Re: Selling novelty items in a booth
I'd say set up stalls at markets where you can also hand out promotional material with each purchase and get some word of mouth going for your website. There's always stacks of children in tow of parents at farmers/craft/flea markets, if the product is as attractive as it sounds I don't see why it would not be of great interest to children. But you'd need to deal with import duties and so on, legals and financials. Best to get an accountant and attorney at least to give you advice.
Unless you have a great deal of money and your parents are willing to back you up 100% it would be a very expensive endeavour to set up a booth at a shopping centre. IMHO market stalls are the way to go at least in the beginning. My local market (I'm in Brisbane) which incorporate farmers goods and second hand/craft stall gets many thousands of people coming through every Sunday. I go myself every Sunday and it booms no matter what season. Stall costs are cheap as chips and vary across the city depending on the market location you're interested in. Prices here for a stall range from $20 - $55. Some markets don't allow wholesale goods, some do.
No insurance hassles, no legal dramas. You'll just need to get transport there and back - easy peasy.
Your age could be a real bummer where the consignment side of things is concerned though. You'd need to set up your business properly, all legals etc. Quite expensive. You'd need a good amount of money to purchase in bulk to make it worthwhile, if the product is as good as it sounds others with more buying power will be able to offer it for less. Then there is the import side of things which brings in a stack of other legal and financial matters. There isn't a thing you can do to stop others from simply going to their website and ordering the goods for themselves unless you can become the sole distributor for Australia. Unless you can prove you have a great distribution network set up already and are willing to put your money where your mouth is and invest in quite a large initial shipment I really doubt you could secure that. There's also a stack of legals and tax implications associated.
You have your age going for you - some will be impressed with your ingenuity. Definite selling point.
Last edited by belonna; 22-11-09 at 08:18 AM.
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