To be fed up of people trying to hawk their 'craft' wares

[Goldenhandshake]

Over the last couple of years there seems to have been phases of craft/homemade items being hawked by loads of people, en masse, particularly over facebook.

There have been cards, cupcakes, personalised converse trainers and now hair bows seems to be the latest.

AIBU to be sick of the sodding 'Please like my FB selling page' requests, stalls popping up at DD's dance class, school fetes etc and then having people I know almost guilt tripping you into buying because you know them?

I know I don't have to buy anything, and I mostly don't, but have felt obliged to a couple of times. and have mainly been left disappointed

Me too... I'd love to know if they have registered with Inland Revenue...

I'm sick to death of seeing cheap shit on eBay, purchased by an 'entrepreneur' who then takes it home, wraps it in copious amounts of cellophane, ties a bow around it and advertises it as a 'unique gift!'

It's still cheap shit, it's just fancily wrapped cheap shit.

I know - DH colleagues at work all have wives that make craftware. Most of it pretty dire. Hence I am constantly bombarded with attempts to sell the tat stuff. Would I be wicked to reply and suggest they just get a job?

YABU. My friend sells homemade cards. She is really talented and they are beautifully made. The amount of time it takes to make one and the cost of materials mean she doesn't make much money but she declares all her income. She would love a "real job" but has a chronic illness and is unwell for long periods of time. If you don't want to buy their crafts just say so.

This

Why? Sleigh, probably Poundland. £10 worth of chocolate if that. Bit of cellophane, big bow. £30. WTAF?

"they just get a job"?

Perhaps they see this as a way of doing just that? I don't know where you are, but where I am there are very few jobs that fit in round a family and the "work from home" option seems a good idea.
Better than just moaning about being skint and after all, you don't have to buy it!

Jinty, card makers I can deal with, that does take some artistic talent, time and patience.
Throwing a few bars of chocolate in a Poundland Christmas mug like this and wrapping it up with a bow takes no artistic talent whatsoever.

I have the opposite problem. I knit. Generally with expensive natural fibres which are often hand dyed (so £££).

I am totally fucking fed up of people, mostly colleagues, making unsolicited comments about how I could sell what ever I am currently making for some wildly inappropriately low price.

Firstly, the yarn in it is usually worth more than the price they suggest and secondly, they never seem to take into account all of the time involved in making these items.

The things I make are for a small select group of friends who appreciate them - I'm currently trying desperately to finish a baby blanket before my friends due date.

Would I be wicked to reply and suggest they just get a job?

Yes you would.
People are just trying to make a few quid.

The key is to only be friends with people who run legitimate businesses making decent quality stuff

Again, knitting takes huge talent and patience. I never fail to be stunned at the costs of knitting these days though. My best friend has just finished a gorgeous jumper which cost her somewhere in the region of £50 in wool alone.
I admire anyone with the patience to sit and knit a garment like that for the pleasure of doing it rather than nipping into Tesco and buying a jumper for £20.

I usually think the same when I go to school fetes etc and see stall upon stall of homemade cards and little trinkets or personalised things.

This morning however at dd2 pre school Christmas fete there was a stall selling the most exquisite hand knitted dresses, cardigans, blankets, hats etc. they were absolutely beautiful.

There's a woman near me who sells "baby shaped" nappy cakes. What she actually does is stuff a baby gro with nappies and muslins and shapes them into a pose. They are the most sinister thing ever.

YABU. Good luck to them if they make a few bob out of it or go on to make a successful business. If you don't like it, don't 'like' the page. Personally I like seeing what friends and acquaintances have made. Better than hearing anecdotes about someone's dull office job.

Many of them will make so little money they owe nothing to the IR. You only need to pay tax on profit, and then there are personal allowances and thresholds. In fact if you make less than a certain amount you don't have to even pay NI. When I filled in my tax return for my very small business they owed me money - result.

Also you are much better buying stuff where you know who made it and where it has been made.

Lurker you are spot on. My mum just bought a lovely new knitting/crochet book and costed up making one of the bags and it was well over £100 just in materials. I do an awful lot of cross stitch and although the materials aren't too bad, it takes effing AGES. I'm never going to get DS3's stocking done because I agreed to make a Christmas present for a friends god-daughter and totally underestimated how long I would need. I wish there were more hours in the day for crafting. Sorry, gone slightly off topic there. OP, YANBU if its cheap shit thrown together but YABU if it's stuff people have spent time and artistic ability on. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Simples.

I used to make and sell jewellery and made a point of never asking any favours from friends/family. I made an OK amount of money, enough to keep me off Jobseeker's Allowance until I found a job so YABU, at least they're trying to make a bit of cash. YANBU to not want to be pestered and guilted into subsidising them though.

It's annoying for legitimate, talented makers as well. All the lovely craft fairs and Christmas craft markets now seem to be filled with cheaply made tat. It's disheartening, when you spent years at university learning your craft, and decades mastering it, to then be stuck on a stall next to a 'mumpreneur' selling restrung beads or kit-made cards or shoddily sewn bunting. Especially when they are selling really well because they are wildly underpriced.

Don't get me started on 'Forever Living', 'Pampered Chef' etc reps who seem to have also invaded the fair circuit. You don't run your own business, you are a glorified tupperware lady!

goldencity1 "they just get a job"? Perhaps they see this as a way of doing just that? I don't know where you are, but where I am there are very few jobs that fit in round a family and the "work from home" option seems a good idea

The backstory is that none of DH's work colleague's wives have ever had a job of any kind. Its a bit of a cliché that they have never asked what I do for a living, as they assume I live off DH. There are plenty of jobs there (I'm currently working abroad, but still get emails trying to sell that tat), with all sorts of flexible arrangements - its one of the areas of lowest unemployment in the whole of the UK.

JuiceOrtiz and to prove the point that persons ebay account isn't registered as a business account

I have been hawking my craft for 8 years. Which means that since my ds started school I haven't claimed JSA, or needed to put him in childcare while I go back to my awful office job because I have been able to work from home at something I love to do.

I am registered and pay tax and cannot tell you how angry it makes me when I see reassembled £ shop tat being called "homemade" and being put in the same category as what I do.

If they were good quality, well made items I would think good luck to them and maybe be happy to purchase specific items (I knwo no one who knits for example) , but the vast majority I see just seem to buy cheap crap, jazz it up a bit and try to pass it off for profit, and seem miffed when you politely decline.

Plus there is nothing 'different' or particularly well made it all seems to be in the same vein, as I said first it was cards, then cakes, then trainer personalisation and now endless hair bows .

Out of them all I have one friend who is immensely talented with flower arrangements and has set up a floristry business from her home and I have paid her for lovely funeral flowers and my Christmas wreath. Other than that, pure tat.

Maybe I need more talented friends

Almost as prolific as the amateur photographers on facebook. Sick of seeing so much pushy selling. Add in the other peoples tat pages and it makes me log out of Facebook lol

Me too. I go to a baby and toddler group each week and it used to just be a toddler group and slowly it has turned into toddlers down one end and 2 or 3 different stalls each week up the other end. Homemade dolls clothes, homemade candles, candy trees, aprons and blankets, gift cards, avon, temple spa, cupcakes and macaroons and the obligatory shabby chic twiggy shit.

Now there is no end of christmas themed stuff too. I don't want it, and I don't want to have to explain to people why I don't want to buy their stuff. It starts with 'oh you must come and look at xxxx, your would just love them'