Online websites or apps for selling honey locally?

[olriley]

Hi. Its my first season where I've got surplus honey. Hundred pounds or so and more to come. So I'm selling a few jars over the gate and the feedback is great. But as we moved recently not many people know me here. We live at the end of a quiet rural lane with little footfall, so it's quite slow. Which got me thinking...

Are there any websites or apps that people are using to sell honey locally?

There are 'notice board' type sites like gumtree of course. I could start a Farcebook page...

But nothing smarter? I'm thinking about sites like Uber, Air BnB and ebay which can connect suppliers and consumers based on location, search preferences etc?

Does anything like that exist?

 

[Jambo]

Facebook can do exactly that. Set up a business page and you'll find there is a whole other side to Facebook. It is terrifying and brilliant in equal measure!

 

[Murox]

take a stall on a local market. Offer some to a LOCAL shop. Notices to church groups, etc etc etc

 

[olriley]

Facebook can do exactly that. Set up a business page and you'll find there is a whole other side to Facebook. It is terrifying and brilliant in equal measure!

Thanks, I’ve been meaning to do that. Still interested in the idea of a peer-to-peer type online marketplace for local honey.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hmm.

Market Stall: MISSION of work, and "Farmers' Markets" can be control freaks/admin nightmares.

Facebook. Delivery? Random strangers off the net knocking on your door?

@Murox is closest (IMO) with the local shop idea. No substitute for a bit of shoe-leather and taster jars (those 30-off mil jobbies) dropped off. You'd be surprised who is VERY interested. Butchers, bakers, delis / convenience stores etc etc. It is fun to make the calls and establish the relationships.

 

[Stiffy]

Hmm.

Market Stall: MISSION of work, and "Farmers' Markets" can be control freaks/admin nightmares.

Facebook. Delivery? Random strangers off the net knocking on your door?

@Murox is closest (IMO) with the local shop idea. No substitute for a bit of shoe-leather and taster jars (those 30-off mil jobbies) dropped off. You'd be surprised who is VERY interested. Butchers, bakers, delis / convenience stores etc etc. It is fun to make the calls and establish the relationships.

With a relatively small amount of honey to sell, I would continue to try selling from doorstep. Markets, shops etc want regular supplies and will soon get peed off if you say you have sold out in a month or two. We were recently asked to attend a local market over the spring/ summer while their ‘regular’ honey seller built up thier supplies to continue through the winter. A polite refusal was given
S

 

[enrico]

You can sell a few hundred pounds at a farmers market......but then it's gone, keep your regulars coming to the gate, they will keep coming as long as you always have honey. Word of mouth and you will soon run out. Don't forget you need to keep enough for yourself for two years in case next year is really bad!!
E

 

[Jambo]

Thanks, I’ve been meaning to do that. Still interested in the idea of a peer-to-peer type online marketplace for local honey.

Could be interesting - you mean connecting people who want honey with local producers? The power of social meedya is convincing people who didn't even know they wanted honey to get in contact with you, far greater potential!

*Edited to make sense!

 

[user 3509]

I use the local community Facebook page, word of mouth and doorstep sales. I now have a list of regular customers wanting to be informed when honey becomes available. Always have more requests for honey than jars for sale!

 

[olriley]

Could be interesting - you mean connecting people who want honey with local producers? The power of social meedya is convincing people who didn't even know they wanted honey with you, far greater potential!

Yes, and I totally agree with you. Social media, smartphones, data and GPS are powerful combination.

Here's my thought process:

People like local honey - and people really like 'micro-local' honey - i.e. from hives that forage the very fields, flowerbeds and hedgerows where they actually live. (Lets not get into the debate about allergies etc ; the working principle for the discussion is that they like it.)

So in this day and age, where many beekeepers are prepared to register the location of their hives* on a national database, it would be relatively straightforward to develop software to allow willing beekeepers to create a profile and be 'discovered' by local consumers. No real value to it just being a directory... but it could host a shopfront for the beek and provide a platform for product info, updates, news etc and of course buying things. As to the actual transaction, probably not suited to national delivery or big volumes because the whole idea is it's local focused, the goods could be pickup in person, drop-off by the beek? collect from a safe place?

Does this exist? If not, should it?

*the exact location would not need to be revealed for the idea to work

 

[megadyptes]

There's the Urban Honey Collective, and I'm sure I stumbled across a few other similar sites in the past.
Try Googling them, for some reason it's mangling the link when I add it.

 

[Stiffy]

Yes, and I totally agree with you. Social media, smartphones, data and GPS are powerful combination.

Here's my thought process:

People like local honey - and people really like 'micro-local' honey - i.e. from hives that forage the very fields, flowerbeds and hedgerows where they actually live. (Lets not get into the debate about allergies etc ; the working principle for the discussion is that they like it.)

So in this day and age, where many beekeepers are prepared to register the location of their hives* on a national database, it would be relatively straightforward to develop software to allow willing beekeepers to create a profile and be 'discovered' by local consumers. No real value to it just being a directory... but it could host a shopfront for the beek and provide a platform for product info, updates, news etc and of course buying things. As to the actual transaction, probably not suited to national delivery or big volumes because the whole idea is it's local focused, the goods could be pickup in person, drop-off by the beek? collect from a safe place?

Does this exist? If not, should it?

*the exact location would not need to be revealed for the idea to work

I don't know of an app or site that has this function.
This isn't a criticism as it sounds like a very good idea for the beek with a few hives but unlike this year, would most 2-3 hive owners have a decent enough crop to advertise and sell ?
We sell at 4-5 markets and in a bad year struggle to supply customers.
S

 

[olriley]

There's the Urban Honey Collective, and I'm sure I stumbled across a few other similar sites in the past.
Try Googling them, for some reason it's mangling the link when I add it.

Ah yes, nice initiative, looks like a map-based directory? I suppose the front end of what I was thinking would look a bit like that.

 

[megadyptes]

Or perhaps try your local association - some will buy suitable quality honey from their members and sell it on at local shows/events etc. The difference in what they'll pay you and what they sell it for helps top up the association coffers.

 

[olriley]

Thanks, and to the other posters. Just for the avoidance of doubt, this thread is not really about me being desperate to offload honey... that’s just the situational context, but I probably will manage with OTG sales this year.... I’m specifically interested whether a web based solution, which makes sense in my head, makes sense to anyone else!

 

[deemann1]

Yes, and I totally agree with you. Social media, smartphones, data and GPS are powerful combination.

Here's my thought process:

People like local honey - and people really like 'micro-local' honey - i.e. from hives that forage the very fields, flowerbeds and hedgerows where they actually live. (Lets not get into the debate about allergies etc ; the working principle for the discussion is that they like it.)

So in this day and age, where many beekeepers are prepared to register the location of their hives* on a national database, it would be relatively straightforward to develop software to allow willing beekeepers to create a profile and be 'discovered' by local consumers. No real value to it just being a directory... but it could host a shopfront for the beek and provide a platform for product info, updates, news etc and of course buying things. As to the actual transaction, probably not suited to national delivery or big volumes because the whole idea is it's local focused, the goods could be pickup in person, drop-off by the beek? collect from a safe place?

Does this exist? If not, should it?

*the exact location would not need to be revealed for the idea to work

That's set up over here in Eire

 

[thorn]

I usually have around 150 to 200 jars to sell after own use, family and friends. A notice goes on the gate in late August, and I’ve never had any left come November. This year people have been coming by to reserve jars since the spring.
Once your reputation gets round, all you’ll need to do is let it be known that honey is available.

 

[olriley]

That's set up over here in Eire

Aha. Great. What’s it called??

 

[Popparand]

I usually have around 150 to 200 jars to sell after own use, family and friends. A notice goes on the gate in late August, and I’ve never had any left come November. This year people have been coming by to reserve jars since the spring.
Once your reputation gets round, all you’ll need to do is let it be known that honey is available.

What price do you charge for doorstep sales?

 

[Popparand]

Ah yes, nice initiative, looks like a map-based directory? I suppose the front end of what I was thinking would look a bit like that.

Not sure how much traffic they are getting. No recent fb postings. Community group fb pages look like a really good channel.