You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Lamenting the cost of doing business, and who do you do business with? Happy #NeedleworkMonday!
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 :)