Are you thinking about wholesale?

Here is a great little post I found in the forums of Etsy world. Again, I haven't done wholesale, but who knows! Maybe I'll get approached by somebody =) Hope it helps.

Here is the link to the post where I found this great response at http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6140713.

A little about bluepiranha and her shop:
Design perspective: "From Simple to Simply Stunning". bluepiranha has been designing since 1993. bluepiranha technique is to saw, hammer, and shape metal into some awesome jewelry. Check out their blog http://bpjewelry.com/blog/. See some pictures at the bottom =)


bluepiranha says:
You actually should know your wholesale price before you retail. Typically most retail buyers are going to want to pay 50% of your retail price - that's keystone, but in recent years most people find that retailers are marking up more than 50% of wholesale just to make ends meet.

For example, if you sell and item for $25, a buyer would likely expect to pay $12.50 for it. Assuming you are doubling your wholesale price to determine your retail price. But if a buyer picks up your work and they mark it up to 2.5, that's $31.25 that they'd sell it for. If you are selling it for $25, why would anyone buy from that retailer? That's known as undercutting and is a big no-no in the wholesale arena.

Each medium is different, but I figure my pricing as follows:
COG (Cost of Goods, or your materials) = $5
labor at 15 minutes to create (say you're paying yourself $20/hr) = $5
overhead (say, 20%, so in this case, 20% of $10) = $2
profit margin (say, 30%, so 30% of $12) = $3.60

Then add them all together. So, $5 + $5 + $2 + $3.60 = $15.60. This is the *wholesale* price.Multiply that times,say, 2.5, and you get $39. This is the *retail* price.

Most people implement either a dollar minium (say, $200) or a piece minimum (say, 10 items). Some people do both. The point of having a minimum (dollar or piece) is to be sure that the buyer has enough of your goods to display appropriately in their store / gallery. If they only want three pieces, most of the time that's not going to make a great display. They need to have enough to display so that your items catch their customers' eyes.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

What NOT to do at a Craft Fair...

I haven't yet participated at a Craft Fair, but sure am planning to in the future. As I was looking through the Etsy forums I found this post by SoSheSews and thought it was pretty helpful and great things to keep in mind. Here is what she wrote (if you want to see the advice and comments of other Etsians please go to http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6149459):

A little about SoSheSews:
First she has adorable stuff! And!!! The clothes will actually fit me!! lol ok well here is a bit about her and her shop...All of her items are made by using recycled, repurposed, and upcycled materials. As you can tell I have fallen in love with this shop!!! Check her out I had to keep myself from posting too many pics ;)

Here are her tips:
1. Do NOT consider the other vendors "competition". In my fair opinion, this is just the worst way to go into it. Even if the other vendor sells the same type of stuff as you, customers are attracted to all kinds of different things. Consider them your "family" for the day and things will be way more positive for you.

2. Do NOT leave your table/booth for longer than is needed. Sure, the show may be slow. Sure, you haven't had a customer approach you for half an hour. But leaving your neighbor to mind your table is a luxury at most shows. Plus... I've personally witnessed lost sales due to this. Nobody likes to hear "oh... um... this isn't my table but I think they should be back in a little while."

3. Do NOT talk to other vendors about how much money you made or didn't make. Unless this is a relative or a best friend, there's no need to disclose that kind of information to someone. If someone asks you how it's been going for you just say "It's been going great! I'm having a lot of fun." Leave the dollar amount out of it... for the sake of embarrasing you or making the inquirer uncomfortable by comparison.

4. Do NOT talk bad about the organizers. End of story. Doesn't matter what's been done to you. Doesn't matter how they treated you. Unless they treated all the other vendors badly, people are going to be VERY uncomfortable with that. There's ways to handle bad situations with professionalism. Be discreet. Very discreet.

5. Do NOT ignore the folks who approach your booth... but do not hound them either. I'm gona tell you right now... a very simple "Hey there." can make a world of difference. I usually wait a few seconds after they approach. I say "Hey there" in my sweet, southern tone. Then after their response, I break my eye-contact and pretend to do something else until I sense that they need information or might be looking at me. I usually will sort-of half stand, with my knee in my chair so as to project a sense of casual-ness without the whole in-your-face feel of completely standing up whenever anyone enters my booth space.

6. Don't be an Eeyore. I'm not sure if I need to explain this further... but if you don't know who Eeyore is... well... just don't be a grumy, self-loathing, unoptimistic, rain-cloud of a person. Even if you really do "hate" the object you made that someone is asking about - resist the urge to crucify your efforts on it or bash your abilities against the rocks of their potential purchase. I am always all smiles... you'd be surprised... customers will sometimes seem "relieved" to see me smiling at them. Makes me wonder if no other vendors are smiling.