buy something from elsewhere of mine and then look up my web site and buy something else. Or they may just see my business name and then look it up and buy from me. So, you sacrifice some of the profit for a chance to be seen, and at this point in my business, that seems like a decent idea.

One general rule of thumb seems to be that your stuff needs to sell for the same price no matter where it's bought. So if I sell a style for $40, I can't wholesale it for $40 and have them mark it up to $80. That's not fair to the customer, who is getting ripped off by not buying straight from me.

Today, I took my first step in a new direction. I went to have my hair cut. I go to a nice salon with an Asian feel to it called Fusion Hair and Skin in Downtown Albuquerque. I am not a pushy person, but I asked my stylist, Deborah, if she'd consider letting me put a few bags in her salon and she could keep 40%. She was very nice about it and said I could.

She also said I should charge more, but I'm not sure about that for the reasons stated above. I'm excited for the opportunity because LOTS of women go to this salon every day and most of the time I have to depend on photos to sell things. I think being able to see them in real life will help.

No comments: