Selling handmade craft, eBay, Etsy or other??
Discussion
Hi - wife is very good at making handmade decorations, stuff like crocheted garlands, felted decorations, personalised embroidered napkins etc.
She wants to see about selling some Christmas themed stuff, mainly as a hobby but obviously with the intention of turning a profit.
Can anyone give me some advice about where to get started?
From what I gather, selling on eBay is a potential nightmare as the protection seems very pro-buyer. I've heard of Etsy but no experience.
Any advice or views welcome, cheers
She wants to see about selling some Christmas themed stuff, mainly as a hobby but obviously with the intention of turning a profit.
Can anyone give me some advice about where to get started?
From what I gather, selling on eBay is a potential nightmare as the protection seems very pro-buyer. I've heard of Etsy but no experience.
Any advice or views welcome, cheers
Might be mistaken, but I think etsy have upped their fees recently, relatively expensive from what I understand. Also be aware they will hold back up to 75% of funds for 45 days if you're a new seller. Putting that aside, it sounds like the ideal platform for what your wife makes and will probably give access to the biggest relevant market as that's the sort of place people will go for those sorts of products. Just depends if she can deal with the T&C's.
Other alternative is to create her own website. My wife did that recently, wasn't too hard using one of the "old the shelf" web design packages. Then drive the traffic via facebook, instagram etc.
Other alternative is to create her own website. My wife did that recently, wasn't too hard using one of the "old the shelf" web design packages. Then drive the traffic via facebook, instagram etc.
etsy is the best known - but there are equivalents e.g. Folksy in the UK: https://blog.folksy.com/sell-on-folksy
Not wishing to be negative but do some very careful calculations on her costs & the likely selling price. My sister has looked into doing this a couple of times & bacically if she charges enough to make it worthwhile then her prices will probably be too high to sell anything. Don't forget the cost of packaging & postage as it can easily swallow any potential profit.
Mr Pointy said:
Not wishing to be negative but do some very careful calculations on her costs & the likely selling price. My sister has looked into doing this a couple of times & bacically if she charges enough to make it worthwhile then her prices will probably be too high to sell anything. Don't forget the cost of packaging & postage as it can easily swallow any potential profit.
Yep already got one eye on this. I suspect to make it worthwhile even a simple little felted tree decoration will end up being like £10-15 which to me, is just nuts! Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
MBVitoria said:
Yep already got one eye on this. I suspect to make it worthwhile even a simple little felted tree decoration will end up being like £10-15 which to me, is just nuts!
Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
There are very few people who can turn a hobby / craft into a business as the costs just don't stack up - what a lot do is take tables / stands at local craft fairs, or art trails and sell there - usually with the expectation that they will cover the costs so that their hobby is basically free, but they are not making money from it - so if tools and material costs = £5 per item, they look to sell for £4-£6 to roughly cover those costs - not £10 to make a profit. It gives them a guilt-free cost-free hobby... the minute you try to make money you are into everything from taxes to liabilities to insurances to returns etc.Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
akirk said:
MBVitoria said:
Yep already got one eye on this. I suspect to make it worthwhile even a simple little felted tree decoration will end up being like £10-15 which to me, is just nuts!
Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
There are very few people who can turn a hobby / craft into a business as the costs just don't stack up - what a lot do is take tables / stands at local craft fairs, or art trails and sell there - usually with the expectation that they will cover the costs so that their hobby is basically free, but they are not making money from it - so if tools and material costs = £5 per item, they look to sell for £4-£6 to roughly cover those costs - not £10 to make a profit. It gives them a guilt-free cost-free hobby... the minute you try to make money you are into everything from taxes to liabilities to insurances to returns etc.Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
I'm sure if we did a detailed time and motion study, we'd find that the hours spent for the money made was probably less than min-wage ...... but that's missing the point. She'd have been doing all the patterns anyway because she enjoyed doing them. The fact that she was able to make a few quid off of them was an added bonus.
I doubt there's any crafter who embarks on selling what they make with visions of global domination and a listing on the FTSE 100. Most would be happy to cover the cost of their materials.
StevieBee said:
akirk said:
MBVitoria said:
Yep already got one eye on this. I suspect to make it worthwhile even a simple little felted tree decoration will end up being like £10-15 which to me, is just nuts!
Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
There are very few people who can turn a hobby / craft into a business as the costs just don't stack up - what a lot do is take tables / stands at local craft fairs, or art trails and sell there - usually with the expectation that they will cover the costs so that their hobby is basically free, but they are not making money from it - so if tools and material costs = £5 per item, they look to sell for £4-£6 to roughly cover those costs - not £10 to make a profit. It gives them a guilt-free cost-free hobby... the minute you try to make money you are into everything from taxes to liabilities to insurances to returns etc.Trying to do the supportive husband thing as I know it's important to her but if it was purely about money there are much easier ways to do this. Also, no doubt there will be some nutters to deal with.
I'm sure if we did a detailed time and motion study, we'd find that the hours spent for the money made was probably less than min-wage ...... but that's missing the point. She'd have been doing all the patterns anyway because she enjoyed doing them. The fact that she was able to make a few quid off of them was an added bonus.
I doubt there's any crafter who embarks on selling what they make with visions of global domination and a listing on the FTSE 100. Most would be happy to cover the cost of their materials.
I think the starting point may be for us to pay a fee for a table at the next church hall craft event and see what the reaction is.
I sell on Etsy and Ebay, fees are high on both but you'll obviously factor that in, shipping with Royal Mail is also high but again just a cost to factor in. What you shouldn't do is underestimate what people will pay. If the product is unique and high quality, people will pay a lot more than you think. Work out your costs, add a healthy margin to make it worthwhile and see what happens. As someone else has said, Etsy will hold back 75% of funds in the beginning and at random times sometime! I find the clients on etsy a lot more pleasant to deal with though, ebay brings out a lot more difficult clients, the sort that will order at 9pm Saturday then message at 9am Monday morning demanding a refund as it hasn't arrived yet.
If you end up shipping a lot, you can open up a credit account with Royal Mail for discounted shipping.
Ebay has Store options, if you end up listing a lot it can be cheaper to take out a store with so many free listings.
I list 2000+ items, been doing it 10+ years as a sideline, does alright but is hard work. Consider carefully how much free time you're willing to devote!
If you end up shipping a lot, you can open up a credit account with Royal Mail for discounted shipping.
Ebay has Store options, if you end up listing a lot it can be cheaper to take out a store with so many free listings.
I list 2000+ items, been doing it 10+ years as a sideline, does alright but is hard work. Consider carefully how much free time you're willing to devote!
StevieBee said:
A few years back, my daughter started to make her own knitting patterns; designing various cuddly characters and the like. Started to sell these on Etsy. This evolved into a dedicated channel (@wollymcwoolface if you're interested) where she started getting affiliate deals with yarn brands and other knitting based companies. She never earned fortunes but made a handy dent in their deposit saving for a house. If it were not for her day job, she could probably have taken it to the next level and started making a living from it.
I'm sure if we did a detailed time and motion study, we'd find that the hours spent for the money made was probably less than min-wage ...... but that's missing the point. She'd have been doing all the patterns anyway because she enjoyed doing them. The fact that she was able to make a few quid off of them was an added bonus.
I doubt there's any crafter who embarks on selling what they make with visions of global domination and a listing on the FTSE 100. Most would be happy to cover the cost of their materials.
My partner does similar, I quickly worked out that the patterns were money for old rope, and persuaded her to crank as many out as possible. They just make a steady dribble of cash into her bank and she doesn't have to lift a finger.I'm sure if we did a detailed time and motion study, we'd find that the hours spent for the money made was probably less than min-wage ...... but that's missing the point. She'd have been doing all the patterns anyway because she enjoyed doing them. The fact that she was able to make a few quid off of them was an added bonus.
I doubt there's any crafter who embarks on selling what they make with visions of global domination and a listing on the FTSE 100. Most would be happy to cover the cost of their materials.
As for the rest of it, it doesn't pay, not worth doing IMHO, but it keeps her happy & occupied...
MBVitoria said:
From what I gather, selling on eBay is a potential nightmare as the protection seems very pro-buyer. I've heard of Etsy but no experience.
Both are trust based systems. Yes eBay can be a bit tricky at times, but it's still a great way to sell.As said, Etsy is good for craft stuff, but fees are a bit higher. (Especially the "Off-Site Ads" con).
Best way to test it is simply have a go. I'm guessing the £s here aren't mega, so presumably risk is low?
Mr Pointy said:
Not wishing to be negative but do some very careful calculations on her costs & the likely selling price. My sister has looked into doing this a couple of times & bacically if she charges enough to make it worthwhile then her prices will probably be too high to sell anything. Don't forget the cost of packaging & postage as it can easily swallow any potential profit.
This I was just going to post the same. Factor into account materials, time at £11 per hour you may well find she is making a loss on them. BoRED S2upid said:
Mr Pointy said:
Not wishing to be negative but do some very careful calculations on her costs & the likely selling price. My sister has looked into doing this a couple of times & bacically if she charges enough to make it worthwhile then her prices will probably be too high to sell anything. Don't forget the cost of packaging & postage as it can easily swallow any potential profit.
This I was just going to post the same. Factor into account materials, time at £11 per hour you may well find she is making a loss on them. I’d say at the beginning stay away from eBay with craft items, Etsy could be worthwhile but the search on there isn’t the most helpful and a lot of items get lost in a sea of unrelated things.
Using social media, and stalls at a few local markets to test demand would be a better way to start off.
Using social media, and stalls at a few local markets to test demand would be a better way to start off.
ChrisH79 said:
I’d say at the beginning stay away from eBay with craft items,
Why so? I usually sell car manuals, but I did sell two cushions that my mother in law had embroidered (or stitched or knitted or something 
)Both sold in the first week, for a good price & we got good feedback.
ChrisH79 said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Why so? I usually sell car manuals, but I did sell two cushions that my mother in law had embroidered (or stitched or knitted or something )
Both sold in the first week, for a good price & we got good feedback.
Fine you’ve proven me wrong ??)Both sold in the first week, for a good price & we got good feedback.
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