Selling your crafts!

[Dingle]

Opinions please on Ebay, Etsy, Mr Site etc.

I would love to spread my crafty wings and need a shove in the right direction....well any direction at the moment!

Mr Site?
Have never heard of that before.

I'd stay clear of ebay tbh. Lots of people selling your kind of thing, plus their selling fees are quite high.

What about Mumzmall?

Mr Site is just a build you own website in a box type of thing. I am not technical enough to do anything on my own but might be able to manage with something like Mr Site, I think it costs about £30.

I started looking into a Mumzmall shop but never really got around to doing anything about it!

I am considering the option of trying to sell my embellishment rather than just made up cards. Some of the smaller Quickutz dies for example take a lot of time to cut and glue and of course the initial outlay may put people off....just clutching at straws really!

I would love to properly sell my stuff, but all the taxman stuff scares me.
Personally I think people go on EBay looking for cheapo stuff, Etsy seems better but theres so much on it I think it would be hard to make your stuff stand out from others. I don't know that much about Mr Site

my friend used MrSite for her website here. She does pretty well from it tbh. It's definitely a good way to try out selling, with a link on your blog (and ours too) and without a big outlay. Give it a go and see what happens. At the very worst you've spent £30, but if it takes off.........well, the worlds your oyster!!!

ooohhh - i'm loving that website how extremely cute

I was thinking about getting a MrSite site - perhaps I'll get DH onto it!!

cheats way to do your own site is to set up another blog, but buy a .co.uk or .com domain name for it, and set it so your blog address is that, rather than a .blogspot address. i can't remember how you do it but it can be done and is fairly straight forward.

site just sounds more 'professional' with a proper domain url for it. there are then other blog layouts you can download, that used tabs across the top and different pages (you'd need to do a google search for free blogger templates), for each shop section so it does actually look like a proper set up web site rather than a blog.

wordpress blogs are .co.uk I think

yes, i think they are. i have a wordpress blog set up, or did have, with the lucykate crafts name but have never used it.

one thing on my to do list is sort domain names, last time i checked, can't remember which provider it was through, i think it was only about $10 a year or thereabouts.

i'm steering clear of ebay though, etsy and then my own web site would be my preference

Setting up a website isn't too tricky (says she whose dh has done all the work )), but it can be hard getting traffic and therefore orders!

The site needs to be professional and reassuring to customers (ie accepting paypal or nochex payments)and you have to promote it well so people can find you in the world wide web! however, you can:-

-link to it from your blog, providing traffic
-advertise it with posters/leaflets
-when you do fairs etc hand out leaflets/postcards to promote your site
-put stickers on the back of cellophane (for cards) and enclose a postcard/leaflet with orders you send out.

The tax stuff really isn't too bad- just register with the inland revenue within 3 months of becoming a sole trader, and you'll get a self assessment form each year.

The benefit of a shop on etsy is that people know of the site,so I'm sure it has really good traffic levels, but as someone said there's a lot of competition on there!

(various random musings, probably not helping at all )

hello betty - how is your venture going? (do a link - so everyone can ooh and ahh )

Betty - I think your product is genius !
I've seen them before but didn't realise it was you.

Fab !

Aw, thanks Tillyboo

GM, things are going well -hard slog and mainly learning by mistakes but I'm starting to think the last couple of years of graft might be getting me somewhere

am intrigued now - what do you make betty?

they're cards/gifts (gadgets, I suppose ) with numbered dials to keep track of baby's feed and medicine times www.chiggs.co.uk is my website

I'd have killed for one of those when mine were small!!! great job

Thanks jeangenie!

(I've just been breathing into a brown paper bag, because mumsnet just crashed on me. The shakes are subsiding now, though).

Betty - I may just have to get a feeding wheel for my sister!!

Glad to hear it's doing well. They are fab, my friend uses hers all the time - it's stuck on the fridge.

Thanks dizzyday- have you recently become an auntie?

GM, I'm really pleased your friend is finding her wheel useful .
Are you still doing your craft stall? I might brave the city centre loop to come and see you, if so.

PS, sorry dingle for hijack

I shall be an auntie in June!!

betty - I haven't done one since christmas (too cold - ha ha!), and the March one is on my birthday, so DH was none too pleased when I said I'd be working...so I shall be there either April or May. Probably April and May!!! But if you're coming over, shout me on the weekly challenge thread and I'll make sure I have someone to cover so I can skive off for a chat, ha ha! (city loop - I shudder at it too, and I'm more local than you!)

great,Gingermonkey, I'll leave you a message on the weekly challenge thread (where I do lurk anyway )

dizzyday- you've got a few months to do some knitting then

don't lurk, betty - talk to us!!! How's that gorgeous dd of yours, btw?

sorry, missed this GM!

You're right, I will de-lurk I've not had time for craft recently, though have just started a couple of 'projects'.

Dd is just fine, and happily settled in at school, so I really should have more time to do things. Anyone would think I wasted hours on a parenting forum, or something

(dd was wearing her smiley badge the other day, that your dd made for the meet-up. It's a firm favourite!)