Selling Cards

[Elsonbabe]

It by chance coincides with the start of this forum...how useful...

I need to earn some money, from home....

I am on the info trail....I have a selection of cards I was going to send to work with a friend, and also my DF, selling them to the friends and collegues....but the friend P, is off with stress, and is not happy there...but that's another story...and DF is concerned they'd get damp, as he works in an old fort....so my two options have disappeared;)

I know I could got to shops etc..but have a rejection fear and low self esteem...so, I was considering doing it on a web site...anyone got any advice for this?? DH seems to think we have a NTL option, which would be free...

another friend E, has offered to hold a card party for me, so I'll work on stocks for that too...but....

Looking forward to your views..I think.....

[samsq]

Have you considered renting a table at a school fair or similar or even try a boot sale? On the run up to christmas there are often fairs advertised in the local newspapers so you could contact the organisers.

Alternatively would your local craft shop be interested in selling them, or even approach your village shops? It's worth while investigating.

With regard to the web site idea - one of the most difficult things is to actually get the traffic through to your web site. Yes there are various free areas you can advertise, but if you're looking at it as a short term solution, I would opt for your friends card party idea or my earlier suggestions.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Sam

[Debbygiraffe]

I would definately go down the school Fete/bazaar avenue. The schools are starting to organise their christmas activities and will often let you have a stall. Its hit and miss how much you make, but don't charge too much or people won't even look. You will have to pay between £10 - £15 or a %, so take that into account too. It can be rather denoralising, but equally, can be fun.
x Good luck

[cw18]

The schools round us don't hire out stalls -- if you want to donate a pile of cards with them taking 100% of the proceeds that's fine, but no selling to make any money for yourself!!

I have one local shop which sells fibres and buttons and similar bits, and I know they sell cards made by other people -- but I don't know how they operate this apart from the fact they prefer the cards to use bits bought from their shop!!

I do have people at work asking me if I'm going to start taking cards in for them to buy, but don't have a clue how to price them up!!! If I just work out the costs of materials and multiply that by a factor it doesn't take into account the fact that some techniques (decoupage for instance) can take an awful lot longer than others (like stamping and embossing).

[Kat the Cobbler]

I'm in a similar situation. My friend has said that he will sell some at his work but other than that I can't find anywhere else.

[Hysteri-CAL]

Hairdressers, florists (especially if you can do small cards with envies) balloon shops, post offices ... and good old work. These are the places I've sold to, although I haven't kept it up for about 2 years now, so really need to pull my thumb out and start selling again.

There's always ebay, but by the time you've paid listing fees etc., it whittles away your profit - AND - there's a huge market on there all doing the same thing.

[Aristoscrap]

I bit the bullet last year and went to a local goth clothing shop with some cards I had made as samples. I thought they would sell well in their shop - they were Zodiacs, Harvest Moon and Dragons. I took around 10 in as samples and the lady sold three before she'd found somewhere to put them! So she rang me and ordered 70. I charged what I wanted, which was fine, went back in the shop and they had doubled the price (fair enough) and they were selling really well. My advice would be to pick something unusual, or an unusual outlet - the people that shopped there wouldn't dream of walking into Clintons with all its pink fluffiness!

[Kassie-chip]

Hi

I was making many more cards than I had birthdays for so decided to take a small amount into my office to see if anyone was interested. I now have a regular box in our kitchen at work and also get orders for special birthday cards. I only sell them for £1.50 each but as they are a hobby for me I am happy to just clear costs and have a bit of money to basically go back out and buy more new products without feeling too bad.

Works well for me.

Kassie-chip

[Pat]

i make cards and take them into work. I charge £2 and £2.50 for each card. Some of the cards take ages to make if they are decoupage. Everyone who buys them are pleased with them so don't mind paying this amount for them. I also put inserts and verses in them.:)

[Elsonbabe]

Thank you ladies...I've had further positive vibes, so will definatley be going forward with this....I have about 50 cards in my box already...enough to start with in one site do you think??...a coulpe of each design!!!...

[Sharon Betts]

I've read this post with interest - I make cards for the enjoyment of doing it. I'd like to sell them, but have a friend that sells cards and seems to go to all the local places with her stall, and it is a small business for her - so at the risk of treading on her toes so to speak, I've never tried to sell them. Not working, as I have 3 small children 6, 4 and 7mths.
Trying to get another thing off the ground, etching baby footprints into copper - took some leaflets to local baby clinic, but no response so far, so not very encouraging. But I'm going to do a sample and leave it at the clinic on display - hopefully that will get me more interest.
Sharon.

[Elsonbabe]

Sharon, I get the impression it all takes a longer time than we think, but keeping the advertising up to date, changing evey month, helps, and if you have examples too:)...just read a site about selling cards, and he suggested a reference letter from people who were happy with your work.....he also suggested using a blog site to start advertising, especially if you can't get out to fairs etc...very interesting read....ohh...have you thought of the school...it's something I was going to ask this week, as they do get the 'bookpeople' coming in, so I was going to ask if they could take a variety box once every two weeks sort of thing...will let you know:D

[ellejaybee]

Hi all

In my area there is a local craft guild that I joined for a yearly fee of £20 and they sell my cards and take 30% off the price for the shop.(also have 2 special exhibitions in the art gallery each year)

I sell mostly for £1.50 to £2 as I find if I price them any higher no one buys them.

Loads of people sell cards in the shop so I don`t really sell many.

I have taken a basket into work a few times and left in the coffee room and have sold most of my cards that way.

I`ll never make any money out of it as I buy more stuff than I sell !!!

Lesley
x

[wssla00]

There are LOADS of great (Free) sites around that can start you off PLUS they allow checkout facilities so you get paid instantly . What about one all encompassing one where everyone adds their cards so its a one stop shop? I can help set it up for you if you need it

If anyone wants any more info on free websites that allow a checkout facility just PM me

[Kitty Crafts]

I made loads last year to take to my school fair - I was really positive and expected to sell them all ... I was charging £1.50 and as we all know, a lot of work goes into the cards. I had loads of people having a look but when they saw the price, quickly put them down again :( In the end, I reduced them to £1.00 but I felt llike they wanted something for nothing. These same people think nothing of going into a card shop and paying upwards of £3/£4 for a card that has 'mum' on (for example)

I am going to do the same this year - am I a glutton for punishment ? no ... I just love making my cards and if I can get a few pennies for them, all the better lol (I am going to be more prepared this year and have a selection of cards - not just Xmas)

Off to get busy :lol:

Kaz x

[Eileen C]

I started selling some cards last year, with a friend who was running a stall at the parish garden party, and sold loads. Then I took a few into work and sold them really quickly. A friend who works from home as a hairdresser asked if she could have some to sell to clients, so I made some up for her, and then one evening when I was meeting her at a parish council meeting I took some new stock for her, she wasn't there but I sold loads, to the most unlikely people! So now I have a cardboard display stand at work, where I sell quite a few, and a box at my friend's house. The parish card stall seems set to be a regular fixture in the summer, we did really well this year.

It's sometimes difficult to predict what will sell, but if they don't I just recirculate them, sometimes keeping them at home for a bit, or saving them for the summer stall.

I used to sell them for £1 just to cover some costs, 'cause really I'm making them for fun rather than profit, but lots of people said it wasn't enough, and noone complained when I put the price up to £1.50. It seems easier to have a flat rate, noone seems to mind that some simple cards cost the same as some more complicated ones, if it's the right card for the occasion. That situation might be different for selling through shops or a website, though. For special orders I charge a bit more. I get quite a lot of "commissions" from work, and the most complex one I've done was a ribbon tied concertina card with 7 sides, and I charged £5 for that one ( I just wish I'd taken photos of it, I may have to borrow it back!)

In an ideal world I'd do this instead of the day job, but there isn't as much money in it! Again, being honest, I tend to buy new and additional stash (to add to my every expanding hoard) with the money I get, rather than cover the cost of the stash I have used!

Good luck with your venture

Eileen

[shonam]

I would agree with Chrissie and try and find a 'niche' as you're more likely to get an interest there. Goth shops sound a good idea. Pet shops might be good too - also reptile shops too - I'd love a lizard card lol.

Would you consider doing wedding stationery on commission. I don't know if anyone does this but could you try going round wedding shops, limo hire, hotels and see if they could recommend your business/hand out flyers.

I think the problem with selling cards is there are alot of people doing it. However, that means there is a big market for toppers, embellishments etc. that might be something else to think about. You could sell these in shops/ebay and might do well.

Good luck with whatever you decide and keep us updated. I've been thinking of selling crafty things for a while to help pay for my 'habit' lol. Just never got round to it so wold be interested to hear how you get on.

Shona:)

[Jenniferjuniper]

Hi,
I used to have a small cardboard display stand for selling cards on that I bought mail order from a craft company but I can't for the life of me remember who I ordered it from...have any of you come across this kind of thing?
Thanks, Jenny

[cw18]

I've seen them advertised in magazine -- but haven't looked recently

[Hysteri-CAL]

ebay were selling them

[Valentine]

We have an online card shop (i'll PM you a link) to be honest, it does ok, but not brilliantly - as has been said before its hard to get people to look at it - however the people that do look always buy one or 2 cards & we have had a few commissions from it.

We also sell in the post office where i work (not that good as the majority of the customers are OAP's & they dont want to pay more than 50p for anything!!) and a couple of other local shops.

Ebay its not good - too many others on there & people cant see the quality of your work.

I still find the best places to sell are craft fairs, local small ones and the bigger ones (bigger ones are very good (always busy)but stall prices are very high - expect to pay around £100 - £200 per stall)- & they are more fun too - its nice have people comment on your cards & appreciate the work thats gone into them.

Good luck xxx