Advice on creating a website that sells knives?

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Kitchen Trout

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This may not be the best place to ask this but here goes: Today a friend of mine asked me If I could make a website for him to sell knives through. He has around $100,000 worth of knives he wants to start getting rid of. Everything from high end customs to your basic Spyderco. I asked why he didn't just sell them through Arizona Customs or other sites like that and he said he has always wanted to do something like this so I said I would look into it. And here I am. I have a decent grasp on knife makes and steels and feel confident I could handle that part if I get the site up. I do however have a limited grasp on websites. How did sites like CutleryShoppe.com and BladeHQ make their sites? Not saying this site would be of the same caliber. Just wanted to know if someone on here could point me in the right direction. Thanks
 
And yes I know he could just hire someone but for some reason he wants me in on it and is willing to give a cut of the profit if it is successful.
 
It's not all about the website, it's about the products, prices, service, reputation, and overall quality of the experience.
If you sell high dollar knives, there is a much more limited market for those than low dollar knives.
If you sell too high, people won't buy them or buy very few of them.
If your service is poorm bad news travels very fast and this is a very small community.
If you end up with a bad reputation, it's pretty much over.
If you are fair, offer a decent return policy and treat people with respect it may go well.

There are literally hundreds of HTML templates to choose from. If you have no idea how to build a website, then I'd suggest eBay or something. Building good websites is not simple, not is it inexpensive to run and maintain. I'd recommend a forum for website building as a starting point.
 
RevDevil said:
It's not all about the website, it's about the products, prices, service, reputation, and overall quality of the experience.
If you sell high dollar knives, there is a much more limited market for those than low dollar knives.
If you sell too high, people won't buy them or buy very few of them.
If your service is poorm bad news travels very fast and this is a very small community.
If you end up with a bad reputation, it's pretty much over.
If you are fair, offer a decent return policy and treat people with respect it may go well.

There are literally hundreds of HTML templates to choose from. If you have no idea how to build a website, then I'd suggest eBay or something. Building good websites is not simple, not is it inexpensive to run and maintain. I'd recommend a forum for website building as a starting point.
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Very well said and advised.
 
Additionally many shoppers won't plunk down big dollars at a website they've never heard of before or have never done business with previously.

So you need to:
Decide on a website name, register the name, and arrange for the site to be hosted somewhere.
Set up the website, probably using a CMS (content management system) framework along with whatever shopping cart software.
Figure out which payment methods to accept, methods that provide fraud protection and security for shoppers. PayPal, credit cards, etc.
Photograph and describe the knives.
Market and advertise the website and knives for sale.
Sit and wait for knives to sell and payments to arrive.
Package and ship knives, taking care to check the laws in each destination state.
Wait for returns, issue refunds, chase down shipping tracking problems...

Personally, I would pass on the 'opportunity'. :cool:
 
Perhaps some more specific recommendations are in order?
I've never set up a shopping cart or online business, but I do maintain multiple CMS websites. I recommend:
NameSilo.com for researching and registering your website name.
ScalaHosting.com for hosting the website.

A bit tip: Whoever you pick, do not use same company for name registration and hosting.
​

WordPress is a solid, dependable, easy-to-use CMS framework. And there are thousands of website 'themes' available for easy setup, including many retail-oriented variations.

So register the name at the NameSilo. Sign up for a Scala account and give them the name server information. Install Wordpress using the cPanel at Scala. From within Wordpress, install themes and add-ons.

The really good news, while waiting for your friend to pick a website name, the name servers to become active, etc. you can be playing with Wordpress right on your computer. For free. Without having a hosting account or even a website name yet.
http://www.instantwp.com/

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There are dozens of name registrars, thousands of website hosts, and even dozens of CMS software packages. Millions and millions of combinations of the three. And I'm confident many of them will work just fine. But I can only vouch for the ones I've personally used and have been happy with.
 
Kitchen Trout said:
He has around $100,000 worth of knives he wants to start getting rid of.
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As I read this properly, he does NOT want to get into the business of buying and selling. He wants out. Getting rid of knives has a derogatory note to it, and I would highly suggest he search out a quality dealer to consign them to maximize his return.

The website creation just for selling this stash will never work. I've seen folks attempt this in the past and it just never seems to work.

Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe he wants to grow?

Coop
 
Kitchen Trout said:
He has around $100,000 worth of knives he wants to start getting rid of.
Click to expand...

This is a HUGE red flag to me if you're considering a website that represents itself as a business. If he is not prepared to provide good service this is doomed to fail and isn't nearly worth all of the effort you will have to put into it. If he wants to get rid of knives the exchange here or ebay would be better options.
 
He gave me a list today of some of the knife makers he has in his collection and some of them I have never heard of:
Tony Marfione
Walter Brend
Jeff Harkins(He starred this guy so I'm assuming this guy is big time? I don't know)
Strider
Jeremy Marsh
Todd Begg
Thomas Mayo
Bob Terzolla
Jared Price
Burch
He has several knives from each of these makers and many more makers that aren't listed. He told me to take my time and not to stress over it and that he has all the time in the world for me to research up on the website. I'll keep the thread posted.
 
Not to mention Business License, Sales Tax collected and reported, Income Tax paid. And more.
 
Why would you set up a whole new business to liquidate a collection? :confused:

Sell them through the exchange or a known reputable dealer.
 
Looks like you have gotten some great advice so far.
Why does he want to build a site to liquidate his collection?? That doesn't make any sense to me. If he was trying to start a business, that would be one understandable, but not for this. I don't want to just repeat the some points others have mentioned so I thought I would add this.

Wouldn't creating a website to liquidate a knife collection be like opening a business for one estate sale?

While a $100k in knives sounds like a lot, if many are high end customs they cold easily be worth >$500 or even >$1,000 EACH.

Creating a online business is going to cost him and do you really think there is going to be much money left for him to 'give you a cut of' after all is said and done? He didn't buy these knives wholesale. I have had more than one person want help like this and it never pans out. If you are able to do this and make some money though, that's great.
If he is serious about selling them online, an ebay and/or blade forums account would probably be the best option.
 
In reply to Blades&Bullets, It beats the hell out of me and like I said, I asked him why he wants to sell them like this and he simply replied that he wants to do it like this because he thinks it will be fun. He is a business owner and maybe he is confident in making something like this successful. Anyway, I'll run the ebay and blade forums exchange idea by him and see what he says.
 
Have your friend read the posts here, lots of good advice. :thumbup:

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One more bit that you probably already know but your friend may not, in the online sales market photos sell. The more high-priced the item, the better the photos need to be. This is especially true with knives, and super-especially true with custom/art knives. Look at the photos used by custom knife dealers and at the photos on the makers' own websites.
Use a decent camera and good lighting. Photos of the overall knife are important, but so are close-ups of special features like artwork and the maker's mark.
Some of the knives may be high enough in value to justify hiring a professional to handle the photography.
 
Some high end makers on your list. High end collectors require high end photos. Does the OP or friend have the equipment / ability / time to take quality photos? If so, sell em in the Exchange for a small one time membership fee, reaching a huge target audience, no web site required. If you can't take quality photos, learn how or you'll be better off paying a dealer's commission.
 
Math only make sense if he was replenishing the inventory.. at minimum would cost $30k to set up right.. In your case, it sounds like eBay and forums are the way to go.
 
yexactly said:
at minimum would cost $30k to set up right...
Click to expand...

How do you figure that? I've never set up an online store, so it's a serious question.


  • Registering a website name costs $9.00/year.
  • Hosting for a small website is $3.00/month. Since the guy already owns a business, he could perhaps piggyback onto his existing hosting account (if he has one) for $0.00 extra.
  • With a decent camera and some practice, photography costs could be $0.00.
  • Website development is $0.00 using Wordpress or other CMS framework. Work it around a retail-oriented theme ($0.00) and combine some storefront plug-ins ($0.00).
  • Set up a PayPal account and add PayPal capability to the website. Again, $0.00.

Perhaps your experience and insight could fill in numbers for some expense items I'm overlooking. Marketing, for example. What's it cost to successfully market a small online store?
Don't know if credit card processing would be necessary, but there are undoubtedly some costs associated with that. But if you have a PayPal business account, they can process credit card payments.

So where's the $30,000 come in?
 
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