or even flea market.  I know you would need to make your products before hand to sell.  How do you determine

how many to make when you do set up to sell.   Also how do you stored the items you make till it time to sell them?

 

Wayne  

Hello Wayne,

I don't go to the weekend shows for one reason as you mentioned, as to where to store them while you are making them.

I have found that if you were to make up a portfolio with pictures of what you make the folks can them place orders with you if they are interested in some of your products. You can't read peoples minds on what strikes their fancy or desires but, they may ask you if could you make this or that for a later show or date. It is OK to have a few smaller items to sell out right for they will be rather small and easy to manage such a a rack to hold the salt and pepper shakers along with a small supply of napkins.

Never set up with larger itams that take two men and a boy to set up for they are items that the buyers would not have room to take them home if they bought them from you and you would most likely lose out on a sale unless you are prepaired to deliver the piece yourself. Good Luck on your future endeavors.

 

Each venue is different. When I did shows, I picked the ones that were recurring. The more often the better. The first visit to a show was recon to try to assess the quality and  prices of the items, and affluence of the show visitors. Lots of conversations with vendors, too. I'd always ask how many times they'd been at that show and, where they were from. If they were there often and came from far away, I figured it must be a good show. whenever If I chose to enter my work there I made several different items at different price points, to see which sold better. 

Of course, I was always open for custom work, too. 

My items were all relatively small, jewelry boxes, band saw boxes, mirrors and a few toys and the like. Storage was never a problem. I used 14 large plastic tubs to transport the items and the ones that didn't sell, just remained in the tubs until the next show. 

Now, we use them to store Christmas decorations and stuff for the IRS to sort through if they ever audit us.

 

 

Wayne it is a hard question to answer.

 You just have to get a feel for the market in the area you are selling to.

You want to have enough on hand that you don't sell one and are out of merchandise to sell.

You want to have a variety of items and price ranges.

I do carry one or two large items just to show that I am able to produce different pieces. Those pieces usually generate traffic and orders for later. I don't take those expecting to sell them on the spot although they are there to sell.

 

Here is a picture of a booth I setup at recently.

As far as storage, I keep the cutting boards in a plastic box to transport them but I take them out and store them on a shelf in the house between shows. I also keep the cedar chest and other items in rooms in my house until time to load and got.

 

Best of luck with your endeavor.

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I do a varity of shows and I make a vartity of items. However what I like doing best I focus on that, at the show. I generaly make 5 or 6 of all items and show 3 at a time > have a free item that you give away with each sale. someting small and easy to make . Show the customer that you care about there business.  I too store most of my crafts in totes  Pick show where there is a good flow of people. Price what is fair, to the areas you are selling in. and not over price. I have had pretty good luck so far,  but I do make a mint ,or do I plan on it. Just love doing crafts shows and meeting people.

 Have a list of items that people can oder and a price list along with your busness card.

Good luck selling your items.

Wayne, I'm glad you brought this up. We had a discussion going in the scroll saw forum about how everybody markets their items. I'm gearing up now to start at a local farmers market starting the last Sat. in Sept. thru the Sat. after Thanksgiving. Everything I do is from the scroll saw so I plan on having a lot of smaller items such as ornaments, keychains and such, but I will also have several of the more popular portraits that I do, and some sports related items. I'm hoping to target the early Christmas gift shoppers, so we will see. I also plan on having my laptop with me so I can show people patterns that I have available that can be made to order. in the past I have always done a 50% deposit on custom ordered items too. Hopefully I can make some Christmas money. 

 

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Greg
http://www.thesawdustfactory.net/

John, that's a great looking display.


John Moody said:

Wayne it is a hard question to answer.

 You just have to get a feel for the market in the area you are selling to.

You want to have enough on hand that you don't sell one and are out of merchandise to sell.

You want to have a variety of items and price ranges.

I do carry one or two large items just to show that I am able to produce different pieces. Those pieces usually generate traffic and orders for later. I don't take those expecting to sell them on the spot although they are there to sell.

 

Here is a picture of a booth I setup at recently.

As far as storage, I keep the cutting boards in a plastic box to transport them but I take them out and store them on a shelf in the house between shows. I also keep the cedar chest and other items in rooms in my house until time to load and got.

 

Best of luck with your endeavor.

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Thanks Greg.

 

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

 

John Moody said:

Wayne it is a hard question to answer.

 You just have to get a feel for the market in the area you are selling to.

You want to have enough on hand that you don't sell one and are out of merchandise to sell.

You want to have a variety of items and price ranges.

I do carry one or two large items just to show that I am able to produce different pieces. Those pieces usually generate traffic and orders for later. I don't take those expecting to sell them on the spot although they are there to sell.

 

Here is a picture of a booth I setup at recently.

As far as storage, I keep the cutting boards in a plastic box to transport them but I take them out and store them on a shelf in the house between shows. I also keep the cedar chest and other items in rooms in my house until time to load and got.

 

Best of luck with your endeavor.

 

 ok

that reply  i sent didn't work. 

 

John

 

I knew this would be a hard question to answer. I been pondering on it for long time.  Been wanting to make a little extra money from woodworking for several years.  I can do some scroll sawing projects and have done some small

boxes or keep stakes boxes as well as small clocks  as gifts in the past.   Currently trying to work up an order  of hardwood to try my hands on cutting boards and Intrasia.   Big items I can do but I'm slow in getting them built  due to  my shop set up. Like your display.  It very simple but nice in apparence.  thanks   

 

Wayne

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John Moody

John Moody Woodworks

http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Wayne I guess all of the response have some of the things we all do for shows. I try to keep about 10 of each size cutting board I make. If I have a good show I am going to have to replace inventory and would like to still have some on hand for orders that might come in from people that were there and just didn't purchase.

 

Another item to consider is how you will take payment. Cash is always good. Are you going to take checks? I only take them if they are local and on a local bank. I prefer not to but it is a part of doing the business. I do take credit card payments. I have a paypal account setup on my website. I have an iPad that I take to shows and it has an Internet connect. If they want to pay by credit card, I take them to my web site and let them purchase the item there. I get an instant email from paypal saying it is a good transaction on my email on my phone. So I hand them the item they walk away. There is a cost for using paypal but it is small compared to loosing a sale.

 

As the others have also stated you can't get too discouraged with the first outing. It may or may not be a good one. If people haven't seen you or any product like yours there they may not be prepared to purchase, but will look for you the next time.

 

I have a show that I do regular. There are two other woodworkers that have items at the show. We don't have the same type items and have a gentleman's agreement that we won't undercut the other and sell what they are selling at this show. So talk to the other vendors, get to know the ones that setup next to you.

 

 

 

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Interesting John. I need to talk to you about the paypal thing. Sounds interesting. I don't own an ipad or a cell phone. Maybe its not for me. But I would like to find out. bob

 

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Bob Kloes
www.bobkloes.com

We can sure get together and talk about it. Would you like to do it on the phone?

 

Bob Kloes said:

Interesting John. I need to talk to you about the paypal thing. Sounds interesting. I don't own an ipad or a cell phone. Maybe its not for me. But I would like to find out. bob

 

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Bob Kloes
www.bobkloes.com

Whatever works for you John. You are the one handling 16 things at one time. Me, I can make time when I need to. bob

 

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Bob Kloes
www.bobkloes.com