Being a Craft Seller – a Few Insights

A few things to be prepared for when you start selling.

You have grown your craft hobby and are now ready to take things a step further.

Perhaps you want to do some craft markets, or school fayres. Perhaps you want to run a charity stall, or sell a few items online.

Now, you may say that it doesn’t matter whether or not you sell a thing – that it’s not about the money; it’s about adding extra enjoyment to your craft and developing cameraderie with other crafters.

And of course that will be true.

But until you have spent the day at a craft fair and not sold a single item, you won’t know just how crushing that can feel! It can be a real confidence knocker.

But please don’t let that insight make you give up even before you begin.
Most of us who sell our craft items have had very disappointing days, but we learn from them and turn that disappointment into a positive.

We think about what went wrong and then we think about changes we can make to put those things right so that it doesn’t happen again.

(Note: There will be the odd occasion when whatever you do will make no difference – perhaps the craft market clashes with an important football match; perhaps it’s raining and blowing a gale outside; etc – nothing you can do about that).

But here’s a few things you can think about before you begin:

Most of us enjoy crafting because…well…we like our craft.
But sadly that doesn’t always give us the insights we need to sell the items we so lovingly make.

We need to learn about our potential customers and things they will be looking for when they browse our work.

Does your craft item have a purpose? A use?
I know that we all like to make things because we think they are creative, unique, etc, but small business sellers need to think about the purpose of the items they sell.

The purpose of something doesn’t mean it has to be useful in the utilitarian sense (although many are).

It could simply serve the purpose of a gift for someone – so think about who the gift could be for. And even with gifts, in today’s economic market, most people are looking to buy gifts which they think have a use.

For example:

• A pretty purse makes a lovely gift and it’s useful too! So make sure it will hold money without small coins falling out 🙂
• A vase may look gorgeous in design and structure, but the person thinking of buying it will probably be thinking of where it will go, what they will put in it, etc. So will your vase design meet their expectations?
• A gorgeous lacy tablecloth will get much admiration at craft fairs, but is it washable? Will it fit on the average table?
• That painting you created with love and great skill: what’s the betting that the person thinking about buying it is trying to conjure up an image in their mind of their living room and is wondering whether your artwork will match the sofa!
• A beautiful dress may look gorgous on the dressmaker’s model you have brought with you, but will it fit the average purchaser?

As an aside, I used to sell vintage clothing. I had a gorgeous 60s dress for sale which everyone admired and many were prepared to pay a really good price for. But it was too small for everyone who tried it on! (60s sizes were incredibly small!). So 6 years later, it’s still on a hanger in my wardrobe (It doesn’t fit me either… 😀).

So, think about the purpose of the craft items you wish to sell.
You can still make things just for you – there’s certainly no need to give that up.
And once you learn how to divide crafting just for you and crafting for selling, you’ll enjoy the process all the more.

An Item Doesn’t Sell…
You’ve thought about your buyers. You’ve considered the purpose of your sales items.
But what if some of your craft items still don’t sell?

Don’t expect all your craft items to be received with tumultuois applause 😀
You will have a few items that you may love, but buyers will ignore, even if you try your very best to promote them.

First thing to consider here:
Do you need to sell them? If so, then reduce them to an ‘amazing bargain’ price and stick them in a basket at the front of your stall. If nothing else, they will act as a loss leader to bring customers in.
You may be sad at selling something you have made with love, at a price maybe even lower than it cost to make, but it can still serve a purpose.

And even if you still can’t sell something after that; you have still navigated a learning curve which tells you that you probably won’t be making any more of these items 😀

But before you abandon the item completely, try to look at it with a buyer’s eye.

• Is it just too expensive for your market?
• Is it made in a colour which many people don’t like?
• If it’s in fabric, is it a fabric which some people have problems with? (Velvet is a case in point – quite a few people can’t bear to touch it, despite the rest of us loving the feel of it!).
• And so on….

It’s surprising all the new things we learn just by selling at craft markets.

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Anyway, that’s a few insights about selling your craft items.
I will post more later on about other aspects of selling.
But I think that’s enough for now.

I hope you found some insights in there which will help you with being a craft seller.
It actually helped me think more about the whole issue of selling while I was typing this out.
So you see, there’s a purpose to everything! 😀

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