Website, selling, listing advice?

Vmode

Vmode

Registered Guest
Helloo,

I wasn't sure which board to post this in, but I was hoping to get a little advice from you seasoned Guilders!

I currently have a little Etsy shop, which is coming on very nicely, but have been thinking about setting up a .com also to widen my market.. I know not everyone will want to create an Etsy account on a site just to purchase one item they like. Here in the UK Etsy isn't as popular or well known as in the US/Australia, but we ARE a nation of seemingly paypal-happy shoppers so it may be a natural progression..

So do those of you who manage a website with web shop, possibly as well as say an Etsy store, have any advice? Do you have a balance of sales between the two sites? I manage another website (I'm a milliner by trade) so am familiar with good/poor layouts and photo uploading etc. but am just wondering if there's anything particular to selling vintage fashion that I should keep in mind!

Thanks all,
Ava
 
Ava, I don't trade on etsy but I do have a webshop - my advice is to take as many photos as are needed, especially of details, labels, any flaws. I also like to see a close up of the fabric. When I'm buying online, the most important things to me are to know what the fabric is and to have all the information about damage/marks/flaws.

The biggest reason I've been disappointed when buying online is because the seller hasn't correctly identified the fabric or hasn't declared all the damage.

You might like to look at some VFG member selling sites too, as they're generally the most thorough and useful - we have to meet a strict list of criteria to be members. If you aspire to these standards you'll have one of the better webshops around, and when you're ready you could apply for VFG membership too.
 
Nicole has hit the nail on the head with her advice about all the details - fabrics, labels and flaws...all very important. Also, take the best possible photos that you can, use good lighting and keep the background simple.
A lot of us here do have more than one selling venue, so you can check us out. If you go to the home page and click on

http://vintagefashionguild.org/

click on the membership tab which will bring you to this page

http://members.vintagefashionguild.org/

once you are there you can easily visit our members shops

1st click on the member card, that will bring you to another page then click on the shop name to the right of the card and this will lead you to all
our members shops.

You can learn a lot by visiting the shops and seeing what people are offering and also how they are displaying and describing their items.

Good luck with it all!
 
Ooo yeah I've been having a good rummage through all the Members' shops, lovely stuff! So jealous of those of you with *actual* shops also, that's my dream...

I know I'm not allowed to post my shop link, but if you're interested you could Google Vera Mode (hope that's allowed!) and see what you think. There's still a long way to go! One of the issues I've had with photography is that there's only a small wall in my studio with enough surrounding space and semi-adequate natural lighting, and it provides quite an unatractive breeze block background.. include the electrical pipe and telephone portal = glamorous. Plus with the >ahem< 'unpredictable' British weather, there's not always enough light to capture colours etc.
Oh on that note, any tips on photographing black garments? Aside from investing in proper studio lamps..? What I usually have to do is take anough close-ups to represent the details and fabric texture, then some from afar to show the fit, length.. but it's frustrating that these shots are essentially just a block black silhouette!

I'd love to devote the space to my vintage, but as I'm also using the studio to work from (I make hats), it's a bit of a juggling act at the mo.
I've bought one of the Mrsite DIY website packages so will get to work when that pops up in my inbox!

Thanks Nicole & Mary Jane!
 
Hi
I dont have a vintage webshop but i do have a Designer Menswear Shop online and on the high street, we havent got the space to make a studio so we use the spare bedroom.
What we do is buy daylight bulbs, you can use them in all light fittings and bedside table lamps, just make sure you switch off all normal bulbs off as these give off a orange glow.
One other thing to do is to make sure you have equal amount of black and white when taking the photo, ( i.e black item in front of a white black ground) this helps reduce greyness and helps to take detailed photos when you use macro function on the camrea, then crop the area on the computer to remove the white back ground. One other tip is too put the camrea on timer when taking close up, this stops any shakey fuzzy images.
You might be already doing these things but i thought it might be worth mentioning :-)
Good Luck
 
Hey Ruth, yep! What were you studying there? I wish I'd made more of an effort to hang out in the photography rooms to pick up lighting tips then!

I have such an outdated version of Photoshop it takes a frustrating forever to select areas of the garments to adjust the lighting/contrast etc... I'm just going to have to set aside a bright day to shoot all the black items I've been putting off doing, then edit til I'm blue :wacko:
I so wish I had a spare room! It'd give the photos a more sensitive look than my breezeblocks. There's already worryingly not enough room in the studio.... I've fitted daylights downstairs where I work, but the place is all striplights that I can't get to upstairs- where I keep the clothing & shoot- as the ceiling is so high! No idea what I'll do when the existing bulbs blow. .. Move?

Thanks y'all!
 
I did BA Fine Art at Charing Cross Road, graduated 09! Was in sculpture, who was your tutor? The fashion floor was scary, scary fashion people judging me with their scary fashion eyes :p
What did you go on to do, or is it full time vintage?
 
Oh so we were there at the same time! I did sculpture in my first year, then did two years part-time, and then 2D in my final year. Pam Skelton was my tutor at the end. I work for an arts organisation, and I have a studio in Wandsworth. And vintage part-time. Yes that's how I felt about the fashion floors too!

I do a few fairs: Can't Buy Me Love, The Vintage Pop-up in Islington, Hanbury Hall, Lost in Vintage. Which one are you doing tomorrow? Have a look at my facebook, I always list them there.
 
Ah I was just looking at the Pop-up at Hampstead as a possibility! Their FB page makes it look very appealing :) I'm doing the Vintage Fashion Fair London at Cecil Sharp House on Regent's Pk rd, it's roughly every 3rd sun of the month from 10-5, you should come along if you're free and check it out!
 
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