Christmas Sales

[Joe W.]

I estimate I broke even.

I started scroll sawing Jan/Feb 2021 and decided to try my luck selling some Christmas Ornaments and a few COW puzzles this past holiday season.
Sold 2 of the puzzles and close to half of the 100 Christmas ornaments I made.
After calculating and estimating material costs as close as I could and comparing it to the unused materials I have on hand, I think I actually made a few dollars  - not counting my time.

Luckily I am retired AND I had a good time in the process of making the ornaments and puzzles.  And learned a few things along the way.

If life doesn't get in the way too much this winter, I plan to make more items and try my luck at the local farmers market this summer.

OH - and for Christmas the kids got me an air compressor and 3 nail guns.  Stack cutting just got A LOT easier.

 

[John B]

ONYA Joe.
That's the way I started. Just making things to keep busy, then dipping my foot in water at the local markets. For quite a few years we attended the markets monthly along with specialist ones. Made good few bob, enough to buy toys, timber, a carton of beer every now and again and fuel, with a little left over.

[kmmcrafts]

Did you learn anything about what sells and what doesn't? If you did, this will be different next year..  It's a guessing game so just enjoy the sawing.. make what you want and eventually something will sell. 

Someone once told me it's not possible to make money at scroll work.. It's definitely possible but not without hard work and a lot of patients. 

 

[barb.j.enders]

One of the things I learned from the one sale I went to was that Colour seemed to sell more.  If I had a puzzle that was natural wood compared to a darker colour or painted, the darker one or painted one went first.

[Joe W.]

8 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Did you learn anything about what sells and what doesn't?

I was surprised at what didn't sell - I made 20 different Steve Good Christmas patterns.  Some of the ones I thought would sell out didn't - and some of the other ones I thought would not sell out did.  I am recording the sales for reference.  The good news is the pieces don't have a shelf life, so I'm ahead of the game for next Christmas season.   

[Joe W.]

6 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

One of the things I learned from the one sale I went to was that Colour seemed to sell more.

I think you have something there and will experiment with that also.  A little more expense - work - time involved, but I think it would result in bigger and more sales.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, Joe W. said:

I was surprised at what didn't sell - I made 20 different Steve Good Christmas patterns.  Some of the ones I thought would sell out didn't - and some of the other ones I thought would not sell out did.  I am recording the sales for reference.  The good news is the pieces don't have a shelf life, so I'm ahead of the game for next Christmas season.   

Yeah it works out strange sometimes.. I've had customers ask for some of the most oddball stuff and I make just one.. put it on the website for them to purchase.. once purchased I can re-list it as a made to order.. sometimes I will get a whole boat load of orders off something I thought would never sell.. I can't remember what it was I made several years ago but my wife was like.. why did you make that! nobody will want that.. turned out to be a awesome seller for me for 3-4 years in a row.. LOL 

On the flipside, I have things in my inventory that I made 10+ years ago that I stack cut several of.. most all of them I've sold at least one by now but they just don't move.. One of them being a sign I made.. never sold a single one until this holiday season.. sold one and then re-listed the other one and sold it.. then re-listed as made to order and sold a couple more, LOL Nice thing about selling online.. I don't have to drag it out to the shows every time and pack back up and bring it back home.. easy to not have every single thing made too.. some things that sell a few a year of I just leave them as made to order.  

[John B]

10 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

One of the things I learned from the one sale I went to was that Colour seemed to sell more.  If I had a puzzle that was natural wood compared to a darker colour or painted, the darker one or painted one went first.

I have to agree Barb, especially when it comes to toys and Xmas ornaments.
My stand up puzzles sold well in natural, clear coated pine. (the ones with googly eyes sold better then those with painted or just holes). When I decided to add some colour to some, they were the 1st to go. The same with the few decoration I had for sale. The ones with the gold and or glitter etc sold before the natural timber ones.

[John B]

6 hours ago, Joe W. said:

I was surprised at what didn't sell - I made 20 different Steve Good Christmas patterns.  Some of the ones I thought would sell out didn't - and some of the other ones I thought would not sell out did.  I am recording the sales for reference.  The good news is the pieces don't have a shelf life, so I'm ahead of the game for next Christmas season.   

One example of "You never know" is in May 2019 I cut two Sam Custodio patterns. They never sold, but I was buggered if I was going to reduce the price. I decided I would take them along to the Christmas markets, just gone (2021) and if I brought them home, I was going to keep one and give the other away. Well, they both sold in the 1st hour of the markets and at the asking price of $125 each. I tend to now cut what I like because I reckon that if I like it, then there's bound to be someone else who does. Not according to my Daughter though, she reckons all my taste is either in my mouth or 50 years out of fashion
 

Edited January 7, 2022 by John B

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, John B said:

One example of "You never know" is in May 2019 I cut to Sam Custodio patterns. They never sold, but I was buggered if I was going to reduce the price. I decided I would take them along the Christmas markets, just gone (2021) and if I brought them home, I was going to keep one and give the other away. Well, they both sold in the 1st hour of the markets and at the asking price of $125 each. I tend to now cut what I like because I reckon that if I like it, then there's bound to be someone else who does. Not according to my Daughter though, she reckons all my taste is either in my mouth or 50 years out of fashion

Those are beautiful and a great gift idea for those that seem to have everything.

Yeah, I've never lowered the price just to reduce inventory.. well that's kinda a lie.. I do sometimes raise the price then mark it reduced so people feel they are getting a deal. Always figured I'd find someone someday that I can gift it to. Most things do eventually sell though if you have a little patients. Also I'd rather donate it to a cause / charity / fundraiser etc. of some sort than to sell it cheap to someone just to get rid of it.. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by kmmcrafts

[BadBob]

15 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I don't have to drag it out to the shows every time and pack back up and bring it back home.

But you do have to find it. I have had a few things that I made that didn't sell for a long time and when they did I could not remember where it was.

I have started policy of making only one and when it sells I change the listing to made to order. My plan is to only stock those items that I sell a lot of. The puzzles I make are eazy to store, but lager toys are not.

I have a few items that get very few views and stay in the shop for a long time, The all of a sudden it will start selling. I also have listings that get lots of views and hav since I posted them. I never sold one.

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by BadBob

[kmmcrafts]

4 hours ago, BadBob said:

But you do have to find it. I have had a few things that I made that didn't sell for a long time and when they did I could not remember where it was.

I have started policy of making only one and when it sells I change the listing to made to order. My plan is to only stock those items that I sell a lot of. The puzzles I make are eazy to store, but lager toys are not.

I have a few items that get very few views and stay in the shop for a long time, The all of a sudden it will start selling. I also have listings that get lots of views and hav since I posted them. I never sold one.

 

 

 

I'm pretty good at my inventory.. I learned back when I only offered around 100 items that inventory management is a must when I sold a few things that I couldn't find and spent a whole night 8pm until about 5am making items I couldn't find that had sold and was scheduled to ship in two days, LOL Big reason I don't do painting and not too many things are top coated either.. just a simple dip in Danish oil... There is a big difference in inventory that is boxed up for craft shows and inventory that you go out and pull for packaging to mail. I use plastic drawer storage bins so it's easy to open a drawer to see what is in it rather than totes that things get stuck on the bottom of more popular selling items that stay on top.. My items have its particular spot.. drawers are numbered and the number is in my title and or in the description. I like it in the title because this way I don't have to open up a listing page to find it.. 

My Puzzles are organized by alphabet for the most part.. so there are drawers marked A - Z.. Ornaments drawers are just numbered.. One day when I get the loft ( inventory room ) cleaned up I'll show a photo of my system.. right now it's full mess of empty boxes everywhere from the busy holidays.. Empty Shipping boxes of bubble wrap padded mailers etc. and gift boxes that I ship my ornaments in all over up there right now..

Made to order items is a good way to not have to have a full inventory but is also a big headache too during the busy holiday season.. Also it's kind of a turn off to a lot of shoppers since shipping times are typically out there a week or more.. I loose a lot of business from not having it in stock.. also many folks are impulse buyers and if they have some time to "think" sometimes orders don't happen or get canceled.   But when sold out and am able to get out and make more inventory in a few days makes money too as you can set a timeline for made to order so it gives your customers a option to buy / order it while you're planning to make a batch anyway.. This is real nice for items that are stack cut.. ornaments as an example.. I stack cut 5 at a time.. If one sells out I can take 30 minutes to make 8-10 more.. Something I don't like is things that only are made one at a time during busy season.. It's hard to justify during the holidays to relist a puzzle that takes an hour to make 1 maybe 2 and sell for only $25 - 30 when you can stack cut sold out ornaments 20 pieces an hour and sell each one for $16... do the math.. I loose a lot of money from clocks and puzzles during the holiday selling if I relist items as made to order that aren't stack cut.. There is just no way keep up with ALL of the orders during the holidays.. many made to order items I disable the listings during the busy season.. 

[Joe W.]

3 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

There is just no way keep up with ALL of the orders during the holidays.. many made to order items I disable the listings during the busy season.. 

Ah yes - the double edge sword of success.
Being able to keep up with demand is not something a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs consider.  Sounds like you have a methodology in place to handle that.  Good for you.  

[BadBob]

On 1/7/2022 at 1:30 PM, kmmcrafts said:

There is just no way keep up with ALL of the orders during the holidays.. many made to order items I disable the listings during the busy season.. 

I have never (yet) had a busy holiday season. My sales for the year peak in August. I have very few items listed as made to order.

 

[Jim Finn]

On 1/6/2022 at 8:39 AM, barb.j.enders said:

One of the things I learned from the one sale I went to was that Colour seemed to sell more.  If I had a puzzle that was natural wood compared to a darker colour or painted, the darker one or painted one went first.

I agree that color can be important.  I make 6"x 8" cedar boxes with images or lettering inlayed into the hinged lid. Been doing this for 12 years.  I use no paint nor stain.  I find that the inlays with different color woods sell better than those done in one color.  Another thing I learned is that, here at least. gloss finish items sell much better than satin finish. Also, cedar (red) boxes sell MUCH better than oak boxes.  I have seen others trying to sell pens and fretwork, but they do not do well enough to stay with it.

 

[Dave Monk]

4 hours ago, Jim Finn said:

I agree that color can be important.  I make 6"x 8" cedar boxes with images or lettering inlayed into the hinged lid. Been doing this for 12 years.  I use no paint nor stain.  I find that the inlays with different color woods sell better than those done in one color.  Another thing I learned is that, here at least. gloss finish items sell much better than satin finish. Also, cedar (red) boxes sell MUCH better than oak boxes.  I have seen others trying to sell pens and fretwork, but they do not do well enough to stay with it.

 

Love that box Jim.

[Dave Monk]

Awesome box Jim! I am always looking for green poplar. Never find enough. Especially the dark. 

[Norm Fengstad]

I didn't do the sales circuit this year but put items in two art and craft shops. Ornaments in the 8 to 12 dollar range sold very well especially deer, moose and elk as well as any horsey thing. Made enough for more material.

[rjweb]

Jim, your boxes are always beautiful, question when you do multi colors do you do each separate, not like they do marquetry where they stack up all the veneer together then cut, I guess otherwise you would have 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, thx RJ