Selling things online

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Do you sell things online? Do you have an e-commerce site? I have been thinking about making things and selling them online. I’m not trying to get rich, just a new hobby. I think I may have to choose an e-commerce website. Any thoughts, advice or ideas?

Hope you get lots of replies to this thread, cause I would love to know more about it too, I mean I know if you sell something . you have to drop it off at a shippers like a UPS store .And let people know if you can guarrantee returns or not . But advertising ? and charging money ? and everybody wants to use credit cards now. So , how to do that thing?
And seen people use stuff like Venmo or Square to process their card info? Square seems popular . but I think you have to open a merchant account with them.? Maybe make a website ? and find away to get people drawn to it? or get it linked to other popular websites? Maybe Square, might want to see a website to guarrantee your actually in business.
??? or maybe a business permit paper( license) from the city your in ? , Am just repeating things I have watched other people do..! but I just never did it. So I really do not know for sure? .But you do get to work at your own speed kinda ?
Best Wishes , hope others post their experience here

I don’t really know anything at this point but I’ve been looking a little at Shopify.

Yes and no. I use local e-marketplace platform to sell used stuff (primarily electronics) sourced from relatives / garbage / bought damaged and restored by me. I've started with selling out my LEGO collection half decade ago.

I think that if ye want it to be just a hobby, it's not worth the hassle of creating, maintaining and then possibly advertising your commerce. You'd be better off with using a existing established platform
I'd also avoid digging into oversaturated markets (Example of mine, GSM accessories) as there's simply far too much competition going on. Tho if ye gonna "make things" then pretty likely it doesn't apply to you

At least where I live you don't have to run a business to sell stuff / services, as long as year income doesn't go over specified limit. Also you're not obliged to accept returns as you're private seller. In your case running a business may give you nothing but just do a additional weight on you. Again, that'd be if you were in my country. You have to check how it all works in your country.

I've never sold anything online. I see plenty of people selling things for insane prices because they're "collectable", but I just can't rip people off like that. When I had my two cats I was also worried also that some people might not want to buy from a home that has pets they could be allergic to.

Also I doubt I could even give my crafts away, let alone sell them for a decent price. That's something I tried doing many times when I was younger but people don't care how much time or effort you put into them, they'd rather buy something made in a factory by little kids.

It is important to offer good customer service. A lot of folks buy stuff for "retail therapy" so they feel good about themselves. That is ruined if they don't know when you are going to ship stuff. If you can't ship stuff on time or accurately don't bother trying to run a business online as people will talk about you .

I was thinking it could be fun to pick up CRT gaming tv's just outside of auckland and then selling them in auckland. People pick up CRT TV's they dont mail them. Other bulky goods could work too

Think for self made hobby stuff etsy was originally created but they became 'just like all the others'... Hard to find proper etsy 'home made' stuff on it now. There's some homemade inkle bands on ebay but also a platform that lost its focus. Don't buy much on 'the new ebay' anymore.

Locally 2 friends, one quite invested in his scene for ages (before college, 30 years) so quite some rep there and also sells on fairs (facts, demoscene and retro comp). Quite some time investment but I think it is what he likes. Other quit but had small online store. Too small for a proper deal with postal service so had to quit or spend all his money on shipping.

One sells a bit on facebook marketplace and local markets. Mostly occupational therapy. He has had a hobby that grew too big for tax people to get involved. Not sure on usa situation but be careful, certainly if your main income is some sort of government benefit.

Know one (from a distance/customer) who grew to pro and tried fighting counterfit on ali by joining them but pointless. Careful when it starts to grow too much.