Ok, I know lots of you guys sell the things you make online, but where else? I am trying to come up with some ideas, I have lots of jewelry and some clothing that I have made and we need a way to make some extra cash. I don't get to go to many festivals because we are too poor :& I am just out of ideas. Advice?
Is Father Nature's headshop still around? my sweetie sold wholesale to FN when he first started dyeing in the 80s. I saw Relix ads as late as...2000? Try this link: http://local.yahoo.com/details;_ylt...HNlYwNyZWNv?id=14117755&city=Orlando&state=FL
maybe try fleamarkets or craft shows that come thru your town!! street fairs too if your town ever has any!!!
There's this new place online called etsy.com where you can set up a shop. They have some kind of promo running now that you can list your stuff for free and not pay any selling fees. I think once that promotion is up, it's like 20 cents to list an item and they'll take out a small percentage if you sell an item(it's supposed to be an alternative to ebay). I've heard of several people already having success on there. I plan to get mine up and running soon.
I'm not familiar with that one, I am about 200 miles from Orlando. I'm about 50 miles from Jacksonville and about 75 from Gainsville. There just aren't too many funky shops around here. Florida is a zoo.
As for street fairs and such, I have gone out to check out a few and I mostly saw old ladies with cheesy americana, home interior-type stuff. It was pretty disappointing. I will check out the etsy thing, though.
click the link and make a call. Wholesaling is a rough biz, you have to basically chop what you make so the shop can make some profit, which is fair, but a soft market can really suck. But a $300 order might make the Orlando trek worth it a couple times. I'd suggest face-to-face the first time. Then you could ship after that. Build trust on both sides. search jambase.com for festivals last year in your area, and then e-mail the vendor contact for the shows. Plan a couple for this year, swing a couple wholesale gigs to finance the travel/booth fee. My sweetie hated vending in Florida. Oh, we did really well on mondays at renfaires (florida gears up in Feb with these) often, the traveling pack will have their own market for eachother and a breakfast joint in the fairgrounds. You'll need to have some form of a pass. look up The Scribe to see if it is still going, and look around for "Bernie's Breakfast" or "Bizarre Bazzar." Maybe renfaires and contact camp ground managers. (NOT fest management. They are trained to be not helpful.)
Have you thought about a home jewelry show? My best home jewelry show brought in over 2 grand in three freakin hours! My stuff isn't high priced either. I post fliers to have women invite me and their friends to have a jewelry show, in their home. Ebay sucks when it comes to handmade stuff. Ebay is an online flea market. There is a huge difference between flea markets and craft shows. I've found home jewelry shows to be the best selling venue because people are in the buying mode when they get there. I accept all types of payments so they actually buy more. Matthew
theres alot of vintage stores and stuff, like thrift stores ,but they dont give you too much money back, by the way, peacelovebarefeet, ur very pretty
Try www.artsefest.com You can make a store there or link your existing site. I've had my site linked for about a year now. Matthew
