where to sell your lovingly made things, ahhh!

[CottonBudBows]

Hi all I started making hairbows and clips a while ago for family and friends after buying so many badly handmade ones and I absolutely love it! Now all the kids are at school I thought maybe I might give it a proper go and try to sell some if people are interested, but where? The pure number of sites to choose from can be a little overwhelming and I really want to start. Any ideas, opinions and advice wanted and welcome please x

Sorry I meant. ... I really want to start simple lol

Are there any craft fairs in your area where you could rent a stall. I'm planning to increase my craft business (so far I've just been recommended from previous work and I haven't really pushed for extra work), I'm considering stalls and craft fairs and fete's, I'm also going to give ebay a go as I familiar selling things on auction there and there is not much of a set up cost for an ebay shop.

Lots of people recommend etsy, I am going to look into more detail at this. I don't have any personal experience of it at all, but I gather it is more world wide than other sites.

I was going to suggest Etsy too.
I've only discovered it recently and really love it.

Esty and Folksy are really good and easy to use :)

I'm really interested in finding this out. But I'm looking to sell home baked dog training treats.

I've been looking online to see if there is a list of fetes in our local area, not sure if I will need my own table or not though!

I agree with poster's saying try Etsy. Its a fab site. Not too sure how to go about selling but am looking into it myself as I just started crafting with polymer clay! Goid luck with your selling!

*good. Stupid auto correct.

Thanks all x I have been thinking of renting a table at local fairs & fates but that will probably not be until the spring/summer when there are lots on. I also havw been looking at ebay etsy and folksy today and my thinking on each is ebay-far to muchcheap Chinese competition. Etsy-looks great and seems simple to use but it is amazingly popular and I don't know if I'll stand out and mostly usa users from the little I looked at. Folksy-looks simple to use and nice that it's just uk crafters and not to much competition but doesn't seem that busy looking at others feedback that sell similar crafts to me.
I only looked at crafters selling similar items to me (hairbows) and feedback from a few different seller's on each site and there how to sell guides. Although with all it seems that you really have to do a lot of self promotion to be successful, and I don't have a scooby doo about that lol x

How about party plan. Advertise locally for mums to hold coffee mornings where you sell your things . Pay a small commission to the host do a raffle and give an extra gift to the host if someone from the event books her own coffee morning.

You can also sell on social media. I started up with a Facebook page, now run my own website be careful to ensure what you do falls within copyright law and you are off! Local stalls and fairs can be very hot and miss- try and visit a few before committing to them. Lots of people are trying to run them, they get an easy profit- you sit there all day trying to sell your wares to no-one as the fair organisers didn't bother advertising!

Through your kids at school, cut them a deal

Some good advice thanks ladies
Hey sunflowertango x I think the Facebook idea is a great one will look into that can you tell me what you mean about copyright please and where I live in cheltenham there seems to be a fate/fair/sale every weekend in the summer months so maybe this year can be a year to check out these places and buy lots of pretty things lol x
Hi chippinginloveschristmas I do sell to my mum friends at school and have done quite a few party bag fillers which is fun! But there's only so many bows a girl needs apparently lol I heartily disagree of course x

Of course- lots of people set up and sell things depicting well known characters. For example, frozen, Disney, marvel, tv shows etc. unless you have a licence from them to use their character in your product you are breaking copyright laws. You would potentially risk going to a fair and your local trading standards shutting you, down, taking your profits and stock and potentially a big fine...the same applies to selling online too

Wow I did not know that! Thanks x

Disney regularly sweeps etsy and a lot of shops get shut down on there for copyright infringement.

I live off my two etsy shops and websites.

Just my opinion but Folksy is dead in the water.......

Facebook are promoting shopify at the moment.

You would need insurance - try www.cmtia.co.uk/

Thanks gemma x luckily I don't use character items so nothing to worry about there, but good to know for reference. The insurance is a definite must have I see after reading you need it to be able to trade. I must say it's sad to hear about your thinking on folksy although the more I investigate I think the overall opinion is much the same as yours which is a shame for British crafters x

No just craft in winter, sell in summer. You'll still sell some on other web sites. I think if you're doing it because you enjoy it, it's all good, but I honestly wouldn't plan to make money from it. Sorry.

Your right chipping x Im not trying to make a living just love making things but I don't want to get into trouble with the tax man ect but would like to cover the costs of what I do and they are pretty lol x