Lamenting the cost of doing business, and who do you do business with? Happy #NeedleworkMonday!
So, my fellow needleworkers, last week I was all excited about the prospect of consigning my latest batch of placemats in a local store. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck of going to the shop when the owner happened to be unavailable, twice in a row. BUT, I learned from the employee I talked to, that they mark up consigned items 25% as their commission. What?! So I walked down the block and asked at my coffee shop hangout. They mark stuff up 30%!
You know you want this rainbowy cheerfulness on your own table...
Maybe that's normal everywhere, I don't know, and the downtown shop owners have to pay the (well known to be exorbitant) rent somehow. But yikes! That puts my wares above what I think most folks would be willing to pay. Has anyone else run into this experience?
Hmmm. So I could either consign them locally, or put them on Etsy. On Etsy, both the site and Paypal take bites out of the seller's money and shipping also inflates the cost to the customer...but shipping is almost half of what the local consignment fee would be, so it ultimately is more affordable to the customer. The upside is a bigger audience, too. It's a shame because I want to support local business (and have them support me), but when local isn't as affordable...! :(
As an informal poll, for those who sell or consign their items, who do you use, and why? When I was doing research on avenues for selling what I make, the loose breakdown on fees was:
- Etsy -- .20 listing and renewal fee per item, and 3.5% on sales
- Ebay -- around 10% of sale price
- Amazon Handmade -- 10% of sale price
- Then with all 3 of the above options, you throw in shipping charges (costing the customer more) and Paypal taking .30 plus 2.9% (costing you more)
- And now I know that locally the consignment fee will be 25-30%
- Steembay is an option I know...but there's a lot of "no bids" on there and I'm not sure placemats are a niche that folks using Steembay are attracted to!
And here are the other sides!
Bottom line: Etsy is looking like what I ought to stick with. So here is my Etsy link, for anyone interested in checking them out :) https://etsy.me/2H5bQEl
Now that I've listed this set, I've got a hankering to start on another set and maybe change up the pattern this time.
As for the egg apron...it's still a yarn ball, LOL. Last week was busy and non-routine and I didn't have leisurely coffee shop time to curl up on the couch and crochet. I'm hoping this week will be better!
Happy #NeedleworkMonday to all, as usual I'm looking forward to making the rounds of lovely handmade items and seeing how everyone is doing on projects this week <3
They are very pretty. I have a booth at a flea market with anything I want to sell. It's only $40 a month. If you had a bunch of stuff to sell, it's an idea?!
What do you sell there?
Small pieces of furniture, pictures, decor, primitives
You should do a post on that sometime. I’d love to see pictures!
Ditto!!
Hmm, I've mulled over trying out the local flea market when they do their "Giant Flea Market" event. I'd just need to get a whole lot more inventory made up and find out what they charge for a tent! Thanks for reminding me! :)
I sell most of my stuff at an artisanal shop I run with 10 other artisans. We each pay 30€ a month to cover the rent. If you work a shift at the shop you don't pay commission if you don't it's 20%. Most shops here (in France) charge 20-30% commission. You'd be surprised to find people are willing to pay it (depending on the shop). I sell a reasonable amount of stuff at the tapestry museum gift shop (they add 20-30% on). I used to sell on etsy but it was a lot of work and stress (and once you add postage on it bumps the price up higher than the 30%shops charge). I may sell some of my brooches on etsy again soon, but not bigger items. :)
I like the idea of pooling resources with a bunch of other people to put a brick and mortar shop together. Who were most of your Etsy customers? Were they also in France or were you having to deal with a lot of international shipping?
Mostly USA actually! A few UK (one a real pain in the A) and some one in Spain (who bought two sheep brooches on two separate occasions wrote a nice review in Spanish, but only gave me 4 stars out of 5 each time). As long as I sold things that could be packaged under 3cm in depth the postage costs were only 7euros to USA (including tracking) but went up to 20euros if over 3cm. I am not sure what you make, but my felt stuff looks better in real life than in photos and I get better results when people can pick it up and feel it. So, in the flesh sales work better for me. My best year on etsy I got about 200euros from it. If you are in USA you might do better, and depends what you sell too. The artisan thing works well, but is a lot of work to organise, and depends on your local laws about pop-up shops etc (Edit: and costs vary too. Our little town has a few empty shops and rents are cheap 300-400€ a month. But I know some artisans in other areas who pay 100€ a month, each, and have to work a day a month there too. So can be expensive in time and money) . Try putting some things in local shops at an increased price (as long as it is a sale or return policy and you don't have to pay anything), you have nothing to lose. Also you can tell people on you facebook page (or whatever you use) that things are available in such and such a shop, but they can buy direct from you and save 30%. That way people can go look at the items, and touch and feel them and if they want it cheaper can buy from you (make it sound like they are getting a special deal)
Edit: make sure you have a label, or business card attached so people can contact you directly if they have bought your item, or had it as a present. Someone contacted me via facebook after being given one of my brooches as a present. She runs a shop and she bought 14 brooches from me to sell in her shop!!!
Wow, thanks for those ideas! I'm pretty sure the local merchants do consignment on the sale-or-return basis, and I'd never thought of advertising that my stuff could be viewed in the shop with the option of getting it cheaper directly from me!
I have business cards but had totally forgotten to attach any to my latest set of placemats, so I'm glad your suggestion reminded me to get them out :)
I feel your pain @mtnmeadowmomma! I, too am feeling crushed under the weight of all the fees: web hosting fees, Square, Paypal, shipping. It really does seem like Etsy is the best bet for your beautiful place mats.
Oh, I forgot about Square! I haven't sold in person since the "free" period elapsed!
I don’t sell, but I’m a consumer, so maybe my input is worth something? Just last month, I quit subscribing to Amazon. (I thought about doing a post on it.) I personally am willing to pay a little more for something I really want/need. I prefer buying in person (no shipping, plus the gratification of having it that day).
Are you able to try a little of each out, to see which gets the most traffic?
Of course it's worth something :) You unplugged from Amazon?? (gasp!) I want to know why! ;-))) It would cut us off from so many things we simply can't get around here, I can't imagine kissing them goodbye, though Walmart has been luring me away more lately since they don't have an annual subscription fee and Amazon has been lagging on delivery to us.
That surcharge percentage they bump the price up by seems about right for what I've seen around the states. It certainly makes it hard to sell anything in small stores that way.
Etsy might be your best place, or finding out if there are regular farmers markets or craft markets you can attend. I saw some similar placemats at a craft show last Christmas and the seller had quite a few different colors available and patterns. And she seemed to be doing brisk business.
Oh, that's good to know! I tried a craft show two Christmases ago with just my small quilts and paid twice as much for the booth as I made in sales...hard lesson learned to have more "stuff"! The farmers market might be an option, too, especially once tourist season hits :)
Smaller pieces seem to sell best at craft shows and markets. Things in the 3-10 dollar range.
Over the years I have bought table runners and hot pads and dish towels that were made to hang from drawer pulls at various markets and fairs.
There's some folks at our farmers market who have some amazing quilts and I lust after them but I can't drop $90-$250 in one unplanned expense. Someday though...
That was the same thing my craft fair neighbor told me...have a bunch of stuff in the ~$5 range to keep people hanging around your table digging through baskets and bins so that other people would be attracted over to join them :))) Hot pads are something a friend suggested so I probably will make some up if I ever try a craft fair again.
I like how you used the phrase "I lust after them but". Yep, I can exactly relate to that!
The one local shop I consigned copies of my book at marked them up 100%! I'm not kidding. It's crazy expensive to get my paperback novel there. They haven't sold a single one, and no wonder. And I thought the $5 increase in price from Amazon just from me listing it as available to indie bookstores and libraries made it crazy expensive. Sigh!
100% is outrageous! I can't figure out that reasoning at all...why should they make as much money as the person who actually wrote the book?!
They are making more than me, actually.
I pay about $7.50 per copy to the printer, wholesale. I get $11 for a sale at the shop, so, I profit $3.50. The store profits $11.
That is, if anyone pays $22 plus tax for a novel!
That....I have no words. Wow!!!
😯😯😯!!
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Love these! They are totally adorable and I know they would look great on any table!! I think etsy probably is the way to go. You could always sell them to the consignment place and lower your price so when they mark it up, it's more appropriate... But then you're losing out. You should see if your church or something would have a craft show. I set one up one year at our church and it wasn't bad. I got a lot of people to sign up to come (make up, jewelry, at home businesses) and charged each of them $10-25 for their booth space which went to the church ministries. Anyway, maybe there is a craft show in your area where you could sell them at some point during the year too! :)
Aww, thank you! I thought about dropping the price for consignment just so they'd be reasonable enough to tempt people but that's not exactly sustainable for me! Not if I want to use nice fabric, anyway. With all the suggestions for craft shows or flea markets I'm leaning toward giving it another shot if I can get enough inventory made up to make it worth it. I'm a little gun shy after my one and only craft show selling experience (dismal) a couple Christmases ago, but I did come away with lessons learned and I might as well put them to use sometime!
I never had much luck selling at craft shows either, but I always enjoyed going to them. ;)
Oh gosh, at the one where I tried selling, I wandered around and spent way more money on everybody else's stuff than I made! (facepalm)
wonderful mats for the table !!!! I do not sell my products so I did not know what difficulties are connected with this. I read with interest the comments: this is a general problem. I also think that it is better for the sale to have small, bright and inexpensive projects. as a buyer, I rarely buy expensive things. but something small, beautiful and inexpensive for the soul I buy more often.
"something small, beautiful and inexpensive for the soul I buy more often" ooh, I love that description! It's very true--I realize that I do the same thing at craft fairs and flea markets. And, thank you! I really need to make some for ourselves to use, too!
Those placemats are beautiful! I have an Etsy shop but mostly only sell vintage items. It seems like my handmade items get lost there. I have also tried to sell handmade items on consignment and they charge 30% to 50% so Etsy is definitely the best route but like I said, my handmade items seem to get lost. Good luck!!
Thank you! I appreciate that. It's unfortunate for everybody else in the same boat, but I have to say it helps to see that I'm not alone in this boat!