Little Jack’s Corner

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday is all about our favorite subject - Shopping!  To be more specific, Shannon, from Rocks In My Dryer (WFMW Host) has asked us all to post our favorite shopping sites.  You know, the places that really, uh.. work for me. :) 

My list is going to be dedicated to quality home-based business sites as well as those site that help home-based business women.

I wasn’t really quite sure at first what I would write about.  After mulling it over, however, I realized surprisingly that the majority of the places I do shop from are those home based business sites that are run by women and men all over the country from the comfort of their living room.  The quality of these products tend to be above and beyond those of more commercialized chain stores.  Why?  Because these people are focused on making a living (or good hobby money) - and they are very proud of their work.  My favorite ones to frequent are unique artwork sites, photography & clipart sites (especially the country craft ones!), odds & ends stores, and stores that sell retro themed products (such as the old fashioned gingam ruffle apron!!).

The other few online shopping sites I visit are actually those companies which help support home based businesses.   From these sites I’ve purchased (or gotten for free!) soy candle making supplies, shopping cart software, business cards & pamphlets, unique software, website hosting accounts, website management software, and much more.  And I appreciated the quality and ease at which they helped me out in my own home-based business ventures.  Every site I list in the second section, I have used in the past (or still use!) to generate that wonderful home-based greenbacked moola that all of us housewives crave.  :-D  If anyone has any questions about how to get started with your own business, I’ll be glad to help you out.  Please note though, I do not play with “get rich quick” stuff.  I take the hard way out and actually like the fulfillment that comes from seeking out the best legitimate home based opportunities!

So, here they are  My favorite online shopping sites in support of the home-based business -

Awesome Home-Based Businesses -

 
1. CollieShop - this is my very own homebased business.  It’s pretty neat, in my humble opinion. :) I design rough and smooth collie breed artwork and sell on base products.  It’s been open since 2002, has over 3000 unique products, and does me well!
2. Binkie Baskets - my sister-in-law is the inventor of a unique baby product called the Binkie Basket (a pacifier holder that attatches to your child’s crib or sits on a desk).  She crafts them all by hand at her home and then sells them to frustrated mommies everywhere.  Her products can be purchased through Etsy or custom made by contacting her through the email listed on her site.
3. Country Clipart By Lisa - she shares the same name as me, but I wish I shared the same creative talent as her! Her fabulous site (open for 10 years now) showcases thousands upon thousands of very high quality country / primitive clipart she has created.  The prices are very reasonable, and I have yet to find another clipart source as wonderful as this one.
4. Heavenly Promises - This Las Vegas based business sells high quality uniquely designed themed candy & gum wrappers!  I love themed candy wrappers and think it’s just the cutest idea ever.  Baby showers wouldn’t be complete without them!
5. The Kitchen Madonna - love aprons?  I do!  The Kitchen Madonna not only has advice, but the most adorable
   homemade aprons you have ever seen



6. Kimberlee Faith Bags - these totebags, available in various sizes, can be customized with the fabric of your life..uh..choice!   And they are completely gorgeous.  I typically do not like “contemporary” and “modern” looking things but these are absolutely fabulous.  They’re handmade by a mom of 2 who started out making these for herself…then for friends…and it exploded from there!
7. The Craft Mall - ok, this isn’t exactly one business…more like thousands!  It’s designed where you can browse and purchase thousands of unique homemade crafts from individual sellers.
8. Etsy Shopping Mall - this is a more corporately styled version of the Craft Mall.  Individual sellers set up “free stores” to showcase and sell their handmade products (very awesome products, I must say!).  You can browse through the “buy” section of Etsy and find just about anything you can reasonably imagine.
9. - whenever I need a customized “look” or certain theme on clothing (especially when Im looking for personalized gifts for baby and mom!), the first place I head for is the cafepress marketplace and browse their topics.  Their marketplace is comprised of millions of individual home-based “cafepress shop owners” who have worked their butts off creating unique artwork for the based product cafepress prints on.  You’ll find any topic imaginable here (from religious to rowdy to rover!). 
10. Busy Bodies - this  cafepress based store is one of the most adorable sites I’ve ever encountered.  The lady who runs this is really sweet and has been designing her own tshirts since the late ’90s!  Thousands of stick figures with every possible theme imaginable are portrayed doing whatever it is you would love to do, all with the slogan “I [something]” on them.  My favorites include “I Play” (clarinet), “I Blog”, “I Farm” and “I Bake” and “I Do” (a little stick figure groom!).  It’s hilarious!

Best Sites for Home-Based Business Women

1.  Cafepress - this one is the biggie for me.  If it wasn’t for Cafepress, I wouldn’t have my wonderful income generating online store, CollieShop.  This California based print-on-demand company was founded in the late 1990s (1999, I believe).  They offer individual artists base products, premium ecommerce website framework, business support forums, designing tips, marketing knowledge, product-printing-on-demand, drop-shipping, customer service for your own customers, and MUCH more.  As an artist, you can open a free basic shop (which requires absolutely no web expertise), and feature your artwork on one of each of their products, OR you can open a full blown “premium shop” (for less than $7 a month!!) which gives you complete ecommerce / website control and the ability to sell thousands upon thousands of products.  This is not a “get rich quick” scheme, but a truly satisfying endeavor for those willing to work at owning their own home business!  Sign up is quick and easy - why not try it??  If you’re an artist (either by hand or by computer), you can sell your artwork on their products.
2. eBay Stores - Ebay is great for selling…anything.  It’s like going to a flea market - if you can’t find it there, you can’t find it anywhere!  Ebay stores is for home-based sellers.  It requires only minimal web knowledge and opens your products up to a lower listing cost and gives you a full personalized page on eBay!.  Depending on your store options, you’ll typically pay $5-15 per month for the shop, a small listing fee, and a small commission price on sales.  The best selling things on here tend to be brand new electronics, “pop culture” things, very very odd items, and name brand apparel (such as baby clothes - which, by the way, you can find very cheap at local thrift stores and resell pretty high on ebay!!!  I’ve done this quite a lot).  Ebay sellers also provide an EXCELLENT resource for wholesale items (use the word “lot” at the end of your supply searches).  So go ahead - Start selling online today! Open a storefront on eBay!
3. Etsy Stores - what eBay! did for second-hand auctions, Etsy has done for crafts.  At the Etsy.com “Sell” section, you can open your own store (for free) and sell your homemade crafts or homemade products.  They allow 5 photos per product and a place for a great description.  The store set up is very simple and requires no web expertise.  It also requires no monthly payments!! They charge only 20 cent or so per listing and then a small 3% fee when a product sells - not too bad for a massive multimillion person networking and marketing opportunity!  They have forums there where you can interact with other Etsy users and your products get listed in their marketplace.
4. ProStores - an eBay Company - Being a spin off of Ebay, it is fully integrated with Ebay auctions, but also gives you a complete, full blown ecommerce solution and product catalog so you can have a website (and domain) outside of ebay stores.  You don’t even have to use the Ebay integration. Get your own web store at your own web address!
5. Mary Kay Cosmetics  - I use to be a Mary Kay Consultant.  In fact, I was a consultant during the time Ms. Mary Kay herself passed away (a very sad time).  There is plenty of great money to be made in this (and fabulous prizes) if you are a social bug.  I also love their Christian & family focus - with their theme of “God first, then Family, then Career”.  One of my biggest life lesson’s also came from a Mary Kay consultant meeting.  I learned that it’s aerodynamically impossible for a bee, with such tiny wings and a fat body, to fly.  Yet he does!  It’s a great encouragement to women who are downhearted in their homebased business endeavors.
6. Avon - who doesn’t love Avon?  I have personally known many Avon Reps.  But what’s surprising is I actually love, love, love their products also.  Their selling theories for consultants differ from Mary Kay’s in that they allow you a bit more freedom.  It’s also more popular with men - so it broadens your market!
7. LoneStar Candle Supply - if you like making homemade candles, why not turn it into your own business?  After many, many hours of research, I settled on LoneStar Candle Supply for my candle making needs.  They were the cheapest and the customer service people were friendly.  I think it’s a smaller, homebased company as well and not some corporate conglomerate!  They have the best prices that I have found anywhere on candle wax (even soy!!), wicks, jars, and scents.
8. - the first place I usually send my friends when helping them set up their own business is to VistaPrint.  This site offers the ultimate “low priced” marketing materials for home-based businesses!  They are most famous for their 250 high quality free business cards (you pay only 4.95 shipping!), but did you know that if you hang on long enough you can catch everything they sell for free?  Order their freebies at one time and you’ll only pay $10-15 in shipping MAX for everything.  I typically have 3-5 home based business ventures going at all times - and once, I was going through a “gotta market these!!” spell and ordered 250 premium business cards, 50 calendar magnets, a notepad, 100 premium 3-fold fliers, 25 oversized postcards, 50 regular sized postcards, 25 business card refrigerator magnets, and 250 address labels for a total of $14.95 shipping.  I truly do not know how this company stays in business.  Your best deals will come by email after your first purchase (make sure you opt in to their emails).  AND, they come pretty frequently (about once a week for me).  Wait for the ones that say “Everything…Free!”. Here are some free links I have if anyone wants to take advantage of them! FREE Personalized Note Pads, Get FREE business cards for your business or personal use — an $85 FREE gift. Top quality! Full color! , FREE 2008 Calendar, FREE Return Address Labels, Free Business Card Magnets, FREE Invitations, FREE T-Shirt
9. Amazon.com Marketplace - have a lot of books?  know where to find really cheap books in your town?  Sell them for a profit on the Amazon marketplace.  I’ve done this before with success.  In my experience, popular titles and college textbooks sell really well! 
10. Wordpress.org - ok, this last one…well, I confess, this isn’t exactly a shopping site.  Everything on here is actually free!  Many of you who blog may already be familiar with Wordpress.com and their free blogging accounts.  Wordpress.org provides the actual open source software for you to host and use yourself.  Wordpress is *the* ultimate blogging software and website content management system.  It’s easy to use, has many, many useful free add-on’s (made by wonderful, hardworking individual people around the us!!) and it’s what I use to control all of my websites (it’s much easier than having a complete HTML based site like I use to on my massively large collie dog educational portal - www.colliedogowners.com!).  I also use it as an extention to my cafepress based CollieShop because of it’s search engine optimization abillities!  Wordpress is simply awesome, imho.