I love making cakes, cookies, special treats for holidays. I am licensed and insured, health dept approved, have a commercial kitchen,etc. But I have a big problem I live in a very little town. And it seems like everyone here does a lot of their own baking. Also, we're not a real wealthy area.

I need to know how to get started with a website, how to market and especially, how to ship things so they don't get ruined.
Any ideas on how to jump into web marketing with items like these?

I would appreciate any input at all.

Thanks;
Jackie

Etsy or ebay may be a good outlet if you do gumaste figures. I ship 6-pk cupcakes with no problems, try considering this too. HTH

I have looked at etsy. Do you sell from there? Could you tell me how you package for shipping? I sent dipped strawberries once. Used ice packs on outside of double boxes, paid expensive next day freight and they were inedible when they arrived. Of course, I didn't charge them, but I need advice on how to insure things make it to the destination in good shape.
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I am really trying to figure this out.
jackie

I would start with a large company like Etsy, Ebay, etc. as mentioned above. Since these companies are sooo well known and have extremely high traffic, they will draw customers in for marketing purposes -thousands more than just your own website.
They are also an umbrella for customer disputes, customers can offer feedback (good and bad) after every purchase, easy messaging for you and customers, already established payment procedures (better security than a customer giving you their credit card info or waiting for a check in the mail), sales tracking, no web design or set-up expense, etc.

HTH

I plan to, but have not yet sold on Etsy. I was waiting to get my Cake Cricut, only to get a defective one! Now I have to wait for them to send me a new one...grrrr...There are several people on there already selling, so you will need to find something that sets you apart. With gumpaste figures or toppers, wrap them in bubble wrap, box, bubble wrap, box..then ship. They will be fine!

As far as a website I went to www.freewebs.com and set one up. You can pay a small fee for the year as not to have advertisements bugging your cakes. It is easy to use.

if you're looking at shipping over state lines make sure that your health department license covers that. I have heard that some states you have to have a sepearate license to do this (just like some require a seperate license to sell wholesale to restaurants)

Great ideas!! Thanks;
Jackie

We ship our cupcakes, but it is very expensive....We ship them (next day delivery) frozen w/ dry ice. We are in Canada and to ship within Canada it is about $100 and to the U.S it is around $250! So as you could imagine we don't ship too often I imagine with cookies if you had enough bubble wrap they would be ok... Good luck!