Newby to flyingsolo, forums and in process of starting own e-commerce business

[LeonieB]

Hi Everybody,

Like so many before me, I decided to join flyingsolo because I think we can learn so much from each others' experiences and draw inspirations from our common desire - flying solo! I'm very impressed with this community and the members' willingness to help and provide advice and support. Looking forward to learning from each of you.

My husband and I decided now is the time to start our own home based e-commerce business(which I'll initially run). So, here we are - in the final phases of the start-up process and planning to launch our online marketplace for Australian homemade arts & crafts in August 2009.

With a few more questions and time flying by, I'm looking forward to everybody's inputs on any questions that I'll be posting separately in the applicable threads.

Looking forward to "hearing" from you all.

Yours faithfully,

Leonie
Ingenuity@home

[VacuumRobot.com.au]

Hi Leonie,

Welcome to the forum. I'm currently a new start up online home business operator too.
I will be looking to expand to offline business when I have diversified my products.
Homemade arts and crafts are interesting..what kind of crafts are u planning on selling? You might have plenty of competitors online.. watch out for the sharks.. ;-)

[Lucki]

Hi Leonie,

Welcome to the forum. Great place to share ideas and inspiration.

What sort of things do make/sell?

Cheers

Lucki

[LeonieB]

Thank you for the welcome wishes :-)

Yes, there are more then enough competitors out there :-).

Ingenuity@home is actually an online marketplace providing the facility for anybody (crafters, artists, etc) who wishes to buy or sell their handmade creations online. These can include products like cushions, candles, handmade cards, handmade soaps, frames, photo's, clothing etc. - basically any handmade or homemade creations that are unique, not mass produced and made by somebody who resides in Australia. (We really want to focus on supporting the Australian communities and products.)

No offensive items will be allowed on the website (these will include, but are not limited to, stuff like pornography, adult material, weapons, political material, etc. or anything that we might view as in bad taste.)

We are still busy developing the website and I'm now busy creating the Terms and conditions for the website, which will also include a list of all the prohibited and restricted items.

I will also, on an adhoc basis, be selling some of my own creations on our website.

As part of our launch in August, we'll have a promotion where no listing fee will be charged until 30 September 2009. We will however still charge a small commission fee per selling item. More details on that and the sellers guide will follow once finalized.

So, if you know of anybody who will be interested, please have them email me directly for more information. We can use all the vendors / support we can get!

Regards,

Leonie
Ingenuity@home