First time out . . .

[Joe W.]

My First Event

With the threat of a family weekend visit, I boxed up all the past years’ cuttings piling up in the spare bedroom and took them to a local church’s yard-sale event this morning.
Mother Nature was kind with mild temperature and an overcast sky from 7AM till noon.
I was hopeful but not optimistic; yard sale merchandise is typically DEEPLY discounted, with haggling a time-honored tradition.  And I wasn’t prepared to give my items away, so wasn’t counting on doing much business.

Received many positive comments on the quality of items.

Out of the 46 pieces, 12 sold in 4 hours.  Gross sales of $136 with a table fee of $15, so $121 net.  Some items were $3 and the most expensive was $18.

Surprised to find only 4 of the items sold were painted. 
The rest were either stained, oiled, beeswax, or semi-gloss poly.

The experience was enlightening;  selling is an involved process (packing/transporting/unpacking/selling/repacking/transporting back/unpacking/paperwork, etc., etc,) . . . Well, . . . whew!

If time is money and this was my working for a living, I’d be looking for another job.

But as a hobby, it was a fun experience.  (it pays (maybe) for my addiction.

On a positive note, I did meet a couple people who will likely generate some more repeat/ongoing business.

 

[kmmcrafts]

All that packing, unpacking set up, unset-up, packing back loading in the car taking out of car unpacking again is one big reason I went to online selling.. On top of that I was raising kids when I first started off.. so add the fact that I had to keep an eye on three kids during this process.. I found that making the product and taking photos during the day time and putting listings up after the kids went to bed at night was way easier than loading kids up forgetting the diaper bag and the kids few toy or always forgetting something.. or a kid having to use the bathroom once I finally gather them around and get them loaded into the car.. was just way too hard to do back in those days.. Now it's all online and too hard to keep up with inventory if I sell an item in person and it also sells online it puts me in a position I don't like.. so since sales are decent for online I just keep on doing that.. will say it was rough getting sales at first with the online sales..

Now I just have several plastic drawers that I keep inventory sorted in.. once made it goes into one of the drawers alphabetically in order..so it's easy to find when something sells. If it sells out I can leave the pictures and listing online and make it as a "made to order item" until I get around to re-stocking the inventory. 

Sounds like you had a good time and made some more hobby money to buy some supplies or tools.. the biggest thing is having fun.. 

Edited June 12, 2022 by kmmcrafts

[Joe W.]

6 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Sounds like you had a good time and made some more hobby money to buy some supplies or tools.. the biggest thing is having fun.. 

Roger that on all points.  

OMG - forgot about the taking care of the children part.  That certainly adds another dimension to the process. 
Fortunately we are retired and don't have that to deal with.
In thinking about selling at craft fairs and the like, I figure maybe 2 or 3 a year, what with all the other things going on in our lives.
I would like to scroll saw more, but lately have been getting tagged to do remodel projects for family and others with more work starting next week.
Added to that, the DW is still partially dissembled, waiting for me to find the offending bearings and replace.
I mentioned to my wife the possibility of buying another Scroll Saw and she agreed (Hello upgrade -Pegas/Hegner?) 
 

[new2woodwrk]

IMO all markets are different and what works or doesn't is market specific.

I myself enjoy doing the markets. They can be a real PITA and tough at times, but the fun of it for me is the interaction and kudos from the customers!

$136 is not bad for a first market. If it were me, I would not have done a yard sale. IMO that is one of the least profitable ways to sell products.

A local farmers market that allows craft vendors would have been a more favorable choice for me.

Now that we've been doing these for just under 2 years and have now added an additional day to our weekly markets, it has gotten tougher - such is the economy to thank for this at the moment.

Doing them adds a nice additional income to my retirement, pays some extra bills and keeps me in wood to continue.

The problem as I see it with online sales, is building and paying for the advertising to get the sales. Not impossible, but not easy either and can be very expensive.

Sounds like you had a fun time with it and that is half the battle - if you enjoy what you do, it's not work

[Joe W.]

6 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

. . . $136 is not bad for a first market. If it were me, I would not have done a yard sale. IMO that is one of the least profitable ways to sell products.

. . . A local farmers market that allows craft vendors would have been a more favorable choice for me.

. . . Sounds like you had a fun time with it and that is half the battle - if you enjoy what you do, it's not work

Agree with all.  
I was looking forward to attending the city's farmers' market but they decided not to do any this year, darn it.
Overall it was fun and educational.
The networking I mentioned has potential - one of the customers is an occupational therapist who is interested in items for patients to use for hand/finger dexterity, such as puzzles.  She bought the Cow Puzzle for that and wants to see what else is available.  We'll see where that goes.   
Looking forward to finishing this new remodel job for a neighbor so I can get back to cutting.  Such is life.

[Puzzleguy]

On 6/11/2022 at 9:09 PM, Joe W. said:

My First Event

With the threat of a family weekend visit, I boxed up all the past years’ cuttings piling up in the spare bedroom and took them to a local church’s yard-sale event this morning.
Mother Nature was kind with mild temperature and an overcast sky from 7AM till noon.
I was hopeful but not optimistic; yard sale merchandise is typically DEEPLY discounted, with haggling a time-honored tradition.  And I wasn’t prepared to give my items away, so wasn’t counting on doing much business.

Received many positive comments on the quality of items.

Out of the 46 pieces, 12 sold in 4 hours.  Gross sales of $136 with a table fee of $15, so $121 net.  Some items were $3 and the most expensive was $18.

Surprised to find only 4 of the items sold were painted. 
The rest were either stained, oiled, beeswax, or semi-gloss poly.

The experience was enlightening;  selling is an involved process (packing/transporting/unpacking/selling/repacking/transporting back/unpacking/paperwork, etc., etc,) . . . Well, . . . whew!

If time is money and this was my working for a living, I’d be looking for another job.

But as a hobby, it was a fun experience.  (it pays (maybe) for my addiction.

On a positive note, I did meet a couple people who will likely generate some more repeat/ongoing business.

 

Im proud of you ! - bet you got the bug now for shows !

[Joe W.]

12 hours ago, Puzzleguy said:

Im proud of you ! - bet you got the bug now for shows !

Yeah, roger that!  
Now if I can only carve out some "me time". 
As I was unloading my tools to work on my old neighbors house, another neighbor a few doors down was passing by and stopped to say:  " We're next".
I had done some work for them in the past.
I may have to develop "back problems" just to get some time off. 

The yard-sale was fun and I'd like to see how it would go at a regular "Farmers' Market" type setting.  Thinking there would be increased sales. 
A guys gotta dream. 

[Bill WIlson]

On 6/12/2022 at 7:02 AM, Joe W. said:

Roger that on all points.  

OMG - forgot about the taking care of the children part.  That certainly adds another dimension to the process. 
Fortunately we are retired and don't have that to deal with.
In thinking about selling at craft fairs and the like, I figure maybe 2 or 3 a year, what with all the other things going on in our lives.
I would like to scroll saw more, but lately have been getting tagged to do remodel projects for family and others with more work starting next week.
Added to that, the DW is still partially dissembled, waiting for me to find the offending bearings and replace.
I mentioned to my wife the possibility of buying another Scroll Saw and she agreed (Hello upgrade -Pegas/Hegner?) 
 

Had to read that sentence a couple times.  DW can mean "dear wife" in internet shorthand, so that is how I read it, the first time.