Internet Orders

[Guest]

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[Cornelia]

Is there a way that we can help a borrower to maybe get a web site to sell some of thier goods? The people that make jewlery, clothes, shoes, etc. to be able to sell thier goods online. That would also help generate revenue for them. Maybe a few of the people could share a website that shows everything they make. I know I would be interested in buying what someone makes especially if it was someone I helped succeed in thier dream.
Just trying to think of ways to help thier business flourish.
Is it possible??

[Sherri]

Since no one has replied to you, I'll put in my two cents. I'm a web developer and I can tell you that even a standard website is a lot of work to create, maintain and provide web hosting / domain registration. An ecommerce website is many times more work, more expensive, and comes with some liability issues (what if goods are not delivered as promised, or damaged, or late? what if a customer does a charge back? What if the server is hacked and credit card data stolen?) Processing payments online is not easy or cheap either (Kiva is lucky that Paypal has donated their services).

It's not quite as simple as having a small road-side shop. I would not recommend trying to 'donate' an ecommerce website to someone. However there are some large sites that will do this. For example cafepress allows artists to sell their artwork as prints or on mugs, tshirts etc. I'm not sure what other turn-key ecommerce services are out there. But I would definitely never try to provide this for free to someone, especially someone without a business presence in my own country because I would end up taking the responsibility and work onto my own shoulders.

Just my thoughts. It's a good idea though.

[Soriak]

Maybe it could be set up through ebay? I imagine the shipping would be rather expensive though.

[DianeCharlie]

I've suggested before that perhaps Kiva's MFIs could work out some association with an organization like Novica.com where artisans around the world sell their work directly through the website.  It's at least something to look into.

--Diane.

[Ricardo2012]

I am thinking along the same line. If KIVA makes a store on ebay and the partner gets the profile of the person asking for the money + a list of their products and prices, we could have those on ebay.

And agree that people would like to both loan and also buy stuff. If KIVA could facilitate once again demand/supply that would be great.

Krgds
Ricardo

[Carol]

I have been giving this idea a lot of thought.  The shipping is so expensive on individual items that it would not be prohibitive. I think the better way would be to set up shipping from a central location and order from each country in bulk.  You can ship fairly cheaply by air in LD3 containers, they are often a set amount per container and can carry up to 1400 lbs.  Now for the selection, perhaps we could do it as a Kiva Friends project and select using the criteria of the Calendar.  Each of us select entrepenures and merchandise from say 5 countries to begin with.  We could wholesale items to the Fair Trade wholesalers and Stores thru the Fair Trade Federation and deal with those stores directly (we have one in Gibsons. O will call today and ask who they buy from).  The whole purpose of buying from our clients is to promote their businesses and well being.

Just some random thoughts and ideas for those of you on Kiva withdrawal.

Carol

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Hi, Carol - I just unearthed a post I entered on this Forum a long time ago.  The quilts are very beautiful.  I believe another Kiva Friend, though, pursued this and the shipping was very expensive.  If ever this shopping option becomes available, I strongly suggest involving this group:
     
      Here's one of my loans to a craftsperson in Vietnam: http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=11265. I Googled the name of the business and on their web site( http://www.vietnam-quilts.org ) found a way to contact them AND a way to order a quilt from them.  Soon it will be set up for on line buying.  Check out the quilts, folks.  They're beautiful.

[Carol]

OK so I am sucked in.  I will do some research with Freight forwarders and see if we can put something together.  We will have to get in touch with the MFI's directly so that we can purchase and ship goods.  I will be back to you when I have more info.
Carol

[wind5001]

Carol,

thanks for stepping up! I think this is an excellent idea which needs some more basic information to make a reasoned decision. So it is great you are willing to find out about these key aspects!  Can't wait to read what you can find out.

Oli

[KivanSteven]

Count me in on this one and I dont mean to speak for him but I think "Gramps" would be pretty interested as well, since we have been conversing on this very topic for the past week.  I dont know the first thing about international rules and regulations, obstacles I would imagine are in place simply for no other reason than to make something as positive and simple as this more difficult...but I have lots of experience on ebay, possess the time to give a real commitment to it and offer my assistance wherever it can be used...

I would thoroughly enjoy being able to purchase from our creative entrepreneurs...I have discussed that in the past and recently with a few people who were very enthusiastic about such an idea...there really would be no other way outside of meeting them that could make the loaning experience quite so personal, yet it might be an endeavor that is well out of our hands...even with all of the experts in various fields we have here...it would take a good deal of knowledgable people with the means necessary to make it all happen, including a lot of cooperation from people in these countries that we might not be able to harness...but far from being a pessimist, it is definitely worth a real try.

I would love to see a Kiva version of Novica...a "buy from this entrepreneur" link located on the loan page that would take us to a site where artistic creations of all sorts were made available to us...paintings, carvings, sculptures, quilting, weaving, etc...or even more feasible, an ebay site, where there is no need to create a web page or go through all the effort of maintaining a site, a place where the structure and foundation is already layed.  I think it would be a huge success and something Kiva wouldnt consider moving forward on for years down the road.  I would be curious to know what Novica had to overcome in order to create and operate such a successful site as theirs.  Needless to say it would be quite a vast effort from whomever was involved, but hardly impossible.

The most difficult thing might be something as simple as having contacts on the ground to coordinate things on the other end...its not something the MFIs would have the time or ability to oversee in most instances...but the idea would be an incredible one, and I wouldnt discourage anyone from presenting the idea to them...this is something I hope comes to fruition in Kiva's future years.  Yet even if we did this on a smaller scale, starting out by experimenting with a few entrepreneurs from a single MFI and determining what sort of things we need to set in place, change, and improve in order to make this a successful operation, we might be able to really get something established.  

Just an idea, but Kiva Fellows would be another option of contact, and they might have a bit more time and motivation to work on a project such as this than the MFI would.

We would also want Kiva to link to the site used to offer these items...Kiva members would be the target audience because of the personal attraction of it all.

Also shipping would absolutely have to be done in bulk...if you ever notice on ebay, there are thousands of people that sell items they purchase from a distributor in bulk overseas...it would take some accurate mathematics to figure out all the costs, profits, money transferring, shipping, selling fees, etc, in addition to a careful calculation of what selling expectations might be.  We definitely dont want to lost out on this either.