I'm curious to know if you have done any kind of market research into the viability of such a venture. It just seems to me that a "quilt specific" online sales site featuring quilts by 'not yet established' makers, while being a wonderful idea for the makers, would not generate much interest at all in the buying public. Have you ever met anyone who has gone online looking for a handcrafted quilt made by an unknown artist? You have a better chance of selling through a blog where the buyer can get to "know" you before buying.
All the responses, so far, have been from quilters, replying as quilters, not as buyers. Think about it. Would you buy something, sight unseen, made by a person whose work you had never seen in person, who has no established reputation? Would you send them a check, waiting for it to clear before the merchandise is shipped, give them your name and address, all without any fear of being scammed, or worse? And if all that went well, what if what you bought was awful? How do you get your money back? Are you stuck with what you got? (Have you ever gotten a block that was poorly made in a swap? What if you had paid $250 for it?)
Originally Posted by rivka
So a seller can list the types of payments that they take, and a buyer contacts the seller to purchase something -- and all money goes between the two of them. That relieves me of the legal and monetary aspects of it.
You'd best check with an attorney because I think this is a critical misunderstanding on your part. You facilitated the arrangement, you have liability.
Originally Posted by rivka
I rent my own server (that's in place for a couple of other sites that I run), and I have space and bandwidth to hold another site, easily.
If those other site "owners" are paying you for space and bandwidth on the server, you had best make sure your accounting records are as clear and clean as the Alaskan sky. Assuming they are, it makes no sense at all for you to propose doing this at no cost to the sellers. There will be substantial investments of time and resources that you will not recoup otherwise. How will you promote the site? How will you protect yourself from disgruntled sellers when the server has problems? How will you cover utility charges when they rise due to increased useage? How will you pay for your time spent on set-up, maintenance, updates, paperwork, all that stuff?
Disclaimer: I am a contract accountant and it is part of my training to act as devil's advocate for whomever is paying me. That's all I am doing here, so please do not take offense. You need to consider all sides of this proposal, not just the milk and honey side.