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Hi Dakka. Hoping that those of experience can shine some light and share some wisdom on a subject that Google does -not- seem to be very good at finding relevant results for.

Recently, I lost my job of the last 3 years. The city I'm living in doesn't have the greatest job market right now, but leaving isn't an option at the current time due to a few obligations that I have to hold to. So, I've been looking at the less-considered option of self-employment, and figured I should stick with what I know best: miniatures and hobbycraft. More specifically, selling such things online. Airfix, Zvezda, and Tamiya kits, to name a few, as well as various wargaming miniatures. Now, I don't currently have a storefront or a warehouse - I'd have to keep my stock in my basement for the initial run, at least.

What I'm wondering, is how profitable such a business is. With the economy the way it is for a lot of people right now, hobby kits seem to be selling quite well on account of the fact that folks are looking to find gifts and sources of entertainment that are affordable and will last them a long time for their money. I'm not expecting this to just light up right away, however. I'll be looking for some work on the side, but before I go jumping headlong into an online business, I need to know whether or not I can expect much as far as a source of income goes. I figure that there's no better way to find out than to ask the folks on a hobby site that're already doing it.

As well, what sort of hurdles should I expect to have to cross that could be considered unique to what I'm looking to sell? Would it be more efficient to start by moving my product via an Ebay store before looking at building a website, or would money spent building and advertising a website earn itself back soon enough to justify the starting costs?

Any other advice or experienced input?

Basically, I'm just looking to make sure I'm not putting time and money into starting a business and dealing with the logistics and bookkeeping, if it's not going to generate enough return for it to be viable. Whatever feedback can be offered by those of you that are in the business would be really helpful. Spreading the general P&M/Wargaming hobby is really important to me, as I'm sure it is for all of us here, so I'd really like to see this work. Anyway, thanks for the read, looking forward to whatever words of wisdom are shared.

Well, what advantage would there be for me to buy a hobby kit from you than from a store?

You could check out:

http://www.bigcommerce.com/

pretty good for websites until you can get the cash to have one made for you.