Where Can I Sell My Custom Products?

You've decided to start a business and have chosen to sell custom products like t-shirts, buttons, and mugs. But where do you go from there? Where do you market your wares? Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

The easiest way to get started is probably one you've heard of plenty of times already: eBay. You can sell your items via auctions or Buy It Nows, or you can use eBay's new classified service where you pay $10 a month to have your ad come up in their search engine when browsers are searching for your product. If you decide to go with eBay, you need to decide which of these methods is worth your money and time.

If you'd like to stay on the local level and avoid those pesky eBay fees (and perhaps even shipping the products out), then you should see if Craigslist.com has a section for your hometown to put classified ads in. You just put your ad up along with your contact information for any interested parties, and it doesn't cost you a cent, no matter how long or how often you submit an ad. And you'll likely get more money when/if someone takes you up on your offer than if you were to try selling it on eBay.

You could also set up a website that offers your custom products for sell and send potential customers to it through Craigslist or eBay's classified service, or through local advertising. Depending on the subject matter of your customized gifts, you may even be able to use article and video marketing as well. For example, if you sold shirts that had a self-made slogan targeted towards skateboarders or a quote from a character on a popular TV show, then you can write articles about the issues that skateboarders face in their sport or about what's going on with the characters and plotlines of that TV show, respectively. Then link to your store in the resource box. Or you could do a commercial showcasing your merchandise, or giving tips for your target audience with a link to your store in a video and putting that up on places like You Tube or Google Video.

You could also use direct mail or local advertising to sell your items right out of your home. Just pay the base price for your items and buy multiple copies (you may even get a discount based on the number you buy at a time) and have them shipped to your house. Or even if you don't want to do that, you could make and print a catalog of your items and distribute them, requesting that they mail the catalogue along with a check or money order (and any other payment options) for items they want to buy.

You can also partner with a shop/store owner that would be a good fit for your customized products (assuming you don't have a store of your own). For instance, custom Christian items can be sold in Christian book stores or gift shops, or in the religious section of a general bookstore. You would come up with an agreement with the store owner/manager, display your items, split the profits, and start all over again. That could be a way to make extra money without you necessarily having to sell; just put the product in front of the customer and they'll either buy or pass it up.

And finally, you could always set up a booth at a flea market and sell your custom products that way. This would work best if the subject matter on your gifts appeals to a more general audience. Probably not too many people going to the flea market will want to get a t-shirt with a skateboard or a quote from a famous skateboarder on it.

If you try several places to sell your custom items and gifts, you'll eventually discover that you'll want to stick with only one or two methods based on your time, money, and the way you want to run your business. Whatever you decide, be sure it's a business model you'll be comfortable putting up with for a significant amount of time. Persistence is what will bring you the rewards.