Crafts Articles

How To Sell Your Crafts

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by Shawn Vincent

The cash register rings, and the person across the counter from you smiles as they take the bag you're handing them. As they walk away beaming with excitement, they're chattering with their friend that this is exactly what they were looking for, but just haven't been able to find.

You're beaming with that deep sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing someone else just walked away with one of your crafts, with a big smile on their face. You're reminded again that starting your own craft business was one of the best things you ever did.

For years people were telling you that your crafts were wonderful, and you should sell them. They told you that you had a real gift and that you should share it through your own craft business. Turns out they were right, and you're sure glad you listened to them. Now you're doing what you love, and making money at it.

As you read the above paragraphs, do you have that sense of longing to have your own craft business? Do you want to be the one hearing the cash register ring and watch people walking away with your crafts smiling as they go?

The difficult part can be just knowing how to get started. How do you go from the idea, to actually selling those crafts. While I can't cover everything in this article, I can give you some basics as to how to get started.

Decide On A Craft To Sell

One of the first things you need to do is come up with an idea of a craft to sell. If you don't already have an idea, there are lots of things you can do to get an idea. Here are just a couple of ideas.

* Solve an everyday problem - Look around you and see what it is around you that's a problem, and come up with a solution for it. It doesn't have to be complex, just something simple. For example, at our house, we always have tons of pens everywhere. You could come up with a great idea for a nice looking pen holder. There are lots of everyday things like this that can give you ideas.

* Improve on an existing product - Look at at a product you already own, and do a variation of it. Take the idea of a paper towel rack. You could make really fancy paper towel racks and sell them. Maybe make a set of kitchen items centered around a theme. Paper towel rack, napkin holder, salt and pepper shaker holder. This would be improving on something that already exists.

Decide On The Price Of Your Craft

Something else you will need to do is price your craft. This is where a lot of people make a mistake. They don't consider all of the expenses really involved in producing a craft. You need to consider not only the cost of the supplies, but also the cost of being in the show, gas, and lodging if you are staying away from home. Make sure that you take into consideration all of your costs when coming up with a price.

You also need to determine how much you want to pay yourself an hour. You certainly have to be realistic, but you don't want to short yourself either. You really do need to get paid.

When you come up with a price that you think is realistic, compare it to other products that are similar to see if you are in the ballpark. Also, ask friends and family for honest feedback. This can be a great way to get an idea if your price is likely to work.

Decide Where To Sell Your Craft

Third, you are going to need to decide on where you will sell your crafts. You need to consider the types of crafts you are selling, and fit them to specific shows. If you are selling items that don't fit into the show, you may spend money for space, and end up not selling anything.

There are lots of smaller shows that you can get started with, in order to keep the costs down. This will also enable you to test your products and prices without too much investment.

There are lots of websites that will help you locate craft shows. Just type craft shows into Google to find some of these sites.

You can also check with schools, churches and farmers markets to find more possibilities to sell your products.

Once you get rolling you will have more ideas than you can follow.