Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
I see alot of "RESULTS" posted here for those who have done craft shows and wanted to post mine. Looking for a little reassurance or a pat on the back, I don't know. I don't know if this was a good day or not, so here goes. I sold:
* Snowman Soup (made with the cardstock coffee cup, not real mugs) - priced at $1.50 each - made only 20 - SOLD ALL 20 in the first 2 hours!
* Floating Image Glass Ornaments - priced at $2.00 - made 23 - SOLD ALL 23 within the first 2 hours!
* Tile Coasters - priced at $15/set of 4 - made 7 sets - only sold 2 (even sold one at a reduced price of $12 to see if maybe they were priced too hihg in the beginning) :(
* Cards - $2.00 each - sold 8 :(
* Flat glass marble magnets - pack of 6 - priced at $2.50/pack which was a reduced price from the last craft show - sold 9 packs :?
* Gift Tags - 5-pack for $1.25 - only sold 5 :(
* Bookmarks - $1 each - sold 3 :(
* Wine Glass Charms - $1.25 each - sold 14 :?
* Tic Tac Toe games - $2.00 each - only sold 1 :(
* Boxed candle set which was the candle with matching stamped box, tissue paper, and matchbox with a ribbon to tie around the box - priced at $10.00 - only sold 1 :(
Sounds like a Great day! You sold quite a bit and what you didn't sell, you can use as gifts. Plus, now you have a better idea of the market in your area and what will sell. You are one step ahead of yourself for next year!!
I'd take your earnings and buy a few stamp sets as a reward!
All depends... was it worth your time to make everything and then spend the whole day selling? I roughly added up and it appears you "made" around $150. How much did you pay for space rental? The ornaments may have been slightly underpriced but better to have sold all rather than none. I think you did pretty well!
My experience today was disappointing. Everyone thought my stamped cards, coasters, domino trays, plaques, , and frames were unique but I only sold 7 cards, 1 tray, 1 coaster set , 6 frames, and 0 plaques. My prices were reasonable... $2, 8, 15, 7, and 8 respectively. I sold other misc things like domino pins, tile magnets and explosion brag books but only netted about $80. Bummer.
My brother makes beautiful wood candlesticks, which he turns on a lathe. His prices were $10-25 each and he only sold three. It's not that he's my brother and I'm biased but his woodwork is really top quality. I paid over $30 dollars for a so so candle holder/stick from a home party (don't remember the company). Now I'm sorry I did. I saw lots of people buying candles in jars and tins, for $4-10...you burn the candle and then most folks throw away the jar. With my brother's beautiful candlesticks for say $10 plus he included candles and sometimes even a votive holder and still only ONE buyer!!!!! His candlesticks will last a lifetime.....
We thought it might be location...next year we are going to insist upon a corner booth and in a better lit area.....
Well the space was $65.00 - but I split that with my sister - so it cost me $32.50. Then there were some other things, non stampin related that I sold. I sold $205 worth of merchandise, then there's the cost of the space and misc. costs for the making of the item - but I did make sure I kept the cost down to a bare minimum and everything was marked up at least 165%, so I more than doubled my money on most things. There were some people that came back looking for more Snowman Soup after I sold out of it all. Next time, I'll double up on those! Now my sister want's me to help her make some for her son's classmates and teachers!
The other crafters around us were disappointed at the turn out for the second half of the day, which was after lunch! They said this was the first in 18 years it has been so slow for such a long period of time. They blame that on the fact that there was another big craft show scheduled for this weekend also that draws a 30,000+ crowd to! That could be the reason for a slow afternoon.
The woodwork items sell very well. We had a husband-wife team next to our tent that does the woodworking and they were very reasonably priced - they were busy all day long!
If you are happy with the results, that's all that matters. I haven't done a craft show yet, but from what I've seen on SCS, it is really a hit and miss type of thing, and I think that you really need to be in the right venue. It seems like craft shows are a dime a dozen now, so I think you need to be very choosy about which show you do. I think I'd do my homework this year and find out what each show is offering, how many people normally attend and price ranges for items that are being sold. It could make the difference between a great show and a stinker. Another option I am considering is trying to get on board with a local artisan tour and open up my home and sell from there. That way, people are coming to me and I don't have to go anywhere to sell my wares.
Ronda
My experience at craft shows has been that people are looking for rock bottom bargains and don't seem (for the most part) to be willing to pay for the sweat equity we all have in the work we do. Sometimes you luck out with just the right combination, but it's an extremely variable market. I've done better selling my items at work where word of mouth has made a lot of business for me. I sell my cards for $5 to 7.50 a piece. If someone buys four or more, I knock down the price some. I sold some handmade ornaments (not glass bulbs) for $25 a piece. That was a couple of years ago and I made around $500 on them. Three people bought four each so it was enough to pay for my moving expenses since I bought a house that year. Anyway, I really don't know about craft shows, and am going to try one again this year. I think you did very well from my experience since my first craft show I made a grand total of $25.00 or so.
Craft Show Results
