I’m delighted to be selling things on Folksy and have just made my 10th sale 
Someone bought four of my stained glass feathers in a single order - these were all I had. All good. I got an email from them today asking if I can supply another four. I’m of course happy to make more, but there’s a niggling question in the back of my mind… why are they buying 8 suncatchers from me? There might be a perfectly innocent explanation, but there’s always a chance they will then sell them somewhere else for a profit. I can’t think of a way to mark them as mine, so I suppose this is a risk I have to take. Anyone else had a similar question or am I being unnecessarily suspicious?
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On my other selling platform someone ordered 15 of one of my animal themed Christmas decorations. I was like you and thought what on earth does she need 15 of these for?! I too was worried that she might be selling them on. Turns out she was the wife of a vet and they were Christmas presents for his staff. Sometimes these things are completely innocent.
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I wouldn’t worry personally.
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If I wanted to sell someone’s stuff on in my shop, I would contact them and try to get a good deal for buying a larger purchase and I would tell them so they could advertise the shop etc in their social media… quite a lot of crafters are stocked in small shops as well as selling themselves and this suits them both. I wouldn’t buy them full price and then try to sell them secretly - I can’t see how they would gain from this. Or am I very naive?
Also, your leaves are gorgeous, if I had loads of money I might hang up lots of them!
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I’m probably a minority but personally I think that once someone has purchased from me the item is then there’s to do with as they please. If I see my items being sold for more than I do I may consider putting my prices up but I wouldn’t waste time worrying about it.
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Thanks for replies - I’m reassured!
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I had a similar situation, but was told via email from the customer after the purchase that she was ‘selling them on’. I asked for more details and found she was setting up a website to sell ceramics. This turned out to be the case, and she sold the two pieces she bought at slightly more than she paid for them, as she was VAT registered so the price included VAT. She credited me but used her own images of my work. I would have preferred she had told me beforehand but it turned out OK in the end.
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I have in this past year been selling multiples of things like that… where the customer wanted to send something to all of their friends. I really don’t think you need to be suspicious. Just be happy your glass is in demand.
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I think it’s a good question and one that you should ask yourself. I reckon in this case it’s probably genuine due to the relatively small amounts.
There have been some other comments on threads about ‘unexpected re-sales’. I would heavily question the motives of anyone who thinks it is ok to buy handmade goods and then re-sell for profit without an agreement with the seller. It is very poor business practice.
I have (pre-Covid!) had to remove my goods from a shop that I had a commission-based sales agreement with due to not being happy with how they managed their displays and record keeping of my stock. The whole sales experience is important and leaving that in someone else’s hands can be a bit of a minefield…
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I wouldn’t care personally…if someone buys from me , I have had what I wanted and then it is up to them what they do with their purchases…I agree with Carol @Knittingtopia
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I think that if your prices are such that your work can easily be sold on at a profit you could think about increasing them? And I agree, if someone did want to do this they would most likely contact you asking for a discount for a bulk purchase.
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Mmm, I wouldn’t be very happy if someone opened a Folksy shop re-selling my work!
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So long as I get my price and are happy with it, I wouldn’t be bothered what someone did with my work. If you sold items wholesale to a shop, they’d be making a profit on what they sell on anyway, so there’s no difference really.
Are they opening a shop here in direct competition? Selling your work on? If so, that’s utter nuts because they’d have to really mark up your work to get a profit and you’d be selling the same thing for cheaper!!! 
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oh there’s a big difference- the reason behind wholesale, i.e. it is a bulk order, and done in the normal business way.
if your work is sold on unauthorised then you have no control over how it is presented, in what state it gets to the customer etc. If your details are given to the customer (e.g your work has some kind of labelling), who are they going to contact when there is a problem with their goods? You.
That’s why I have pulled stock from a shop, because it was presented messily and all different makers jumbled up despite me paying for a specific size of space… and they didn’t keep a proper sales record. That all impacts on me.
Dropshipping has become a problem in some circles for things like art, especially on another site!
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Hiya,
I saw your lovely feathers on Instagram, beautiful! I would think it’s someone being prepared and stocking up on gifts to give out throughout the year. Ask them! (I know, so much easier said than done!)
Well done and here’s to many more sales!
Bex
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Update… he’s going to display the feathers in his house on a decorative tree in a sunny window by day and it will be lit up at night. This sounds lovely, and I’ve asked him to send a photo when ready. Thank you for all answers and comments on my novice question!
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Thank you
That sounds lovely! What a lovely future your beautiful leaves will have and how much they will be admired!
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