Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) November 1, 2006 -- There are many ways online and offline to promote and sell arts and crafts but real success is tough to come by and an often frustrating and expensive road . TradeCrossing saw an opportunity to build a business by helping the community be more effective in doing business online.

"Most online marketplaces are complete 3rd parties. Buyers and sellers do their own work and the marketplace doesn't handle customer service or check on the quality of items being sold," said Praveen Sood, President of TradeCrossing. "We realized that this approach didn't work in the arts and crafts market for several reasons. First, many of the artists and crafts people do not have experience in merchandising their work on the web. Additionally, they don't have the ability to support a website and provide ongoing customer service. On the buyer's side, many people are wary about purchasing online from an artist that they've never heard of, fearing that they will not receive their item or not have any recourse if there's an issue."

TradeCrossing combines a marketplace with e-commerce and partners with the artists. TradeCrossing helps with preparation of content and images and gives out plenty of advice on merchandising more effectively. This is critical since the artist has ultimate control on pricing, merchandising, and imagery. Additionally, TradeCrossing never actually takes possession of the product or handles shipping, but does manage customer service and issue resolution.

Even the way they develop vendors for the site is unique. TradeCrossing holds regular "viewing events" where they meet with artists and crafts people, or they visit studios, markets, wherever artists are. They review the pieces for their quality and craftsmanship. Sometimes on-site photographers shoot the images while others review merchandising ideas. Finally they prepare the images and content for the site.

"We've found that this kind of partnership works much better than just leaving sellers on their own," continued Praveen Sood," "This might seem like a lot of work but we now have it down to system that allows us to quickly launch artists and crafts people. More importantly this grassroots approach gives us the opportunity to bring out works that might never get on the web otherwise."

About TradeCrossing
TradeCrossing.com is an online marketplace and community for buyers and sellers of unique arts and crafts. TradeCrossing works with artists and crafts people to help bring their items to the web and provides a trusted source for unique gifts, decorative pieces, or personal items. In addition to providing the sales of arts and crafts online Tradecrossing provides a comprehensive directory of artists and craftspeople to help people locate that perfectly unique item.

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TradeCrossing
PRAVEEN SOOD
510-868-9123
E-mail InformationTrackback URL: http://prweb.com/pingpr.php/SGFsZi1FbXB0LVNpbmctQ291cC1NYWduLVplcm8=

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