# Best way to test your market?



## Armin00 (Dec 6, 2011)

Hey everyone,I'm wondering what do you think are best/worst ways of testing your market? Cafepress or maybe ebay?I know It's good to set up your website and market it but thats abit pricey. All opinion welcome!


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## beanie357 (Mar 27, 2011)

I think it depends on what you consider your market. Ours is local county and next county over. Web takes time and time to become effective. SEO is not overnight. The mass areas like ebay and such have mucho competition. Maybe a local niche would better serve as a test.
Garments at a shop left on consignment, that people specifically interested in your art might tell you a thing or two for a hundred shirt test.
just an idea.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

i wouldn't go with ebay at all. the terms, price, risk and competition makes it a poor option for most people. zazzle and the like may have some ownership issues you're not too hep on, not sure, but it's something to check out. some sites allow you to create free or very cheap pages to sell on (i want to say etsy, bigcartel and a few whose names are on the tip of my tongue that i can't think of, so i hope someone will help me out here).

do the social media sites, like facebook, twitter, etc.. i really don't see many honest reviews on those places, though, but it's almost a requirement these daze that you have that presence there.

hard to say what's the best way to test your market. you're probably realizing now that you should have done this as part of your market research, huh? lol. but, since you didn't, and most people don't much to their chagrin later on, it's impossible to say without knowing who your market is and what it is that you make. it's a safe bet that you need an online presence, meaning a web site, and perhaps some SEO. 

it sounds as if you're rather ill-prepared and under-funded, making the design part a reality without much consideration to the real work of having a viable business. it's something i've seen here literally a hundred times. so, how far are you willing to go with your business? are you at least willing to put the money into it? great designs won't get you very far without letting your prospective market know you exist, and that more often than not takes money, and therein people fail with their dream having spent more time fantasizing about being the next johnny cupcake or affliction and the 'ease' at which they've achieved success than hunkering down and establishing realistic goals. 

fat-k, i like what you do. 'no order to small' should read 'no order toO small.' on the page that describes your process, i found the text hard to read once the orange began to fade into the darker shade toward the bottom. just my un-asked-for opinion.


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## Armin00 (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks beanie and Ryan.
I suppose i shouldave gave more info. I'm in the planning stage at the moment. My target market would be the fitness industry. There are loads of forums on the web where lifters meet but I wouldnt b allowed to advertise to get opinions. I cant imagine myslef walking up to people in a gym asking for opinions either.
What I really wanted to find out are the websites like etsy/cafepress where I could see if anyone would actually buy the t shirts and your opinions on which are better than others. If there is at least some interest I'm willing to put 100% in it. I've looked into registering a business,have ideas on off-line selling and such but I kinda skipped the testing part cause I thought I would use ebay and know I realise that maybe its not a great idea and there are better places.
Hope this helps


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

my impression is that etsy is a tough gig, but of the ones you mentioned that's the one to go with. cafepress and those may have some issues with ownership of the design or what you can do with your own art, so definitely read the rules on that before sending them *anything*. and i'm not sure any of those sites are exactly what you're looking for. more computer savvy folk will be able to give you a better answer here. check out the competition's sites and see what they're doing and who they're using. 

how you market it is entirely up to you. gather up as much information as you can, study it, gather more information. don't let an opportunity for fact gathering go by. when you have some shirts made up, figure out who the leader of the pack is and give them one and hope the followers take an interest. i'm, like, totally wimpy, so i don't know how gyms work. do they have a sales area that you can put your shirts in? if not, are they opposed to you having a rack of shirts? will you offer accessories, like gym bags? 

where market research is going to help out a lot here is knowing what sizes, styles and colours are going to be your best bet since you have to produce these first instead of waiting for orders to fulfill on-line. you may be able to take some pre-orders. 

do the social media thing like facebook, twitter, tumblr, whatever. i personally belong to many anti-social websites, but i never go there. still, that shouldn't deter you.


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## DarktideTees (Oct 7, 2009)

If you are looking at third party hosting your stuff, I cant give you recommendation based on personal experience but from what I have heard from other people they prefer Etsy.


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