This is my dog, Missy, she is so OVER me working on Friday night...Now for the real reason for the post... the Shop Til You Drop craft fair. It was a great experience and I learned a lot... but let me show you the pictures before talking about all the things that I learned from the weekend.
Here we are all set up at the craft fair.
A shot of the left side of the table...
A closer view of the table... earrings on the far left, next were the bracelets, next were necklaces, and finally jewelry sets on the far right...
These counter thingy things were in our area at first - so we used them to set up... but then they took them to the doors... and I had to lose my portfolio for the show.
A closeup of the right side of the table with all the jewelry sets...
Me ready to sell... I didn't sell a whole lot, but it was truly a great learning experience. I was told during the show that basically these things have a circuit of sorts. The first one of the year (yesterday) brings a lot of people to look at products... but not a lot of sales. The sales in October, November, and December bring the sales.
So the two ladies that I shared the booth with on Saturday and I are going to do one other show, or possibly two. We are talking about doing the second. We will for sure buy a booth for a show in December, but are potentially looking into a show in October as well.
We laughed a lot, got our names out there... and it was great. Totally not something I'd normally do... but it was great. I had lots of people come by the booth and talk about one item or another that was "beautiful"... they just didn't buy... so we'll give it another go and see how it works.
There were a LOT of jewelry booths... but we all seemed to be packing up a lot of product at the end of the day. In fact all of the vendors seemed to have that experience... but if you work some of the other shows on the circuit... you ought to be alright.
The only comment that I heard that I found unsettling was that my products were priced too high... that wasn't from a customer - but from one of the show organizers. I don't know what to make of her comment - because I try my best to keep my prices as low as possible, and they are totally dependent on the price of the materials used. There is a VERY modest markup... seriously... it's not much... but I put in a couple of dollars for my time and labor. So I guess there isn't much else I can do. I don't know if other jewelry booths make their own jewelry by hand... or if it's purchased from cheap vendors and resold at cheaper prices.
I did also hear that my prices were much lower than some other vendors from one of the ladies I shared the booth with - she had another friend there with another booth who had MUCH higher prices. Who knows... I guess it's a guessing game.
I did price most of my earrings at $5 a piece and sold several pair of those over the course of the day. I'll be beefing up my stock of earrings for the next couple of shows.
This little guy was purchased from another vendor by my friend Danielle. I absolutely loved him... and their little noses light up when you plug it in!! If they are at some of the other shows - I will absolutely be coming home with one of them. They sold for only $36!
Products are being added this week to the Etsy store that didn't sell at the show... I made a lot of new stuff that I didn't list on the store before the show... so I'm catching up there. The 5 products in the box to the top left of this blog are new... more will be added daily.
In other news... I am putting together an email newsletter list for my Etsy store... so if you want to be added to the list - please leave me a comment with your email address.
I say phooey to your prices being too high. If you're using genuine materials and your pieces are well crafted (sturdy) then they are worth every penny. It just takes a good eye to know the different between real & fake, which I tend to have. :-)
ReplyDeleteLike I've said, if I wore this kind of stuff more often, I'd be a repeat customer, I just don't. I love to look at it and would love to wear it too, but I usually get purchase happy, wear stuff once then it sits in my jewelry box!
My only suggestion (and it probably has a lot to do with the space you had available) is to "feature" more items on the display thingys (whatever you call them). To me, that lends an air of quality to the piece opposed to it laying flat on the table. I LOVED seeing the coral and turquoise piece displayed like it was! Have you thought about wearing one of your favorite creations, or signature pieces, so that your work is "on display" when you're not at your booth?
I bet you'll have lots of luck next show! Your table looked great too!!
I was actually at a craft show yesterday and looked at a lot of jewelry. Earrings tended to go for $5 a pair. I saw alot of necklace, earring, bracelet sets for $25, if that helps you at all.
ReplyDeleteSorry I have been such a crappy blogger and blog reader lately! I'm trying to get back on top of my game in all aspects of my life!
omg. i love everything! you are the best. i wish you all of the luck in the world. i see lots of sales at the october and december show.
ReplyDelete