Browsing in other peoples shops

Ok… I am mystified. Sometimes I browse through the Folksy website and look at other peoples shops, admiring the fabulous designs and genuinely creative people on here. I then look at their sold items, and am utterly mystified as to why
a) some people have absolutely gorgeous items, yet their sales are virtually non-existant.
b) the items that the general public purchase and the prices they pay. There seems to be some items that lovely but disproportionately expensive.
c) how other sellers have equally nice things at cheaper prices but don’t seem to get the sales.
There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, and I can’t work out what the profile of the average shopper is.
Would love to hear others comments on this matter…

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Yes I know what you mean. I think pricing is a difficult one.

I have made similar observations and have pondered the question too. I think that some people are better are driving traffic to their shop and therefore they have more chances of making a sale. Sometimes the shop owner knows more people personally and has more people around them that may buy from them for example some people have several nieces, nephews, children of their own or they go outside of the home to work and have colloegues who may buy from them.
Previous feedback can make a difference. Even though the products look equally as nice as someone else’s the customer service in one shop may be far better in another and also postage costs can make a difference.
Sometimes I am on the verge of buying something and then see it is made to order and so I move on, If I then find something similar ready to ship I buy it.

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The disproportionately expensive thing. If someone sells their work through a gallery the commission is going to be much higher (35%+ rather than the 10% ish it ends up being here) so they have to price it accordingly to factor that in. However galleries dislike knowing that items they are selling are available cheaper elsewhere so the artist ends up putting the gallery prices on the pieces in their own shop which makes them seem expensive compared to those who don’t sell in galleries.

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Re the pricing, I think that some shoppers actually mistrust cheaper items assuming that higher prices always equal better quality (I live in Surrey and so witness quite a lot of this!) Therefore, when people talk on here about shops ‘undercutting’ other shops, I don’t think it’s actually a problem; more a question of appealing to different types of shoppers.

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The key thing here I always think (which took me quite frankly a long time) is that I am not the average shopper.

There is no such thing as an average shopper and most shoppers don’t think in the same way as maybe we do.

Some people balk at paying more than a fiver for something, regardless of how many hours it took to make. They aren’t the crafter’s target audience.

Conversely some people wouldn’t buy something if it is too cheap (I do this myself, I associate quality with price - something might look nice in a photograph and I’d expect to pay at least £30 for it, but if the seller thinks it’s just worth a tenner, then I tend to think it can’t be a nice quality). I shop in Aldi and B&M Bargains etc so I do like a bargain, don’t get me wrong, but when I am buying something for a gift or something beautiful for my house, I don’t mind spending a bit more. I want to think of it as precious and precious is not cheap.

(Also some shops are new and therefore haven’t been ‘discovered yet’. Or they don’t drive traffic to their shop. To make a sale relying on passing traffic is not going to get you far.)

Back on the subject of something being too cheap, I’ve seen some lovely art on here which I know would have taken x amount of hours to do, and x amount of materials. I then see it being priced at £10, and I don’t think to myself ‘what a bargain’ I just think nah, it’s too cheap. That seller either doesn’t know what they are doing, and therefore I don’t want to take advantage, or they are working below minimum wage and therefore I don’t want to take advantage (in the same way I don’t buy things made with child labour) or I think they are desperate for a sale, and I don’t want to buy an object which I associate with desperation.

But actually, I’ve never seen something on Folksy which is disproportionally expensive. I don’t think there are any hidden millionaires here.

It’s a funny old world as we all differ in opinion; I guess the crux of the matter is that if we love these things so much and they are priced at such a bargain price, then we will buy them and the shops will be successful.

If we genuinely love these objects but don’t put our hands in our pockets and buy, then we have to ask ourselves why, and maybe, just maybe, it’s not just the price. It would be fab to get such feedback on products as we could then maybe change what we do to make our crafts more desirable! :slight_smile:

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I think it’s a question of why you are selling on Folksy in the first place. Are your sales from Folksy and possibly other sites your main income, or are you just supplementing your income, or even a hobbyist. I think in this respect there will always be three levels of pricing, but it doesn’t mean there will be three levels of quality. A hobbyist will purchase the same fabric as someone making as their main income for example.
I wouldn’t spend £200 on a pair of shoes, or a handbag for example, but lots of people would. There is a place for everyone on Folksy, appealling to all levels of shopper and every price they are prepared to pay. I wouldn’t call any price “cheap” but instead I would refer to it as purse friendly, it sounds nicer.

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I agree - other shoppers don’t have the same profile as us as shoppers, and other shops don’t have the same profile as us as sellers.

There’s no one average profile (shopper or seller) but the best we can do individually is to understand (the hard bit) which shoppers we want to go after, and ensure our shops are geared towards that profile(s).

There’s room for everyone, but as sellers we shouldn’t get disheartened if we see shops who don’t have our philosophy (or however you want to phrase this) because they aren’t competing with us. If I make cashmere scarfs and am aiming at a ‘ladies wot lunch’ audience, then I shouldn’t get disheartened if I see a shop selling cashmere scarfs at half my price. My ‘lady wot lunches’ might think the half price scarf is a bargain and buy it but she is also just as likely to think it’s too cheap so can’t be as good a quality as the shop that she normally follows which is twice the price but talks about the heritage of the wool etc etc.

The biggest issue is getting enough of our particular audience to see us! :slight_smile:

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I agree that being too cheap can be counter-productive. Especially in a field where there can be a few trying to pass off mass-produced tat as handmade, the customer may set a lower price limit on their search. However lovely your item, if is below that price they won’t even see it.

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Purchasing is also influenced by marketing/branding and how it leads people to feel about the items they buy. For example, a body spray by Impulse at £2 in Superdrug will give the wearer a different experience to those who splash out on a £42 bottle from Jo Malone. Each can smell nice, and both do the job well, but I bet you’ll feel a lot better going into a Jo Malone shop, buying the product, opening the packaging, and wearing an expensive scent than buying Impulse in Superdrug. Branding makes a big difference!

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This is a topic, that no one will have the correct answer for.
Its quite disheartening, when you put loads of effort into making something, you then spends load of time marketing it on various online sites and then you dont get any views let alone sales. When in your opinion your work should be selling itself, because you know its good.
My husband is an artist for example, he can spend well over a month painting an original piece, if we deem the finished painting good enough, we then have prints and cards made. We will then sell them when we are out and about at events, if they sell well we know its worth the effort of listing them online, and thats where it can all go wrong :tired_face: because you dont get the sales. We know we are asking a fair price because we have done our “market research” at events.

We live on the Somerset and Devon border, slightly frustrated with ourselves for moving away from Surrey 10 years ago (as Just to Say says above) it can depend on where you are geographically as to what people are willing to spend.

On the other hand, my husband can be very attached to some of his paintings and they sell well as prints, so they have a good original asking price on them. But he has also painted a lot of paintings, that we have considered not worth making reproductions of and as he has no attachment to them, he is willing to sell them for a “bargain” price (for instance a little 16" painting went to one of his “fans” at the weekend for £75!! If you saw the painting and how much work went into it, you would agree with me that that was bonkers, but as far as he is concerned, he would rather someone who likes it, is enjoying it, rather than it being stuffed under our stairs. So how do you put that down in words on a listing? “Here’s a painting at a bargain price because I dont really like it, but you might!!” :joy::joy:

I am fortunate, with a lot of trial and error I have found a price for my jewellery people seem to be willing to pay, but we all want more sales…
:rofl:

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With over 500 sales I dont know what your worried about, your doing good girl!
I love your write up about you too! Good philosophy!
I have favourited your shop! :rofl: