Viable business using Cricut machines

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so I’m looking into perhaps using my craft skills to set up a side business making & selling items using a cricut machine. sort of ideas I’m thinking of are baby vests eg my first Christmas, my first Easter, other baby related phrases. maybe card making. Cake toppers, milestone cards to start off with.

Is this sort of thing easy to achieve on these machines (I don’t currently own one or know a great deal about them) if I’m making these for a business profit is there anything I need to do regarding being allowed to sell rather than for my own personal use. Others who do this sort of thing do you buy the pre made phrases and images or do you create your own using fonts and individual images.

It’s something I’ve been contemplating for a while but unsure how it all works & what sort of things I need to buy or do in order to set up selling things

The problem is that it's so easy there are many, many people doing the exact same thing.

Etsy is flooded with this. You don't sound like you even know where to start so prob not a viable business.

Creating the product is one thing. Selling it quite another. Every man and his dog bought a cricut in lock down and is now doing this. What's your usp? How are you different from them?

Have you looked on selling sites such as ebay or similar to see how many other people are already doing the sort of thing you have in mind, and to find out how much they charge for their items?

How much would it cost for you to make those things, and could you actually make a profit from it? You need to cost the price of the machine, all the raw materials, advertising, selling site costs, postage, packing and your time. What would you have to charge per item to cover all those expenses and to make a profit at the end of it? If something costs £1 to produce, you would need to sell it for more than that. Would people pay that much or are others selling the item cheaper?

Yes obviously I understand the concept of how to run a business in the fact that you price up how much it’ll cost for all the equipment and materials to make per item and add on to make a profit while still keeping in line with the current market margins that’s pretty obvious. I’m asking more from the point that there is a huge difference between using these things for personal use and making to sell for a profit.

Ive come across lots of people selling these sorts of things on Etsy & eBay and even bought a few over the years which got me thinking I can put my skills & hobby to use doing exactly that as well. But again my question is more about licensing and making these items to sell instead of just personal usage.

Obviously I’m not going to go and buy a machine tomorrow and attempt to sell the first thing I make. I currently craft a lot and make the odd things that I gift to family & friends and they all say I’m wasting time doing this when I could be making to sell.

My question was more about licensing as it’s very different making things for personal use compared to making for a profit.

I would strongly recommend making up your own phrases. You can check for trademarks here: trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmtext.

Fonts also have licenses. You want ones that are free for commercial use. I think Google Fonts are.

There are many people ignoring licensing restrictions, but you do need to be very careful. It’s not always clear. There are sites like Creative Fabrica where you can buy images and fonts, but I’m not always sure the sellers haven’t stolen the designs in the first place. I think Canva you can use images though.

Good luck!

Sorry, I’m not sure if that link works. It’s on the gov.uk website - search for trademarks.

Thank you this is the sort of helpful response I was looking for. I’m aware lots out there doing this are totally not doing it by the book & thinking it’s ok to use whatever they like. I’ll take a look. Thanks 😊

Most characters are very much protected by copyright - don't do anything Disney for example, (including their font) they can and do go after very small businesses and get them shut down for infringing their copyright. People think they're safe because the are just a small business but Disney is very hot on it and they own pretty much everything these days.

Your op seemed to be asking for general advice too so here goes: Be wary of people saying "wow, you should sell this!" In my experience, people say that and then when it comes to them actually supporting your business they disappear into the ether. Do you have a burning passion to run a business? Because it's really, really hard to get seen. These days you need to use social media and build a following, which is why i asked about your USP - if you're doing the exact same as everyone else, you won't stand out. If you're selling on etsy or your own website, understanding of SEO is essential. You may need to do a tax return. You'll need product liability insurance and if you're selling things for children check the legalities - do your products need testing. If you want your own website look at website builders like godaddy, wix or shopify - usually around £30 a month for a basic website. Etsy fees are around 20% at the moment, so that'll need to be factored into your pricing if you want to go down that route. There are other marketplaces but they don't have the reach that etsy does but you do need to understand SEO to be successful on Etsy. Don't forget to factor in cost of your electricity and other utilities in your pricing with the cost of living going up. Have you thought about where to get your blank items that you're going to print on from? Id suggest looking at aliexpress.

If you just want to make a few to sell ad hoc and aren't too bothered about making money or doing anything too complicated then you can just sell through Facebook to friends and family and use PayPal to take payments.

Itwasntright - thanks for your response. You address some very good points. I’m not intending to make huge amounts from it, it’s mostly for hobby and something to do to keep busy but obviously wouldn’t want to be at a loss. To be honest it’s the whole liability thing that puts me off, not that I would cut corners I absolutely would not but you’re right in that anything for children needs to be tested (family member has done this for something else) and it’s a lot of effort something I can guarantee most sellers have not done. Wouldn’t touch Disney at all as I’ve heard about how strict they are.

Don't forget to factor in cost of your electricity and other utilities in your pricing with the cost of living going up.

and your time.

I crochet things and people say "you should sell things!" However, they take a long time to make and no one would want to pay a fair price that includes paying for my time.

The market is really really saturated - I bought my machine just to bring joy to myself - and yes, I've made the baby vests etc for people as favours to friends, but I couldn't face making to sell really.

The stuff included with Design Space subscriptions you're allowed to sell under their angel policy - but with a "don't mass produce it and take the piss" clause as a starting point. Or if you can draw - get yourself some software and create your own images (something like an iPad and Procreate and then you know you're in the clear).

I just don't make things aimed at children i can't be arsed with the hassle!

Product liability insurance doesn't need to be expensive - mine with with direct line think it's about £6 a month or something.

People will happily suggest I open a catering / party planning business, but there's no way it would pay more than my day job, so not viable. I also think you're overthinking all of this and don't necessarily have a USP. It's all very much saturated.

If I was going to do it - I'd go very small to start with making things like custom labels and iron on transfers to order - easy to ship, not completely saturated in the market and not a huge start up cost.

I'm sure I've read that some (all?) of the heat-transfer vinyls are not recommended for use on baby items, so that's something to check out, depending on what you plan to make.

@CoffeeWithCheese can I ask which Cricut machine you have? I want one only to do stickers/decals and am getting confused between them.

I make something for friends & family as small gifts (sewing). Sellers on Etsy sell them for about £8-12. It takes me about an hour. I don't think I can make them for under £8 (just for materials), and then there's postage. I presume there are savings to be made bulk buying the material, but even so, the labour & electricity would be more than I could make, without buying the materials.

I did have an Explore Air 2 but I upgraded it to a Maker (the older model) a while ago just because I felt like it!

@CoffeeWithCheese thats the one I was looking at, Explore air 2, ive seen it for 249.00 so I think ill go for it!

I have an explore air 2 and love it. When i first bought it, i had intentions of doing tshirts and baubles/stockings etc just for friends and family. Now im debating on getting a maker because i want to do everything, including engraving dog tags which the explore cant do with cricut products (you can get compatible blades on amazon but this voids your warranty if machine has an issue) and bows with faux leather, same situation again with blades. But cant fault the explore air 2, its done everything it said it would do.

I bought my Air 2 from here. They were really helpful when I had to return it as it arrived damaged. Looks like it's £199.99

www.gmcrafts.co.uk/product-category/cricut-store/cricut-cutters/

Or even £199 - I assumed they'd added the usual 99p 😂

@SoupDragon thats fab thank you!