[Web4lib] online gift stores

[Hogue Melanie]

You might want to consider several separate engines for this purpose - Zazzle for custom items; Amazon for miscellaneous merchandise and Alibris and/or Amazon for books. For all of these, you have to pay a percentage or fee to the hosting services. Zazzle handles the manufacture and shipping for you; the others will require a small shipping component at your brick and mortor location.
 
Zazzle lets sellers upload logos/graphics and design mugs, mouse pads, keychains, etc. I know from experience that the mugs are very good quality. You can link to your Zazzle site's front page; or anyone at all can Google by keyword and find merchandise there.
 
You are probably already very familiar with Amazon and Alibris will allow you to have your own subsite front page as well.
 
If you do this you would need to design a splash page that would be the homepage of your virtual store and then have category links to merchandise types (the different storefronts).
 
Melanie Amy Hogue
Manager of Online Resources & Reports
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library
423-757-5114

________________________________

From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Chris Magnusson
Sent: Wed 6/1/2011 5:48 PM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] online gift stores



I am going to be working with a local state supported museum that would like to start an online store for their regional & historical merchandise.  I know they don't have an IT department so was wondering if there were any suggestions for some internet based resources to manage a "store front" that would likely connect to paypal for a payment mechanism.

Chris Magnusson
Arena Maintenance
City of Hibbing
www.hibbing.mn.us
http://www.facebook.com/cityofhibbing
http://www.twitter.com/cityofhibbing 

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