So, my fellow needleworkers, last week I was all excited about the prospect of consigning my latest batch of placemats in a local store. Unfortunately, I had the bad luck of going to the shop when the owner happened to be unavailable, twice in a row. BUT, I learned from the employee I talked to, that they mark up consigned items 25% as their commission. What?! So I walked down the block and asked at my coffee shop hangout. They mark stuff up 30%!
You know you want this rainbowy cheerfulness on your own table...
Maybe that's normal everywhere, I don't know, and the downtown shop owners have to pay the (well known to be exorbitant) rent somehow. But yikes! That puts my wares above what I think most folks would be willing to pay. Has anyone else run into this experience?
Hmmm. So I could either consign them locally, or put them on Etsy. On Etsy, both the site and Paypal take bites out of the seller's money and shipping also inflates the cost to the customer...but shipping is almost half of what the local consignment fee would be, so it ultimately is more affordable to the customer. The upside is a bigger audience, too. It's a shame because I want to support local business (and have them support me), but when local isn't as affordable...! :(
As an informal poll, for those who sell or consign their items, who do you use, and why? When I was doing research on avenues for selling what I make, the loose breakdown on fees was:
- Etsy -- .20 listing and renewal fee per item, and 3.5% on sales
- Ebay -- around 10% of sale price
- Amazon Handmade -- 10% of sale price
- Then with all 3 of the above options, you throw in shipping charges (costing the customer more) and Paypal taking .30 plus 2.9% (costing you more)
- And now I know that locally the consignment fee will be 25-30%
- Steembay is an option I know...but there's a lot of "no bids" on there and I'm not sure placemats are a niche that folks using Steembay are attracted to!
And here are the other sides!
Bottom line: Etsy is looking like what I ought to stick with. So here is my Etsy link, for anyone interested in checking them out :) https://etsy.me/2H5bQEl
Now that I've listed this set, I've got a hankering to start on another set and maybe change up the pattern this time.
As for the egg apron...it's still a yarn ball, LOL. Last week was busy and non-routine and I didn't have leisurely coffee shop time to curl up on the couch and crochet. I'm hoping this week will be better!
Happy #NeedleworkMonday to all, as usual I'm looking forward to making the rounds of lovely handmade items and seeing how everyone is doing on projects this week <3
