Selling Handcrafted Cards

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

just testing my sig

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

testing again

[Gothicina]

testing again

Your sig works, all you've got to do now is stock your shop

[alisonofcoalway]

Hi - I'm not a card maker but I do make hand crafted jewellery and the same problems arise as have been discussed earlier in this thread.
Namely with hand-crafted items people like to see the items in real life, it's difficult getting pictures that do the product justice. When you start making items to sell, pricing is really difficult. You do need to cost out your cards so you are not selling at a loss - I know its not easy to do this especially when no-one is buying. You need to hit upon an idea that makes your 'different' - I think putting special individual messages in is an excellent idea and could be marketed on-line easily. You would need to plug this part of your selling strategy.
I attended a craft fair - long time ago now - lady selling cards was simply including a hand written message for the buyer - done on the spot - she was busy all afternoon. I took a peep at her cards - they were OK and she just tarted them up with the message written with a gold felt tip.
Can I also add that if you are selling 'hand crafted' items at a price that covers your costs and brings a small profit there are some places that don't work. Car Boots - people want bargains they want to get your price down. Craft Fairs - these have gone down hill over the last few years - too many 'bought in items' being allowed in, public treat them more like car boots some of the time. I belong to a craft association, we recruit members - their work must be 100% hand crafted and this is how we market ourselves locally 100% hand crafted.

I'm sorry I can't offer any foolproof way to ensure you have sales. But have a good look at what others are producing, be critical of your own work and be prepared to be honest with yourself if any of your ideas are not working and try other ideas you may have. Its not easy, but don't just sit back and moan cause people aren't buying, reassess everything all the time.

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

Your sig works, all you've got to do now is stock your shop

Stock? What's that?!

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

Actually somebody may be able to help me here. I had a lot of stock listed on in my ebay shop (which is winding down) and was wondering if there's an easy way to load it all onto my ebid shop? Or is it a case of starting all over again...

Gothicina - how do I put one of those smiley faces in my message?

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

Hi Alison
I saw a lady doing a similar thing at the NEC fayre a couple of weeks back, handwriting a name onto a card embellishment and she was had a constant queue and seemed to be doing really well. I have an online shop selling handmade cards and wedding stationery which should be up and running by xmas and I know what you mean about the pictures not doing the card justice. I decided to go for a web shop rather than selling locally because I am hoping people will be willing to pay a little more for them. When I've sold locally I've had to knock my prices down as people compare to local supermarket prices and think I'm expensive - if only they how much time and effort it takes to make these cards! I have a personalised message service built into my site but if they don't decide to have one all my cards come with a 'default' message. I also offer free postage as I know that from personal experience the added postage charges at checkout is fairly annoying and often sees me abandoning my cart as it bumps the price up especially when you're only buying one item. Anyway, if anyone has any other ideas I would be grateful.

[Gothicina]

Gothicina - how do I put one of those smiley faces in my message?

Hi, you use advanced view to reply, the smilies & options to change your font are there.

[kengillam]

I don't think people would queue up for my handwriting! bit like a drunken spider.

[Stampsandcraftsupplies]

Yep mine too! I print all my greetings off my pc!