Ever since I first saw the @homesteaderscoop, and learned what it was all about, I wanted to be part of it. Upvoting and resteeming their posts, even writing some of them as a contributor, were just the first steps in the right direction. But ultimately I want more! Most ideally I would love to be part of this wonderful community as a participant: a buying customer, and even better, as a vendor!

Joining the producers' market MAT (Mercado Alternativo de Tlalpan) in Mexico City has been the best decision ever. I've always enjoyed visiting farmers' markets as a customer, even though I always tended to leave a bit more money there than I had expected. As a vendor, however, I would have the same amazing experience every weekend, and instead of coming home broke (but with lots of goodies) I'd come home with the same amount of goods, plus more money than I left with. Imagining the same thing, but with the wonderful STEEM currency is a dream worth pursuing.

Shipping - The First Major Obstacle

Since I happen to be in Mexico, and most steeminas are... in other places, I would have to consider the time and money shipping would cost. It's not easy, as I have experienced. I remember finding a bargain multi-tool pocket knife on e-bay once, and even when the auction was over it was still incredibly cheap... until I had to pay for the shipping fees to Mexico. Suddenly the price dobled, making it just a little bit more than if I had bought it in a store right here. Another series of bad experiences got me and my sister sending each other greeting cards with bunnies in Santa's hats, and similar funny combinations, since a card intended for Christmas wouldn't arrive before Easter. She lives in Germany, by the way, so not THAT far away.

Start Buying Before Selling

In order to get an exact idea of what it means exactly to be selling things from Mexico online, I wanted to experience the process of buying through the @homesteaderscoop. Browsing through the goods for sale, I wanted to pick something that is:

• not living! Knowing the insane rules regarding the introduction of living creatures / cultures across international borders, I knew that any plants (especially seeds), unpackaged food stuffs, not to mention probiotic cultures were out of the question.
• relatively light-weight and small-size! Since this was an experiment, there was no need to go overboard. Besides, I'm pretty sure I won't be sending bottles of kombucha around the world. That was part of an an interesting idea last year, with several interested people, but in the end it turned out to be simply unrealistic.
• the vendor is actually willing to ship to Mexico! Okay, this last one goes without saying is an essential requirement. So as happy as I was to see the Rainbow Hair Scrunchie from @pappa-pepper's artisan daughter, I had to find something else that would actually make it here.

A Hand-died Bandana from The Gentle Soul

Finally I found the ideal thing: It's a beautiful bandana from an Oregon-based vendor, specializing in natural dies on natural yarn. How sweet! So I went right ahead and ordered... the last remaining item in stock. WOW, talking about perfect serendipity! The transaction was conducted in no-time at all (as is expected on the STEEM blockchain), and only then did I realize who the vendor behind The Gentle Soul was: none other than @sagescrub's partner!

Carfully Considering All Factors

I made sure not to have the holidays interfere with this shipping trial, so I waited patiently till the weekend after New Years. This way the product could be mailed out on the first Monday of the year, which was January 7th to be exact.

As for the shipping fee, it was originally going to be $13, but in the end it ended up being only $9. I don't know what this will mean for selling goods out of Mexico on a regular basis, but for now I'm happy about the good news.

Next I want to see how long it takes for the package to arrive, and then I would like to repeat this experiment the other way round: I want to send an item of similar size and weight to @sagescrub, and see how much money and time it'll cost. Then I can draw conclusions on further steps.

For right now I want to leave it at that. As for exactly what kind of things I want to sell, I'd like to make it exciting for you guys and tell you later. The other reason is, not everything is certain. There are a few more things to be organized, but that can be done while waiting for the mail.

About the Contributor:

@stortebeker is a passionate permaculturist, stuck in Mexico City. Instead of orchards and pastures he works with buckets and boxes, exploring all the possibilities an urban setting offers to grow something useful out of all the stuff around him. Among the things that get him excited are kitchen based worm-bins, the cultivation of probiotic drinks, mushrooms, spirulina, everything bicycle related, as well as natural construction techniques, keeping the dream lit that one day he may actually leave the city, and indeed work in orchards and pastures.

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A Free Marketplace for Steem

We provide a FREE marketplace for you to transact in STEEM, SBD and USD. Our co-op vendors are committed to sustainability, ethics and quality in their lives and work.

Unlike other marketplaces our vendors are not charged listing fees, subscription fees or transaction fees. This service is 100% free to them.

Support our alternative economy:

1. Purchase handmade products with STEEM, SBD or USD at https://homesteaderscoop.com
2. Spread the word that sustainable vendors are accepting STEEM, SBD and USD
3. Up-vote our posts at @homesteaderscoop
4. Follow our Curation Trail on SteemAuto to automatically upvote our contributors and vendors
5. Delegate SP to @homesteaderscoop

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Why Delegate to Homesteaders Co-op?

Your delegations will help us grow our community and reward our members for their ethical choices and actions.

In our modern world it is not always easy to choose to live sustainably. To do so often means forgoing income potential and the status quo. Our SteemPower is used to up-vote Homesteader Co-op contributors and vendors in order to reward and support their hard work. Some extra STEEM may one day go a long way for some individuals of our community.

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Who is Homesteaders Co-op?

Get to know our mission in our introduction post

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Want to sell sustainable, handmade products for STEEM, SBD and USD?

Learn more and apply here

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https://homesteaderscoop.com