Yesterdays Show

[edward]

I did this show for a number of years, and to say it was the worst ever, only did $42 and the table was $35, so you see I didn't make much.  Shows in this area are going down hill,  not many crafters left, and they are bringing in too many companys and flea market items, as I cannot compete with them. People who do craft shows know how much work that goes into it, I'am really getting tired of displaying my items and  packing the same items up to bring them home. It's very hard to find good shows in my area, as there are no Jury shows to be found. Sorry for the rant but this is how I feel.  edward

[kmmcrafts]

Sorry to hear you had a bad sales weekend.. I think the post from the other day ( Believe JT started ) hit the nail on the head with the fact that.. these online venues are taking away from the craft shows.. and the show organizers from what I've seen have been having a hard time getting crafters to sign up to sell at their events.. In my area.. there are always ads looking for vendors.. I half wonder if this is why they let in all the flea market type stuff..

Myself crafts shows just don't work with having to run my kids to their school sporting events etc.. I can't plan out a few weeks from now let along months.. too hard to commit to a show.. and most of the shows are like you stated... full of cheap flea market junk.. for these reasons is why I turned to online selling.. by no means bragging or rubbing this in.. but my weekend has turned out $700 in sales so far ( days not over yet )..while I've been sitting here watching movies etc with the family.. while everyone is gone during the week.. I'll be packing up orders and making the custom orders..

  

[rjweb]

Kevin how long have you been selling online, I know you have worked at it t get where you are, but others might be interested in seeing where they could be working as hard as you have, me I don’t do sales, just a hobby to fill in a day here or there, but glad to see other people are doing well, RJ 

[NC Scroller]

I did a show yesterday and had a totally opposite experience.  I have done this same show for 8 straight years and my sales have increased every year.  This year's sales were 10% higher then last year.  One of the organizers told me the estimated number of attendees was between 1,000 and 1,100.  They came to buy.  I do not want to brag but my booth fee was $40.00 and I grossed almost 40 time that plus I have orders to fill that will pay on delivery.  I use a Square so I can take credit cards and that has helped a lot.  Over a 1/3 of my sales were credit card sales. 

Top sellers were nativity puzzles, gift card holders(based on a Steve Good design), letter angles (Sue Mey design), and bird house ornaments.

 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, rjweb said:

Kevin how long have you been selling online, I know you have worked at it t get where you are, but others might be interested in seeing where they could be working as hard as you have, me I don’t do sales, just a hobby to fill in a day here or there, but glad to see other people are doing well, RJ 

I played around with selling my scroll work back in Sept. 2010.. but I was only playing around testing the waters and whatnot from 2010 until 2015.. 2015 is when I decided to give it a "Real" go and work at it.. In 2015 my sales count in my etsy shop was 30.. yeah.. only 30 in 2015.. But I was selling on another site for a year or so before that.. that site offered classes for online selling.. classes included shop critiques etc.. where a trained person would offer advice on anything from your pictures to better ways to describe items for better SEO.. etc.. classes was free at the time and I took advantage of all of it I could.. Unfortunately that site ran into many issues and forced many sellers packing there shops up and moving to etsy or?..  I had nearly 130 sales on that site within one year.. The fellow doing those classes no longer works for that web site and they no longer do those classes.. 

On a side note.. I've been considering starting up a blog site and apply much of the stuff I learned for others that would like to start up a online store.. Of coarse.. this won't happen until after the holidays..  The blog site would consist of some info and resources for shipping, photographing your products, building a photo booth tips etc etc.. would cover many things pertaining to online selling... Whether I actually do it is another story.. seems I've always got great ideas that never get done, LOL.. in the mean time.. there are some books one could buy and read.. I bought one that is titled something like " Selling your crafts online " and they cover selling on many different selling platforms.. good read but coverage of actual selling tips is limited.. which many of these books are.. There is a ton of info online.. however sorting through the good / bad stuff is a pain to do..     

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

1 hour ago, kmmcrafts said:

I played around with selling my scroll work back in Sept. 2010.. but I was only playing around testing the waters and whatnot from 2010 until 2015.. 2015 is when I decided to give it a "Real" go and work at it.. In 2015 my sales count in my etsy shop was 30.. yeah.. only 30 in 2015.. But I was selling on another site for a year or so before that.. that site offered classes for online selling.. classes included shop critiques etc.. where a trained person would offer advice on anything from your pictures to better ways to describe items for better SEO.. etc.. classes was free at the time and I took advantage of all of it I could.. Unfortunately that site ran into many issues and forced many sellers packing there shops up and moving to etsy or?..  I had nearly 130 sales on that site within one year.. The fellow doing those classes no longer works for that web site and they no longer do those classes.. 

On a side note.. I've been considering starting up a blog site and apply much of the stuff I learned for others that would like to start up a online store.. Of coarse.. this won't happen until after the holidays..  The blog site would consist of some info and resources for shipping, photographing your products, building a photo booth tips etc etc.. would cover many things pertaining to online selling... Whether I actually do it is another story.. seems I've always got great ideas that never get done, LOL.. in the mean time.. there are some books one could buy and read.. I bought one that is titled something like " Selling your crafts online " and they cover selling on many different selling platforms.. good read but coverage of actual selling tips is limited.. which many of these books are.. There is a ton of info online.. however sorting through the good / bad stuff is a pain to do..     

Kevin this is a good idea. Maybe you could do it here so it can be saved and you always can copy and paste to other sites if you find you need to. I was the one who brought up the poor sales returns I am seeing in shows that I use to do tremendous. So I am one who may be making a change and joining the online sales. I have no experience with this because I do not do it but it looks like the time has come to change with the masses. I do strongly believe it is the Amazons and other retail online platforms out there that are destroying the craft show circuit. Nothing much can be done about it. Those that are still seeing decent returns on shows, ride it out and hope it continues. I have done and tried all the tricks in the book because I have been doing this for over 25 years so changing stock, raising and lowering price game, offering deals has been tried. There maybe a trend of east coast VS middle states and even west coast when it comes to sales. So when following everyone who is doing well and who is not, pay close attention to their origin. Makes a difference . Happy Scrolling.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

2 hours ago, NC Scroller said:

I did a show yesterday and had a totally opposite experience.  I have done this same show for 8 straight years and my sales have increased every year.  This year's sales were 10% higher then last year.  One of the organizers told me the estimated number of attendees was between 1,000 and 1,100.  They came to buy.  I do not want to brag but my booth fee was $40.00 and I grossed almost 40 time that plus I have orders to fill that will pay on delivery.  I use a Square so I can take credit cards and that has helped a lot.  Over a 1/3 of my sales were credit card sales. 

Top sellers were nativity puzzles, gift card holders(based on a Steve Good design), letter angles (Sue Mey design), and bird house ornaments.

 

Scott what I would wish you would do is ask the people who paid with credit cards if they would have made the purchase if you did not accept cards??? I hear this alot and I have not run into it as much. people must go to shows with the idea that not all craft vendors do cards. especially when you are talking a small show such as 1000 people or less. They usually stop at the atm machine before or also bring a check book if they are serious shoppers. Taking cards is another added expense that must be passed on to consumer or you are defeating your purpose too. It is a different world we live in and sell in these days that is for sure.  

[NC Scroller]

47 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Scott what I would wish you would do is ask the people who paid with credit cards if they would have made the purchase if you did not accept cards??? I hear this alot and I have not run into it as much. people must go to shows with the idea that not all craft vendors do cards. especially when you are talking a small show such as 1000 people or less. They usually stop at the atm machine before or also bring a check book if they are serious shoppers. Taking cards is another added expense that must be passed on to consumer or you are defeating your purpose too. It is a different world we live in and sell in these days that is for sure.  

I have not taken a hard poll but I have talked to people.  In my part of the world many people, myself included do not make a habit of carrying cash.   So many people carry airline miles and other rewards cards that people now everything on CC even that $1.00 cup of coffee at Mc Donald's.  It is the way many if not most people show these days.  My experience and records show the people who pay with CC make generally larger purchases.  Yes I do take checks.  But if you really want to maximize your selling you have to make it as easy as possible for people to buy.  For this sales yesterday my CC fees were all of $15.  Well worth it in my book.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Scott what I would wish you would do is ask the people who paid with credit cards if they would have made the purchase if you did not accept cards??? I hear this alot and I have not run into it as much. people must go to shows with the idea that not all craft vendors do cards. especially when you are talking a small show such as 1000 people or less. They usually stop at the atm machine before or also bring a check book if they are serious shoppers. Taking cards is another added expense that must be passed on to consumer or you are defeating your purpose too. It is a different world we live in and sell in these days that is for sure.  

Well since you brought this up.. maybe i should start a new topic in the business forum.. but anyhow.. a couple years ago etsy switch their payment system so they themselves can accept the payment processing rather than Paypal.. There are many people who do not like PayPal.. Then there are those that would rather pay through PayPal.. but at any rate.. my sales jumped quite a lot once I changed and started accepting etsy's checkout.. so far I'd say around 95% of my sales go through the etsy checkout.. probably in part because it is streamlined with etsy.. if you pay with PayPal you have to be directed to PayPal site..log in and checkout.. where as etys is all right on the shopping cart streamline..

Most of the other sites I sell on only do the PayPal thing.. One has recently gave out another option but as a seller I have to set it up and make an account with their new processor. I need to do it.. as I imagine that would help sales there as well since it is more streamlined..

Another fast growing trend is mobile shoppers.. ie people shopping and making purchases with their cell phones and tablets etc.. and the web site you set up and sell on needs to be mobile optimized.. or you'll be missing out on sales from those that shop with their phones.. Right now it's about 30% of my shoppers checking out on a mobile device.. and that trend is growing tremendously.. 

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

What a different world. I may never enter it. I still work off a flip phone and do all work on a home computer. May just have to have a fire sale and get out of this business all together and just make real highend pens. $5000 pens are not out of my realm. Zero my market to highend clients. They are out there for sure. Thinking out loud.

[wombatie]

I am so sorry to hear your news Edward, you make some fabulous things.  People do not know craftsmanship when they see it, they would rather buy $2 tatt.

Marg

[lawson56]

I have been reading all the posts,I don't do the credit card thing,I haven't been asked that ,maybe 2 or 3 times in my 15 yrs of selling,I have noticed in my area this year that it has been a bad yr for not only for me but other venders as well,People weren't buying this yr as they bought in past yrs.no matter where I went.I still have a couple of other events to go to,Hopefully I will have better luck.

[Kragax]

I have some of my work in a gift shop on consignment, it is in a tourist area that is hot in the summer, now not so much. Waiting to see if there is any interest in fretwork around here. I like to make walnut shelves but don't know if there is a market for that stuff around here either. Its a good thing I enjoy making them LOL

[WayneMahler]

Sorry to hear you had a tough show. I know what you mean about the promoters bringing in anything and everything. We experience that on this side of the state too. Keep the faith things will turn around.

[amazingkevin]

Everyday is different!