Internet sales

[amareluna]

Do any of you actually purchase items from other crafters? How about soaps?

If yes, what drives you to actually click that add to cart button and have it shipped?

I've been really looking at this- I have soaps on amazon and on my own site- and trying to figure out what I should be expecting from the work of maintaining them.

To date, I have really looked at them more as a virtual catalogue, not a sales avenue.

Most of the people whom I speak with who sell items on their site tell me that sales via the net are very slow; it seems the ones who have achieved any kind of real net sales are few and far between.

I guess what I am saying is this-

What makes you go from saying oOo how pretty! Smells so nice!
to
I HAVE TO HAVE IT! SHIP IT TO ME NOW!
?

[spoiledBlonde]

how the item looks,price and how fast is shipping is my big concern weither I return to the company.

[Lindsayanne]

For me, a big part of is is the shipping charge. I order more, and more frequently from shops that have shipping costs added to the price of the item. It's a psychological thing.

I think a good percentage of my customers buy based on "I NEED this product, and I can't find it this cute anywhere else"- so I'm not sure how that would carry over to stuff like soaps.

The only thing I can advise that will absolutely, positively increase online sales is more traffic to the site. Work your google rankings and do some search engine optimization. Even Google Adwords might be worth looking into. In my experience, it's worth it. Even if you pay .10 each for 10 customers who come to the site and don't buy anything, if the 11th customer buys a $15 item it's worth that $1.00 loss on the other customer's for the paying customer you otherwise would not have had.