Selling handmade cards

[alicemama]

Hi ladies, I need some of your worldly wisdom....

I've finally decided to try and sell some of my cards as I make far to many for my own use and that of friends & family.

My question is how much should I charge for them and how should I approach any shop owners???

[champs]

bumping for dingle, anorak, jayzmummy and others

[jessicaandbumpsmummy]

my uncle sells his for £1.50-£2.00 each

[Dingle]

I only really sell to friends/family and to the Downs Syndrome Charity group we belong to. So I only sell on a very small scale ATM. Most of my cards are made to order, commissioned cards rather than "off the peg" IYSWIM.

I sell mainly A5, tall or square cards which I charge £2 for. Occassionally I will make a few A6 size cards, like at xmas, and I will charge £1.50. Out of this I give 10% commission to the charity as part of my fundraising.

I haven't really got the confidence to approach shops, although I wish in some ways I did, so that our fundraising would increase. I did once, the manageress loved the cards and her and her staff had some from me, the owner of the shop wasn't prepared to try selling them though!

Good luck.

[Whizzz]

I only sell to friends & colleagues at the moment. So far I have asked for £1.50 - £2 depending on what the card had on it.
I am also (very slowly) working on a website so I can put a web address on the back of each card so if people like the card, they can see what else I can do !

[helsi]

I sell mine for anything between £1 and £2.00 depending what details are on them and how much work went into them.

[jayzmummy]

I started selling my cards by mistake last christmas!
I made cards for myself to send out but never actually got to use them because all my friends asked if they could buy them....I sold them for 50p each!
From the Christmas cards came a request to make my friends wedding invites and from them a request for invites for a fancy dress ball....and thats where it started for me.

I sell my cards at school fairs. I contact the schools PTA and ask if I can have a stall at any functions they are holding. I pay £5 for the stall and donate a pack of cards for the raffle.

My sister has a dental practice and she sells my cards in her waiting room. I bought a cardboard card stand off ebay for £10...decorated it and sent her 30 cards....she sold them within two weeks and now has around 50 cards from me each month.

The local village shop buys them from me, although I dont make as much profit from these cards as I do elsewhere. I treat the village shop as free advertising. My cards all have my label on the back and I have had direct orders from the cards sold via the shop, which means more profit for me!

Im in the process of building my website and have had quite a few orders from that despite the fact its not up and running properly yet!

I plan to start holding card parties from October and have a stall booked for Nov and Dec at our local pannier market on craft days.

The yahoo gallery gave me the confidence to start selling my cards...I didnt really think they were good enough....but they must be OK because I have had lots of orders and many repeat orders from customers. Some have shown my cards to their friends and they have ordered from me too.

So what started out as a hobby last christmas is now taking over my life!

My prices start from £1.50 upto £4.95 for a boxed personalised card.

Why dont you put some of your cards on to the yahoo site?

Enjoy your card making and fingers crossed you sell lots.

[alicemama]

Thanks for all your great messages.
This also started out as a hobby for me too but its started to get a bit out of control so I thought I'd have a go at selling them in our local town.
I've got about 30 to begin with in cello bags with a little card in the back with my name and phone no on in case anyone wants to place an order. Decided to call myself Green Pea Designs....what do you think?
My dad's got my digital camera at the moment but as soon as I get it back I'll put sime piccies up.
Well I'm off this afternoon too see if anyones interested in buying them so wish me luck. I'll let you know how I get on later.

ttfn