Selling Through an Actual Shop

Shop Talk
1

I was approached today about putting some of my work in a shop in my local area. I feel like the more places my work is seen and available the better. But I’ve never done this before and don’t have the faintest idea of how it works or what is reasonable.

Any other crafters out there with any advice? Such as how to work out the financial side with the shop - do you work on % or straight fee? What % or what fee? Anythings to specifically do or avoid?

Thanks for any input.

2

I used to work in a craft gallery and sold my items there too. The gallery mostly worked on a SOR (Sale or Return) basis and doubled the wholesale price of an item, if I wanted to receive £15 for a bracelet say, they would sell for £30 so you just have to bear this in mind when working out your wholesale price. Some galleries may take less commission on more expensive items.

3

Thanks Dawn,
I don’t know if my signs would sell if they were doubled in price, so I guess we’ll have to see when I meet with the shop owner.

4

Like Dawn I used to sell work in a shop on a sale or return basis and they doubled the whole sale price of the item. The price you have your signs at on Folksy would not be considered the wholesale price by most places (I think), they would expect to be charging the same (or similar) as you do or people will just come to you and buy direct, so earrings that I sell for £10 they would expect to sell for £10 so I got £5 as the whole sale price.
This blog article might help you. http://blog.folksy.com/2014/03/18/cats-how-to-price-your-work
Sasha

5

Oh yes, that makes sense. I’ll have to think that one through as I don’t think I would actually be making any money on the time spent making it to take that much of a cut to sell it in a shop.

Makes sense for the retailer…not as much fun for me.

6

I think it depends on the overheads of the shop, perhaps not all will take so much commission, but having said that I did sell quite well there. I hope everything goes well for you!

7

Hi, I’ve sold at a few places. Some worked on Sale/ Return (Consignment) where I stated the price I wanted (and they put a mark-up, typically 2x) whilst others charged me for the space (flat fee + 20% commission). What I didn’t like about selling at the shops via consignment is that some shop owners weren’t very honest! I had 1 never give me the sale proceeds, another that agreed to mark up 2x but secretly marked up 5x!! (I was trying to go for high volume/ low price at that time- mistake!) etc etc. So my advice would be to make sure the shop has good reviews before selling through them :slight_smile: Hope this helps :slight_smile: