Work for sale

[Stephen Mc]

Anyone on this forum involved in selling your work on line?
Any experience with e-bay or the like?
How about your own website to show your wares for sale?
If you've been successful, where does most of your work go to
local-national - os?

Any input greatly appreciated.

Stephen.

[hughie]

Stephen,

Tis the ambition of many. But it goes like this "many are called but few are chosen" Aust and NZ are the lands of many turners and whilst many admire the results of the turner, few, want to pay the piper his full whack.

So you need to be very good or have some form of uniquess to your pieces and alot of persistance. Most turners can sell some of thier work but the number of turners who make a good living from it are few.

But dont be discouraged all the great turners started out as beginners :D

hughie

[Stephen Mc]

So Hughie, does this mean you've tried, given up, know someone who does or have you yourself been successful?

[Sir Stinkalot]

Stephen,

It is unclear if you intentions are to sell your goods for a living, to make a little money on the side, or simply to recoup your costs of materials.

I have sold a number of pens on Ebay which helps to clear the stock and allows me to make some more at basically no additional cost. The problem that I find with the market is that there are very few people who understand / appreciate the skill, time and effort that goes in to produce a handmade item. The market also has the misconception that handmade is of a lower quality than the store purchased goods.

Not long ago I was asked to produce a desk set for a client, there was no price agreed to upfront as she was a little unclear what she was after. After spending two weekends on it I simply emailed her photos and asked her to pay what she thought was fair. The result was that she was rapped in the set and paid me the equivalent of 2 hours of my regular Monday to Friday wage. I didn't mind, the alternative would have been working for two weekends on something that I didn't need anyway.

Ebay is difficult as the buyer doesn't get to touch the product and speak directly with the maker. This can sometimes work in your favour particularly if you are not a people person and cant sell both yourself and the product.

I know that I have attended a number of markets and the people who do well are the ones that sell themselves as well as the product. I don't know how many times I have purchased fudge as I felt guilty leaving to stall without anything, ie the ultimate seller.

Websites are a great idea but they ultimately need to have traffic visiting them. They will however be a great companion to a market stall where you can give out business cards to potential customers as well as those who have purchased goods.

Good luck.

[Stephen Mc]

No, I'm not in the market for a new profession, I have enough on my plate with a current one. I'm curious as to other people's experiences and which way it pushed them or they moved.
I believe my work is of a good quality and worhty of sale. I'm well aware of the value issue, people are horrified when they ask what something is worth and you give them an honest time and materials price.
Sadly, as skilled craftspeople, woodturners often devalue their efforts and therefore the efforts of others as well.
I've looked at a few US websites and some of the prices seem to be fair for the work involved, if you can access your target market. I'm not really thinking Ebay. It certainly seems to work for some, but having to haggle your work off for next to nothing doesn't really appeal to me.
Just wondering what the Australian perspective is from people's own experience.

[hughie]

So Hughie, does this mean you've tried, given up, know someone who does or have you yourself been successful?


Stephen,
This is often the problem and the customer is not willing to pay a realistic price. It is further compounded by the fact that many Hobby turners will sell for whatever they can get. Richard Raffan has said in many places that this causes him and other professional turners a problem financially.Maybe we need as an industry better PR and from that a better understanding/appreciation by the populace at alarge.



The problem that I find with the market is that there are very few people who understand / appreciate the skill, time and effort that goes in to produce a handmade item. The market also has the misconception that handmade is of a lower quality than the store purchased goods.



IMHO probably the best market is the US .But the level of finish has to be right up there along with excellent form and shape...basically a museum finish. Logically the way to go with this market is via the net, but necessarily E-Bay, E-Bay has what appears to be a bit of a garage sale mentality , every thing has to well priced and appear to be a bargain,
this is from experience gained over a few years selling on E-Bay.

For me, I am not fussed one way or another as to making allot of money out of my efforts. Having said that, I have been asked to supply a Freedom Furniture type store with a fairly large collection of bowls and vases to accompany their range of furniture, pricing is up to me.
hughie

[rsser]

Congrats Hughie. Be nice to get some inward flow of cash.

Stephen, re the web, I'm going to get a site up but this is more vanity than commercial sense. The problems are (a) how do the punters find your site among the squillions out there?, and (b) creative works in wood need to be picked up, felt and eye-balled from several angles before folk will pay a fair price. Bit hard to do on the web.

But the web can be a useful adjunct if you've already established your 'brand'.

Raffan wrote an article a few years ago in AWR if memory serves, on how to produce for a market ... craft shops and the like. Bottom line is to produce what the shop owners and buyers want.

It seems not even our best turners can make a living just out of selling what they are best at. Shame really.

[hughie]

Ern



Stephen, re the web, I'm going to get a site up but this is more vanity than commercial sense. The problems are (a) how do the punters find your site among the squillions out there?,


much of the traffic generation is up to the way the web site is set up, of course there are 'pay for click' etc. But much can be done at the beginning by the web designer .



and (b) creative works in wood need to be picked up, felt and eye-balled from several angles before folk will pay a fair price. Bit hard to do on the web.

Photogaphy, damn good photograpy is the answer for this and aiming at those who are familar with wood turning. Its a case of targeted marketing at its best.
http://www.daintreetimbergallery.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22&sort=3a&page=2

http://www.xmission.com/~burlturn/Boxes/boxes.htm

http://www.xmission.com/~burlturn/skipgallery/skips.htm

http://www.vtonly.com/oneonly.htm

as you can see the US seems a more lucrative market.
hughie

[China]

As rsser said you have to make what the customer wants, as professional woodturner I spend my days turning veranda posts and one off replacement chair spindles not fancy bowls and vases the latter is purely the hobby side of turning, although there are some lucky b****rs that are making a living that way

[rsser]

Yeah Hughie; my son does web design and when he talks about how to get noticed by search engines and the like my eyes start to water ;-}

What's interesting is the squillion domain names currently still registered with craft connotations but no longer used; suggesting that at some time in the last ten years a lot of folk went down this avenue and gave up.

But it's like any marketing of course: price, product, positioning and promotion all have to be addressed, if I can remember the 4 P's right.

And I agree that good photography is very important. You need semi-pro standards if not better.

[hughie]

But it's like any marketing of course: price, product, positioning and promotion all have to be addressed, if I can remember the 4 P's right.


Ern,
Are yes ''Proper Planning Prevents a Poor Peformance''..........:D

Web building like wise my son is into it as well and has come up with many ideas for traffic generation. some sons think alike :D

hughie

[Stephen Mc]

Thanks for the replies gents. What I was really wanting to know is wether anyone on the forum is selling via web pages or other means.
Agreed, the US sites seem the way to go in terms of price, but can a market be created locally.

Does the term co-operative spring to mind? Strength in numbers and variety.

[rsser]

Stephen, coop sounds good to me as a value, so:

* where's the demand for web-retailed functional or creative products?
* is the best/only way to respond to it via the Web?
* in what ways does a Web retail service offer a significant advantage over current retail channels?
* what is the value-add in a coop to both suppliers and buyers?

You sound like being interested in 'intermediation' between buyers and sellers. This mode has got some traction in the art market but only with beginning artists.

[cypher]

Stephen Mc - I have attempted to sell turnings on eBay but have not had much luck. As many others have stated it is hard to get people to the auction and even harder to get them to pay a fair price. I feel ebay is a good market for me since i am still new at this and my finishes are not "Museum Quality". I don't usually ask much more then it cost me. I am more interested in clearing my inventory then making lots of money. I also use a web site but it is not a published public site. It is not worth the cost to host the site for what i use it for. My Service provider allows me a web page with limited space and I just use that to show my work. I mainly use it to send friends and family to. I am attempting to go in on a booth at a local peddlers fair to see how I do. I currently have an auction listed if you would like to see it. (not trying to sell on this forum)

Auction:
http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=23723638&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=280007928471&lk=URL
My website:
http://home.comcast.net/~eric.m.dyck/woodturning.html

[Phil Spencer]

Anyone on this forum involved in selling your work on line?
Any experience with e-bay or the like?
How about your own website to show your wares for sale?
If you've been successful, where does most of your work go to
local-national - os?

Any input greatly appreciated.

Stephen.

I while back I was turning pens, I found a market for them by giving them to my customers and then I claimed the cost that I wanted on petty cash (this was suggested by my then MD) made enough to buy a table saw before the companies financial controller twigged to me scam and stopped coughing up.:(

Was good whilst it lasted.:)

Phil