It
isn’t just holiday times that gift baskets prove popular, and you
will in fact find companies producing baskets for literally hundreds
of different events and occasions, such as:
Birth of a baby
Wedding
Passing a Driving Test
Passing Exams
Being Accepted into University
Birthday
Christening
Anniversary
Sympathy
New Puppy
New Car
Christmas
Business Gifts
Valentine’s Day
Themed gift baskets are also popular,
being designed to cater for recipients’ special interests, such as
golf or driving, scrapbooking or painting, and so on.
Amazingly, that represents just a tiny
few of many thousands of different gift basket types you can either
make yourself or obtain from specialist creators and resell on eBay.
And earn a very good living in the process.
Benefits For
Makers and Sellers
* Gift baskets are especially
profitable sellers on eBay and can represent a seasonal only
business, selling Christmas baskets, for instance, or you could sell
themed baskets all year round or even specialise in just one popular
theme such as fishing or photography.
* You’ll never have stock going to
waste or tying up valuable storage space, you’ll never be faced with
discount selling long-standing gift baskets containing limited
shelf-life products to eliminate unpopular stock. Also you
should never suffer cash flow problems.
That’s because to start this business you
need only enough cash to purchase container and contents for just
one product from which to create your illustration for eBay, and you
can sell that first product on eBay, while retaining the template to
invite orders for similar gift baskets which you then create on
demand.
When that first product sells and you
have payment, you process the order using the finished gift basket,
and you list the product again on eBay using illustrations from your
initial product listing, but you don’t buy container or contents
until you have another order and been paid for it. That means
after the first sale, the business is self-financing, with you
receiving payment for every product listed on eBay before you have
to buy containers and contents to process orders.
* Most baskets contain many
different items and it’s very unlikely more than a handful will ever
be unavailable at wholesalers and manufacturers and so force you to
refund your customers or remove your eBay listings. The beauty
of there being lots of different items in gift baskets is that,
should individual items be unavailable for particular baskets, then
new items can usually be substituted in their place without causing
undue problems for buyers.
However, you might want to keep
sufficient items in stock to cover orders for the coming week or so,
and it’s also a good idea to mention in your listing that gift
baskets may sometimes contain slightly different contents to those
pictured and listed.
As a final safeguard, once you take an
order let buyers know if contents are being substituted, just in
case orders have been placed with specific contents in mind.
* Little if any competition exists for
the clever gift basket seller on eBay. That’s because gift
baskets can be created in totally different designs with completely
different contents to whatever anyone else is selling online, on
eBay or elsewhere. It’s this element of uniqueness that makes
more money for you, as well as reducing competition against you.
You can create exclusivity by having some contents created
specifically for you, such as having golf balls hand painted to your
own unique design for golfers’ gift baskets, and having breed
specific coasters and fridge magnets created for cat lover gift
baskets.
* You need never run out of ideas
for new products to create and new ways to market those items.
That is because most gift basket businesses operate online, they
have huge web sites packed with illustrations of all their new and
long established product ranges, they work hard to attract a share
of the massive gift basket market. Everything they do is
available for other gift basket sellers to see and inspect.
Consequently, the new or experienced gift
basket provider need only spend an hour or two online researching
these other companies to guarantee growing profits for their own
business.
But remember never to copy another
person’s product in its entirety or you could be accused of
copyright or design theft. See the next tip.
Benefits For Buyers
For buyers the biggest benefit of
purchasing a gift basket is the chance to obtain several gifts that
will definitely suit the recipient, alongside others that may be a
less than perfect match, and without the person giving the gift
having to shop around and spend hours visiting shops in the hope of
finding suitable gifts and never really being surprised to arrive
home empty handed.
How much better to stay home and let
someone else do all the hard and boring work for you and even
deliver the gifts in a decorated basket direct to the intended
recipient.
Benefits For
Recipients
How many gifts have you received that you
didn’t like, would never use, and which are a complete waste of
other people’s time, money and effort? Probably lots of
them!
How much better to receive a selection of
smaller gifts, all specially chosen to match your individual
interests and style, and individually costing much less than those
earlier unwanted gifts.
The reason people like to receive gift
baskets containing numerous small gifts, over two or three larger
gifts, is because in every basket there’s bound to be several items
the recipient is overjoyed to receive, and that’s much better than
obtaining one large gift that person finds displeasing and never
gets to use.
Selling Gift
Baskets on eBay
There’s no ‘best’ place to list your
baskets on eBay, and no main category dedicated entirely to gift
baskets. The only category I found mentioning ‘gift baskets’
by name is ‘Baby > Christening & Gifts > Gift Baskets’, with most
other offerings lurking anonymously amongst:
Hair & Beauty > Bath & Body > Gift Sets
Hair & Beauty > Bath & Body >Bath Sets /
Kits
Home & Garden > Celebrations & Occasions
Home & Garden > Food & Drink
Home & Garden > Decorative Items >
Candles & Candlesticks > Scented Candles (Note: Candle gift baskets
are amongst the highest priced and best selling products on eBay)
Home & Garden > Garden & Plants
Home & Garden > Pet Supplies
Basically all you will be doing is
choosing and arranging gifts and novelties, before adding
decorations to those containers and finally delivering your baskets
direct to recipients. That’s all there really is to this
business but to maximise your profit margins you can purchase
contents and containers in bulk to save time and money on purchasing
items individually as orders arrive.
Depending on your target market, contents
range from inexpensive gifts like candles and soft toys, paperback
books and stocking fillers, to upmarket items like fine wines and
champagne, to caviar, expensive jewellery, hand made ornaments and
personalised gifts.
Choosing
Your Container
Like contents, containers can also be
plain and inexpensive, or extravagant and highly creative, and they
do not have to be baskets at all in the real sense of the word.
And so you’ll find gifts being placed in mugs and cardboard tubes,
picture frames and cardboard boxes, or plain ordinary everyday
baskets. One of the best ideas I spotted while researching
this report were gift ‘baskets’ representing six to ten decorated
cardboard boxes placed on top of one another, biggest box at the
bottom, tiniest at the top, and all tied together with ribbons to
create a tower effect. Much the same can be done with
different sized baskets, without handles, each about half-filled,
with smaller baskets placed one above the other and tied together
with ribbon or string or placed inside a see-through plastic tube.
You just need to look at other people’s creations and use a little
imagination to create your own unique range of containers and
product ideas.
You can even choose containers specific
to the theme or subject of the gift basket, such as golf bags for
golfing enthusiasts, tin waste paper bins for office party baskets,
and so on.
Sometimes the container itself can be the
main gift and the contents just the icing on the cake.
Consider the following, for example, all literally off the top of my
head and no doubt you’ll find many more ideas to introduce into your
business:
* Make a Christmas sleigh out of
cardboard, covered in gold foil, add a few bells and imitation
holly, then pack the sleigh with Christmas gifts to suit recipients
of all ages and interests.
* Create and decorate a gingerbread
house out of card, leave the roof until last. Fill with
children’s gifts and novelties. Add the roof but fix just one
side to the box part, leaving the remainder of the roof to lie
loosely across the house so the contents can be removed without
spoiling the container which the children can play with later.
* Buy a big flower pot or watering
can, fill it with packets of seeds and accessories for gardening
enthusiasts. Add a few gardening magazines or books to create
depth. Cover with cellophane tied with a bow on top and
decorated with more packets of seeds or tickets to some gardening
event.
* Here are more ideas for unusual
containers to add originality to your products:
- Dinner bowls and plates, containing
recipe books, for example, spices and herbs, and so on.
Saucepans and chopping boards might also make attractive containers.
- Fishing basket - filled
with magazines, fishing accessories, and so on.
- Colander or salad shaker - filled
with small kitchen accessories, herbs and spices, recipe cards, etc.
- Plastic container, the kind you
find in all shapes and sizes at DIY stores, which can be filled with
virtually any product type and also used to create towers as
mentioned earlier.
Choosing
Your Contents
You really are spoiled for choice as far
as contents are concerned and you can easily research suitable
contents based on gift baskets already selling on eBay and
attracting high prices and preferably multiple bidders.
Study outside eBay sites for ideas, such
as Amazon in the UK and USA, where you can even find some baskets
costing less than their eBay equivalents making it a good idea to
sometimes purchase goods on Amazon to resell them later on eBay.
Moreover, some items on Amazon, classed as ‘used’, are in almost
perfect condition and offered at big discounts over brand new.
Be sure to state in your eBay listing if
an item is not brand new but is nonetheless in good condition
(assuming it is, of course). Alternatively, you could buy
unbranded goods in imperfect gift baskets, following which you bin
poor quality items, and repackage the good items in the original
basket or your own custom creation.
Creating
Your Product
There are many books to help you create
fabulous products and many different techniques to use depending on
whether you are artistic or ham-fisted, experienced or a total
novice! You’ll find most of those books listed at Google as
shown earlier.
Now let me tell you how to create a very
simple gift basket. Note this is how to create an actual
basket, you’ll need to use other techniques for products based on
bowls and bags, plant pots and waste paper bins, etc.
So for your ordinary basket:
* Look for a source of quality,
inexpensive baskets or other containers, preferably plain so you can
decorate them yourself. Spray or hand paint baskets in
appropriate colours, like bright red for Halloween baskets, silver
or white for sympathy baskets, white is wonderful for weddings, red
and green are stupendous for Christmas. Hand painted motifs on
top look particularly attractive and make the container one
recipients will want to keep. Try adding holly and icicles to
Christmas baskets, baby rattles and teddy bears to christening
baskets, paws and bones to dog lover baskets. Add a coat of
clear acrylic paint to give a pretty sheen and to protect your
motifs from wear.
* Choose the size and shape of your
container according to whatever items it will hold. Bottle
holder baskets are excellent for wine and champagne, solid plastic
top hats look lovely for most celebration baskets, big plastic
storage baskets are useful for house warming gifts and can be reused
after the party.
* If necessary decorate your
container with an attractive lining. Tissue paper is adequate
for most baskets, especially appropriately coloured, such as red and
green for Christmas, blue for a baby boy, pink for a baby girl,
yellow for Easter, and so on. For expensive contents choose
crushed velvet or silk, patchwork or quilted fabrics, especially
items that can be used later. Use, for example, quilted baby
covers to line a basket containing baby gifts, use crushed silk
cushions in expensive house warming gift baskets, try patchwork
table mats in baskets holding home made jams and preserves.
* Arrange the gifts in the
container paying specific attention to layout and how the package
will look immediately it’s delivered, because a satisfied recipient
could easily become your next best customer! You should aim to
have most goods on view, usually with taller items placed towards
the back of the basket so as not to camouflage smaller items.
For flatter objects, like small candles, jars and tinned products,
arrange the contents with some standing tall, and others lying
sideways and flat. Add pieces of tissue paper or other
inexpensive material between items to prevent movement and damage in
transit.
* Stand the container on a sheet of
see-through cellophane, large enough to gather upwards around the
container and contents and leave sufficient cellophane for drawing
several inches above the contents where the edges are pulled
together and tied tightly with ribbon or adhesive tape. You
should aim for cellophane above the tie to be arranged in a fan
shape. Decorate or camouflage the tie with small decorations
or novelties, such as small crackers at Christmas, a baby’s rattle
for christening baskets, an identify tag for new puppy baskets.
NOTE: Intricate packages are largely unsuitable for delivery
by Royal Mail or Parcel Post and require specialist courier delivery
instead. Be sure the extra cost is reflected in your eBay
prices. Study the footnote later.
* Now arrange bows close to the tag
with long ribbons curled and swirling downwards to an inch or more
above the base of the basket. Choose colours according
to season or theme, such as gold for 50th wedding
anniversary baskets, white for weddings, green for gardening gifts,
purple or royal blue for gourmet baskets, and so on.
* Unless it looks too cluttered you
can add another small gift to the outside of the package, such as a
satin rose, a scroll with anniversary poem, a pair of baby shoes,
and so on.
FOOTNOTE:
Note that food and flowers, also unusual and delicate designs, may
be unsuitable for delivery through the traditional postal services,
where they will get damaged or delayed or even grow stale or perish
in the process.
I recommend you don’t sell food, alcohol,
flowers and other fresh items on eBay, for reasons mentioned
elsewhere, and also because special delivery may eat heavily into
your profits.
For low profit margin baskets, like soaps
and candles, dispense with what was said earlier about arranging
cellophane high above the basket and adding delicate decorations.
Instead use flat baskets, pack so the contents fall below the basket
rim, add tissue paper over the contents to hold them firm, then
cover with cellophane and avoid extra trimmings.
Cover the entire package with bubble
wrap, pack inside a cardboard box and deliver by ordinary mail or
parcel post.
Tips
* Include ‘Gift Basket’ in your
eBay listing title. There is no specific eBay category for
gift baskets, so most potential buyers will search eBay specifically
for ‘gift basket’ or ‘gift baskets’.
* Research gift basket sellers from
other eBay country sites or selling outside of eBay. Make notes
about unusual containers you see, also imaginative contents and
interesting packaging. Instead of copying complete ideas,
incorporate two or three features from different sellers to create
your own unique designs.
* Choose a descriptive name for
your eBay ID and shop name. Instead of calling yourself ‘Gifts
Galore’ try something specific like ‘Christmas Gift Baskets’ or
‘Hand Crafted Gift Baskets’, or similar. The more descriptive
your name, the more people will remember you and the more repeat
buyers you are likely to have.
*
Keep records of all buyers, on and off eBay, and contact them
regularly with new product or sale offers. There are no
restrictions placed on promoting affiliate products outside of eBay,
by email, for example, or via a compliments slip or letter, to
people purchasing originally on eBay. But you should never
involve eBay in the back-end selling process, mainly because eBay
prohibits outside transactions at their site. Using eBay to
make money without eBay getting its share will get you suspended or
banned from the site.
*
Expand your business outside of eBay and grow a big customer list
for future promotions. Market your baskets at flea markets,
for example, and car boot sales, at craft fairs, or by getting shop
owners to sell your baskets on commission.
* Maintain high manufacturing
standards and gain a good reputation that finds your business
spreading by word of mouth recommendation and referrals. Wash
your hands regularly to avoid glue and colourings transferring to
other goods and packaging materials. Keep your head covered to avoid
stray hair getting tangled with sealing tape or cellophane.
* Be choosy, be picky, do not use
damaged or dated goods, make sure packaging is sealed properly,
avoid contents that might displease minority groups, and so on.
Specific
Gift Basket Ideas
So far we’ve spoken more about containers
than actual contents, so let us correct that with a few ideas for
gifts and novelties to include in specific season and theme baskets.
Christmas
Small gifts, general or specific to match
recipients’ interests and hobbies
Christmas crackers
Calendar
‘Thank You’ notelets and envelopes
Sweets, Wine and Gourmet foods (complying
with all rules pertaining to selling those items)
Book of Christmas crossword puzzles
Vintage Christmas Day newspaper
New Baby
Blanket
Rattle
Photo book
Baby oil and powder
Cot or pram mobile
Soothing sleep-inducing music on CD
Book of baby care tips
Retirement
Phone card to help stay in touch with
colleagues
Subscription for book club or magazine
Photo frame to hold photograph of leaving
celebration
Book showing how to trace a family tree
(apparently a popular interest of new retirees)
Newspaper from day the retiree began
working for the company
Sympathy
Book of poetry to help people grieving
for their loss
Aromatherapy oils to relieve stress and
create calm
Top quality chocolates and treats
Notelets to answer sympathy messages
Silver photo frame for the deceased’s
image to be added later
Small piece of jewellery
New Student
Folders
Pens and Pencils
Pads of Lined Paper
Mouse Pad
Gift certificates for CDs or videos
Eye drops or lotion to relieve eyes tired
from constant study
Phone card
Monogrammed face cloth
Personalised mug
Address book
Competitions Enthusiast
Entry forms
Subscription to solutionist newsletter
Pens
Postage stamps
Books about winning competitions
Notepads
Cat Lover
Book about caring for cats
CD containing public domain pictures and
illustrations, books and poems about cats, and so on.
Catnip treats
Tins of gourmet cat food
Cat collar
Photo frame with cat decorated border
Cat blanket
Cat grooming brush
Pet insurance
Summary
All-in-all a very easy business to start
and run and potentially a very profitable one also, especially if
you make your baskets very different to anything anyone else is
selling on or outside of eBay.