what is the best way to sell my plants???

Hi!

I am starting to propagate my plants with the view of selling them. what is the best way to do it? I do not want to become a millionaire, just sell for fun. Can you give me some ideas??? Thank you!

Ebay is my best suggestion for you! No overhead, or money lost to a middleman...and you can list what you want, when you want, ...you can be as busy or slow as you'd like.
-T

Thank you seed! I am thinking about ebay but have heard so many horror stories.

My whole family sells on there, but non-paying bidders is the only horror story I can think of...even that isn't really an issue. You just don't mail things until they are paid for...

seed, is it true that you have to have new variety of plants all the time as peeps do not want to buy oldies? I am interested in selling streptocarpus.Someone told me that I will have to go to conferences every year and buy new breeds and throw them away after two years. You seem to have lots of experience with plants. What do you think?

thank you for all the advice!
Anna

I'll tell you a little story...(a TRUE story)

There is a man who sells plants at our local flea market. I was interested in selling my plant extras, (like you), so asked him if it was worth his time to give up his weekends, cart all his plants back and forth, and pay $40 to stand in the sun for three days.

He said he made $1,200 a weekend in the Spring, and then winked and said "yes, I think that is worth it...it is just my wife's hobby...no big deal".

I was shocked. Not that someone can even make that much in a weekend, but at the plants he was selling that made him that kind of money. He had just the "plain jane", "common old stuff".
...wandering jew, some succulents, and odds and ends. Mostly pass-along plants that people who didn't even really get into gardening, could grow.

He then told me that an inspector comes around to check and see if he is registered to sell plants. That is red tape paperwork I could never seem to fill out...

So, I turned to ebay. My very first try was a few winters ago. I had an entire baggie of double purple datura seeds. I listed them, and continuted to relist them as each one sold, and by the time Spring had come, I still had half a baggie, and had made $200. Not a whole lot of money, but still enough to encourage me. It was seeds that would have gone to waste, anyway.

I know they could be traded away, but each time you trade it cost you 52 cents postage. That same $200 I made, would have COST me $100 to trade away...

I hear people all the time trying to find stuff that isn't "this year's plant". You have to find your niche!... and that could very well be selling streps that people are now having a hard time finding.

I suggest you just list a couple and see. You will never know until you list some. People's bids, or lack of bids will tell you what they want.

I've often been very surprised at the difference between what I thought would go like hotcakes, and what actually DID...
-T

Thank you very much seed. That gives me some hope.Maybe it is easier to sell common plants than streps.

Should they be flowering or could I put a photo by the plant rack so peeps would see what they look like when flowering?

thank you for all the support and advice.

I wasn't trying to encourage you to forego the streps and sell common stuff, I was just trying to make the point that people don't just buy what is rare, uncommon, or new.

Most people post a picture of the flower in the main auction picture. If you include a second photo, you can include an actual picture of the strep you are selling. This way they are first enticed by what the strep will look like, and then they can also see the actual product they will receive.

There are companies like auctiva that will allow you to use mutiple photos, without additional charges(like ebay does per picture) and those are helpful, if you agree to their terms of use.
-T

seed, I understood you, you were just giving me an example. I dod not think you were encouraging me to change my plans.

What about selling at the flea market. Should I have all flowering plants or could I get away with photos of the flowers by their trays?

Have you already applied for your plant selling license? If you haven't, you cannot sell there. The inspectors will check...at least they do here in our state...
You might contact the flea market managers and ask what the guidlines are...
-T

thank you seed.

I have had very good luck with Craigslist.org. (with vintage furniture - not plants) It is LOCAL and there is no cost to sell. So none of the ebay problems, like ever-increasing seller fees. I did sell some sasafrass seedlings on eBAY for a good price. But then I had to dig them up... easier said than done!

thank you sterling! I will check that.

Spider, are you familiar with the GA Market Bulletin? The Departments of Agriculture in most states publish them. I have bought and sold lots of plants through the SC Market Bulletin. It is a good and free way to start and gauge your market.
I believe you can read the GA bulletin online. Here is a website to try:
http://www.agr.state.ga.us/mbads/

Thank you very much Ardesia. this is very helpful.

It only costs $25 to get a county Vendor's License. Getting a tax ID is free and only takes a few minutes.

I do have a question about Ebay. Several people have suggested selling there and several others say the fees make it a lot less worthwhile. How bad are the fees?

Fees can be bad, but they're manageable if you have business experience. When we were at our peak on Ebay, they were running in the $7000-$8000 range per year. We're now down to about $1500, and spend another $2500 in other advertising, like google, plant scout, etc.

Some of our listings are outrageous though with combined Ebay/Paypal fees running in the low 20% range. That's the main reason we switched to our own site.

Ebay is a great launching point for many small businesses, but a goal of becoming self sustaining, while using Ebay soley as a marketing venue, is the way to go.

Chris

Thank you for the very honest answer Chris. I think that is the biggest issue for the smaller growers-no real advertising budget, not sure how to start but having too many plants to keep and very little word of mouth starting into the season. Maybe I will try listing a few things on Ebay and see how it goes.

Check your competition first. Do a search for what you want to sell, and see if you can compete. Generally, you can get a higher dollar amount with little competion, or a lower dollar amount and greater quantity sold.

My start came with a bulb given to me by a supplier that I tossed on Ebay and sold for $16.00. My wholesale cost was around 60 cents, so I thought, "Hmmm. There might be an opportunity here." Realizing it brought that amount because there was only 1 or 2 of them listed rarely, I knew I couldn't get that much if I suddenly put 300 of them on there, but figured I could get $3-$5. That was 4 years, 10,000+ boxes, and just under 100,000 bulbs, rhizomes, and plants ago.

Keep up with what's trending on Ebay, and don't jump into one that's flooded on there. My favorite response when asked, "How can I make a little money in the plant business?" is "Start out with a lot!"

Chris

LOL Chris! If I had a lot of money, I wouldn't have to worry about making a little. :) I have no desire or intention of making a fortune, but I would like to cover my costs, have some fun money for extras for me and if I can put the kids through college....oh yea, I said I didn't want a forture. LOL

My main reason is that I love to propagate plants and need to do soemthing with my hands. I woul dlike some money to help me with my wildlife rehab costs as I do not get paid for doing it.

Badseed, what do you grow? I am thinking about streps. I have been checking ebay and , somedays everything is sold but somedays nothing is. I also heard that, if you do not have very new varieties, you will not sell anything as peeps are not interested in oldies.

Do you agree with that?

Hi Spider, I'm trying to avoid the typical bedding plants as a main line and carry more unusual stuff that isn't commonly found everywhere. I do have four colors of petunias, sun coleus, batface cuphea, Kopper King Hibiscus, three different Caladiums, regular shade coleus, a few types of Canna including banana Canna, Ligularia, ostrich ferns, regal ferns, bleeding hearts, Kerria, zonal Geraniums, two types of tropical Hibiscus, Salvia van Houttei, three or four types of wandering Jew, several types of elephant ears, etc, etc.

I do think you should try to keep a main item to be known for, always have, be a dependable source of if it is in demand, but I also think you should try to keep adding a few new things to see how they do for you.

Wow, what a collection!!!
Does it take long to propagate and root all this?

I am planning on doing mainly streps (houseplants) and some wildlife plants. I amy add others. I have to grow everything from babies as I just moved to this house and lived in a apartment for one year after arriving from England.

best of luck and please keep in touch!

Some of them are from seed, some from bulbs, some from liners, etc. I started heating the greenhouse in late February to get things going. I have learned rather quickly that 1) you can sure get a lot of plants out of an 8x12 greenhouse with planning and 2) I need a commercial size greenhouse NOW. LOL

I am sure you will do very well. I think most importantly you should sell what you know and be the best informed about what you offer.

Good luck to you!

thank you Badseed. Good luck to you too!