Scaling up from a smallscale eBay business to other ecommerce options

[peardroplets]

I hope there's someone on here that can give me a few pointers.

Last year when my baby was small I started selling on eBay. I have found quite a good little vintage niche. I typically sell about four items a month and make a profit of around £50 an item so as you can see not mega bucks but better than nothing.

I would really love to expand it though as I feel I've got the basis of something but I'd like to take it off eBay and into the wider web where I can do a bit of brand building and targeted promotion - eg Facebook advertising.

I am completely at a loss though with how to sell through Facebook - would it be weird to have a business Facebook page which links back to an eBay listings page? I don't have a shop on eBay as it seems too expensive as I am not turning over enough to justify it at the moment.

Or maybe I should set up a standalone webpage. But with profits of a couple of hundred a month it seems quite a big step to do that and I'm a bit overwhelmed by it. I like the idea of the really targeted advertising potential Facebook offers as I have quite a specific demographic in mind.

Has anyone got any similar experience of scaling up from a smallscale eBay business?

[user1494346684]

Hi peardroplets - not sure if you are London based but it might be worth checking out Start, Scale, Grow. It's a totally free programme of business skills and training running at workspaces throughout London.

You can have a look here - bit.ly/start-scale-grow

[kateemo]

Take a look at Shopify. There's a monthly cost, but I'm finding it well worth it. And it supports a Facebook shop for your products. Good luck!

[user1497143776]

I found the move from eBay to Shopify really took my shop to the next level, Shopify integrates nicely with a store on Facebook also, and does make you look more credible than linking back to an eBay store, if to be frank. With the kind of industry that you are in, I definitely think that a strong social media presence would be the way forward to getting more sales. You can also do exclusive predates for example on Instagram, enabling your most loyal followers to get first dibs on limited stock etc.
All the best!

[user1497143776]

Sorry... *exclusive presales (not predates)