What to do with the canoe and kayak plans?
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Over the last couple of years, I’ve been punting on a decision about the canoe and kayak plans. I haven’t been able to decide whether or not to remove them from my website. I’ve made the decision. The sales of these plans is leaving PaddlingLight. What I haven’t decided is, do I continue to sell them at all?
There are various reasons that I’m doing this, but the primary one is that I don’t want to have to handle all the payments, orders, problems, etc. of running an online store anymore. I’m just not interested in doing it, and the revenue has dropped significantly in the last couple of years. At the peak in 2021, I was doing about $1,300 in plan sales. That’s down to about $400 a year now. I’ve focused my attention elsewhere to make that money, but the downside of the loss of sales is that I’m buying fewer paddling products to test out and review on PaddlingLight. The reviews here have always been a mixture of free products and purchased products paid for in part by the money generated by this website. On a side note, it’s hard to believe that I used to make about $10K a year off of PaddlingLight (with projected sales of $30k in two years time) before Minnesota enacted a law that crashed the potential completely. Although that law doesn’t matter anymore, PaddlingLight never recovered from it.
So, the question is, do I move the products elsewhere for people?
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I’m posting this because I hope that as a reader of PaddlingLight that you have experience with some digital online sales platforms. I’ve looked at a couple, such as Shopify, but it seems like the fees would consume most of the money I make. Gumshoe just charges a 10% fee plus credit card fees, so maybe that’s a good way to do this. Because I have to collect and submit sales tax for sales into Minnesota, it seems like Gumshoe isn’t up to the task in the same way as Shopify. But I haven’t used the platform.
Any ideas? Or thoughts about it? Should I just end it altogether?
3 Comments
Chris Norbury
FWIW, I sell my books through an online store I set up with Square. I only sell a few every year (maybe $100-200 total sales), but it takes time to package the book, address it, and lug it to the post office. I’ve only scratched the surface of what Square can do for a business, but I see many retailers using it in their brick-and-mortar stores. It might be worth a look.
Tracking sales tax is another time consumer, so there’s that annoyance as well. But if it’s more work than you want, not much fun, and not worth the effort for a few hundred dollars a year, I’d say end it all together. Life’s too short.
Elaine
It seems that your business decision was spot on and you have carefully examined the options and your preferences.
If you think there is merit in monitoring the sales for your personal interest, then proceed as such. Otherwise, perhaps it is time to cut the cord.
Terry Loew
I am a new subscriber, for the last 6-9 months or so. I have enjoyed reading your posts. Sorry you are conflicted about what to do. I have no experience with online store or management. The only advice is if it isn’t making money or fulfilling some kind of dream or providing some sort od educational experience, drop it and get on with something else.
Beat of luck