Developing a marketplace for ASD artists, craftspeople, and businesses

[Tia Maria]

I'm sorry my ideas made you think your name wouldn't work. :-(

Why not start it off small, just build a website and pay to run it and that is all you will have to pay for. Then put each person and their merchandise or services on there and contact information for them. They could place their orders through you but pay the seller directly, that way you stay out of the money end of it, and the seller pays you a commission. That way you don't have to deal with paypal or anything like that, and you don't have to worry about all the money, but you can go ahead and get your site up and running right now, and can expand on it later on.

It wouldn't be much to start and run the site, especially if no money goes through it. If you could get maybe 15 or 20 people to sell things through your site to start with, that would be plenty to draw people to the site, especially if you have a variety of things. Then once you have the site up and running you will have something tangible to show possible investors or sellers when you pitch it. It's much easier to expand something than it is to start up with everything the way you want it.

You could advertise it through FB. You can pay a small fee there and they will promote your site, and you could have the items and lists of services, etc on that page with a link to the actual site.

You could get this up and running within two to three months and less than $300 I think. You wouldn't make anything to begin with except for commission but as your site got bigger you could start charging people to put their stuff on it.

Also, if you got something up and running now, even a small "mom and pop" type thing, then you could probably get a whole lot of free advertisement in April because it's autism awareness month.

Just an idea. Good luck with it!

Agreed & great post! Just a comment that for arts & craft sellers, very small businesses or entrepreneurs, they are probably advised to find as many places as possible to advertise & sell their goods through. That maximizes their visibility & potential to make a sale. Since most online market places already charge artists fees to list an item (Small, like 0.20 because I looked that up for Etsy) plus a commission on every sale ... When you multiply that across various online marketplaces, those fees can add up ... especially for sellers selling small or reasonably priced items. They really cut into what an individual earns. JUST SOMETHING FOR JEN TO KEEP IN MIND.

 

[Nadador]

I'm sorry my ideas made you think your name wouldn't work.

That's quite all right. I'm actually grateful. I wouldn't want the site to have a title that might work against it or our sellers even in the slightest.

Why not start it off small, just build a website and pay to run it and that is all you will have to pay for...(edit)

Also, if you got something up and running now, even a small "mom and pop" type thing, then you could probably get a whole lot of free advertisement in April because it's autism awareness month.

It's true to say my idea as pitched to Jennifer was intended to start off very modestly. I'm always cautious in any endeavour for which my personal knowledge base is lacking, and for which I ask others to act on my behalf. Since we would expect no money from sellers, they would have nothing to lose by signing on with us, regardless of the scale of the site at launch. Few people would argue about a cost-free opportunity to earn extra money. There is no pressure to enter at the top of the range.

Thank you for your continued offering of excellent thoughts. I'll have to look up some of your other posts to learn more about this wonderful new addition to our AC family.

 

[pushpin]

I haven't read the full thread (currently quickly catching up on the forum), but I think this is a great idea, and I would be more than happy to support it and share it with those I know!

 

[The Penguin]

That way you don't have to deal with paypal or anything like that, and you don't have to worry about all the money, but you can go ahead and get your site up and running right now, and can expand on it later on.

Honestly I think we will need some form of payment processor. It not safe to send money by mail and it hard to know if someone will write a good check. The only other way around it is money transfer to the seller account. For Canada, we call it Interac e-Transferr. What I like about it, you don't need to share an bank account number. Just email address and the password to receive the money.I sure other countries have related services.

Another complex issue is currency. What currency would be used as we would have sellers world wide. I think the main currencies should be supported is CAD(Canadian Dollars), USD(US Dollars ), GBP(British Pounds), EUR(Euros), and AUD(Australian Dollars). There might be even more we may need to support.

That's in the US. In UK they have a VAT tax kind of like a sales tax & other than that I do not know what their business rules & regs require.

The thing is, if the person buys from another country, they don't have to pay sales tax. Example, me from Canada, if I order stuff outside of Canada, I don't pay tax. But if I buy from my own country, then I need to pay HST.

The seller needs to work out the shipping costs as well packaging.

 

[AsheSkyler]

FEEDBACK NEEDED ABOUT "MIXED MESSAGE" OF NONPROFIT STATUS

These are very important considerations that need thoughtful discussion.

Anyone?

Is it really a charity thing? To me it sounds less like a charitable eBay or Etsy and more like an Autistic Craigslist: Come, post yer ads, and sell stuff. Free of charge! There are tons of classifieds sites out there that let you advertise yourself for free by various categories, and then you just pay a bit extra for a spotlight/feature area to have your stuff more prominent than the usual directory. Or at least, I don't feel like Craigslist and other sites are charity when I use their services to advertise my stuff. eBay and Etsy certainly aren't charity, they do charge a listing fee, but they also make themselves responsible for bad transactions unlike the classifieds websites. At most, we could have a built in messaging system like eBay, Etsy, or Artist n Clients so buyers and sellers can communicate more easily without making ourselves legally responsible for the transactions.

To avoid fees altogether, we could simply have a donation area for ourselves. List whatever amount we need to keep the site afloat, and the giving souls can help us bridge the gap on hosting fees and other expenses the site has. If this does get a proper non-profit charity legal title, I want to tentatively say we could then issue a statement to each donator for them to take off on their tax return.

Market space is a concern, naturally. We are in fact a niche, and the company will be nonprofit, which may work for us or against us in that regard. We will ultimately rely on the quality of our site and our seller's products, our customer service, and our mission to distinguish us. The lack of fees will hopefully make us attractive to sellers. If we find they aren't enough spectrum sellers to make us viable, I would suggest we consider expanding to artists with mental and physical disabilities, though it would always be clear that the site is owned and operated by persons on the spectrum.

And the issue directly behind sellers is buyers. No fees is great if there are no buyers, because then it's more of a "nothing ventured, nothing gained" thing. To charge fees with no traffic, not so good a selling point for the site.

Agreed & great post! Just a comment that for arts & craft sellers, very small businesses or entrepreneurs, they are probably advised to find as many places as possible to advertise & sell their goods though. That maximizes their visibility & potential to make a sale. Since most online market places already charge artists fees to list an item (Small, like 0.20 because I looked that up of easy.com) & a commission on every sale ... When you multiply that across various online marketplaces, those fees can add up ... especially for sellers selling small or reasonably priced items. They really cut into what an individual earns. JUST SOMETHING FOR JEN TO KEEP IN MIND.

Indeed! eBay charges $0.30 for the listing plus 10% of the sale, including shipping (the jerks). Etsy charges $0.20 for the listing, and also takes a percentage of the sale, excluding shipping (they're nicer). Artists N Clients has no listing fees, but 15% of the what you're paid. And then there's Paypal's $0.30 plus 2.9%+ fee.

I tallied up one time that I get to keep 5% to 40% of what I'm paid by the time I get done with expenses and fees depending on what I sell, and that's BEFORE 30%+ self-employment taxes on my net!

Honestly I think we will need some form of payment processor. It not safe to send money by mail and it hard to know if someone will write a good check. The only other way around it is money transfer to the seller account. For Canada, we call it Interac e-Transferr. What I like about it, you don't need to share an bank account number. Just email address and the password to receive the money.I sure other countries have related services.

Another complex issue is currency. What currency would be used as we would have sellers world wide. I think the main currencies should be supported is CAD(Canadian Dollars), USD(US Dollars ), GBP(British Pounds), EUR(Euros), and AUD(Australian Dollars). There might be even more we may need to support.

Paypal is the universal favorite, and they do currency conversions too. I took $8 and sent 7 pounds to a lady in Germany the other day, and I think I even avoided the currency conversion fee for both of us too.

Although some people really hate Paypal, I'm still looking for an alternative for those people that has nothing to do with Google or Amazon, because I hate those companies.

 

[JDartistic]

JD, the marketplace which would be 'run' by ST/Jen & her team would be non-profit (& I know it would qualify,not guessing)

the vendors using the marketplace - the individual artist & craft sellers etc.. - they would be separate individual businesses & they would be for-profit businesses. They would pay income taxes on their sales, & sales taxes as applicable.

That's in the US. In UK they have a VAT tax kind of like a sales tax & other than that I do not know what their business rules & regs require.

The marketplace would be an online central hub. It would still need a location where it is "based".

Each individual vendor (artists sellers etc..) would each be physically based in their own jurisdiction.

I am nonspeaking for ST/Jen but just explaining how the business could be set up & how the US tax code would apply.

Thanks for the clarification.
It could work as a non-profit hub.

The angle to the Non-profit entity would have to be fleshed out but could get some serious funding.

 

[OliveOilMom]

That's quite all right. I'm actually grateful. I wouldn't want the site to have a title that might work against it or our sellers even in the slightest.




It's true to say my idea as pitched to Jennifer was intended to start off very modestly. I'm always cautious in any endeavour for which my personal knowledge base is lacking, and for which I ask others to act on my behalf. Since we would expect no money from sellers, they would have nothing to lose by signing on with us, regardless of the scale of the site at launch. Few people would argue about a cost-free opportunity to earn extra money. There is no pressure to enter at the top of the range.

Thank you for your continued offering of excellent thoughts. I'll have to look up some of your other posts to learn more about this wonderful new addition to our AC family.

Thank you so much for the compliment! I'm really new so I don't have that many posts. I defected from WP when I got fed up with the tone and feel of the place.

You should charge them commission when they make a sale. Number one, your effort to launch and pay for the site is worth something and if you don't charge a commission then you are just throwing money away and working hard for nothing. While it's nice to do that in theory and to donate time and money to people who need it, the goal of this site is to show and sell things from people on the spectrum, so obviously they have something worthwhile to sell. You are giving them a place to sell it, and thats worth something, and if you don't charge anything at all then it is like you feel that they couldn't sell it otherwise. Have enough faith in their skills to charge them a commission when they make a sale. Number two, people who don't know you and who are asked to sell things on the site will probably think you are up to some kind of scam if you just start a site and offer them a free place to sell it when everybody else charges them. I don't do anything to sell online, I've had lots of jobs but none of which I could sell over the internet really, but if I did something that could be sold and I found a place that would let me sell my things free, I would wonder exactly what the catch was and if I didn't see one right away I'd be double wary because I'd assume that there was a bigger catch than I thought.

Charging a commission still means they have nothing to lose when signing with you. They pay you when they sell an item. Of course you need to trust them to pay you, but if they are getting sales from your site they won't want to screw you over and get thrown off it by not paying commission. You would need to have their prices listed on the site and base your commission on those prices whether or not they actually end up selling the item for more or for less.

You could even start something very small and very simple right now and get it out there before April. Get it advertised by word of mouth right now and on FB. Get your friends to advertise it for you on their pages, etc. How many people do you know that would be on the site? Thats your number one thing right now, because no matter how much trouble you go to and how nice the site is and how great of an idea it is, without sellers you don't have anything but an empty store ;-) Do you have any sellers lined up? Getting the list of spectrum swag sellers is really your first concern. I think it would be pretty easy to set it up and get it running, but recruiting sellers is important.

How many do you have, what are they selling, etc? I have ideas for places to recruit them and can help you write the ad if you want. When I write professionally I really don't run on and on and skip all over the place like this. I sound totally different. This is just how I talk normally. And how much too ;-)

If nothing else, you could launch it from a FB page while you are getting everything together to start up the big site. If you have sellers, you could have it up and running on FB by march 1st. Nobody would be out any money at all either. Why not start it off that way while you are working on the rest of it? You don't need a license or anything to do that.

 

[I am that which I am]

FEEDBACK NEEDED ABOUT "MIXED MESSAGE" OF NONPROFIT STATUS



These are very important considerations that need thoughtful discussion.

Anyone?

We can always forgo specific details about the not-for profit status of the company and website. This may make it more insteresting for investors, coorporations, etc although we would only lead them on and never turn the company over to them. It might also make us look more serious business wise when compared to the competition (ebay, amazon, etsy, deviantart, and the typical craigslist or classified listings, etc.) This would either require that everyone pays a small percentage. I think perhaps percentage of sales would be fair. Or to keep it free for everyone on the spectrum to use we can always get other random internet advertisement columns. It would look dingy though. We should ask the IT and web guys if any of them work for google or another major web advertising company.

Or be open about the not-for profit and charity status of the website and ask for voluntary contributions and grant monies. This may put us in a bad light and yes make it look more like a charity than a worthwhile coorperation, unfortuantely.

Just my opinion.

I'm sorry my ideas made you think your name wouldn't work. :-(

Why not start it off small, just build a website and pay to run it and that is all you will have to pay for. Then put each person and their merchandise or services on there and contact information for them. They could place their orders through you but pay the seller directly, that way you stay out of the money end of it, and the seller pays you a commission. That way you don't have to deal with paypal or anything like that, and you don't have to worry about all the money, but you can go ahead and get your site up and running right now, and can expand on it later on.

It wouldn't be much to start and run the site, especially if no money goes through it. If you could get maybe 15 or 20 people to sell things through your site to start with, that would be plenty to draw people to the site, especially if you have a variety of things. Then once you have the site up and running you will have something tangible to show possible investors or sellers when you pitch it. It's much easier to expand something than it is to start up with everything the way you want it.

You could advertise it through FB. You can pay a small fee there and they will promote your site, and you could have the items and lists of services, etc on that page with a link to the actual site.

You could get this up and running within two to three months and less than $300 I think. You wouldn't make anything to begin with except for commission but as your site got bigger you could start charging people to put their stuff on it.

Also, if you got something up and running now, even a small "mom and pop" type thing, then you could probably get a whole lot of free advertisement in April because it's autism awareness month.

Just an idea. Good luck with it!

Yes that is true it might be best before investing too much into lawyers to detangle all of the law, too many site designers, optimizing a search engine etc., to start small and see where this brings us. If it takes off then it would be worthwhile to invest money into those things. So a test to make sure that there is a market for it. We should still be ready however for it to take off really well and have all of the contacts and information ready, if it does take off we can try to quickly get up to speed.

Honestly I think we will need some form of payment processor. It not safe to send money by mail and it hard to know if someone will write a good check. The only other way around it is money transfer to the seller account. For Canada, we call it Interac e-Transferr. What I like about it, you don't need to share an bank account number. Just email address and the password to receive the money.I sure other countries have related services.

Another complex issue is currency. What currency would be used as we would have sellers world wide. I think the main currencies should be supported is CAD(Canadian Dollars), USD(US Dollars ), GBP(British Pounds), EUR(Euros), and AUD(Australian Dollars). There might be even more we may need to support.

The thing is, if the person buys from another country, they don't have to pay sales tax. Example, me from Canada, if I order stuff outside of Canada, I don't pay tax. But if I buy from my own country, then I need to pay HST.

The seller needs to work out the shipping costs as well packaging.

Good point cheque or mail money is a tad outdated. Paypal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to the seller and the bank usually charges a fee for e-transfers. Unless we were to develop our own system, which might come with dozens of legal issues. Most banks also charge a percentage over the conversion rate for converting it for you (by e-transfer or credit card). Paypal might also charge a fee to have them on your website and use them; we would have to ask them.


I can also think of one person on here that would be interested in selling things perhaps we should make a separate thread asking who is interested in selling so as to get this thread off a tangent.

 

[The Penguin]

Unless we were to develop our own system, which might come with dozens of legal issues

I would avoid this route at all cause. It to complex to build a payment system. Then you need to get certifications, and a bunch of other can of worms to deal with.

bank usually charges a fee for e-transfers

Very true. I know some people get them for free depending on their banking plan. Otherwise, normal rate for Canada I think is $1.50. That is very expensive if someone selling a product at a low value.

 

[Vanilla]

The educational component will need a curator or two, and I'm hoping Vanilla would like to be involved with that piece, since she's AC's star resources person and passionate about education.

Would be my pleasure

 

[The Penguin]

This may be controversial, but I would prefer that all involved actually be on the spectrum, once we get organised. I want us to be able to claim this on the site.

I find this might be a little of a challenge. I mean, I don't see anyone willing to share personal records to prove this. I don't have any answers how to address this, but something we need to work out.

 

[Slithytoves]

I have continued to print and file the many wonderful ideas and suggestions that you all have added here. You guys are amazing. You're really getting me excited about this!

After talking to Nadador and our other financial backer, I've decided that the best "next step" would be to consult with an attorney who deals with international non-profits. A good friend of mine knows an expert in this area who has agreed to advise me for free, so I have sent the man an email describing what we're trying to do, along with a list of pertinent questions. Your thoughts on this thread provided the basis for most of those, so I really have to thank you all for doing such a great job raising good points.

I'll let you know when I have my response. Then we can discuss what happens next.

 

[Tia Maria]

I find this might be a little of a challenge. I mean, I don't see anyone willing to share personal records to prove this. I don't have any answers how to address this, but something we need to work out.

This is my last input here, & I will be hereafter ignoring this thread to ensure that!

TRUST ME ... there is no issue to clarify ... the marketplace (= MP) would indeed qualify legally for non-profit status in the US. But that is based on the premise that the MP will serve a mission of providing an online hub for (thus helping) artists & crafters etc ... who are technically disabled to sell their wares & earn an income.

The sellers WOULD HAVE TO BE "on the autistic spectrum" or otherwise qualified as legally disabled.

That goes back to a prior comment I wrote about how the MP would determine just which sellers QUALIFY to be included, & what the process would be to verify that. Just an FYI that including self-diagnosed folks would jeopardize the MP's nonprofit eligibility.

The Principal & Board Members - say Jen & at least two others - would NOT legally have to be "disabled" in any way or on the autistic spectrum. Of course, they can be & Jen may require that but it would not be legally required.

The above is irrelevant if the hub is not "headquartered" (physical address ... probably Jen's) in the US.

Again, the tax status of each seller would be its own issue, separate from the MP & from each other. Most if not all would NOT qualify for nonprofit status in the US. But that would be an issue for each individual seller to handle based on their own location.

Each seller would handle & pay their own taxes due if any, including but not limited to income & sales taxes as applicable. Repeat, AS APPLICABLE.

To another of Penguins' good points, whether each seller needs to collect & remit sales taxes will depend entirely on where that individual seller is based .... & possibly then to, the jurisdiction where they are shipping an individual sale. And that is a seller by seller issue which the MP does not need to contend with.

Goods sold would ship directly from each individual seller/vendor to each buyer's shipping address. The seller would be responsible for the costs of shipping which they may choose to pass on to their buyers during the sales transaction. Again, all that is an issue for the individual seller, not the MP.

Paypal is a good solution for processing transactions for the sellers & the MP. It's common, easy & affordable.

The MP will need to determine & decide whether it makes sense for it to serve as the gateway for all payment transactions or not.

If the MP is not going to collect a commission, & if only Paypal will be used, at least initially, it's really not necessary for the MP to get involved with the collection & processing of payments.

As far as actually building the online MP hub itself, there seem to be some excellent programming & IT people on the spectrum who are members here & have already volunteered to assist. That is an invaluable resource & will save a lot of money. Whether they are medically or self diagnosed should not matter IMO (& importantly, does not matter legally).

My one question still stands for Jennifer to make sure she knows; does the reported "angel investor" wish to be repaid in anyway at some point in the future? If no, fine. If yes, that needs to be factored into MP's business model.

The above is just a consolidated outline to hopefully help SIMPLIFY things.

FYI that I am not on the spectrum & have no intention of having any involvement with any of this outside my input here. *

It's a great idea. GOOD LUCK!!!

EDIT: * mentioned only because I know that some are concerned that only those on the spectrum be involved. Of course I'll happily browse the MP once it's launched & purchase something if it catches my eye or meets a need.

 

[Juju92]

I am an artist and aspie and would love something like that

 

[Tia Maria]

I have continued to print and file the many wonderful ideas and suggestions that you all have added here. You guys are amazing. You're really getting me excited about this!

After talking to Nadador and our other financial backer, I've decided that the best "next step" would be to consult with an attorney who deals with international non-profits. A good friend of mine knows an expert in this area who has agreed to advise me for free, so I have sent the man an email describing what we're trying to do, along with a list of pertinent questions. Your thoughts on this thread provided the basis for most of those, so I really have to thank you all for doing such a great job raising good points.

I'll let you know when I have my response. Then we can discuss what happens next.

Jen, I hadn't seen this prior to my last response. Excellent news! Best of luck with this venture! I hope it launches & has much success for all involved! Regards, Maria

 

[Slithytoves]

The sellers WOULD HAVE TO BE "on the autistic spectrum" or otherwise qualified as legally disabled.

That goes back to a prior comment I wrote about how the MP would determine just which sellers QUALIFY to be included, & what the process would be to verify that. Just an FYI that including self-diagnosed folks would jeopardize the MP's nonprofit eligibility.

I'm still in a dialogue with the attorney, but he doesn't think this will be a problem. We can link the RAADS-R on the site and require a copy of results for seller registration. We would just need to have a good privacy policy. The RAADS-R is acceptable because it is used by some clinicians for assessment.

My one question still stands for Jennifer to make sure she knows; does the reported "angel investor" wish to be repaid in anyway at some point in the future? If no, fine. If yes, that needs to be factored into MP's business model.

FYI that I am not on the spectrum & have no intention of having any involvement with any of this outside my input here.

The principal Angel is a good friend and not expecting to be repaid. A secondary Angel, who I don't know nearly as well, also says she does not require repayment. Her investment isn't really needed.

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't recall that you're not on the spectrum, but at this stage, all input is welcome. It's only when things get serious and "on paper" that spectrum status will start to matter. You have offered some fantastic information.

Thank you so much!

 

[The Penguin]

I'm still in a dialogue with the attorney, but he doesn't think this will be a problem. We can link the RAADS-R on the site and require a copy of results for seller registration. We would just need to have a good privacy policy. The RAADS-R is acceptable because it is used by some clinicians for assessment.

After receiving the document, I would destroy traces of the document to avoid worries of leakage.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

After reading Aspergirl4hire , I decided I would share Business Model Canvas

Though banks don't normally accept it to get a loan, it a good way to start evaluate an idea. There was a post I wrote Technology Competition last November. From attending the event, I learn it didn't have to be technology based, but any business idea as a whole. For the event they had us work with Business Model Canvas. It did helped many people during that weekend.

For the business program I'm taking, I had to make a business plan. Should a business plan gets created for this project, I'm willing to ask people I know in the business community for feedback.

I've used something similar in lean manufacturing class...hm. Is there a shareable workspace to play in/collaborate for virtual brainstorming?

 

[The Penguin]

I've used something similar in lean manufacturing class...hm. Is there a shareable workspace to play in/collaborate for virtual brainstorming?

I believe Strategyzer • Your Business Model Toolbox haves a tool for that. Though currently they having issues with their site as of March 2nd, 2015. Hopefully they fix the issue soon.

 

[The Penguin]

I've used something similar in lean manufacturing class...hm. Is there a shareable workspace to play in/collaborate for virtual brainstorming?

I believe Strategyzer • Your Business Model Toolbox haves a tool for that. Though currently they having issues with their site as of March 2nd, 2015. Hopefully they fix the issue soon.