Making stuff for sale

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Jerry In Maine
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Making stuff for sale

Post by Jerry In Maine »

I'm just a hobbyist, bit i wouldn't turn down the chance to generate a little income.

Anyone selling stuff at craft fairs or online, and if so what sort of thing sells well?

Here in Maine we have lots of craft fairs in the spring where folks sell stuff they made while stuck inside during the previous winter.
I'm just a number in a great design

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by rscrawford »

Original pieces sell the best (for the most money). If you simply buy models and carve them out, well, its a lot cheaper to just buy that stuff from China :D
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Adrian
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by Adrian »

Might be worth popping over to the ShopBot forum (http://talkshopbot.com) and reading the extensive posts from Eugene King (forum id is genek). He seems to do very well from craft fairs and has lots of hard won info to pass on.

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by Leo »

After Adrians post I will also be very interested in Eugene's information.

One thing I do know is that we all too often apply too low of a "value" on some of the stuff we do.

I would stay away from the Wally World or Chinese stuff. There is no way to compete with that.

I think you do need a large volume of low cost stuff, but you do NOT want to put a lot of time and labor into that stuff.
If it's gonna sell cheap - it should be volume made with little labor and time.

OK - not to read Eugene's stuff.
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by Strat »

I decided about 3 years ago to start a home business, and now I get 1, 2, or 3 sales a day. It takes some time to get started. I’m not at craft fairs yet, but I go to a lot of them to see what’s selling, you need a big inventory. I have a store on ebay, on etsy, I have a website and sell on amazon. What I’m saying is it can be done and there is a lot of room for you. Find your niche, make gifts, give them away see what people like and how long that’s you, and have fun.

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by Xxray »

Eugene is a great guy with a super ethic and inventive spirit.
He is also an aggressive promoter, the "get out and knock on doors" kinda guy. Nothing at all wrong with that but not everyones style, certainly not mine. He freely offers a wealth of insight and ideas though, well worth checking out. His main racket is selling cheap items in volume, 1,000's at a time, and that once again is not everyones style. He makes many of his sales on items produced on a duplicating lathe, a tool not many are ever going to own, don't think he could do it on CNC alone.
Never tried a craft fair, through a friend of mine stocks alot of my items at a flea market lasering booth, sales are soso . Not many big spenders at flea markets,,, Interest has been off the hook and my signs just being there have attracted many people to his booth, but if they are expecting $19.99 they are going to be in for a rude disappointment, and most are expecting just that. Have tried online with sporadic sales, if I was depending on that for dinner I would have starved to death long ago.
My main source of sales is on the job, I'm in the construction trade and am often on jobs with 100's of well paid guys, I usually bring in a sample or my tablet with a portfolio of pics of things I have made, once I start selling things it builds momentum as more guys see them and word gets around, and many get my number for ideas that they may come up with in the coming months.
Also associated with a MC club and those guys are big into signage and visual bling. So though I am not an aggressive self promoter like Eugene I do Ok, my signs basically sell themselves, its a matter of making them visible to as wide an audience as possible. I have also made and given out free signs, not purely out of the kindness of my heart because I know that if one is put in a club or bar, orders are sure to follow.

The key is to find a niche and offer a unique, visually exciting product at a reasonable cost, then open it up to as many folks as possible ,,, Eaiser said than done, I know.
Doug

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Jerry In Maine
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by Jerry In Maine »

I think I could do best catering to the tourists...lots of souvineer shops here many tending to the folks coming off the visiting cruise ships.

Honestly I think I could take an empty soup can, write MAINE on it with a Sharpie and it would sell. I bet I could draw lobster on it and get 50% more.

So maybe this is my niche...
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by rscrawford »

Have you done any inlays? (I like the v-inlay method). Making one inlay is kind of a pain, but if you are making 50 (or 500) of the same thing, its not much more work than making one. Putting an inlay in something increases its selling value by quite a bit (something that isn't common, and in the past was something that took A LOT of skill to do and so most people still associate inlays with skill).

For instance, small keychains. You can buy the rings for pennies each, make a little wood keychain with an inlay or a v-carve in it for the tourists. Supplies are next to nothing, but you'd have to make hundreds of them at a time in order to make good money. But that's something that you can set up and have the machine cut out 100 at a time while you are working on sanding and finishing the previous batch.
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by TReischl »

The key to success is to advertise. You can make the best item in the world but if no one knows about it, it won't sell.

Websites these days are extremely important. It pays to get one down right with a nice clean look. People are familiar with the web, gone are the days of putting up a "homey" website and thinking it is good enough. Shop around and you can get a really good website for not a lot of bucks.

If you are thinking of doing fairs, remember, a certain portion of people hem and haw and then wish they had bought. So a biz card with your website on it and a way to purchase is important. I have a friend who owns a pottery business, has a brick and mortar store. She tells me that more than half of her sales come in off the web. Either from people who were in the store or from someone who got the site address from a visitor.

I have some experience selling via stores. There are positive and negatives. I learned the hard way to not put things in a store on consignment. If your item is good enough to be in the store, then it is good enough for the owner to buy it and resell.

I am not keen about craft fairs (by my definition those are where a person sees a lot of "country" stuff, jigsaw pine with cutesy sayings, etc). A few people I have talked to have said that if you have items below a magic $20 price tag it can work well. Higher priced items, not so much and be prepared to be insulted with customers who tell you that your $100 item is only worth $15. That is because some people who go to craft shows think that everyone selling there is hurting for money. The other difficulty is that you have to pay for space. So immediately you have to sell X items just pay for the space.

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by fixtureman »

Eugene also sells a dvd with some of his designs on and how to market them.

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by rej »

better have insurance for the flea market sales. when little Johnny chokes on a small item you made, your fault or not, lawsuit coming. and those types of customers look to sue rather than work. good luck.
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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by TReischl »

We all hear the media stories about lawsuits. For a reason, the more outrageous they are the more people watch and they can charge more for advertising dollars.

For some strange reason I have lived all these years without anyone suing me for anything. If I listened to the media, I would never step foot outside of the door for fear of being sued by someone for something.

It is not as easy to file a lawsuit as many people believe. The first hurdle is to find a lawyer who actually believes there is money to be made. Very few people have the deep pockets required to just hire a lawyer flat out, they have to find a lawyer who will work for a percentage. Lawyers who work on that basis do not take any old case that comes along so they can waste their time on a very iffy outcome.

If we all worried constantly about attorneys suing us, we would not build anything. That cute little plaque with a cute saying on it could fall off the wall and hit Johnny in the head. A cabinet door could pinch Suzy's little fingers. The cutting board could slip and ooops, it is your fault for not putting non skid pads on the bottom. Yup, you could be sued for all those things and lots more. But in reality most people live their entire lives without being sued.

The media specializes in fear mongering, it sells advertising space.

One other note, I have walked through a few flea markets and craft shows in my time. See lots of earrings, key chain thingy's, etc. I have yet to hear of anyone being sued cause little Johnny grabbed an earring and ate it.

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Re: Making stuff for sale

Post by scottp55 »

Hey Jerry, We have two Shopbot Desktops(Limestone/K'port) and are just starting up. Taking Desktop to Van Buren Craft Show this weekend with everything from $10 VCarved crosses to $95 cribbage boards for sale. Mainly a bunch of proto's of possible items we want to see if there is any interest in, and to get opinions of hand-rubbed finish vs. lacquer/varnish fast finishes. Between Camden and Bah Habah you also have a very high end market close by. Check out Eugene as he has helped us a tremendous amount with advice for free, his approach is not for everyone, but he's a wonderful guy(even though we constantly argue quality vs. quantity). Currently proto'ing his wood barrettes that he just came out with that he's selling like hotcakes. Check out his opinions on juried shows as Camden has one. If part time I'd go quality and use interesting wood and blend Vcarving and bring samples to the highest end shops. Van Burens the teeniest show you can imagine, but it's a shakedown and expect most people just to be watching a CNC for the first time. Biggest show will be Madawaska's Acadian Congress in August with 50,000 people. Make lots of one ofs and show around to find interest levels(we've had to NOT sell stuff so we'd have samples this weekend). Should be able to find a niche you like as we have tourists with a lot of cash :) VCarving "Made in Maine" turns out to be a huge plus( Whodathunkit). If you e-mail me at scottkport@gmail.com I'll let you know what people liked at this weekends show. Good luck.
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