Pros and Cons of Mom Made Businesses: Tips for Buying Handmade Items Online
When I first started doing business online, I felt the need to support work at home moms before any big corporation. After all, their main goal was to stay at home with their children just like me.
However, as the years went on, I realized not everyone in business was honest. Not only that, I couldn't always afford to support a mom when I could buy the same thing somewhere else for half the price. I have a family to take care of too, and money is tight.
The fact is there's pros to both buying from family businesses and larger companies. Below are the pros and cons of buying handmade, and tips for how you can support honest families without hurting your checkbook.
Pros of Buying Handmade
- Higher quality
One of the biggest advantages of buying handmade items is they are usually better quality. Handmade soaps for example are much better for your skin than stuff you buy in stores. Candles are another great example - it's hard telling what's in those candles at Walmart, where as owners of handmade candles will tell you exactly what they've used to make them.
- Better customer service
If you should ever run into a problem with your order, it's much easier to deal with an individual owner than it is a large corporation. Some of the bigger businesses have really let their customer service go, while many individual owners know good customer service is one of their biggest selling points. They are more likely to go out of their way to fix it, unlike a customer service rep who has no real control over "company policy".
- Lower Cost
Often times you will find handmade items for less cost than you would in stores. For example, handmade candles can often be less cost than those "gourmet candles" made in mass by big companies. Do some price comparison if you are shopping online and you'll see some pretty good deal.
Cons of Buying Handmade
- Unknown company
Unlike a big corporation, it's a lot harder to check feedback on a smaller company. An individual may be a lot harder to trust than bigger businesses. If you are shopping on a place like Etsy though, this may be a little easier.
However, as the years went on, I realized not everyone in business was honest. Not only that, I couldn't always afford to support a mom when I could buy the same thing somewhere else for half the price. I have a family to take care of too, and money is tight.
The fact is there's pros to both buying from family businesses and larger companies. Below are the pros and cons of buying handmade, and tips for how you can support honest families without hurting your checkbook.
Pros of Buying Handmade
- Higher quality
One of the biggest advantages of buying handmade items is they are usually better quality. Handmade soaps for example are much better for your skin than stuff you buy in stores. Candles are another great example - it's hard telling what's in those candles at Walmart, where as owners of handmade candles will tell you exactly what they've used to make them.
- Better customer service
If you should ever run into a problem with your order, it's much easier to deal with an individual owner than it is a large corporation. Some of the bigger businesses have really let their customer service go, while many individual owners know good customer service is one of their biggest selling points. They are more likely to go out of their way to fix it, unlike a customer service rep who has no real control over "company policy".
- Lower Cost
Often times you will find handmade items for less cost than you would in stores. For example, handmade candles can often be less cost than those "gourmet candles" made in mass by big companies. Do some price comparison if you are shopping online and you'll see some pretty good deal.
Cons of Buying Handmade
- Unknown company
Unlike a big corporation, it's a lot harder to check feedback on a smaller company. An individual may be a lot harder to trust than bigger businesses. If you are shopping on a place like Etsy though, this may be a little easier.
Comments
Great article !......................most of the time though I find handmade products to have adequate quality to satisfy my needs...........................
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