Would you be interested in this?

[christmasbirdsandchristmasherd]

I have an imaginary stall at the Christmas Market.
I set it up every Christmas in my head, I make all of the things but end up giving it all away as gifts because I'm too embarrassed to try to sell it all.
Would you be interested in buying any of this? If yes how much would you expect to pay? If not, what is putting you off?

There is-

-Jams and chutneys from home grown or locally forrgaged fruit and vegetables.
-Knitted ornaments
-Knitted hat, scarf and mittens
-Handmade pop up cards, with intricate mechanisms and moving parts.
-hand sewn gift bags
-Baked goods, cookies, cupcakes etc
-knitted or hand sewn dolls and teddies

Its a bit naff isn't it? Its all I can do and when I give out my gifts everyone says I should try selling them but I'm not sure anyone would buy it.
and I would know where to start with pricing.
What do you think? Would it be worth pursuing?

Background, I'm a sahm completely dependent on dh and I wouldn't mind having something to do other than child care and housework.

Not sure this is balanced. Could be that only people who would buy this stuff are responding. Our Xmas fayres don't do all that well and the money that's taken is all going to charity.

Knitted items are always a problem. Very few people are prepared to pay for your actual time you pour into those.

Hi OP.
It is definitely a good idea to try and team up with someone else as the stalls rental can be a lot. I used to go to lots of craft fairs and at least 25-30 years ago the pitch for the weekend was 200 quid so you have to charge a lot (and they certainly did).
I don't want to put you off but as a pp said, its usually people who have plenty of spare time and don't rely on the income who do this.

I work in a charity shop and we have a couple of ladies who knit toys etc especially to bring in for us to sell for the charity. Very little of it sells even as low as 20p. It's such a shame, but it just doesn't go.

I think we need some pics, OP!
It all sounds delightful, I’d just get yourself a stall, and go for it.

I like going to craft fares & have been to some Xmas fares recently

Most stalls sell just one type of item, so a stall selling jams, a second stall selling knitted items, a third stall selling cupcakes etc

I've seen a single cupcake for £2.50 each, which I will not pay. As others have said, if you add up the cost of the stall, time, ingredients & wages per hour it all adds up !

However, I have bought a few items, because I believe that is good to support the local economy/business

I have bought from Etsy too

If you don't want to sell

You can knit all year & donate to one of your local "shoebox" collections. My local Morrisons had a "shoebox" collection.

Back again, you could maybe try a car boot. (Much less outlay). Take a few samples of everything but pick carefully, if you have everything people may think it is too much. Make up some flyers and business cards for what you are offering. If you are really good you could choose a charity, preferably one that is close to your heart and offer them 3/5 % of any profits. This will get you on their radar, you might be able to get local radio, tv and or local newspaper to give you a shout out AND you would be doing a bit of good for charity.
Good luck.

Have you any pictures?

Bought some pop up cards for £3 each, larger ones were more expensive at indoor craft fayre.

@BlueTouchPaper

I work in a charity shop and we have a couple of ladies who knit toys etc especially to bring in for us to sell for the charity. Very little of it sells even as low as 20p. It's such a shame, but it just doesn't go.

This I'm afraid - Friends of mine ran a charity craft stall at craft fairs, in the end it was left to just one of them to run it - and she only continued because she loved the social interaction. Once they factored in the stall costs, insurance, cost of materials etc. it was not worth doing. There are strict rules around the sale of homemade foodstuffs too so they stuck to knitted things and cards.

Having said that she did absolutely LOVE doing the stalls, had a great day out, left the kids with her dh - but it didn't make sense financially.

I mean, it all sounds nice, but the markets are full of this sort of stuff - I live near a busy market (open all year round in London) which has loads of arts and crafts stalls selling knitted and other home made stuff plus all the perishables. I’ve seen a lot of these sort of things in other markets and Christmas markets. What would make your stuff stand out? Have you looked around the markets near you to see if they are already selling this sort of thing? Maybe they’re not, and there’s a bit of a gap in the market, but round my way at least it feels very saturated.

Have a look at Not on Amazon on Facebook. Loads of folks making and selling - might help you decide if your makes are on par for sale. I think jam and chutney maybe a little more complicated because of hygiene regulations. (I don't know that - I'm guessing).

The cards are probably the most likely to sell. You could perhaps offer bespoke ones if you do so within broad categories and/or artistic.

However. How long does it take to make each one? Could you charge enough to make it worthwhile?

Only the jams and chutney for me thanks. There are many excellent village jam makers selling around these parts so I wouldn’t pay more than around £2.50.

On our local Facebook page people really encourage people to sell their homemade stuff but then no one actually buys it.
In a market/fair I’d be interested in the cards and cakes/biscuits. I’m not really into knitted stuff unless incredibly soft and totally to my taste but I’m possibly a tough audience.

If I were you I’d make a few and try to sell them on a local Facebook page to test the market a bit.

I would only buy jars of chutney, no jam or cookies and cakes,no knitted knick knacks and stuff,or cards and gift bags.etc.

I just bought knitted sparkly baubles and paid £2 each. I did it because I could spare £10 and I wanted to support the charity. I've bought an intricate pop up card for someones birthday once last year and it was £4. Again part of the motivation was wanting to support the organization that sold it.

Have you access to a decent DSLR? I see some stuff on Etsy and it really picked up after I started styling wanky shots of the stuff- it’s not only about the innate quality of the item but how it is styled (not that my stuff is rubbish just I made no changes to the range and sales kicked off after I took nicer pics!)

A friend does resign jewellery through her PTA craft table- could you suggest/organise a school craft fair with only a £5/£10 charge per table for sellers? Their one has got quite big now, you only need one or two parents in each year group with a hobby or craft business to get the first one going!

Happy to PM you my Etsy shop if you’re interested. It took a month to get my first sale (I was dancing in the tesco line seeing the little email!) and I get about one order a week now as long as I post once it twice a week in my Instagram. If I really push it on insta I can generate more but it is time consuming thinking up new content- I usually just post pics of my outbound orders.

Also pricing- best advice I had was remember everyone doesn’t have the same view of money as you. There are a lot of people with a lot of disposable income who will happily pay more through Etsy for the convenience of all the handmade stuff in one place, so you could charge more through there than you would off a craft market

Realised that makes t sound as if I hate my baubles! I like them but couldn't do the whole tree for £2 per bauble and I didn't need any so these are just extras.

It would probably help OP if the people on here who sell this sort of stuff give her an indication of how many hours a week or month they spend (including time spent buying materials, designing, making, finishing, packaging, preparing to sell including photography and posting online etc, plus hours spent on a stall etc if applicable) together with how much clear profit you make for that time.

It’s interesting as I work in a school, one of my colleagues has a Nan and a couple of friends who donate piles of knitted toys to our Christmas fayre. They sell for £2-£5 depending on size. We sell the lot every year. The kids love them.
Now that’s being sold for no profit with donated wool so the price is probably lower than a real seller would want. Just a different perspective. Find your target audience.
All your ideas sound workable but will entirely depend on quality and cost.

@DeepaBeesKit good point. My Etsy is based on selling custom prints/casts of original works as I couldn’t see any way to make selling completely hand worked pieces at competitive prices. I do sell commissions occasionally but the bread and butter is essentially reproducing my intellectual property. OP could you sell knitting patterns or craft kits- this would likely have the highest yield vs time/hours

@deepaBeesKit good point.

I certainly don't make a wage selling blankets etc because it takes me probably 20 hours and £10 ish worth of yarn to crochet a large rainbow star blanket and I sold them for £36

Headbands take me maybe an hour and a half to make and half a ball of acrylic (I make them triple strand for cosiness) and sell them for £8.50

Identify your market, OP. Friends and family will probably want to spend at the low end of the scale and will consider what you make to be "homemade" rather than "handmade".

There are plenty of people who are happy to pay for well marketed items that are professionally presented.

If Mavis down the road makes jams and writes the labels and sells them at the WI stall they won't attract a premium. And I wouldn't want to buy anyway, not knowing Mavis or the state of her kitchen.

If Mavis set up a small business called Bramble Lane Preserves, had printed labels, a website, a good presence on Insta etc. with lots of updates from her obviously sparkling kitchen, and pics of her dogs on country walks, a decorating project and loads of pics and an emphasis on buying local, supporting small businesses etc she'd get top whack. Because people aren't just buying an item, they're buying a lifestyle.

Check out Bramblewood soaps in Dorset for an example. Her customers believe each bar is worth every penny. She only set up in 2019! Or Lily Warne wools where she uses the wool from her farm to knit and crochet items.

As someone who makes handmade items your market can't be anyone who "wouldn't pay more than £2". Your market has to be the people who want to pay a premium to support a small business otherwise you'll end up selling at ridiculous low prices to people who'd otherwise buy something cheap and mass produced.

Also something to bear in mind is that knitting is relatively slow and you probably won't get a good return, crocheting is better, as is sewing. Knitting you may not get a good return.

Cards with moving parts has the potential to be a good business idea.