Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Selling my wares

Just this past weekend, I went out to Heritage Village for their Autumn Treasure Hunting Flea Market. My Mom and I stayed in our camper and my aunt and uncle in theirs.
I had my knitted scarves, baby blankets and dishcloths, as well as some hemp jewelry and a few no-sew blankets on a table to hopefully sell a few.
I sold one scarf, 2 no-sew blankets, 2 necklaces and a bracelet.
I had hoped to sell more than that, but people were trying to lower my already low prices. I had one scarf priced at $15, and they wanted to give me $10. I had to stick to my prices. I'm not really doing all of this to get rich. My prices are only slightly above cost of my yarn, which means I can't give any sort of discount without taking a loss.
I'm happy with the feedback I was given, but I would really like to have sold more.

I'm hoping to have a lot more stuff made up before my next show. I am waiting on an application package for a Knights of Columbus craft show at the end of November. Some local high schools also have shows before the Holiday season (hurrah for being politically correct!).
The Village also has a fall craft show, but with a $65 entry fee for a Saturday and Sunday, I'm looking at a cost of around $260 just to go out. The reason for the extra $200? I work two jobs, one at minimum wage, and one slightly above. I get 4 hour shifts at one, and 5 at the other.
This all means I would have to sell at least $500 worth of product, because most of the stuff I make I simply double the cost of materials to get the price.
This isn't worth it, to me.

For anyone else who does craft shows, keep in mind the loss of your wages from work. Also, things like travel fees, cost of food once your're there, you will probably end up buying things from other crafters etc.

Comming soon: pictures of my friend Samantha's new scarves.

1 comment:

  1. ahh, it sucks that you sold so little! sometimes a little bargaining is worth it, even if it seems like you're taking a loss at first.

    ps: rather than putting my pictures on your blog, can you just put maybe one and then a link to that entry, or maybe to my vox? (http://sciborg.vox.com/) thanks :)

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