How to validate,

[hestati]

First of all, happy new year to all of you, brothers and sisters! May 2015 bring you more money, more independence, more love!

I have a problem with validation, don't know how to approach it.

I was walking on the street with my wife and she noticed traditional Colombian shoes for sale. They are unique, comfortable, soft. She bought 3 pairs. I thought maybe in US more women would be interested. How to validate? Simple webpage and FB traffic? But then what happens when someone actually buys them? I will be back in USA in March only... BTW, shoes are cheap, but there are some amazing bags as back end product, there are also amazing hand made hammocks, but those are very expensive. Anyway, idea is to establish a brand of bright, colorful, unique clothing and accessories (my wife says there is no much choice for "bright" at this moment in the stores) not just "sell shoes", but gotta start somewhere.

Any suggestions on how to validate it quickly?

Thanks!

 

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[The-J]

Etsy, eBay, Craigslist. Write a bunch of headlines and test them until you can sell em.

Start there

 

[hestati]

Hmmm, I guess. But then 2 questions, how to drive traffic? Or am I over thinking it, no need traffic, just leave it there and see if someone will notice it?

And what to do when someone actually buys it? It is not a problem with Craigslist, but Ebay and Etsy? I can't ship from Colombia, shipping individual items will be long and expensive. I will start with Craigslist anyway, thanks for an advice.

 

[TriumphantBucks]

You can start by enlisting some products on sites like eBay and Craigslist using photos you take of some of the products you 'deem' valuable, test run with 'profitable prices' and wait to see the 'traffic' that comes to your list. If this traffic is encouraging, you can take it as a valuable guess for its value. Also try contacting some friends and relations in your target area and ask for THEIR OWN PERCEPTION OF VALUE of the products you offer to them. I hope to return back with better ideas when I know better.

EDITED: surprised to see a similar reply but for driving traffic, you can use Google Adwords (if you ready to spend some bucks) and also for eBay, try adding shipping cost and see how the response goes.

 

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[The-J]

All the things I listed are traffic sources in their own right. You CAN drive traffic if you would like. In fact, test it!

 

[hestati]

Thank you all! I went to the city and got many pictures of shoes and bags. I also got contacts of the manufacturers. For the next few days, I will try to Craiglist it

Any suggestions how to "eBay" it, considering I cannot actually sell these since I have no way to send them to US now? And Esty only accepts handmade items, which is ok for bags, but shoes are manufactured.

 

[hestati]

Alright, pretty much validated my idea, there is good demand for these shoes. I will be back to US in late Feb, not sure I can do much until then.

 

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[The-J]

And Esty only accepts handmade items, which is ok for bags, but shoes are manufactured.

not true

 

[TriumphantBucks]

Alright, pretty much validated my idea, there is good demand for these shoes. I will be back to US in late Feb, not sure I can do much until then.

Try checking out the price factor and see if you can strike a good deal with the suppliers using the
economies of scale factor