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Online wood sales

Started by BandsawWarrior, October 28, 2010, 08:54:45 PM

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BandsawWarrior

Hello!  Just looking for some advise if anyone has any experience selling online.

I'd really like to start selling some of my wood products online.  Products like mantels, slabs, and book matched shelf boards all of which can be easily mailed to customers. 

Basically there's 3 options.

1.  Post item pictures and prices on my website. 
    This is easy but I think the hard part would be driving traffic to the site.

2.  Use an auction site such as ebay.
     Also easy to set up with high traffic but also high user fees!  And seems to diminish the concept of "custom high end"...maybe that's just  me though...

3.  Create a webstore from a template and just fill in my info.
     This would mean a second site to maintain and also no initial traffic.  The positive is the template has everything built in...invoices, shipping, picture layout, security, product categories and so on

has anyone had any success with any type of online sales? 

       
Tyler Hart
T&N Custom Sawmill

Okrafarmer

I'm also interested to hear about this.  :P :P :P :P
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

bandmiller2

Tyler I'am not much help, but why don't you try all three and drop the ones that don't put out.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

redbeard

Bandsaw warrior have you tried Craigs List its free and i always put my website on my ads and mix it up. Its not as great as it use to be but alot of people do search on it. Were kind of in the same area Ive had some vancouver area folks come down for some alder. I usually always post on the material site.
Whidbey Woodworks and Custom Milling  2019 Cooks AC 3662T High production band mill and a Hud-son 60 Diesel wide cut bandmill  JD 2240 50hp Tractor with 145 loader IR 1044 all terrain fork lift  Cooks sharp

Okrafarmer

So far Craigs List is all I've been using. Haven't made a sale yet but I have had several inquiries. One guy "may" come tomorrow to look. . . . .
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

BandsawWarrior

That's true I could give that a try.  I've used craigslist for everything but my business.  I haven't tried it because I've heard you get lots of scammers...but I guess that could happen from any type of advertising.  Once I signed up for one of those international wood sales websites and my email was inundated with spam.  One person wanted me to send 3 million board feet a month to a country i've never heard of lol...ummmm okay I guess the cheque is in the mail lol!  I guess he didn't bother looking at our website to see the 3 man operation we run lol. 
Tyler Hart
T&N Custom Sawmill

WIwoodworker

It depends on your goals but if you can manage all 3 give them a try. I sell lumber and manage my website, send a newsletter, post on craiglist, advertise on a couple of sites and trade links with some. I've set up a booth at woodworking shows in the past and try meet as many woodworkers as I can. Try as many things as you can. Keep the ones that work and chuck the ones that don't.  Good luck.
Peterson 9" WPF

paul case

hey think about this.
people who like to work with wood and those who need wood are everywhere. we dont all look the same and we dont all hang out in the same places. the more places you advertise ,the more possibilities that open up.
my best advertisement has been word of mouth and business cards. but the word of mouth people had to hear somewhere.my neighbors told many of them.
i realise that what you are trying to sell is not a product that everyone may use so you need to search out the target user. craigslist may be your best bet for reaching the fella who wants to make some shelves in his garage, but will it reach a madium sized cabinet shop?
in my area, there are serveral flea markets and variety stores thart are selling ruogh sawn art and some real nice handmade wood furniture. if you find places that are selling this stuff you might be able to fond out who is building it and take them some pics of your fancy cuts and even invite them to your operation to look your inventory over.
my best customers are folks who got a good deal from me and have been coming back ever since.pc
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Cedarman

Ask yourself,  "If I was searching for what I am selling, how would I look for it?"
If a person was looking for fireplace mantels, they would go to Google and type in fireplace mantels.  Now, design your website to make sure the webcrawlers find it.
Put an ad on the forum.  Make links.  Get with Fedex or UPS and start an account.  Also if the orders weigh over 200# or so, get a freight brokerage company to help you.
90% of what I sell is because of my website and woodfinder.dot com  We have sold to every state except Wyoming.  Also 4 or 5 countries.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

cutterboy

Hi BW. I only advertise in craigslist and have good luck there. But I only sell rough hardwood that has been air dried a year and that is different from your situation. I'm only a part time sawyer but I manage to sell lumber as fast as I produce it. It is mostly wood working hobiests who buy from me, I keep my prices reasonable, and now after several years of doing this I get quite a bit of repeat business.
  Good luck!  Ralph
To underestimate old men and old machines is the folly of youth. Frank C.

Kansas

I have been on woodfinder  nearly since its beginning. It does bring in a fair amount of business. A website would probably do better, and the only reason I have held off is because I want to wait until we get our new building up that will be a lot better concerning moisture on stored kiln dried woods. I don't want to ship wood all over the country till that problem is taken care of.
The best advertising I have had is Facebook. I have pictures of the beams and other stuff in the house I built. Probably 4-5 times a week I direct someone there so they can look. We sold a bunch of hackberry beams because of that, plus an order of oak 8x12 beams that will probably be around 85 or so. If I was more computer competent, I would put up  a facebook page for the business, and go after the unusual stuff like mantels and such.

Okrafarmer

We made our first sale today!!!  8) 8) 8)
Did the woodworker want my ambrosia maple lumber? No, he looked at it and said it was very nice, but he wanted turning blanks. I sold him a 4' long 10" cherry log with an obvious rot hole in it for $40, four pieces of tulip tree firewood (from our firewood pile, not split yet) for $5 a piece, and then I let him have the slabs from my two ambrosia maple logs for $10 total, reason so cheap on those is because I cut the slabs so thin he wasn't going to be able to do a whole lot with them.

Ironic that the first sawmill product I ever sold was the slabs.

$70 total.

He's coming back for more.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Slingshot


   I did fairly well selling through craigslist this past year. Cutting my own poplar trees and doing
   some custom sawing I made close to $3000.00 from the ads. But you never know what you
   might see come in your driveway. I cut 2 large cedar logs and 12 maples for this one customer
   and when he came after the lumber he wanted to know how large a log I could cut after it was
   squared. I told him I didn't want to cut anything over 24 inches.
   
   So this is what he brought me:

     



   



   So I put it on the mill and I have it flattened ready to cut some 3 inch thick slabs:

   




   ______________________________
  Charles sling_shot




Okrafarmer

What species is it?
My sale today came from Craig's List.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Slingshot


   It is a maple.  Don't know if it is hard or soft maple. We have both around here.



________________-------

Okrafarmer

Quote from: Slingshot on October 29, 2010, 10:53:50 PM

   It is a maple.  Don't know if it is hard or soft maple. We have both around here.



________________-------


That's one of the things I was thinking it might be. Now I know that much, it resembles red maple to me, but could be silver maple or possibly some other type.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

colonel mustard

Hello gentleman, Im part of a 4 man ISA certified tree service in central illinois, and we've been milling slabs/plaining boards to sell. We also have many unmilled logs and a 600 pound amur maple burl. Is this a good forum for selling things of this nature? we constantly come across these things and are willing to let them go at low prices since theyre free to us!

Okrafarmer

Greetings, Colonel Mustard! yes, this is a good place to make contacts, and sell things! There is a forum category specifically for offering things for sale, just go there and look at the instructions  ;) There are a lot of mill sawyers on the forum, so there are usually a lot of people looking for logs, etc.

I like your name there, I hope you find enough clues around here.  ;D  This is a great forum, lots of fun and very informative. It's a great way to make contacts.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

colonel mustard

thank you sir. I can already tell ill learn alot from this forum as well as meet some awesome people. Got her bookmarked.

Busy Beaver Lumber

BandSawWarrior

I have had very good luck selling on line and through a variety of channels:

I do have my own website and it has worked out well, generating in excess of $30,000 in sales this year alone, mostly in the form of bundled firewood. I was concerned about driving traffic to it as you mention, but this did not wind up being an issue after all. Somehow people are finding me and my customer base grows every month.

I also sell on ebay. Wood blanks for turners sell the best for me and are small enough to easily ship. Have had no success trying to sell boards on ebay because you can not easily ship them and are pretty much limited to pick-up only customers

Craigslist has also been fantastic, but to be honest I find it better for buying and selling equipment than I do for wood sales. I must however confess that I did have a woman respond to a bundled firewood ad that I ran last week who came over Saturday and bought 25 bundles of firewood for a barn fire her girl scouts were having and I have sold 6 cords of bulk wood in the past month by advertising on craigslist. I find craigslist to be of greatest value in finding free firewood and sawmill logs. I have a dump trailer and use it to retrieve all sorts of free wood and free tree offerings on craigslist. Either way, it is completely free and you have nothing to loose but a few minutes of your time to place an ad.

Another great source of wood sales is to join the local woodworking clubs in your area and spread the word about your existence through them.
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Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
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Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

qbilder

Quote from: paul case on October 29, 2010, 09:20:44 AM
hey think about this.
people who like to work with wood and those who need wood are everywhere. we dont all look the same and we dont all hang out in the same places. the more places you advertise ,the more possibilities that open up.

Truer words have not been spoken. I build custom billiard cues, and pay steep prices for good wood. By steep I mean $15-$150 per 1.5"x1.5"x18" square depending on figure & structural quality. Most of the woods we use besides birdseye & curly maple, are exotic species that have color and/or figure. There's absolutely no market source for colorful figured domestic woods. I of course cut & mill my own but even as such, i'd still like to have a source to buy from. The pieces are small, only 1.5"x1.5"x18". They need to be hardwoods, dry, crack free and either very colorful or very figured. Curly & burl figure is most sought after. Domestic woods I have cut that looked better than almost any exotic woods I have bought are elm burl, hickory burl, white oak burl, maple burl, fiddle back figured oaks & sycamore & such, etc. If they were available for sale then i'd have never bought my own sawmills. But nobody sells it, so I cut it myself. I grew up in a lumberjack family so I know what we have here in the good ole USA. Other craftsman do not. Of around 1000 custom cue makers in the USA, i'm the only one felling & milling my own logs. And I won't sell my lumber. There's lots of virgin niche markets unknown to lumberjacks. Mine is only one of many.

Lumberjacks cut the wood and want to sell it but have no idea who to sell it to or how to market it. Craftsman want lumber & are willing to pay for quality, but have no idea what's available & are totally blind to the domestic specialty lumber market. If this barrier could be breached, everybody would win. And the exotic imports wouldn't be so sought after anymore, which would boost our local economy and relieve the tropical forests. I'm about to give my "I have a dream" speach LOL  :D       

God bless our troops

WIwoodworker

I might be able to help you out with some figured wood qbuilder. I'll be in Dallas all week but when I get back I can shoot you some pictures.
Peterson 9" WPF

qbilder

I'm your huckleberry :) Send pics please
God bless our troops

WDH

Craigslist works very well for me, and I get lots of repeat customers.  When I get better set up and become able to kiln dry, I will get Jeff to design a website for me.  He is a real master as well as an artisan in designing websites that get high exposure on Google searches.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

BandsawWarrior

wow thank you all for the great responses.  So much great information.  I've been hard at work the last couple nights working on my website with all this new found enthusiasm! 
 
Tyler Hart
T&N Custom Sawmill

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