How to Sell Crafts Online
If you're looking for the answer then chances are your wares are sale-worthy, quality goods and you're looking for an outlet to retail your creative masterpieces. After all, they've got to be if you have a hope of succeeding among the artisans and craftsmen already "making it" online.
A good idea, before you channel your efforts into developing an online retail presence is to get feedback. Whether it be from friends, family or the general public. The honest opinion of others regarding your product or art will determine how successful you will be in achieving sales. And you need complete honesty, so be picky in your choice of critics, avoiding the one's who might have a biased opinion because they love you so much. Love might sell valentines cards but it sure won't make you a profit margin for paper-mache lanterns, so be logical and decisive when asking people for opinion. A secondary recommendation is to establish yourself within the local craft movement so that you can gain some recognition in your local area. Many people start by selling at car-boot sales, country and craft fairs, as well as by approaching privately owned retailers.
Once you have a majority and conclusive opinion that your wares are sale-able, it's time to begin the foray into online retail, and the choices of how and where are pretty limitless. The most obvious outlet is Ebay or similar auction-style site which offers the choice of auction, Buy It Now and Best Offer purchase methods, as well as using one of the most widely accepted payment methods: Paypal. The benefit of Ebay is that, as a starting point, it helps in determining the best pricing brackets for your products. You can research similar wares and get an idea of costing and pricing, to ensure you are covering any overheads such as material and labor costs. If you are just starting out, it's most likely that you are the sole producer, however you still need to be realistic in your pricing in order to achieve any profit. If the sale price does not even realise the costs of production then there will never be any profit and whether you enjoy it or not, you'll never make money and it will all become pretty fruitless long-term.
The downside of Ebay as a sales outlet, especially when starting out are obviously the fees. Unavoidable, questionable and sometimes pretty extortionate for low-activity sellers or newbies, they are part and parcel of using the service. As a new user I would recommend that you do not commence as a "business seller" until you acquire a decent feedback score within a short period. An example could be 20-50 in your first month. If this is a result then by all means consider the benefits of becoming a business seller, but bear in mind the costs are higher. The benefit of starting out as a private seller is the fact that you can gauge the level of interest in your product over the course of a couple of months. If you are trying to develop a business then you should already be registered as self employed and obviously your sales should be recorded in the manner any other business would for the purposes of tax, V.A.T etc. If you are setting up a business, ensure you are adequately set up to avoid any future problems. If on the other hand you are just a casual seller, just raising a little pocket money here and there, then remaining a private seller is in your best interests financially too. As a seller, you are subject to two types of fees, an Insertion Fee for listing your item (free under 99p, then 15p upwards depending upon your sale price) and a Final Value Fee, a percentage of the final sale price. This percentage always depends on how much your item finally sells for, and is influenced by factors such as whether your item sold or not, as well as if you had to re-list it due to a non-paying time waster.
The next types of recommended outlet which I have taken advantage of to sell handmade jewelry, are the Art and Craft community sites, or Market Places as some will know them. They are a mixture of community, educational and retail opportunities whereby you can connect with other artisans, as well as find an outlet to sell your own creations. Examples of these sites are the globally recognised Etsy.com, and the U.K version, Folksy.com. Other similar U.K only sites include Misi.co.uk, MyOwnCreation.co.uk and MyEhive.com. All of these operate as essentially online marketplaces, whereby sellers set up their own virtual store-fronts and trade alongside others online. Setting up a shop-front on these market-place style sites is free for the majority, however most have fixed fees for listing your items (varying site to site) and some, like Ebay do charge a Final Value Fee dependent on the final sale price of your item. The main benefits of using these sites are that your wares are not just displayed on your shop front, they are search-able under headed categories and often featured on a revolving basis with other artworks on either the home-page or as a featured piece (usually monthly and generally if it is something quite unique).
The cons of starting out on auction or market place themed areas are the running costs. The set-up is mostly free but the costs are apparent as soon as you list your items. A general rule of thumb, if you are compelled to using any of these methods to kick off your e-commerce business or presence is to limit your number of listings. Perhaps 5-10 for the first couple of months to avoid potentially high listing fees, especially if you choose to sell via several sites. The costs can run into a couple of hundred pounds as I unfortunately found out when starting out.
Having detailed some of the popular avenues for selling art and crafts, I think it important to include a number of ways in which to avoid costs altogether when starting out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I dread to think how many hours I spent looking for alternative ways of establishing my online retail presence. I didn't have much money to throw at my venture, and it was predominantly experimental selling in the early stages. And it occurred to me that the first place I could demonstrate my products was on FaceBook. It's essentially the online version of word-of-mouth, and I could show off my pieces to my friends without pressuring them into buying. It started with just a few photographs of my work, until my discovery of FaceBook shop-front applications. There are a number of these appearing and are mostly free tools to set up a mini-shop on your own FaceBook page. One of the most popular seems to be the Payment E-Commerce Storefront App for it's general simplicity and instantaneous results, as well as being free to use. Payment can be made via debit/ credit cards and Paypal. Building your presence once set up is a doddle too, simply by sending messages to friends of friends and asking people you know to spread the word.
One of my favorite free sites has to be BT Tradespace which offers users the opportunity to set up a free store front facility, implement Paypal for payments, and add business details to local area listings. That's right, your business comes up in business listing results for your area. You get to pick the keywords such as: Jewelry, Artist, Sculptor (or however you define your artistry) and your listing result appears in these categories. Your store-front operates as a mini online shop without any fees or costs. It does take a little time to list your items, upload photos, create categories etc, but the interface is very simple and first-timer friendly so you'll soon get the hang of it.
If you are fueled by the desire to operate and own your own website (and why not?) then you need to be aware that some cost will be involved, although the outlay depends on your Domain Name Provider, Website Hosting Company (you can usually get a company that does both for a set-price), and Website Publisher/ Designer (unless you have the know-how to D.I.Y. it).
Your domain name is your website name, which should ideally incorporate your business name, and not be too long. Once you have settled on one or two ideas, you need to check this domain name is available for you to purchase and not in use by anyone else. A simple way of doing this is by using UK-Webnames.co.uk. Type in your desired website name and click enter to see if it's available. It's that simple. If available, the website will point you in the direction of registering your desired domain name. Pricing depends on whether you choose .com (around £6.99 per year) or .co.uk (£2.99 per year). These prices do not include website hosting so it's important to do a bit of reading before you finalise your purchase. Bear in mind that with website hosting, someone else is responsible for the technical assurance that your site is always online so it does pay to have it, and isn't that expensive.
The design and lay-out of your website says a lot about your proposed business, too much over-crowding of images and text and users will get lost too easily and be less compelled to complete a transaction. Simplicity is always best, as are clear concise pictures, and a good logo promotes your intended professionalism as a retailer. If you have no experience of web design, it is advisable to utilise the services of a "man who can" whether it be a relative (more likely to be free or cheap) or an online company. Either way, ensure you communicate your design ideas and expectations from the outset, as well as agreeing a price. Don't get stung and do your home-work.
Advertising is the other objective that will make or break your launch online and researching the cheapest methods are recommendable during the early stages. There are many free methods of online advertising ranging from social networking sites to free classified websites. Word of mouth is a vital tool in marketing any product so make the most of all your Facebook contacts and encourage them to spread the word. Writing blogs and contributing to craft forums are also recommendable and free ways of establishing your online presence, but don't neglect the offline opportunities too. VistaPrint regularly advertise offers of 250-500 business cards free on your first order. You can play around with designs and layouts for as long as you like on the interactive site, and you only pay around £6.99 for delivery. Cheap as chips.
Knowing where to leave your glossy new business cards can sometimes be tricky but utilising your contacts is the first step in getting them circulating. Colleagues, family members, friends and relatives are possible options, as are schools, universities and town noticeboards. Some newsagents may allow you to advertise for free (or a very small weekly fee) and most public museums and art centres are happy to display cards/ small flyers without charge.
No matter how you advertise, be positive in the knowledge you are spreading the word. You may not see the results straight away but all new ventures take a while to take off. Persistence pays and if you utilise all avenues at your disposal, you will see more potential customers coming your way.
