Best way to sell one of a kind items

[Marcia]

Aside from a packaged shopping cart system that keeps running inventory, what's the best way to handle transactions for one of a kind or limited quantity items directly from a web site when there's limited total stock?

[Travoli]

Seems like with one-of-a-kind items and such, the transactions would require a heavy e-mail load. I recently bought a fun toy with lots of accessories. I exchanged about 10 e-mails with the merchant. When I decided the options I wanted, she setup a custom paypal order page for me. It was easier than going through a shopping cart system for some items and the specialized toy seperately.

[mivox]

Heck, I'd be tempted to just go through eBay for one-of-a-kind stuff...

Or, if it's a made-to-order kind of thing, have the shopping cart handle the "variables" selection (ie- I'd like it in red, size 3, with jingle-balls and purple glitter), and then handle the actual order/payment through a PayPal/ProPay type email invoice system, so the actual payment process also serves as a details-fo-the-order confirmation step.

The only automated option I could think of, if the thingies aren't customized/made-to-order, is have a shopping cart that includes an inventory tracking function... When you first enter the item into the shopping cart database, you also enter the number available. As each is sold, the cart increments the inventory database downward, and when an item reaches "0" the cart either removes the listing entirely, or automatically includes an "Out of Stock" notice on the item display.

But most carts I've seen with inventory tracking built-in are a bit on the expensive side.

[Travoli]

ebay was my first thought also. You can always point to your listings there from your homepage, and set up a "buy it now" auction.

[sun818]

I agree eBay has the traffic to bring in a great price for unique items. Make sure to list one at a time which will bring in a better price than listing say three at a time. The pay-per-click engines could help drive traffic to your auction or web store.